Free Republic

SANTIAGO, June 10 (Reuters) - Chilean health authorities announced a blanket lockdown across the capital Santiago on Thursday following some of the worst COVID-19 case numbers since the pandemic began, despite having fully vaccinated more than half its population. The development, which will alarm authorities elsewhere who are debating how fast to reopen as vaccination campaigns gather steam, comes as Chile's confirmed daily caseload surged 17% in the past two weeks nationwide and 25% in the Metropolitan region that includes Santiago and is home to half the country's population. Intensive care beds in the capital region are now at 98%...

Oakland County officials looking for ways to fight jail overcrowding are being asked to consider a pilot program to provide tethers for low-income offenders. "Only rich people get out?" asked Circuit Judge Steven N. Andrews, a member of the council. "Give me a break. That's not the way the justice system should work. Poor people should not fill up the jails." Inmates pay about $500 a month to be on a tether in place of remaining in jail.

Enough’s Enough “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” - Bertrand Russell Is it just me or are there getting to be far too many people on this patch of earth we call home? Don’t get me wrong, I like people, at least some of them some of the time, but there’s getting to be far too many of us. The signs are everywhere. The population in this country is now over three hundred million and every 13 seconds we add another resident. And that’s just in my town, or at least it seems...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering using emergency powers to ease crowding in the nation's largest state prison system, after lawmakers rejected his $6 billion prison building plan this week. That could mean contracting with other states to take as many as 10,000 inmates and opening some buildings that are unused, such as a women's prison in Stockton and a youth detention center in Whittier. Schwarzenegger also could take money from other areas in the state budget to add prison beds at existing prisons. "The administration has not ruled out any solution for the overcrowding problem," his communications director, Adam Mendelsohn,...

Gloria Suzanne Coke, who was found guilty recently of inhumane treatment of 65 dogs and cats confiscated from her home last summer, will be sentenced today in Oldham County District Court. Judge Jerry Crosby could give Coke, 44, up to 65 days in jail and fine her $32,500, as a jury recommended after convicting her on April 24. Animal-control officials, meanwhile, have been arranging adoptions of the dogs and cats. As of last week, more than 20 had been placed in homes, County Attorney John Fendley said. He estimated that the county spent more than $10,000 in overtime pay for...