Free Republic

Whole families will be entertained at the Sonoma Valley Moose Lodge's 2005 Annual Easter Egg Hunt and Celebration on Saturday, March 26, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Moose Lodge, 20580 Broadway. There will be a prize for everyone with special prizes for hidden golden and silver eggs, a grand prize giant Easter Bunny, refreshments and more. This year is going to be the best ever with a tiny tots area (age 3 and under), a preschool area (ages 4 to 6), an elementary area (ages 7 to 10) and a teenager area (age 11 and up). So there...

PEORIA -- The nation's largest maker of plastic Easter eggs has laid off most of the workers at its plant here and is in the process of selling it, the company said just two weeks before Easter. Between 40 and 50 of the plant's 55 full-time workers were laid off this week, plant manager Dennis Countryman said. About 60 seasonal workers already had been let go for the year, he said. A skeleton crew of about a dozen workers will remain at the plant, which opened in 1968, said Nicholas Poulis, president of Bleyer Industries, which owns the plant. Poulis...

LAREDO - Bringing confetti-filled Easter eggs over the border could bring fines of up to $1,000 and up to $50,000 for commercial importation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Thursday. Known as cascarones, the eggs are a popular Mexican border tradition. The eggs' insides are drained from the shells, which are painted, refilled with bright shreds of paper and broken during Easter celebrations. While they can be bought more cheaply on the Mexican side of the border, officials warn they may carry a deadly bird flu.