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(breakingviews.com) -- A battle is brewing over U.S. state sales taxes on online purchases. Internet retailers Amazon.com and Overstock.com are scaling back their operations in states that demand they collect these taxes. While this won't dent their revenues much, it foreshadows a larger clash over the taxation of internet commerce. Cash-strapped states are firing the first shots.

Bad news for all those tea drinking vegans on the lower east side. Late last week, Teany Cafe — an NYC vegan eatery co-founded by Moby — was destroyed in a fire. According to reports, an electrical fire ignited the vegan restaurant and gutted the building on Rivington Street. Moby opened the joint in 2002 with this his then girlfriend Kelly Tisdale, and later turned it over to Tisdale exclusively. On his blog, Moby wrote: ”Apparently Kelly is working hard to repair it and get it re-opened. So there’s a good chance that Teany will re-open at some point in...

PHOENIX — The Rev. Al Sharpton on Friday called for opponents of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has aggressively cracked down on illegal immigration, to videotape alleged racial profiling by the sheriff’s office. The civil rights leader said the videos will help the U.S. Department of Justice in an investigation of alleged civil rights abuses by Arpaio’s office. “We’re gonna start some freedom rides around this county, to show how people of a certain skin color are treated different than other people,” Sharpton told a crowd of several hundred people at the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in Phoenix. Sharpton...

Firefighters are still investigating the cause of a fire that forced clients of a swingers club in Montreal to flee in various states of undress Friday morning. The fire broke out at about 6:30 a.m. ET in the basement of Auberge 1082, located on Rosemont Boulevard near Christophe Colombe Avenue. "They have the sauna in the basement and rooms on the second floor," said Gilles Ducharme, the Montreal fire department's chief of operations. "It's an adult club. And we had 10 person[s] inside at that moment, three employees and seven customers." Five of those clients were trapped in rooms on...

MONTREAL (AFP) – Red-faced firefighters doused burning passions on Friday, stamping out an early morning blaze at a swingers' club on Montreal's northeast side, the fire department said. At 6:30 a.m. local time (1030 GMT), fire crews rescued 10 employees and patrons of Auberge 1082, who had been carousing and flirting inside the establishment before real sparks started flying. Five people escaped in bed sheets from a second floor of the burning building, down a fire truck ladder.

The soaring costs of a college degree are prompting colleges to consider a three-year degree program. Britain has long granted a degree for three years of college. I would like to suggest a one-year degree program. And I don’t mean an associate’s degree. Here are some hard facts most colleges will never tell you and most parents could not tolerate hearing. The general requirements of the first two years at most colleges are what high school should have been. That is what junior should have learned had he not been busy getting high, getting drunk, and being socially promoted. Better...

FORT WORTH, Texas—Authorities say they are investigating a natural gas explosion at the Fort Worth, Texas, home of megachurch pastor T.D. Jakes. Fort Worth fire spokesman Lt. Kent Worley says the blast Sunday in the sunroom of the home appears to have been an accident. Authorities say no one was injured and there was no fire. The sunroom was heavily damaged. Worley says the room had a gas-fed pool heater and a large gas-fed barbecue grill.

29 Children Killed in Fire at Day Care in Mexico By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 6, 2009 MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Flames engulfed a day care center in northern Mexico on Friday, killing at least 29 children and injuring dozens as neighbors and teachers ran through thick, black smoke to pull preschoolers from the blaze, officials said. The fire may have started at a tire and car warehouse Friday afternoon and spread to the neighboring ABC day care center in the city of Hermosillo, said Jose Larrinaga, a spokesman for Sonora state investigators. But Larrinaga added that the cause...

Board votes to fire teacher charged with having sex with studentJune 2, 2009 By CRAIG A. WHITNEY Maine Township High School District 207 officials voted to terminate the employment of Jennifer Espinosa, the Maine East teacher charged on suspicion of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old former student. Board members voted 7-0 on the issue during Monday's regular Board of Education meeting in the board room of the Ralph Frost Administration Center, 1131 S. Dee Road. Jennifer Espinosa District spokesman Dave Beery explained the decision Tuesday, which became effective immediately. "They voted to terminate her employment," he said. The...

The Wall Street Journal got their hands on a recording of the Ricci v. DeStefano hearing that is much talked about when Sotomayor's name comes up. [audio at site]During the audio you will hear Judge Pooler, Judge Sotomayor and the attorney for the firefighters, Karen Lee Torre. There are a few interesting snippets from the audio like when Judge Pooler asks of Torre why shouldn't Hayden v. County of Nassau dispose of the Ricci case. Torre says in effect that in Hayden no one was hurt. Pooler says that no one was hurt in Ricci either at which point Torre...

ELIZABETHTOWN – Fire damaged a Lincoln landmark at Freeman Lake Park in Elizabethtown early Friday morning, and police are baffled as to the motive behind the what they believe to be intentional damage to the historic site. According to Elizabethtown Police Department spokesman Virgil Willoughy, Kenneth R. Bennett, a 34-year-old Elizabethtown resident, is believed to have started the fire. Willoughby said police deduced from investigation that Bennett lit a container of trash and placed it inside the Lincoln Heritage House Friday morning while taking his regular walk. “He walks this area frequently,” Willoughby said. “We can only guess as to...

According to a story in today's Sun by Brent Jones, Phoenix, is in stable condition at an unnamed hospital in Pennsylvania. Sounds like the next few days will be touch and go as she fights potential infections and other burn-related issues. In case anyone missed yesterday's stories, someone in Southwest Baltimore doused the 1-year-old pit bull puppy with gasoline and set her on fire. A police office saw her in flames and put the fire out with a sweater. There is a $1,000 reward being offered for information on who might have done that to the dog. Unleashed will try...

Don't underestimate the power of a sunny day. On Sunday, one Bellevue family learned that the hard way, when the culprit of their house fire turned out to be the family dog's glass water bowl and a little bit o' sunshine. This past weekend temperatures hit the 70s, and if you recall from your childhood heyday, with just a magnifying glass and some sun there's the potential to fricassee ants. Well, the Bellevue dog bowl did just that, but instead of ants, the hot-hot-heat from the sun's rays permeated through the glass bowl and ignited the home's wooden deck. The...

Massive explosions rocked the Sunoco refinery in the Marcus Hook area tonight, sending flames shooting into the night and sounding alarms in three states. The actual explosions were in Delaware but close to the Pennsylvania border. Some officials were reporting that the chemicals in the explosion could waft into South Jersey. The explosions were first heard shortly after 10 p.m. The flames could be seen as far as 10 miles away at the Philadelphia airport. Safety officials were considering widespread evacuations and police were blocking off roads around the refineries, one of the largest on the East Coast, according TV...

A fly lays an egg inside an unsuspecting victim walking in the woods on a sunny day. Soon the egg matures and moves into the head of its prey, taking bodily control before turning the prey into a living zombie. Before the victim knows what's happening, its head pops off and a new fly emerges, off to find another host. Sound like a plot from a familiar horror movie? It is actually real — a new species of a fire ant-controlling bug is being introduced into East Texas — through a joint effort of the University of Texas and Texas...

ROSEBURG, Ore. -- The country has seen an increase demand in ammunition in the last few months, and some say it's due to the fact that Obama is now in office, and many fear stricter gun control is on its way. More gun control has always been feared by those who use guns for hunting, shooting and just wanting to have the right to protect themselves against intruders. There was a rise in gun sales a few months back, and now we are seeing a rise in ammunition sales. Stores can't even keep it on their shelves, and manufacturers have...

From the wooden deck at Richard Martin’s Mission Canyon home, sweeping views of destruction can be seen in all directions. To the north, on a hillside that butts up against his home, the smoking skeletons of three of his neighbor’s houses were visible through the burned limbs of oak trees. To the west, a steep slope littered with charred bushes and trees. To the south, downed power lines lie on the darkened earth (at the height of the fire’s siege in the canyon, the power lines fell on Martin’s deck). To the east, the blackened edges of the Santa Barbara...

HAMPTON A Hampton man could face charges this morning after a domestic situation involving his 2-year-old daughter led to a house fire that spread to the suspect's pants. A 38-year-old man, whose name has not been released to the media, remains in a local hospital with burns. A name initially released to the media later proved to be incorrect. Police spokeswoman Allison Quinones said officers responded to a report of a domestic disturbance at 2:17 a.m. on Peachtree Lane and found the man standing outside the residence with a sharp object in each hand. When instructed by police to drop...

Randy Lenac said ever since he moved to Campo eleven years ago, he's lived in constant fear of fire. "As long as [illegal immigrants] are coming through this area, the threat of fire from their campfires is going to persist." Up to 50 immigrants a day travel onto Lenac's property. "We live with a daily intrusion of illegal immigrants on our property...it looks like a military camp when they leave." He worries that one will start a camp fire and not put it out properly. Lenac has spent $40-50,000 on his own fire extinguishing system, just in case. "I'm prepared"...

A man had to be rescued after setting the front of his house on fire while trying to kill a spider with a lighter. Firefighters say the man, in his 40s, had been trying to set fire to the spider as it crawled up the front of the semi-detached property But sparks reached material behind the cladding and caused a fire within the walls, shortly before midnight. Three fire engines raced to the scene in Portsmouth, Hants, and found the man trying to put out the flames with a garden hose. Firefighters in breathing apparatus removed the cladding and spent...

MOSCOW – A Moscow district police chief opened fire on the street and in a supermarket early Monday, killing three people and wounding seven others — four of them critically, Russian investigators said. Police Maj. Denis Yevsyukov, who heads a southern Moscow police department, opened fire just after midnight and was detained after killing a driver, a supermarket cashier and customer, federal investigators said in a statement. Yevsyukov, whose wife had recently left him, finished his late shift Sunday and hitched a ride to the supermarket, Moscow police chief Vladimir Pronin told Russian television. Yevsyukov was in civilian clothes, with...

Last week, an unruly mob of radical protestors at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill chased former U.S. congressman and anti-illegal immigration spokesman Tom Tancredo from his speaking engagement. Police were forced to use pepper spray at one point while protestors tried to push their way into an already packed room. Tancredo stopped speaking when protestors outside the building broke a window in the lecture hall (video) . Last night, it initially appeared that a similar mob might do the same to another former congressman, Virgil Goode, a Virginian who is an outspoken opponent of affirmative action and shares views...

One man was ticketed today possibly in connection with a fire that started near S.C. 90 and spread through Horry County. The man was ticketed for failure to notify the S.C. Forestry Commission about an outdoor burn and letting the fire spread to another's property, said Scott Hawkins, forestry spokesman. ''Were they the cause of the fire? We don't know that yet,'' Hawkins said. ''There is further investigation needed. Yes that burn caused a fire, but it doesn't mean it caused the [S.C.] 31 fire we are here to discuss today.'' The man's name was not immediately available. Forestry Commission...

Click on link for FIRE video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EbQfmVoOfM

From its half-mile-long driveway to its stunning, panoramic view high above a broad section of the James River, country-music legend Jimmy Dean’s Chaffin’s Bluff home has a lot to offer. But both amenities proved a nightmare for dozens of Henrico County firefighters who worked well into this morning to extinguish a fire that destroyed or severely damaged as much as 75 percent of Dean’s Varina-area home off Osborne Turnpike. Dean and his wife escaped the home unharmed, authorities said. . . . Buehren said the construction of the home made the fire difficult to contain. Its “balloon” construction system creates...

Links to a 15-minute video of students and professors discussing the orientation program in the dorms at the University of Delaware. After the program became public, it was widely criticized for being indoctrination and was abandoned.

52 Buildings Burn on Easter at New Hampshire Christian Center Sunday, April 12, 2009 ALTON BAY, N.H. — A massive Easter fire has damaged dozens of buildings on the grounds of a Christian center in New Hampshire. Firefighters tell the News 9 television station in Manchester that 52 buildings burned at the Alton Bay Christian Conference Center, 30 miles northeast of Concord. The buildings are cottage-type seasonal homes. There are no reports of civilian injuries. One firefighter has been hurt. The fire erupted at 4:30 p.m. Easter Sunday, when Christians were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fire's cause...

A woman whose infant daughters died in a fire after she left them home alone late last year was indicted on Thursday on two charges of criminally negligent homicide. Police say LaVera Moore left stovetop burners on for heat when she stepped out of her east Houston home on a cold night in December to buy cigarettes. Her 18-month-old twin daughters, Shakayla and Makayla Carroll, were asleep on the couch. Moore was gone for about 20 minutes, according to the police report, but when she came back she found her house engulfed in flames. Moore pounded frantically on a neighbor’s...

At least 40 firefighters are tackling a fire in a building in central London...at the Immigration and Appeals Commission building in Bream Buildings. There are no reports of any injuries or people being trapped in the building.

CABELL COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A woman who was living in a small metal storage building with her husband was injured in a fire Tuesday. Marsha Day is listed in good condition at Cabell Huntington Hospital, according to hospital spokesperson Charles Shumaker. Ms. Day's son, Lawrence Blankenship, tells WSAZ.com his mother was injured after she fell trying to extinguish the fire in the building. "My mom actually did not get burned. The way she got hurt was she ran back in and fell," Lawrence Blankenship said. "She was trying to put the fire out." One neighbor, Ethel Armstrong, said to...

<p>An argument over food stamps apparently prompted a northeast Houston man to throw a flammable liquid at another man who was standing over a stove in the kitchen of a boarding house, police said Thursday.</p> <p>The victim, 62, was listed Thursday in critical condition at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center after suffering burns over much of his body at the boarding house in the 2400 block of Pannell near Liberty, Houston police said.</p>

After detailed maps of local military operations and anti-government slogans were found in a south Minneapolis apartment, federal authorities are now involved in the investigation. The three tenants were evicted from the property this weekend, but what they left behind has caught the interest of the FBI and Homeland Security. A cleaning crew made the discovery shortly before 12 p.m. on Tuesday. One of the workers told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS they noticed maps on the walls with government chains and commands. Inside a closet, they found numerous rolls of maps. Authorities said the details are disturbing. "We ran into a...

ATLANTA -- A well-armed couple opened fire with an assault rifle and pistol early Friday morning on some car thieves in southwest Atlanta. The couple at a home in the 1900 block of Childress Drive told police that after somebody tried to steal their car last week, they rigged up a homemade alarm in their carport using string and cans.

Man dies after setting himself on fire outside Wal-Mart February 27, 2009 Sun-Times News Group A 58-year-old Wal-Mart employee set himself on fire Thursday night outside the west suburban store where he worked and later died of his injuries. “I can’t take it anymore,” the man told a police officer on the scene, said Randy Sater, a watch commander with the Bloomingdale Police Department. “People tried to help this guy but he didn’t want any part of it,” Sater said. “His motive was he wanted to die. It’s just tragic.” Sater said the man used lighter fluid to set himself...

Three set themselves on fire in Beijing 2 hrs 26 mins ago BEIJING (Reuters) – Three men set themselves on fire in the heart of downtown Beijing on Wednesday, state media reported, and at least one of them may come from China's restive Uighur minority, sources said. The trio ignited the blaze in their car at 3 p.m. (2 a.m. EST) at the intersection of the city's main thoroughfare and a high-end shopping street, the official Xinhua agency said, quoting a Beijing city spokesman. A witness saw "some kind of incendiary device" explode when police wrenched open the door of...

The Freehold Borough community is continuing to mourn the loss of Kaylee Ramos, 12, who lost her life in a fire that raged through her Court Street, Freehold Borough, home in the early morning hours of Feb. 2. Kaylee was a sixthgrade pupil at the Freehold Intermediate School.

POLICE have released an image of a man sought for questioning over a scrub fire that threatened houses at East Ivanhoe, in Melbourne's northeast. Up to 50 Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) officers fought the three hectare blaze blaze in scrub that began in the Yarra Flats at East Ivanhoe about 3pm (AEDT), police said. It's believed the fire was deliberately lit and police are investigating.

Angry survivors blame council 'green' policy Andrea Petrie, Arthurs Creek February 11, 2009 Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View ANGRY residents last night accused local authorities of contributing to the bushfire toll by failing to let residents chop down trees and clear up bushland that posed a fire risk. During question time at a packed community meeting in Arthurs Creek on Melbourne's northern fringe, Warwick Spooner — whose mother Marilyn and brother Damien perished along with their home in the Strathewen blaze — criticised the Nillumbik council for the limitations it placed on residents wanting the council's help...

(IsraelNN.com) Islamists reached new heights of audacity in a face-off with pro-Israel demonstrators in Malmö, Sweden on Sunday, firing rockets and throwing pipe bombs at the pro-Israel group in broad daylight and under police's noses. No one was hurt. The incident was videotaped by Swedish blogger Ted Ekeroth, whose blog contains videos showing the attack. Between 400 and 500 people gathered in Stortorget Square for a peaceful pro-Israeli protest. The police sealed off the entire square and only allowed in the protesters, as well as a smaller group of Islamists, and separated the two groups from each other. Blogger Ekeroth...

BEIJING — A fierce fire engulfed one of the Chinese capital’s most architecturally celebrated modern buildings on Monday, the last day of festivities for the lunar new year when the city was ablaze with fireworks. By late evening the blaze was still raging and the cause remained unknown, but it seemed clear that the 34-story structure, not yet completed, had been rendered unusable. The building, a luxury hotel and cultural complex designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, is part of China Central Television’s new headquarters, an angular two-legged behemoth built to coincide with the Beijing Olympics last year. Firefighters,...

Homeowners here would have to create 30-foot firebreaks around their houses clear of trees and brush under a wildfire-protection ordinance being proposed by town officials. The efforts are intended to prevent spread of fire and allow for safe evacuation for residents and safe access for firefighters. Town staff members and the Red, White and Blue Fire Protection District are working with the Colorado State Forest Service to develop a map designating the areas Within the proposed 30-foot firebreak, trees and vegetation that are well-spaced, well-pruned and unlikely to spread fire to other vegetation and structures may be exempt from cutting,...

FIFTY people are confirmed dead in bushfires that have devastated several Victorian communities. Police have just confirmed the new figure. 640 houses have been destroyed. While firebugs are being blamed for several blazes ravaging Victoria, the Country Fire Authority has confirmed that several fires are being deliberately relit by arsonists. CFA deputy chief Steve Warrington said an arsonist is hampering firefighters’ efforts in Churchill with an intense blaze taking hold. "We know we do have someone who is lighting fires in this community. While we often think it's spotting, we also know that there are people lighting fires deliberately," he...

BAGHDAD — A major milestone was reached recently in rebuilding Iraqi infrastructure, as the first class of firefighter managers graduated from the Iraq Joint National Fire Academy. The class was made up of 10 Civil Defense Corps and seven Iraqi Air Force firefighters from all over Iraq. This course, along with basic fire and rescue training, will produce a professional firefighting force to serve the people here. First Lieutenant Rad Badr, with Civil Defense Corps, is the manager of the Fire Academy. “The Iraqi Air Force was founded two and a half years ago and their firefighters are inexperienced. So...

the cathedral is on fire, second alarm called, flames through roof

An exclusive interview with a church Elder has provided The Collins Report with sobering new facts about the arson fire at Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s home church, the Wasilla Bible Church (WBC). WBC Elder Tom Ryan revealed never before reported facts about this vicious crime. FACT: The crime was a six count attempted Murder 1, not a simple arson of a coincidently occupied building. There were 5 adult women and a 17 year old girl in the church during the arson. The old media never reported this crime as attempted murders. Instead they have smothered the truth of this story....

SNIPPET: "The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation. The 2-story synagogue was undergoing major renovation."

On January 27, 1967, tragedy struck the Apollo program when a flash fire occurred in command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, the AS-204 mission. Three astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, a veteran of Mercury and Gemini missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the astronaut who had performed the first United States extravehicular activity during the Gemini program; and Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut preparing for his first space flight, died in this tragic accident. A seven-member board, under the direction of the NASA Langley Research...

Residents in a One-Mile radius of the Mark West Plant are asked to evacuate as a precaution. CLENDENIN -- A fire at the Mark West Plant near Clendenin is forcing authorities to evacuate the one-mile radius around the facility. It happened 8 p.m. and the evacuation is only as a precaution. There are several propane tanks near the fire which is located at 242 Elk River Road North. If residents need to find a place to evacuate, there is a shelter set up at Clendenin Community Center. So far no word on injuries at that fire. Stay with 13News and...

Two people were moderately-to-seriously injured after inhaling smoke from a massive fire that erupted at an Ashdod chemical plant on Wednesday evening. Police, concerned about a possible leak of dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere as a result of the blaze, warned the city's residents, as well as those living in the nearby communities of Nir Gali, Bnei Darom, Yeshivot Naveh Herzog and Gan Darom, to stay indoors and to keep their windows closed. Explosions heard coming from the plant earlier in the evening were apparently caused by the burning of chemicals stored at the site and not by the firing...

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. – Lou the mule brayed his way into his owner's heart with a New Year's warning that her rural Tennessee home was on fire.