Free Republic

Police are investigating after a British nuclear energy expert involved in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme fell 40 metres to his death from a UN building in Vienna. Officials announced today (Weds) that the man – named as Timothy Hampton – died on the spot yesterday after a fall from the 17th floor at Vienna International Centre (VIC), one of the United Nations’ (UN) main headquarters along with New York, Nairobi and Geneva. Authorities said the 47-year-old man – a member of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) – had joined the UN’s current talks with Iran over...

A British nuclear expert has fallen to his death from the 17th floor of the United Nations offices in Vienna. The 47-year-old man died after falling more than 120ft to the bottom of a stairwell. He has not been named. He worked for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, an international agency charged with uncovering illicit nuclear tests. A UN spokesman in the Austrian capital said there were no "suspicious circumstances" surrounding the man's death. Police said no other person was believed to have been involved. No suicide note has been found. Four months ago another UN worker also believed to...

Ah yes....the nation votes a black man into the highest office in the land and many expected to hear a little bit less of "white America hates the black man" kind of complaint. That wasn't the case with many saying "yeah but." Maybe they were right....racism still is a big problem: A university student has provoked a race storm after she was crowned as the first white winner of a beauty pageant at a predominantly black university. Nikole Churchill claimed she was subjected to racial abuse after she won the pageant at Hampton University in Virginia. She was so outraged...

Published: 7:00AM BST 19 Oct 2009 Nikole Churchill, 22, won the contest at the college town in southern Virginia, but while she was all smiles, not everyone in the community was happy about the victory, the Times reports. As well as the walkout, Miss Churchill had to contend with scowls, rather than the traditional sunny smiles, when she posed for a portrait with the runners up. All nine of the other contestants in the competition were black. The following day Miss Churchill was heckled at a college football game and a previous Miss Hampton University said she was "very shocked"...

First Non-Black Miss Hampton U Says Sorry Apologizes for saying people disapproved her win because of her skin color Oct . 14, 2009 HAMPTON, Va. - The first non-black winner of the annual beauty pageant at historically black Hampton University says she's sorry for writing a letter to President Barack Obamacontending her crowning was not “widely accepted” on campus because she is not black. Nikole Churchill, 22, a senior nursing major from Hawaii who attends the Virginia Beach campus, won the 15th annual Miss Hampton U scholarship pageant on Friday. She beat out nine black students. Two days after her...

By Samieh Shalash 247-4537 October 13, 2009 HAMPTON - Hampton University crowned its first non-black Miss HU Friday, leading to a division on campus that prompted her to write President Barack Obama. Nikole Churchill, 22, competed against nine black students in the 15th annual Miss HU scholarship pageant. The senior nursing major attends the Virginia Beach campus and is the competition's first non-black winner, according to executive pageant director Shelia J. Maye. Churchill, who is from Hawaii, wrote Obama on Sunday to tell him that her crowning was met with negative comments because of her skin color. She invited him...

Doug Hampton, the supposed blackmailer of John Ensign, went to Megan Kelly of Fox News for help, the week before the story broke. "I love this country and considered it a great privilege to work in the US (sic) Senate. I am bringing this to you and Fox News to address this professionally and correctly. I could have sought the most liberal, Republican hating media to expose this story, but there are people’s lives at stake and justice is about proper process as well as outcome. Senator Ensign has no business serving in the US (sic) Senate anymore! I will...

Reporting from Washington and Las Vegas -- The 19-year-old son of a woman who reportedly had an affair with Nevada Sen. John Ensign was being paid by the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the relationship, federal election records show. Brandon Hampton, who shares an address with former Ensign staffers Doug and Cynthia Hampton, was paid $5,400 between March 2008 and August 2008. The payments, for "research policy consulting," ended the same month as the affair, which was said to begin in December 2007. Ensign staffers and committee officials did not return calls seeking comment.

One of the aspects of the Michael Vick dog fighting investigation that hasn't gotten much attention is how it all started. So let's explain: It all started with a dog named Troy. Troy is a Dutch shepherd (that's a Dutch shepherd in the photo, but it's not Troy) who joined the police department in Hampton, Va., last year. During a patrol outside a Hampton nightclub in April, Troy alerted his handler that he smelled drugs in the trunk of a car. Police found marijuana in the car, which turned out to belong to Vick's cousin, Davon Boddie. After arresting Boddie,...

HAMPTON, Ga. - Bill Lester was proud of his accomplishment, though a little embarrassed by all the attention. "I'm looking forward to when it's about racing instead of race," he said. Lester became the first black driver to compete in NASCAR's top series since Willy T. Ribbs in 1986, finishing six laps off the pace in 38th place Monday at the Golden Corral 500, won by Kasey Kahne. The 45-year-old Lester, a regular in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series since 2002, accomplished one of his stated goals, avoiding a crash and racing to the end of the 500-mile race, postponed on...

To many South Carolinians, Columbia’s Wade Hampton III is a statue on the State House lawn, a name on a government building or the fading personification of a past perhaps best forgotten. To Civil War buffs, Hampton was an innovative Rebel cavalry leader, overshadowed in fame by the vainglorious J.E.B. Stuart and the vicious genius, Nathan Bedford Forrest. But a recent, popular biography — the first in-depth study since 1949 — and an upcoming exhibit at the Confederate Relic Room and Museum offer more insight into Hampton. Born to one of the wealthiest families in the South, Hampton died in...

Grew Up in the Projects, Fed Up with Democrats September 9, 2005 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Janet in Hampton, Virginia, we'll start with you today. Great to have you with us. CALLER: Rush? RUSH: Yes. CALLER: Yes. This is Janet. Listen, one thing I've been so angry about-- RUSH: Janet, hold it, you must do me a favor here. I have a little bit of a hearing problem on the phone this week for some reason. Would you slow down what you say a little bit so that I can understand? CALLER: All right. RUSH: Thanks. CALLER: I'm just so...

NORFOLK – Three amphibious ships and a rescue and salvage vessel began leaving port today in a race to the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, bringing everything from baby formula to bulldozers to desperate Americans. "We told the crews we’ve got a disaster of proportions that we’ve never seen before," Capt. Sinclair M. Harris, commodore of Amphibious Squadron Four, said in the pre-dawn darkness as his ships loaded relief supplies. "We’ve got American citizens who have been harmed, and we just need to get there." The amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, the dock landing ship Tortuga, the amphibious transport dock...

An American Traitor: Guilty As Charged By Henry Mark Holzer and Erika HolzerFrontPageMagazine.com | June 10, 2005For three decades Jane Fonda obfuscated, distorted and lied about virtually everything connected with her wartime trip to North Vietnam: her motive, her acts, her intent, and her contribution to the Communists’ war effort.  With the aid of clever handlers, she so successfully suppressed and spun her conduct in Hanoi that many Americans didn’t know what she had done there, and, more important, the legal significance. Three years ago, our book, “Aid and Comfort”: Jane Fonda in North Vietnam (McFarland & Co.), laid bare...

Ex-stripper Diana Hampton will soon have something new to wear - judicial robes. Hampton was elected to the Municipal Court in Henderson, Nevada on Tuesday, defeating Michael Miller in a run-off by 176 votes. Hampton, 39, had acknowledged during the campaign that she worked at a Las Vegas striptease club to help pay her way through college 14 years ago. She called it "a fact of life" and said she hoped the interest it drew to her candidacy would eventually die down. She was elected to a six-year term.

Suspect Shot During Robbery Attempt at Hampton Food Lion Caleb Joshua Carr Hampton police say a man attempting to hold up a grocery store was shot by a store security guard Monday night.The 19-year old suspect, identified as Caleb Joshua Carr of the 3500 block of Kecoughtan Road, is in intensive care with a gunshot wound to the head. He is listed in stable condition. According to authorities, it was around 10:42pm when the guard inside the Food Lion in the 3800 block of Kecoughtan Road saw a masked man jump over a counter and demand money from a cashier....

Search Resumes for Missing Girl in Fla. February 26, 2005 11:11 AM EST HOMOSASSA, Fla. - Police and volunteers scoured the community and nearby woods Saturday for a 9-year-old girl who vanished from her bedroom. More than 250 people gathered at Faith Baptist Church on a cool, overcast morning to join the search for Jessica Marie Lunsford. Buses took groups of the volunteers to the woods and marshes of western Citrus County, about 60 miles north of Tampa. Some searched on foot while others rode horses and all-terrain vehicles. Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Hampton, a Homosassa native, and his wife...

Bryan Lafond, in a photo taken at his home, before going to the holiday dance at Hampton Academy Junior High School on Friday night.HAMPTON - A parent of a Hampton Academy Junior High School student says the principal of the school told his son to leave the school’s holiday dance on Friday night because the boy was dressed in a Santa Claus costume, which was politically incorrect. Michael Lafond said his son, Bryan, went to the dance dressed as Santa because it was a holiday party. "He asked if he could dress like Santa and we said yes," said Lafond....

Educators Debate Efforts to Rename Schools HAMPTON, Va. - At Jefferson Davis Middle School, a civil war of words is being waged over a petition drive to erase the name of the slave-owning Confederate president from the school. Opinion is mixed, and it's not necessarily along racial lines. "If it had been up to Robert E. Lee, these kids wouldn't be going to school as they are today," said civil rights leader Julian Bond, now a history professor at the University of Virginia. "They can't help but wonder about honoring a man who wanted to keep them in servitude." That...

The Transformation of Dr. Erenestine Harrison by Gail Jarvis In a recent LRC blog post, Elizabeth Wright discusses the transformation of Dr. Erenestine Harrison who, as a concerned black resident of Hampton, Virginia, began a petition to change the names of two primarily black schools that were named after Confederate heroes: Robert E. Lee Elementary School and Jefferson Davis Middle School. However, Harrison later withdrew her request. In an interview, Dr. Harrison cited two basic reasons for her change of heart. First, the flood of email and letters she received from Southern heritage supporters that provided information previously unknown to...

(AP) - Hampton resident Erenestine Harrison has dropped her petition to rename Jefferson Davis Middle School in response to strong arguments from individuals and groups dedicated to Southern history. "They convinced me, basically, that this means so much to them," Harrison said. "I don't think the black community cares as much about removing (the name) as much as they care about preserving it."Earlier, she decided to forgo a campaign to change the name of Robert E. Lee Elementary School because she uncovered information indicating the Confederate general's family opposed slavery.Davis served as president of the Confederate States of America during...

HAMPTON -- The woman who proposed striking the names of Confederate leaders from two Hampton schools has dropped half of her petition, saying she's gained new perspective on the character and legacy of Gen. Robert E. Lee. "By looking at his own words, you really can see he was a good, honorable man," said Erenestine Harrison, author of the petition. "The things that changed my mind about Robert E. Lee, I really had to look deep."

<p>CAPE CANAVERAL -- A NASA manager criticized for his role in the Columbia disaster was tapped Friday to direct a new safety and engineering watchdog group that will oversee all space agency programs.</p> <p>Ralph Roe, a former shuttle program manager reassigned in the wake of the Feb. 1 accident, will head up the NASA Engineering and Safety Center at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.</p>

A Hampton woman has started a petition to change the names of Robert E. Lee Elementary and Jefferson Davis Middle schools, saying it's inappropriate and psychologically damaging to send a predominantly black student population into buildings named after Confederate leaders. ...suggests that Lee be renamed Maya Elementary School in honor of poet Maya Angelou and that Davis be changed to Beth-Day, after social activist Mary McLeod Bethune and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

CDC reacts to deaths with alert to officials By STEVE STONE AND MICHELLE MIZAL-ARCHER , The Virginian-Pilot © February 23, 2003 Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are alerting every state health agency to watch for child deaths similar to those that have occurred in recent weeks in Virginia, Michigan and Ohio. So far, the CDC has received reports of at least 14 children nationally who have died suddenly after experiencing upper respiratory infections and fevers. The alert is entirely routine, a CDC spokeswoman said Saturday. Local, state and federal officials said there is still...

Pediatric offices and emergency rooms in Hampton Roads were jammed Friday with parents anxious to make sure their children's fevers and runny noses weren't life-threatening, as health investigators continued to study the unexplained deaths of five children in five days. ``I took off work to bring my daughter in,'' said Mashiah Mitchell, who brought his 4-year-old daughter, Asha, to Renaissance Pediatrics in Chesapeake because she had a fever. ``I got alarmed when I heard the news about the children dying.'' The fears were triggered by an investigation launched Thursday by the Virginia Department of Health into the deaths of four...

Deaths of five children in four days spark investigation By STEVE STONE, The Virginian-Pilot © February 21, 2003 State and local health officials are investigating the sudden deaths of five children since Sunday, four of them in Hampton Roads. ``It's a very unusual occurrence to have five young children, who to our knowledge are healthy, have sudden deaths in this short time,'' said Dr. Robert B. Stroube, the state health commissioner. Stroube urged parents not to panic. ``It may just be a purely chance event, and these cases may have absolutely nothing in common,'' Stroube said. Still, anyone with an...

Health officials seek answers in deaths of five local children By STEVE STONE, The Virginian-Pilot © February 21, 2003 Last updated 8:58 PM Feb. 20 The Virginia Department of Health is working with local health officials to see if there is any common cause in the deaths of five children that have occurred in as many days. Four of the children died in Hampton Roads, one in Richmond. All of the children were 7 or younger and all suffered from upper respiratory infections. ``We are concerned about the recent deaths of these children, and we are rapidly investigating to determine...

RICHMOND, Feb. 21 -- Five children who died in southeast Virginia in the past week had no contact with each other and did not attend the same schools or take similar medicines, according to state health officials, who also dismissed bioterrorism as a cause of the mysterious deaths. The five boys and girls -- from Richmond, Hampton, Virginia Beach, and Portsmouth -- had one thing in common before their unexpected deaths: an apparent viral infection that caused flu-like symptoms, including sore throat, wheezing, coughing, ear infections, and low-grade fevers

WASHINGTON - A NASA (news - web sites) safety engineer warned days before Columbia broke apart that he feared the shuttle was at risk for a devastating breach near its left wheel, and he suggested people in the space agency weren't adequately considering the threat. "We can't imagine why getting information is being treated like the plague," the engineer wrote in one of a number of e-mails released Friday that describe greater concerns about Columbia's safety in the days before its breakup. Other documents NASA released show that Columbia may have been struck by as many as three large chunks...