Free Republic

Former President Obama on Tuesday highlighted several organizations providing relief to Maui residents in the wake of last week’s deadly wildfires as he urged people to donate to recovery efforts on the island. “If you’re looking for more ways to support folks in Lāhainā and on Maui, I hope you’ll consider donating to these local organizations that are providing direct support on the ground,” Obama said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Standing in a park overlooking the east Sutherland village of Helmsdale, a statue depicts a young family from the 19th century. The father is looking out to the North Sea, while the mother faces inland - casting a final glance at her beloved Strath of Kildonan. The Emigrants is a tribute to the thousands of Highlanders who sailed to the New World after being evicted from their homes during the Clearances in the 19th century. Between 1807 and 1820, approximately 2000 people were removed from their homes in Kildonan to make way for more profitable sheep farming. These traumatic and...

There may have been no rioting in the Highlands, but no one has been watching the arson and looting of Britain’s cities more closely than the Queen. With fewer than six months to her Diamond Jubilee, when celebrations are planned for the length and breadth of the kingdom, the disorder has alarmed aides planning the extravaganza. Central to their concern is not just the damage to the country’s image overseas, but also how quickly the feelgood factor engendered by April’s Royal Wedding has been lost. From her summer home in Balmoral, the Queen has kept in touch with developments and...

A man who is seeking the Republican nomination for president has chosen to spend Independence Day not in Iowa or New Hampshire but in front of Independence Hall where it all began. Herman Cain is joining Ambassador John Bolton, talk show host Dom Giordano, businessman Joey Venuto and former Highlands, N.J. Mayor Anna Little as speakers at the 2011 Energy Independence Day Tea Party to be held 1-3 p.m., July 4 at Independence Mall, 5th and Market streets, Philadelphia. "By joining us at Independence Mall this year, these statesmen are also recognizing the significance of our Tea Party theme," said...

Two weeks ago I took a Walk in the Park. It was touching, sad, funny, and educational and the best possible use of two hours of time. The park was a cemetery. It was populated by dead people who talked. This was the ninth year of the Walk in the Park, sponsored by the Highlands Historical Society. Each year the Society chooses seven or so residents of the cemetery, researches their stories, casts the actors and actresses, and invites the public to visit. It is an impressive experience to walk into a cemetery and see men and women, and sometimes...

N.J. Botanical Garden tests ways to thwart deer Sunday, April 17, 2005 RINGWOOD - One of the main attractions at the New Jersey Botanical Garden, the garden of annual flowers, is edged most of the way around by a pock-marked bare patch where a yew hedge once grew.It's going to cost $13,000 to fill it up with a hedge of the Green Mountain variety of boxwood.If you were to ask why this is necessary, Rich Flynn, landscape designer at Ringwood State Park, which includes the botanical garden as well as Skylands Manor, would look you in the eye and calmly...

Bill Van Keuren shouldn't have had any trouble selling his family's house. It's a three-story colonial with a formal dining room, thick mahogany doors, leaded-glass windows and an enclosed porch. A spring-fed lake is just steps away, past two tennis courts and a hot tub. The house sits on 145 acres of pristine Sussex County woodlands in a naturist resort. It is priced very attractively at $395,000. Still, it has languished on the market for more than a year, even as its price has been reduced from $450,000. How can such a home defy the roaring real estate market in...

<p>Last week, the powers-that-be installed a new stoplight in Highlands, NC. It’s on Carolina Way at the intersection with US 64, just east of Main Street. That makes four stoplights we have now. And it raises the question of why the 99.44% of my readers who live in a town larger than 1,000 people should care in the least bit about this major civic improvement.</p>

2004: Top finds on Bolivian highlandsFinnish scientists discovered the most significant relics of antiquity in recent Bolivian history. In the excavations on Pariti Island in Lake Titicaca, in the highlands of Bolivia, the historical-archaeological research team of the University of Helsinki discovered a ritual offering site with well-preserved pieces of ceramics. The find adds substantially to what is known about the Tiwanaku culture, which flourished before the Incas and for which the island was probably an important religious site. “The dig contained approximately 300 kilograms of deliberately broken ritual ceramics, which, according to radiocarbon dating, have been buried sometime between...

Positively relentless in saving Highlands Sunday, June 13, 2004  "They are so unassuming, so courteous, and yet they are so tenacious and passionate about protecting the environment." David Epstein, Highlands Task Force When it comes to saving North Jersey's environment, a group of women has proven that some crusading techniques are timeless.As legislators strode into the State House last week for a session that included a vote on the Highlands preservation bill, the halls were lined by environmental lobbyists - familiar faces from the Sierra Club and the activist Highlands Coalition. But among the most persistent at spurring passage of...

<p>I hate paying for bottled water. It costs a lot and there's nothing in it but water. Still, my daughter likes it. So I bought some and put it in the fridge. Then I decided to do a little experiment. Every time I noticed an empty bottle lying around, I would rinse it and refill it from the tap. Then I'd put it back next to the unopened bottles. To this day no one has noticed the difference.</p>

NEW JERSEY GENERAL ASSEMBLY JOE PENNACCHIO ASSEMBLYMAN, 26TH DISTRICT MORRIS AND PASSAIC COUNTIES 101 GIBRALTAR DRIVE, SUITE 1-A MORRIS PLAINS, NJ 07950 (978) 984-0922 Fax(978)984.8094 COMMITTEE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE For Immediate Release: May 20, 2004 Contact: Amie Forgatch 973-984-0922 until 4:30 P.M. 973-769-1374 after 4:30 P.M. Assemblyman to Governor: Where is the Money? Jefferson, NJ -- Assemblyman Joe Pennacchio (R-Morris, Passaic) today, at a press conference regarding the Highlands, made the following statement: On July 4th, we will be celebrating our Nation's 228th birthday. As we reflect on that day, we also remember the sacrifices that our fledgling nation made...

In April, the New Jersey Builders Association finally managed to muster an attack on legislation whose purpose it is said is to “conserve” a wide swath of northern New Jersey called the Highlands. In Congress, there’s also a Highlands Conservation Act (H.R. 1964 & S.999) that would give more than a $100 million to the governors of Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey for the same purpose. States are invited to identify land in the two million acre Highlands region that would be put under the control of government, thus effectively destroying the rights of private property owners in...

<p>Legislation introduced yesterday by state Sens. Bob Smith (D- Middlesex) and Robert Martin (R- Morris) would virtually ban development on important watershed lands in the northern Highlands.</p> <p>The proposed law -- and an identical version sponsored by Assemblyman John McKeon (D- Essex) -- largely follows the recommendations of Gov. James E. McGreevey's Highlands Task Force.</p>

A minor earthquake occurred at 18:24:17 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time on Tuesday, August 26, 2003. The magnitude 3.8 event occurred 1 km (1 miles) S of Milford, NJ. The hypocentral depth was 5 km ( 3 miles). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magnitude 3.8 Time Tuesday, August 26, 2003 at 18:24:17 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time Tuesday, August 26, 2003 at 3:24:17 PM (ADT) - Atlantic Tuesday, August 26, 2003 at 2:24:17 PM (EDT) - Eastern Tuesday, August 26, 2003 at 1:24:17 PM (CDT) - Central Tuesday, August 26, 2003 at 12:24:17 PM (MDT) - Mountain Tuesday, August 26, 2003 at 11:24:17 AM...

<p>WEST MILFORD -- In retrospect, Robert Skrypek said Sunday, jumping on the back of a black bear that was fighting with his golden retriever might not have been the best thing to do. But at the time, there was no other good option.</p>

Norse code taps back 9000 years to life in Highlands MARTYN McLAUGHLIN ARCHEOLOGISTS have discovered the remains of a 9000-year-old community that shows Scotland's earliest settlers may have been of Nordic origins. The site, halfway up the 4000ft Ben Lawers in Perthshire, has uncovered a range of flints and tools almost identical to those originally created in Norway. However, it came as a surprise. Dr John Atkinson, of Glasgow University, was leading a five-year project to excavate the area and was working on another site at the time. "We were looking at structures relating to the 1570s when we dug...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 March 22 Odyssey Over Mars Credit: THEMIS, Mars Odyssey Team, JPL, NASA Explanation: Scroll right and journey for 300 kilometers over Terra Sirenum in the cratered highlands of southern Mars. The infrared view, 32 kilometers wide, was recently recorded by the THEMIS camera on board the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Beginning at the north (left) edge, the scene sweeps across the floor and over the rim of...