Free Republic

Poor countries pulled out of the United Nations climate talks during a fight over transferring wealth from richer countries to fight global warming. The G77 and China bloc led 132 poor countries in a walk out during talks about “loss and damage” compensation for the consequences of global warming that countries cannot adapt to, like Typhoon Haiyan. The countries that left claim to have the support of other coalitions of poor nations, including the Least Developed Countries, the Alliance of Small Island States and the Africa Group. Poor countries have demanded that the developed world give them $100 billion annually...

Cab fares around Manhattan can be ridiculous, that's expected. But imagine paying more than $1 million just to own a licensed taxi in New York City. That's the reality now.The New York Times reported that the city's first taxi medallion auction since 2008 netted $200 million for the sale of 200 of the licenses, making the average price of entry to legally drive one of the roughly 15,000 yellow cabs is almost double what it was at that last auction. The medallion system goes back to the 1930s and was designed to keep the number of cabs limited to...

A pilot program in which surveillance cameras were installed near traffic signals in Rochester to catch motorists running red lights has been upheld by a judge who rejected the constitutional challenges of an attorney whose vehicle was among those caught on camera. The law, V&T §111-b, allowed the city of Rochester to install up to 50 cameras at intersections and authorized a civil fine of $50. Under the law, the owner, whether or not he or she was driving the vehicle, is liable for the fine but can sue the actual driver for indemnification. The statute makes clear that a...

I admit it, I drove in the car pool lane as a single driver. I got in a hurry and started playing that game of seeing what I could get away with. I drove from the Veteran's Hospital in Santa Rosa, toward San Rafael, past acres of vineyards, past sleep cows, past car lots full of vehicles and tried to save some time. All was well until some other driver peered out of her SUV to see me whizzing past, then and decided to join me in the express lane. That single driver was soon followed by another in one...

Hospitals across the nation are being swept up in the biggest wave of mergers since the 1990s, a development that is creating giant hospital systems that could one day dominate American health care and drive up costs. The consolidations are being driven by a confluence of powerful forces, not least of which is President Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act. That law, many experts say, is transforming the economics of health care and pushing a growing number of hospitals into the arms of suitors. The changes are unfolding with remarkable speed. Two big for-profit hospital chains, Community...

Daylight checkpoints

TUCUMCARI – A Tucumcari man’s five-year effort to be exonerated of charges for having an open container of O’Doul’s non-alcoholic beer in his car ran into a procedural hurdle Tuesday in 10th District Court. Judge Albert Mitchell threw out Gary Southern’s motion to have his conviction for having an open container of an alcoholic beverage in his car set aside because it was based on a writ of coram nobis, a procedural device that has been abolished in New Mexico courts. Mitchell then advised Southern that he had two options: He could appeal Mitchell’s decision of Tuesday or file a...

An Ohio man was charged with DUI after her was pulled over by the police, despite the fact that a breathalyzer test showed he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.000. 64-year-old Jessie Thornton who now lives in Surprise, Arizona said cops told him that they could tell he was drunk simply by looking at him. -snip- Surprise Police Department paperwork shows Thornton was 'pulled over for crossing the white line in his lane.' 'An officer walked up and he said ‘I can tell you’re driving DUI by looking in your eyes.’ I take my glasses off and he says, ‘You’ve...

ames Eades of Augusta is charged with obstruction of a police officer, stemming from an incident during Operation Thunder, but he says there is much more to the story than that. Eades says that he and a friend were driving down Alexander Drive early Friday morning when they came to an Operation Thunder Checkpoint on River Watch Parkway. What happened during that stop lead to Eades getting arrested... and he says it's all because he didn't roll down his window all the way "We saw what appeared to be an accident scene. A couple of police cars with blue lights,...

Two months after the City Council thought they voted to add more red-light cameras, Mayor Bill Foster slammed the brakes on the increase. Foster's announcement came at a council meeting Thursday after a frequent camera critic pointed out possible problems with the timing of yellow lights at intersections with cameras. Resident Matt Florell gave council members a report this week that showed that 1,645 drivers might have received improper citations because the yellow lights changed to red quicker than they should have in some intersections. Foster said he needs more time to examine the program because the cameras are generating...

El Cajon may be the next city to put a stop to red light cameras. ... San Diego removed its red light cameras last month

“In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldn’t be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so. That may sound harsh, but numerous law enforcement officials have put the matter more bluntly. . . . Police departments have been rewarded in recent years for the sheer numbers of stops, searches and arrests. In the war on drugs, federal grant programs like the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program have encouraged state and local law enforcement agencies to boost drug arrests in order to compete for millions of dollars in funding. Agencies receive cash rewards for arresting...

Red-light cameras are gaining popularity across the country. Now, New York City is being sued after it was accused of rigging the lights to catch more drivers and write more tickets. They’re “gotcha” cameras, mounted at intersections. Their photos catch and fine drivers running red lights. New York City first had them in 1998. ... By federal law, drivers have to have enough time to get through a yellow light — three seconds at the typical 30 mph intersection. Back in October, engineers at AAA New York discovered a problem. At some intersections with the cameras, the yellow lights were...

A 43-year-old state trooper has been charged with larceny, accused of stealing jewelry and cash from the victim of a fatal crash on Route 15 in Fairfield on Sept. 22. Trooper Aaron Huntsman, an 18-year veteran of the department, has been suspended from the department, according to state police. Police began investigating when the victim’s family determined that jewelry, clothing and cash were missing, state police said. The Connecticut Post is reporting that Huntsman is accused of stealing $3,000 in cash and a gold chain from the victim's body. The family obtained the victim’s clothes from the hospital, but were...

City lawmakers on Tuesday answered a mounting chorus of motorists who say the District is burdening them with pricey traffic-camera fines in an attempt to balance the local budget under the banner of public safety. A trio of D.C. Council members introduced the Safety-Based Traffic Enforcement Act of 2012 to cap fines at $50 for certain moving violations, such as exceeding the speed limit by up to 20 mph, blocking an intersection, failing to yield to a pedestrian, running a stop sign, failing to stop before turning right at a red light and turning right on red where it is...

New State Law Gets Tough on Illegal Speeders NEW ‘SUPER SPEEDER LAW’ STARTS NEW YEAR WITH NEW FINES (JANUARY 1, 2010) Georgia drivers should mark that date on their calendars and put a sticky note next to their keys.. January 1st, 2010. It’s the day the new state ‘Super Speeder Law’ goes into effect in Georgia. And any high-risk drivers who make a habit of ignoring posted speed limits will be the first to feel the pinch of higher state fines (called fees) on their wallets. How much higher? The new law titled HB160 tacks-on another two-hundred-dollar state-fee for any...

A former D.C. police officer admitted Thursday to falsifying logs regarding the testing of mobile photo-radar cameras that issue speeding tickets — a move that resulted in the department having to refund more than $17,000 in traffic ticket fines. ... the 22-year department veteran was supposed to be monitoring photo-radar equipment during overtime shifts and taking test photographs once an hour with the cameras to ensure they were working properly. In 2008 and 2009, prosecutors said Mr. Cephas failed to take the once-an-hour shots on 33 occasions and covered up the mistakes by rolling back the clock on the radar...

WASHINGTON -- The federal interstate highway system is showing its age, and, faced with the cost of repairing all those bumps and cracks, some states want to ask motorists to pay tolls on roads that used to be free. When the interstate system was created in 1956, a federal per-gallon gasoline tax was enacted to provide a stream of revenue for the Highway Trust Fund. The federal government paid 90 percent of the construction costs, with the states making up the rest. That model worked for decades, but no longer. Americans are driving less because of the economy and higher...

Investigators discovered FDOT was covering speed limit signs with plastic bags -- an apparent violation of federal guidelines that suggest speed limit signs be posted after every major intersection. Drivers pulling onto SR-60 westbound at SR-39 go nearly three miles without seeing a posted speed limit. Similarly, there are no signs posted for miles for drivers pulling onto SR-60 eastbound at Turkey Creek Rd. FHP wrote over 200 citations in the area from Nov. 25 to Dec. 22, but claims it is being lenient in enforcement. It wrote 225 warnings over the same time period.

Watch this report here.