Free Republic

A 23-year-old Crete woman who was killed in an accident at a Halloween party at a downtown luxury hotel was a Chicago public schools special education teacher who was "ready to make a difference," according to her family. The accident happened at 10:30 p.m. Saturday as Megan Duskey, of the 3600 block of Melanie Lane was attending the party at the Palmer House Hilton, 17 E. Monroe St., police said. While police have opened a death investigation into the incident, preliminary details indicate she was attempting to slide down a stair rail from the mezzanine level when she lost her...

President Obama's aides have booked the entire Taj Mahal hotel ahead of the president's high-profile visit to the Indian city rocked by a terrorist attack two years ago, The Economic Times reports. The newspaper reported that the Obama administration has reserved all 570 rooms, as well as the hotel's restaurants, to ensure airtight security when the president and first lady Michelle Obama visit Mumbai early next month. Dozens of other rooms have been booked elsewhere in the city. The Times reported that downtown Mumbai will be under heavy security while the president is in town

Copenhagen - Police in Denmark arrested a suspected possible suicide bomber Friday following a small explosion at a hotel in central Copenhagen, media reports said. Danish daily Extra Bladet showed on its website a photo of the suspect, who had reportedly attempted to blow himself up. Police did not immediately confirm the report. No one was injured in the explosion at the Jorgensen Hotel. Police handcuffed the man after he was seen running away from the hotel and into the nearby Orstedsparken park. The park was evacuated and the surrounding streets were cordoned off as explosive experts were called in....

Chemical leak sickens dozens at Las Vegas poolBy the CNN Wire Staff August 27, 2010 7:01 p.m. EDT (CNN) -- A chemical leak in the pool area of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, sickened as many as 100 people Friday, sending 12 of them to local hospitals, according to a spokeswoman for Clark County. It was not immediately clear what kind of chemical was responsible for the fumes, which caused some of the hotel's guests to have difficulty breathing, said Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling. About 200 people were evacuated from the area, Welling said. Video of...

Belgian police have arrested a 29-year-old alleged member of the Basque separatist group ETA in the northern port city of Ostend, according to a statement by the Spanish Interior Ministry. Spain’s Interior Ministry says Belgian police have arrested an alleged member of Basque separatist group ETA in the northern port city of Ostend. A ministry statement says Luis Maria Zengotitabengoa was arrested early Saturday by police acting on information provided by their Spanish counterparts. The 29-year-old is the subject of a European arrest warrant issued by Spain’s National Court on suspicion of transporting explosives to Portugal on behalf of ETA...

ST. PETERSBURG — Police say it was shortly after midnight Thursday when the two men climbed over a security fence at the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel. Nearby was the pool. But Michael Cline, 19, and Andrew Harris, 18, weren't there to swim, police say. In fact, their actions forced the hotel to clean and bleach the pool. The two were watched by Vinoy security guards as they befouled the swimming pool with human feces. Guards called police, who found the men in the hot tub. Harris told police he wasn't a guest at the Vinoy and wasn't visiting anyone, but he...

Ever since the horrific public assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane at the Marriott Hotel in New York City in 1990, there has been a small, yet vocal group of individuals trying to get certain US authorities - both state and federal - to pay attention to his murder. Their many entreaties both for personal justice and for a wider investigation fell on deaf ears. Nonetheless, the ramifications from the inaction of these US authorities can no longer be ignored. This small group's personal pain at the rabbi's cold-blooded assassination fueled their initial anguished pleas. However, there was much more underlying...

ATLANTA - Atlanta police say a man killed while trying to rob an airport-area hotel apparently shot himself. Police say the man shot the clerk at the Travelodge Atlanta Airport in the abdomen during a robbery Sunday afternoon.

NOTE The following text SNIPPET is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: Non-Specific Threat to Serena Hotel Islamabad CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS South / Central Asia - Pakistan 5 Aug 2010 U.S. Embassy Islamabad released the following Warden Message on August 5, 2010: This Warden Notice is to notify American citizens that access to the Serena Hotel in Islamabad has been temporarily halted while security officials investigate a non-specific telephonic threat. The Embassy has no further details at this time, but has advised personnel to avoid the area around the Serena...

NEW YORK (CBS) Portland police questioned former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in San Francisco Thursday regarding renewed allegations that he sexually assaulted massage therapist Molly Hagerty in 2006, according to t-v station KATU. On July 1, Portland police re-opened their investigation into the red-haired masseuse's claims that Gore, who was in Portland as part of a global warming speaking tour, attempted to sexually assault her during a massage at the posh downtown Hotel Lucia on Oct. 24, 2006. Police spokeswoman Mary Wheat refused to disclose the reason behind the case's re-opening after it was previously closed twice because of...

Cue up the music from "Life Styles of the Rich and Famous"! The Obamas are going to bring the kids to Spain. They will be staying in a city called 'Marbella'. You know it takes a lot out of a boy king to have to deal with oil spills, two wars, and JournoList! He has to go where he is loved and appreciated: Europe. So, any suggestions where they and the kids should eat? Any good Spanish/Muslim hang outs? How about deserts and soul food? Certainly freepers can come up with a few good suggestions. I found a site with...

Boy Survives Falling Off Balcony After Bouncing Off Palm Trees A four-year-old boy had a lucky escape after falling from a 17th floor hotel balcony only to bounce off palm trees and land with minor injuries. By Paul Thompson 06 Jun 2010 Rescuers found Joey Williams still alive after he bounced off a cluster of palm trees and landed on a dirt surface near the hotel's swimming pool. Apart from surviving the 80ft fall he somehow managed to land between two pipes jutting up from the ground. Less than four hours after the fall at his hotel in Miami, Florida,...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2010/harrison.ind.htm JULY 9, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BLACK MARKET TRAVEL AGENTS 38 DEFENDANTS INDICTED IN MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD LOCAL INVESTIGATION EXPOSES NATIONWIDE NETWORK THAT USED STOLEN IDENTITIES, CREDIT CARDS TO PURCHASE AIRLINE TICKETS KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that 38 defendants from across the United States have been charged in a series of indictments that allege an extensive network of black market travel agents who used the stolen identities of thousands of victims as part of a multi-million dollar fraud scheme...

A Portland massage therapist gave local police a detailed statement last year alleging that former Vice President Al Gore groped her, kissed her and made unwanted sexual advances during a late-night massage session in October 2006 in a suite at the upscale Hotel Lucia. The woman told investigators that she informed two friends and kept the clothes she wore that night, including her black pants with stains on them. But Portland police didn't contact any of the woman's friends, obtain the potential evidence or interview anyone at the hotel, records show. "The case was not investigated any further because detectives...

Talk about the enemy using our freedoms against us. This Muslim owned hotel is openly exploiting our 14Th Amendment. Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the...

Note: Photo included. # SNIPPET: "Two French security advisers helping the Somali government have been kidnapped in the capital Mogadishu, French officials have said. Gunmen who were wearing police uniforms entered the hotel where the two were staying and took them away, eyewitnesses said. The abductions took place in a government-held part of Mogadishu. Islamist rebels are battling troops from the UN-backed interim government for control of the city." SNIPPET: "The French foreign ministry said the two advisers were in Mogadishu on an official mission to provide help to the government. They were seized at the Sahafi Hotel, which has...

SNIPPET: "Young Muslims in the U.S. are becoming radicalized in a new way: on the Internet. Radical clerics such as Abdullah Faisal are directing young Muslim men to take up violent jihad. Faisal, who recently set up shop in Jamaica, has alleged ties to terrorist plots around the world." SNIPPET: "Faisal is one of the best known radical clerics on the Internet today." SNIPPET: "Faisal, 46, is a Jamaican convert to Islam..." SNIPPET: "We met him at an American hotel in Montego Bay. It became clear later that the Jamaican staff all knew exactly who he was and were rattled...

Less than a day after gun rights organization Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC) put the Marriott hotel chain on its “Don’t Buy” list, input to Marriott is coming in from around the country. After National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea, Seattle Gun Rights Examiner (and Senior Editor of “Gun Week”) Dave Workman, and Knoxville GRE Liston Matthews followed up on this writer’s original piece, anti-Marriott postings began appearing on gun forums such as The High Road nationwide. (Also see David's interview on "Trigger Sports Live"). As you recall in yesterday’s article, the Charlotte Marriott City Center first took the money...

90 million gun owners are a force to be reckoned with. The so-called "gun lobby" has its purpose, but it is not hiding under every bed in every case of speaking out. Individuals speak out in their own voice, because individuals suffer various indignities hardly none of us would really stand for. Gun owners put up with a lot of crap, nearly all of it illegal and certainly dangerous. How gun control goes, so goes the nation. How would you like to be ambushed for your political beliefs? Gun owner or not, how do you feel about courtesies and such...

Note: Video included. SNIPPET: "New information tonight about the man who confessed to setting fire to a Southeast Austin hotel. Arson investigators here say the man is a Moroccan National who went to school at St. Edward's in the 90's and who hasn't lived in the United States in eight years. His motive for setting the fire remains a mystery tonight. Flames and billowing black smoke poured out of the America's Best Value Inn Sunday. A day later, hotel guests relived the harrowing moments as they escaped the fire." SNIPPET: "Investigators say 33-year-old Mohamed Lahlou, who checked into the hotel...