Free Republic

The City of Boston will offer to loan the Bay State Banner up to $200,000 to keep the cash-strapped weekly newspaper from shutting down permanently, Mayor Thomas M. Menino said last night. The mayor told the Globe that the loan will come from the Boston Local Development Corp. fund, a private nonprofit administered by the Boston Redevelopment Authority that provides financial infusions to struggling small businesses. The mayor said the loan is not an attempt to garner favor from the Banner, which focuses on the black community and has often covered Menino critically. “This is about me helping a business...

A tiny Mississippi delta town has elected its first black mayor after the white incumbent, unopposed for 30 years, faced a young challenger inspired by President Barack Obama's feat in winning the White House. In a shock result in Alligator (population 220), Tommie “Tomaso” Brown, 38, defeated Robert Fava, the mayor since 1979, owner of the general store and once his opponent’s boss, by 37 votes to 27. Mr Brown’s surprise victory was a milestone for Alligator, which is named after the curving lake nearby rather than the alligators that once occupied it. Although the only three businesses in the...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRyw1JnAstg Turn in folks for $1000...

A tiny Mississippi delta town has elected its first black mayor after the white incumbent, unopposed for 30 years, faced a young challenger inspired by President Barack Obama's feat in winning the White House. In a shock result in Alligator (population 220), Tommie “Tomaso” Brown, 38, defeated Robert Fava, the mayor since 1979, owner of the general store and once his opponent’s boss, by 37 votes to 27.

" warning " comeing to a neighbor near you

Willie Brown, Mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004 & Speaker of the California Assembly from 1980 to 1995 had this to say about Governor Palin: The pundits are wrong. Conventional wisdom is wrong. Sarah Palin's decision to step down as Alaska governor was a brilliant move.

S.F. mayor orders healthy food in cityPosted on: Thursday, 9 July 2009, 19:48 CDT All San Francisco city departments must audit unused land in the city to see if it can be turned into community gardens or farms, the mayor said. In addition, food vendors contracting with the city must offer healthful and sustainable food, all vending machines on city property must offer healthful food options and farmers' markets must begin accepting food stamps, Mayor Gavin Newsom said, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. There also will be no more doughnut shop runs before meetings and conferences held by city workers,...

Grambling Mayor Martha Andrus was arrested this morning and booked at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center. Andrus turned herself in to Louisiana State Police Detectives at the Lincoln Parish Detention Center around 10 a.m. today. She was booked for two counts of unauthorized use of a moveable and two counts of malfeasance in office, Trooper First Class Mark Dennis, a spokesman for the Louisiana State Police, said in a statement. These charges stem from an investigation that began in January. The charges of unauthorized use of a moveable have to do with the misuse of city funds, Dennis said. Andrus...

WASHINGTON - Police say former Washington Mayor Marion Barry has been arrested and charged with stalking a woman. The United States Park Police said Barry, a current D.C. Council member, was arrested Saturday in Washington after a woman flagged down an officer and complained that Barry was stalking her. Barry was charged with misdemeanor stalking and released.

Reports: Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry Arrested The charges against Barry reportedly involve a domestic situation, but allegations against him are unclear. FOXNews.com Sunday, July 05, 2009 Washington D.C. councilman and former mayor Marion Barry was arrested Saturday night, police told NBC 4 in Washington. "It's my understanding that he was taken into custody," Park Police Chief Sal Lauro told the Washington Post. The charges against Barry reportedly involve a domestic situation, but allegations against him are unclear. Barry served four terms as mayor and is known for brushes with the law.

PORTLAND, Ore. — A cell phone text exchange between Portland Mayor Sam Adams and the young man who was briefly his lover predicts "we are both ruined" shortly after the affair became public early this year. In documents released by the Oregon attorney general’s office on Tuesday, a four-page redacted summary of e-mail exchanges between Adams and Beau Breedlove last January show mutual concern for the breaking scandal. In one exchange on Jan. 27, apparently from Breedlove to Adams, Breedlove writes: "Well, now we are both ruined. Disgraced and ashamed. I’m sorry Sam." He continues: "I’m the felon, the slutty...

The prosecution in the corruption trial of former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and others gave jurors a tantalizing glimpse of what authorities called a web of intrigue in which black leaders solicited bribes from white developers because, they said, it was time for those developers to pay. “The game has done changed,” defendant Darren Reagan is heard saying on an audio tape played during opening statements by the prosecution. Defense opening statements were taking place this afternoon. In a surprising development, Hill's attorney, Ray Jackson, said his client would take the stand during the trial. Prosecutors say Reagan...

The prosecution in the corruption trial of former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and others gave jurors a tantalizing glimpse of what authorities called a web of intrigue in which black leaders solicited bribes from white developers because, they said, it was time for those developers to pay. “The game has done changed,” defendant Darren Reagan is heard saying on an audio tape played during opening statements by the prosecution. Defense opening statements were taking place this afternoon. In a surprising development, Hill's attorney, Ray Jackson, said his client would take the stand during the trial. Prosecutors say Reagan...

CLAYTON, Ga. — Naked time got a little out of hand for a former Gainesville mayor. Authorities arrested Mark Musselwhite and charged him with public indecency last weekend after state Department of Natural Resources officers found him sitting nude at his Rabun County campsite. Officers had received a complaint about a naked man walking along a nearby road earlier in the day, but the 43-year-old Musselwhite said he was not the same man.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Friday, June 26, 2009 A former mayor found sitting naked and holding a beer at a Rabun County campsite told police he wasn’t the same naked man seen walking around earlier. Mark Musselwhite, 43, said he was hot and had been in the creek, according to a Georgia Department of Natural Resources incident report. He apparently didn’t think he was doing anything wrong. Musselwhite, of Gainesville, was arrested last weekend after being confronted by state DNR authorities. He was charged with public indecency. “He told me he was the ex-mayor of the city Gainesville and he was...

MINNEAPOLIS - The city of Minneapolis is spending nearly $200,000 to sell something that would seem to sell itself: tap water. With her bottle of water in hand, Susan Davis was feeling hot and a little guilty. “It would be great if everyone did drink the tap water,” said Davis. “I think the tap water in Minneapolis is just fine.” Tap Minneapolis is the city's new web site, and PR campaign to promote the city's tap water. But unlike tap water, it's not cheap. The web site costs $75,000. The total cost paid to the PR firm was $180,000.

Veterans In Politics Talk Show Introduces Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck LIVE on www.AllTalkRadio.net June 27: Susan M. Holecheck Mayor of the City of Mesquite: "Veterans In Politics" is a weekly radio show produced by the Veterans In Politics International and hosted by Steve Sanson and co-hosted by Ronda Baldwin Kennedy. The "Veterans In Politics" show is live every Saturday 2:05 PM Pacific Time you can call in and speak to the guest or/and hosts at (702) 309-6690.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Steve Cohen, a two-term white congressman from a mostly black House district, faces a bruising Democratic primary next year and race again will likely be at the center of the campaign. Willie Herenton, the first elected black mayor of Memphis, recently filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for Cohen's 9th District House seat. Cohen has shrugged off black challengers before, but none with the political savvy and combative style of the 6-foot-6 mayor—a former Golden Gloves boxer who doesn't shrink easily from a fight. -snip-

Family advocates are outraged by a prom held at Boston City Hall that was open to children apparently as young as 12 featuring crossdressers, homosexual heavy petting, suspected drug use and a leather-clad doorman who teaches sexual bondage classes. Children from middle schools and high schools across Massachusetts on May 9 attended a Youth Pride Day event ending with a prom inside of Boston City Hall sponsored by the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Youth, or BAGLY, a group seated on the Massachusetts Commission for GLBT Youth. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino issued a proclamation welcoming homosexual and transgender...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says he has lost confidence in the inspector general who investigates AmeriCorps and other national service programs and has told Congress he is removing him from the position. Obama's move follows an investigation by IG Gerald Walpin of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is an Obama supporter and former NBA basketball star, into the misuse of federal grants by a nonprofit education group that Johnson headed....

NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin described his experience being quarantined in China amid fears of swine flu exposure as "very surreal" in an interview with WDSU on Wednesday night.

Mayor Shirley Franklin disputes a political blog’s ranking of Atlanta as the nation’s second most dangerous municipality, reiterating her claim that the city is “safer now than it has been in decades.” “The blog’s rankings are based on incorrect data; they are contrary to the findings of reputable authorities on crime data; and they ignore Atlanta’s 7-year track record of crime reduction,” Franklin said Monday in a press release. The ranking, compiled by the Web site Real Clear Politics, was derived by dividing the total crimes detailed in the FBI’s 2008 Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report by city population. Real...

New Orleans, LA (AHN) - Reports are stemming from local New Orleans media that Mayor C. Ray Nagin is being quarantined in Shanghai after possibly being exposed to the H1N1 virus on his business trip in China. Nagin administration spokeswoman Ceeon D. Quiett said Nagin is being treated with the "utmost courtesy by Chinese officials." According to the Mayor's website, the purpose of the trip was to "meet with four prospects interested in the possibility of locating their businesses in New Orleans."The website also notes that Nagin is expected to travel to Sydney, Australia, "where he will be the keynote...

"The Republican nominee for Pittsburgh's top office is its Democratic mayor.Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's campaign confirmed today that he will accept the GOP nod for mayor, after the Allegheny County Elections Division released its official count of Republican write-in votes in last month's primary. Mr. Ravenstahl, a lifelong Democrat, got 607, versus 189 for Squirrel Hill Republican John Wander, who ran a last-minute write-in nomination bid."

Mayor Ray Nagin, who traveled to China on an economic development trip, flew on a plane that carried a passenger being treated for symptoms suspected to be from the virus, commonly known as the swine flu virus, the mayor's office said in a statement. Nagin, his wife and a member of his security detail have been quarantined in Shanghai, China, though all three are symptom free, the statement said. "The mayor is being treated with utmost courtesy by Chinese officials," the statement said. Ceeon Quiett, the mayor's director of communications, told CNN that Nagin had been sitting beside a passenger...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and his wife have been placed in quarantine after a passenger on their flight to China exhibited flu-like symptoms. Nagin's press office said a passenger had "signs and symptoms of an influence-like illness suspected to be of the H1N1 subtype." This comes amid continued global concerns about swine flu. The office said Sunday the couple and a security guard were placed under quarantine in Shanghai as a precaution and were exhibiting no symptoms.

FROM the time we are little kids and see that first big red "F" scrawled across the top of a quiz, we try to steer clear of failure. Failure is personal - which is why Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa must be very unhappy these days. A trip to the grocery store or even his beloved LAX newsstands will be joyless for the entire month of June, thanks to Ed Leibowitz and those killjoys at Los Angeles Magazine. "Failure" is the headline plastered on the cover of the latest issue. Right there in big letters across the mayor's body, an epitaph to...

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Police Chief Val Demings unveiled Tuesday a new initiative aimed at curbing juvenile crime. The city spent $30,000 in forfeiture funds, [seized drug money] to make 5,000 posters and bracelets that say, "Choose peace." Officers say 63 percent of all murders in Orlando last year were committed by people under the age of 25. A giant bill board was unveiled with a message the City of Orlando hopes to get across to young people. They're targeting Orlando's youth because of the statistics from last year's homicides. Officers will say they will...

If Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa does decide to run for governor - as many expect he will - he won't be using the cover of the latest issue of Los Angeles Magazine for his campaign launch. Emblazoned across a cover photo of a nattily dressed Villaraigosa is a giant headline: "Failure."

Denshay Benson, 17, is being held in lieu of bail totaling $10,000 on misdemeanor charges of assault with bodily injury and deadly conduct with a vehicle. 17-year-old high school senior was in jail Thursday night accused of assaulting the mayor of League City after an argument over a roadway incident in Clear Lake Shores overheated. Police say he punched her as he tried to leave, but his girlfriend says the mayor instigated the incident and used a racial epithet while cursing him loudly. Denshay Benson, 17, is charged with endangering Toni Randall with his vehicle and later knocking her to...

Saturday, for the first time in the history of Galveston County, an African-American woman was elected mayor. Geraldine Sam, 57, a lifelong resident of La Marque and an educator, edged two challengers to take her place in history by the narrowest of margins. “I cannot even describe how I feel,” Sam said, while celebrating with family and friends at a restaurant. “I was trying to eat earlier, and I can’t even eat. It’s amazing. Just awesome.” Sam received 355 votes, outlasting challengers James Osteen, 316 votes, and Bill Charbonneau, 289 votes, according to complete, unofficial results. Sam, who will serve...

Frank Melton, the mayor of Mississippi's largest city, died early Thursday, two days after losing a primary re-election bid and days before he was set to stand trial on federal civil rights charges. He was 60. (snip) Trial had been set to start Monday for Melton and a former bodyguard, who each faced two federal civil rights charges related to a sledgehammer attack on a duplex on Aug. 26, 2006, that Melton considered a crackhouse. (snip) He became a fixture in poor neighborhoods, where he would talk to youngsters about personal accountability and hard work. He tried to broker a...

The mayor of Mississippi's largest city died early Thursday, less than two days after losing a re-election bid in a contentious Democratic primary that came a week before his second federal trial.

Dan Sullivan appears to be the victor in the race for Anchorage mayor. With all 119 precincts reporting and only a relatively small number of early, questioned and absentee ballots left to count, Sullivan won Tuesday's run-off election with 28,866 votes -- about 57.3 percent -- beating opponent Eric Croft by 7,339 votes. Pending certification of the election, Mayor-elect Sullivan will take office July 1. "When you work so hard for something it sounds pretty good," Sullivan said of his new title. "The early numbers showed a lead right from the start and it just kept growing. All night long...

DETROIT -- Detroiters on Tuesday elected basketball legend Dave Bing as their mayor, sweeping incumbent Ken Cockrel Jr. from office and giving the ex-Pistons great at least through the end of the year to make a dent in the city's myriad problems.

Dan Sullivan won the Anchorage mayor's office in a heated raced with Eric Croft. With 82 percent of the precincts counted, Sullivan had a commanding 17,188 votes to Croft's 14,832. That was a 56.4 to 43.6 percent split of this count. At the Millennium Alaskan Hotel, where Sullivan backers crowded in the Redington Ballroom tonight, former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens is among those present. "I've known him since he was born. I don't have to worry about who he is. The Sullivan family has been dedicated to public service since I've known them," and that's quite a while, Stevens said....

Okay, boys and girls, it's time to play on America's favorite political game show.....NAME THAT PARTY!!! Today's show features a highly unpopular mayor of New Orleans written up in the New York Times. The first person who thinks he knows the political party affiliation of the mayor, please hit the buzzer. The hidden clues might be hard to find in this article but they could lead the more carefully discerning among you to the correct answer: NEW ORLEANS — As Mayor C. Ray Nagin approaches his final year in office, he faces scandal, an acrimonious stalemate with the City Council...

A scofflaw made off with the two passenger side tires from state Attorney General Jerry Brown's state-owned Toyota Camry hybrid as it was parked outside his Oakland hills home, his office said Thursday.Brown, Oakland's former mayor, was attending the state Democratic convention in Sacramento when the theft occurred April 24, said Brown's spokesman Scott Gerber. It was not known whether the culprits knew that the black car was used by Brown, police said. No arrests have been made, said Oakland police Sgt. Rich Vierra, chief of staff to acting Police Chief Howard Jordan.

Michael Bloomberg is planning to run for reelection as the candidate of the Republican Party, and of the Independence Party. He is also running, for all intents and purposes, as the candidate of the Democratic Party. Take the mayor’s apparently successful pre-election quest for the favor of Barack Obama. In recent days and weeks, he has defended embattled Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on Meet the Press, lambasted critics wishing failure on the president, enthusiastically endorsed the president’s health care plan, featured a special video message from Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett at an event on volunteerism and finally, on April 21,...

Sure, Stu Rasmussen is the first openly transgendered mayor in the country. And he considers anything less than 3-inch heels to be flats. Oregon mayor may get reality show, and hopes it will be a modern civics lesson.But Rasmussen says his life with his long-term girlfriend and seven cats in the quiet little town of Silverton, Ore., is actually "relatively boring." The outside world, however, seems to disagree. Rasmussen, 60, now in his second stint as mayor but the first spent dressing like a woman, has recently finished filming footage for what could be a new reality television show

Hazel McCallion was first elected Mayor of Mississauga (Ontario, Canada) in November, 1978, and is the longest serving Mayor in the City's history. She was acclaimed in 1980, re-elected in 1982 and 1985, acclaimed again in 1988 and re-elected in 1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006. She's been the Mayor for 31 years, and won with 92% of the vote! Watch her fun and funny YouTube interview.

Article published April 10, 2009 Take Back Toledo turns in petitions to remove mayor Group says it collected 45,500 signatures Photo Tom Schlachter, left, and Andy Stuart, principals in Take Back Toledo, a group seeking the recall of Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, carry boxes of petitions to the Lucas County Board of Elections. ( THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH ) Zoom | Photo Reprints By TOM TROY BLADE POLITICS WRITER Organizers of the effort to recall Mayor Carty Finkbeiner yesterday turned in what they said were 45,500 signatures - more than twice the number needed to put the recall question on the Sept....

Agawam Mayor Susan Dawson claims that she took a beating, and it wasn’t in the polls. Dawson was recovering yesterday from a concussion after being ambushed Wednesday in a Springfield bar by the estranged wife of a developer whom she is dating, according to the mayor and police. “She saw me go into the ladies room. She laid in wait. When I came out, she grabbed my face, my ears and my hair and started yanking my head. It was pretty violent, like shaken-baby syndrome,” said Dawson, 44. “She pulled my hair and threw me sideways into the wall. My...

(April 3, 2009) The man who not only epitomized the Ocean City Beach Patrol, but also built it into a serious and professional organization, passed away Saturday. When Capt. Robert (Bob) S. Craig turned 90 last July, a competition, dinner and slide show honored him for his 52 years as a town employee and member of the Beach Patrol. Thousands knew Craig from his years guiding the Beach Patrol and taking it from a small, relatively unskilled group of young men to a large group of highly skilled young men and women. Capt. Butch Arbin, the current head of the...

OCEAN CITY – Ocean City lost a treasured icon this week when Captain Robert S. Craig, who shepherded the Beach Patrol through decades of change and inspired his young charges for half a century passed away at the age of 90. Captain Craig, as he was known for decades not only by the thousands of lifeguards who worked with him and for him but also by the countless millions of local residents and visitors to the resort area, passed away last Saturday at the Coastal Hospice in Salisbury at the age of 90. A former schoolteacher and coach, Captain Craig...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can't be happy that the ballot measures he and leading Democrats are pushing for the May 19 special election took a gut punch in this morning's Los AngelesTimes from former LA Mayor Richard Riordan. Titled "California's May ballot scam," Riordan's op-ed says the Republican governor and legislative backers of the measures could challenge Bernie Madoff for "swindler of the year." . . . But Riordan says both parties are blindly supporting the approach. ..." And to my conservative friends: Will you be intimidated into voting for something you know is wrong? You should be against increases in...

(03-27) 10:51 PDT Oakland, Calif. (AP) -- Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums is attending Friday's funeral for four slain city police officers, but will not be speaking at the request of at least one killed officer's family. The mayor's spokesman, Paul Rose, said Dellums turned down a police offer to give opening remarks after at least one of the families requested he not be among the dignitaries speaking at the ceremony. Rose said the mayor did not want to "make an awkward situation even more awkward."

Former Mayor of D.C. Anthony Williams Washington D.C., Mar 25, 2009 / 02:25 pm (CNA).- Despite extreme positions on abortion and same-sex “marriage,” the Washington Post reports that Anthony Williams, a former mayor of Washington D.C., is being considered for membership in the Knights of Malta. However, Dr. Joseph Metz, an officer of the Order of Malta American Association, told CNA that anyone who does not agree with Church teachings will be denied admission. The Knights of Malta, who earned their name by operating on the Island of Malta for hundreds of years, were created “to care for and...

The city of Sacramento likely is barred from getting federal money – including tens of millions the city is expecting from the new stimulus package – because Mayor Kevin Johnson is on a list of individuals forbidden from receiving federal funds, according to a leading attorney the city commissioned to look into the issue. Federal authorities placed Johnson and the nonprofit Hood Corps organization he founded on the federal list last year – before he was elected mayor – following a preliminary investigation into allegations that the urban Peace Corps-style program had misused federal funds. Federal officials said the allegations...

Calling it "a penny with a purpose," mayor Michael Nutter has confirmed that he will propose a one percent sales tax increase when he delivers his new budget to city council on Thursday morning. Nutter made the announcement on Wednesday at the Marian Anderson recreation center in South Philadelphia (above), choosing the location as an example of where the new revenue will be going. Nutter said the sales tax increase will be last three years and will generate $340 million dollars, allowing him to keep many services at current levels