Free Republic

Qwest union contract expires SaturdayThe Associated Press Friday, Aug. 15, 2008 NEW YORK The labor contract with the largest union at Qwest Communications International Inc. expires Saturday, little more than a week before the company is to provide phone and Internet service for the Democratic National Convention. The Communications Workers of America has voted to authorize a strike, which could theoretically begin as soon as Sunday. The union organizes 20,000 Qwest workers in 13 states. The same union was involved in contract negotiations with Verizon Communications Inc. recently. The parties were unable to reach an agreement before the expiration of...

UPDATE: Now with a possible, if x-rated explanation, after the jump. You have been warned. UPDATE: The New York Times report -- CNN Reporter Faces Drug Charge - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog -- omits the sex equipment and partner details. Commenters are clueless as a result.....

Truck driver Kjell Fundin has done what no man has ever done before by traveling almost the entire length of Sweden on a lawnmower. On Thursday morning the intrepid 59-year-old from Sundsvall made history as he drove his trusty machine into Ystad town centre. Covering a distance of 1,700 kilometres (1,060 miles), the lawnmower man took 46 days to complete the journey from Haparanda to the southern town. The idea for the journey came about after a well-known radio show host travelled the same route on a motorcycle during the summer. Distinctly unimpressed, Fundin decided to pop off an e-mail...

U.S. Army Pfc. Jana Rutherford Soldier Wants to Help Iraq’s Quest for Democracy By U.S. Army Spc. Michael Pfaff133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment KIRKUK, Iraq, April 4, 2006 — It’s 1989 in Czechoslovakia, and the children have the day off from school for a mandatory “fun day.” Only, instead of drawing chalk lines on the sidewalk for a game of hopscotch, or climbing through the iron web of a jungle gym, they spend the day donning gas masks, throwing plastic grenades, and navigating through the wilderness with a compass. Long before she went through basic training for the U.S....

My quest for the Last Flu Jab in Britain (Filed: 27/11/2005) Are the so-called worried well really to blame for the sudden shortage of vaccine? The very idea brings hypochondriac John O'Connell out in blotches It took 20 minutes of frantic phoning around before I heard the magic word: "yes". I slammed down the receiver, raced out of the office and jumped into a taxi. "Medicentre on Oxford Street," I said, trying to sound casual. The cabbie's eyes met mine via the mirror. "Flu jab, is it?" he asked. "You'll be lucky." Only in my head am I "at risk"...

Shooting suspect fled Illegal immigrant sought in death of turkey hunter By Ellen Miller, Special to the News June 17, 2005 GLENWOOD SPRINGS - A ranch hand working in the country illegally is suspected of fatally shooting a Qwest executive May 14 and then fleeing to Mexico, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said Thursday. Vallario said he doesn't believe the ranch hand knew he was shooting at Jeff Garrett, who was turkey hunting and heavily camouflaged, but the man apparently realized he had done so and fled the same morning. The sheriff refused to name the suspect or his hometown...

SACRAMENTO - Inland lawmakers acted on hundreds of bills last month, but also found time to raise hefty campaign contributions from donors with a stake in some of the legislation. Lawmakers finished their two-year legislative session in the early hours of Aug. 28, culminating four weeks of lengthy floor sessions and frenetic lobbying. They also collected about $2 million at fund-raisers near the Capitol. The money, mostly given in amounts from $1,000 to $3,200, will be used for legislators' own November races or to help other candidates. But some critics say the end-of-session quest for political cash feeds a perception...

BEAUTY LOST, BEAUTY FOUND: Violin maker nears end of `impossible' Stradivarian quest By BOOYEON LEE:Special to The Asahi Shimbun -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A young man was soothed by the sound of violins drifting on the night air. He went on to become one of the world's greatest craftsmen. To look at Jin Chang Heryern as the soft afternoon light streamed into his Tokyo workshop, one could easily picture Antonio Stradivari bent over his workbench in Cremona, Italy. Jin wiped a speck of dust from his newest creation, much as Stradivari must have done many times before he died in 1737, taking, some...

<p>In a packed auditorium last week, a top adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and two of her deputies tried to explain to an anxious crowd exactly what the governor has in mind for the future of public health care in the state.</p>

WASHINGTON — On the top floor of a federal courthouse here, roughly two miles from the hotel where he shot President Reagan 22 years ago, John W. Hinckley Jr. is asking for a modicum of freedom. If the strides the 48-year-old would-be assassin has made in two decades of psychiatric treatment were the sole standard, he might get his wish for 10 visits with his aging parents — in the loving embrace of family, away from the penetrating eyes of hospital staff. But judgment of his mental health is not the only hurdle Hinckley must clear as U.S. District Judge...

Qwest at center of criminal probe U.S. Attorney’s office told firm of investigation Tuesday BREAKING NEWS NEW YORK, July 10 — Local telephone company Qwest Communications International Inc. Wednesday said it was notified on Tuesday afternoon that the U.S. Attorney’s office began a criminal investigation of the company.