Free Republic

<p>HAMMOND, Ind. - A former Purdue University graduate student convicted of threatening to kill President George W. Bush and others in Internet postings has been sentenced to more than four years in prison.</p> <p>Thirty-eight-year-old Vikram S. Buddhi, an Indian national who was living in West Lafayette, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Hammond to 57 months in prison and 3 years of probation.</p>

I am a representative in student government at the University of Texas at Austin. I'm also uniquely positioned to discuss the issue of firearms and classrooms as an alumnus of Virginia Tech. I was there in 2007 when the shooting happened, and I lost the girl I love. In no way was that tragedy the fault of those licensed to carry concealed handguns. With that said, our tragedy has been used by proponents of a "guns everywhere" policy to push a political agenda. I cannot speak to the decision of CSU's Associated Students or their reasons for voting the way...

There's encouraging news on that other Washington effort to force Americans into a government-run system. The White House plan to drive private lenders out of the market for student loans is igniting a backlash on campus and Capitol Hill. the administrators have been afraid to speak as the Department of Education pressured them to drop private lenders and embrace the department's own Direct Lending (DL) program. The pending bill, which has passed the House but is stalled in the Senate, would ban private lenders from making federally guaranteed loans after July 1, 2010. Congress has already enacted regulations in recent...

SNIPPET: "EL PASO -- An electrical engineering student at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge Wednesday on charges he allegedly made a bomb threat to a UTEP employee. According to the criminal complaint, Ahmad Ibrahim Fares-Hammad "maliciously" made the false bomb threat to an administrative assistant at the Biological Science building on November 18, 2009 and told her "it is fun to blow people up." The FBI agent investigating the incident said the employee claimed Fares-Hammad walked into the department's office carrying a small device with short metal poles that had yellow,...

Chief Warrant Officer Steve Bridges, 2nd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, shows 2nd Lt. Karam Ebrahem, an Iraqi Air Force student pilot, the inner workings of a U.S. helicopter during an open house on Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Nov. 25. Photo by Pfc. Justin A. Naylor, 1st Cav. Div. KIRKUK — Iraqi Air Force student pilots came here to Forward Operating Base Warrior, Nov. 25, to speak with U.S. pilots and get a closer look at their aviation assets. It has taken months of training, hard work and dedication for this group of IqAF helicopter student...

Court turns down student over religious speechThe Associated Press Updated: 11/16/2009 09:51:39 AM MST WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a student who complained that high school officials violated her constitutional rights when they turned off her microphone during her religion-tinged graduation speech. The justices said Monday they will not revive a lawsuit filed by Brittany McComb of Henderson, Nev. challenging the actions of Clark County school officials. A federal appeals court ruled previously ruled against her. During McComb's speech at the Foothill High School graduation in 2006, officials turned off McComb's microphone when the school valedictorian strayed...

An Oviedo High School teacher resigned Wednesday after admitting she gave alcohol and her sport-utility vehicle to a student later arrested in a drunken-driving crash, a Seminole County Public Schools spokeswoman said. Meredith Witt, a special education teacher, told the principal of Oviedo High she provided alcohol to "one or more" students at her home Monday, then handed over the keys to a student and let him drive off, according to a school district document. Dylan Ferguson, 18, an Oviedo High senior, was arrested Monday on counts of DUI with damaged property and leaving the scene of a crash. His...

Officials admitted on Friday that a third student was mistakenly given the swine flu vaccine - an error the school nurses union blamed on the city. "Nurses are not getting the support they need," said Judith Arroyo, president of Local 436, District Council 37, adding that the union had warned of problems. "We don't like it when we're right, because usually when we're right someone does get hurt somewhere along the way." City officials countered that nurses have received "excellent support." "The department has been doing a tremendous job," said Dr. Jane Zucker, assistant commissioner of immunization. "Twenty-five hundred have...

Norway expelled a 36-year-old Iranian student studying space technology earlier this month amid fears his studies may be used to contribute to the Iranian missile program, according to reports Tuesday in the Norwegian media. The student studied Norwegian language and culture last year and, according to the reports, was due to begin a master's program in space technology at Narvik University College in Narvik, a town some 1,400 km north of Oslo. Jorn Preserudstuen, police inspector for the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), told the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation that history has shown a connection between a space program and missile...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Police searched Tuesday for a Virginia Tech student who hasn't been seen since she was separated from her friends at a Metallica concert Saturday. Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, was last seen near the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. Her parents said they talk to her every day and her disappearance is very out of character.

A former kindergarten student has been fighting a legal battle for 10 years after his teacher and principal censored his art project because it included a figure of Jesus. Tomorrow, a federal appeals court will revisit the case for a third time in a decade. Peck, former student of Catherine McNamera Elementary School during the 1999-2000 school year, drew a picture with featuring religious figures and the words, "The only way to save the world."

If the U.S. can come to the assistance of banks and homeowners, surely it could offer a helping hand in the form of lower interest rates for students. Like many recent college grads, Los Angeles resident Steven Lee finds himself unemployed in one of the roughest job markets in decades and saddled with a big pile of debt. He owes about $84,000 in student loans for undergrad and grad-school costs. But what Lee's angry about isn't the slings and arrows of an outrageous economy, and it isn't the idea that he owes a ton of money for all the schooling...

<p>All it took was a wrong turn for Jorge-Alonso Chehade to face deportation.</p> <p>But that wrong turn near Seattle also brought him attention and praise from Washington state’s congressional delegation, pro bono attorneys and maybe a chance to stay in the United States. In March, the 22-year-old college graduate was visiting friends in Bellingham at Western Washington University. On the way back early in the morning, tired from a night’s fun and unfamiliar with the area, Chehade and a friend took the north Interstate 5 ramp instead of the southbound one.</p>

Derrius Quarles leans back in his seat and methodically analyzes Aristotle's theory of truth during freshman honors English class at Morehouse College. He strides across campus in a navy blue tailored suit and a bold red sweater handing out business cards that boast "Student/Entrepreneur/Leader." But behind the 19-year-old's dauntless appearance is a past that few on campus know. When Quarles was 5, the state took him away from his mother. He spent his childhood bouncing from home to home before ending up on his own at 17 in an apartment on Chicago's South Side. His arrival at a prestigious, historically...

House Passes Student Loan OverhaulSept. 17, 2009 WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. House approved legislation that would overhaul the student loan market by setting up the federal government as the lone provider of college loans. The House vote was 253-to-171, largely along party lines, The Wall Street Journal reported. Under the legislation, private lenders would be blocked from the market for originating loans, but private banks and lenders still would be able to bid for a limited number of contracts to service loans after they are made by the government. The bill is another plank of the ambitious domestic agenda...

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Four men were arrested and a fifth is being sought in connection with the campus gang rape of an 18-year-old female Hofstra University student. The four suspects — only one of whom is a student at the school — were arrested on Long Island, N.Y., on Monday; a fifth is still at large. ... Police say 19-year-old Jesus Ortiz and 21-year-old Rondell Bedward, both of the Bronx, were arraigned on rape charges Monday. The other two, 19-year-old Stalin Felipe, of the Bronx, and 20-year-old Kevin Taveras, of Brentwood, are to be arraigned Tuesday in Hempstead. Police didn't...

Various photos of notorious sex scandals between teacher and student Lisa Marinelli, 40, substitute teacher at Mitchell High School, charged with having sex with a 16 year-old boy. Investigators say Marinelli gave the boy a pair of her underwear, called him hundreds of times as well as sent text messages.The young man’sfather called police when he saw him getting out of Marinelli’s car pulling up his pants. Maggie Laughlin, the 23-year-old former Mentor math teacher sentenced to three years in prison for having oral sex with a ninth-grade student, is asking to be released early from prison. Autumn Leathers, 24,...

Parents will be forbidden from receiving and accessing their dependent child's grades at colleges and universities - even when they pay for the entire cost of the child's education. Just pay up and don't ask questions

A week after former President Bill Clinton traveled to North Korea to secure the release of two detained American journalists and stole the limelight from the start of his wife's first trip to Africa, Clinton was clearly displeased by the question at town hall forum in Kinshasa. "You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" she replied incredulously when the male student asked her what "Mr. Clinton" thought of World Bank concerns about a multi-billion-dollar Chinese loan offer to the Congo. "My husband is not secretary of state, I am," an obviously annoyed Clinton said sharply.

I publish history research papers by secondary students from around the world, and from time to time I get a paper submitted which includes quite a bit more opinion than historical research. The other day I got a call from a prospective teenage author saying he had noticed on my website that most of the papers seemed to be history rather than opinion, and was it alright for him to submit a paper with his opinions? I said that opinions were fine, if they were preceded and supported by a good deal of historical research for the paper, and that...

(LifeSiteNews.com) - A US District Judge has blocked the Los Angeles Community College District from enforcing its sexual harassment policy, which the judge ruled had promoted a hostile environment for the free speech rights of a Christian student. U.S. District Judge George H. King agreed with Jonathan Lopez, a student attending Los Angeles City College (LACC), that the District's policy as written had created the environment that emboldened his speech professor to call Lopez a "fascist ba***rd" for explaining his Christian beliefs and how they related to his views against same-sex "marriage."

Changes in student loans could mean savings for youJEAN CHATZKY TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Published: July 9, 2009 **SNIP** Graduates in the Class of 2009 have an even better deal, says Edie Irons, communications director of the Project on Student Debt. "If you consolidate during your grace period, which is the six months after you graduate, you can lock in a rate of 1.88 percent." New borrowers of subsidized (need-based) Stafford loans are also going to see lower rates. Because of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, the interest rate on these loans for 2009-2010 is going to be...

Gun-rights advocates have won victories in several states in recent months allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons in public parks, taverns and their work places. So it came as a surprise to Tennessee state Rep. Stacey Campfield that he couldn't persuade his colleagues to pass a law allowing students at public colleges to carry concealed firearms on campus. The bill died this spring in the Republican-controlled legislature -- one of 34 straight defeats nationwide for people who believe a gun wouldn't be out of place in a college student's knapsack. aucous debates over the parameters of the Second Amendment...

July 9 will be the anniversary of the 1999 student protests in Iran, the event that previously held the title of provoking the most instability, only recently upstaged by the dramatic unrest in reaction to the sham presidential elections. This anniversary has particular meaning for the Iranian people. The date has become somewhat of a holiday, the day that comes once per year where everyone unites and outpours their grievances against the government. That uprising ended with security measures identical to the ones being taken today, with reports of students being thrown from buildings, paramilitary forces raiding and destroying dorms,...

Student Awarded $1.25M For Relationship With TeacherUPDATED: 9:50 pm PDT June 26, 2009 SAN DIEGO -- A jury awarded $1.25 million to a former student at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Paradise Hills because they found that the principal and others failed to report a sexual relationship between the student and her teacher. Teacher John Kyujoon Lee pleaded guilty to statutory rape back in 2007. But now, the San Diego Unified School District must pay for its role in allowing the sexual relationship between Lee and a former student to go on for nearly three years. Attorney...

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s legacy will live on with a new University of Central Florida study aimed at saving the endangered bunnies named after him. Rosanna Tursi, a master’s student and graduate teaching assistant, is using population genetics to aid in the conservation of the Lower Keys marsh rabbits (Sylvilagus palustris hefneri), which were declared endangered in 1990. It is estimated that less than 300 rabbits remain today. Hefneri, the most recently recognized subspecies of the marsh rabbit, is small with short, dark brown fur and a grayish-white belly. Discovered in 1984, the subspecies was named in honor of Hefner...

What does it cost to get an unqualified student into the University of Illinois law school? Five jobs for graduating law students, suggest internal e-mails released Thursday. The documents show for the first time efforts to seek favors -- in this case, jobs -- for admissions, the most troubling evidence yet of how Illinois' entrenched system of patronage crept into the state's most prestigious public university. They also detail the law school's system for handling "Special Admits," students backed by the politically connected, expanding the scope of a scandal prompted by a Chicago Tribune investigation. In one e-mail exchange, University...

PURDY, Wash. -- A student presenting an essay at Peninsula High School in Purdy on Tuesday morning took out a marijuana joint, lit it, and began smoking it, police said. Read the essay here. See cell phone video. According to Pierce County sheriff's detective Ed Troyer, the student smoked the joint during his essay supporting the legalization of marijuana. He then finished his essay, sat down, finished smoking the joint and then ate the end after it was fully smoked. The teacher of the class contacted the school resources officer, a Pierce County sheriff's deputy, who found a small residual...

Board votes to fire teacher charged with having sex with studentJune 2, 2009 By CRAIG A. WHITNEY Maine Township High School District 207 officials voted to terminate the employment of Jennifer Espinosa, the Maine East teacher charged on suspicion of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old former student. Board members voted 7-0 on the issue during Monday's regular Board of Education meeting in the board room of the Ralph Frost Administration Center, 1131 S. Dee Road. Jennifer Espinosa District spokesman Dave Beery explained the decision Tuesday, which became effective immediately. "They voted to terminate her employment," he said. The...

Taking a semester off to travel and focus on writing isn't that unusual for a student at Brown University. But instead of studying comparative literature in Europe, Kevin Roose decided to go to Lynchburg, Va., and enroll at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Roose passed himself off as an evangelical Christian to blend in with students at the school founded by the late Moral Majority leader. The experience led to a book, The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University.

HIALEAH - When police wanted to question a teacher accused of having an affair with an eighth-grader at a private religious school, she was out of town -- vacationing at Disney World with the student. Upon her return Saturday, 32-year-old Maria Guzman Hernandez, a sixth-grade teacher at Hialeah's Our Lady of Charity, admitted to Hialeah police she'd had sex with the 15-year-old.

Report Warns of Student Injuries, Even Deaths, at the Hands of TeachersCongress to Decide on Laws Governing Restraint, Seclusion in U.S. Schools By EMILY FRIEDMAN May 19, 2009 Julie Quill said she knew something wasn't right when her son Shawn, 11, came home from his Boston-area school one day last year with a cut lip and a limp. "Shawn isn't verbal so he couldn't tell me what was going on," Quill said of her son, who was diagnosed with autism at age 2. Quill was surprised to find out that her son's injuries were caused by his teacher, who would...

LAROSE, La. – A Louisiana middle school student stormed into a classroom and fired a gunshot over a teacher's head Monday before shooting himself in a bathroom, authorities said. Investigators found a suicide note and plans for a rampage in the teen's journal. The 15-year-old student, whose name was not released, fired once around 9 a.m. inside a classroom at Larose-Cut Off Middle School, then shot himself in the head, said Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre. He was in critical but stable condition. The teacher had never taught the teen. Webre said investigators found a note describing the boy's plans...

CHANDLER, Ariz. – An 18-year-old high school student caught with his 48-year-old math teacher in her bedroom was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, who was himself a former student of hers, police said Tuesday. Chandler police said 20-year-old Sixto Balbuena told them he never meant to kill Samuel Valdivia. He allegedly told police "the blade went in like going into butter" and that he just wanted to show Valdivia how much he hurt him by sleeping with Tamara Hofmann. Balbuena, a Navy sailor on leave from California, was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder after police found him...

It all started with a question: “How much responsibility, if any, do you have for the financial crisis?” Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass) and a conservative Harvard law student debated over how Frank should have handled his role as the House Chairman of the Financial Services Committee. Frank was at Harvard University for a speech at the Kennedy School of Government. Frank said the student wasn’t backing up his claims, invoking some laughter from the crowd, and the student told Frank he wasn’t answering his question. See Video of Harvard Student Takes On Rep. Barney Frank click hereDaily Flag-waver

WFXT-TV: It all started with a question: "How much responsibility, if any, do you have for the financial crisis?" Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and a conservative Harvard law student debated over how Frank should have handled his role as the House Chairman of the Financial Services Committee.

A 16-year-old Rosemount student handed out $100 bills to fellow students Tuesday as if they were jelly beans. When asked where he got the money — he had given away about $11,000 — he first said it was his allowance. Later, when pressed by a teacher, he admitted he found it in a ditch.

HOLYOKE, Mass. (AP) - A teacher from western Massachusetts and her 15-year-old student - who disappeared a week ago after the boy's parents complained about the woman's relationship with their son - have been found in West Virginia. Holyoke Mayor Michael Sullivan tells WWLP-TV in Springfield that police apprehended 24-year-old Lisa Lavoie and the boy in Morgantown, W.Va. on Tuesday morning. Lavoie is being held on charges of child endangerment and is scheduled for a hearing later Tuesday. Sullivan says arrangements are being made to return the boy to Massachusetts. Police say they won't comment yet. The boy's mother contacted...

A 37-year-old Edgewood middle school teacher was arrested Friday and is charged with having sex with a student. Angela “Angel” Simmons Lindle is a seventh-grade life science teacher at the middle school. She is currently facing seven counts of Criminal sexual conduct with a minor, 2nd degree. Lindle reportedly told investigators Friday of seven sexual encounters she’s had with a former student who reported the incidences to police the day before. According to Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) reports, Lt. Enlow met with an officer from the Ninety Six Police Department on Thursday, where the alleged victim originally reported the...

Wisconsin girl, 14, nabbed after refusing to stop messaging FEBRUARY 17--A 14-year-old Wisconsin girl who refused to stop texting during a high school math class was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, according to police. The teenager was busted last Wednesday at Wauwatosa East High School after she ignored a teacher's demand that she cease texting. The girl, whose name we have redacted from the below Wauwatosa Police Department report, initially denied having a phone when confronted by a school security officer. However, the phone was located after the girl was frisked by a female cop. The Samsung Cricket, the...

Another anti-Semitic incident took place in a Canadian university Thursday when over 100 anti-Israel activists surrounded a campus building belonging to the Jewish student club 'Hillel' at York University, Toronto. The activists pounded on office doors while yelling out racial slurs. Grim Portrait ADL sees 'pandemic of anti-Semitism' / Reuters US Jewish leader Abraham Foxman says Israel's military offensive in Gaza answered with hatred, attacks against Jews 'from Austria to Zimbabwe.' Civilized world must stand up and say 'No' to condemn 'this vicious, hideous violence,' he adds Full Story Campus security was forced to alert police to restore order and...

Rules. Link Only http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=109380&catid=339

FAYETTEVILLE - A marksman and former Olympic rifleman who is now an Arkansas legislator wants to amend state law so holders of concealed-carry gun permits can stash weapons in their cars while parking on college campuses. Rep. Randy Stewart, a Democrat from Kirby in Pike County, said he filed House Bill 1097 to help his constituents - many of them female schoolteachers who drive up to 60 miles for night classes while seeking master's degrees. The teachers have the gun permits, and use them so they can make the night commute safely to schools like Henderson State University or Ouachita...

SEATTLE – A college student dressed in a vintage German military uniform who was fatally shot by police on New Year's Day was a harmless, eccentric history buff, his family and friends said Friday. Miles Murphy, a University of Washington senior, was shot several times at his apartment early Thursday after police said he pointed a rifle affixed with a bayonet at officers and refused orders to drop the weapon....Murphy emerged from inside and pointed what was later identified as a World War II Kar 98 German infantry rifle at the officers, police said. When he refused several orders to...

Recently, a handful of people forwarded me a letter that was sent from the President of GunFreeKids.org as well as Toby Hoover (Executive Director of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence) and whose recipient is unknown because the address has been redacted. The content and context of the letter indicates that it was sent to a college in Ohio (more likely it was sent to ALL public colleges). This letter warned of the gun lobby’s attempts to preempt public universities across the country, forcing their hands to allow concealed carry within their borders, and was laden with reasons why universities...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A first-grader was suspended from school after bringing a package of medical needles to class and several other students and a teacher ended up being pricked. Watch The Story It's not known where the 6-year-old student got the needles. It's all a part of the investigation. But for now, the school is working with the health department, making sure every student and staff member is safe and aware, and getting the word out to parents. "My No. 1 job is to make sure that everyone is safe," said Wheatley Principal Robert Wagner, who has trained to keep...

FORT LAUDERDALE - Broward School District officials are investigating whether a student told a Dillard High School teacher or staff member that Teah Wimberly had a handgun before she used it to fatally shoot a friend and classmate in a school hallway, Superintendent James Notter said Thursday. The district was looking into tips that Wimberly, 15, showed the gun to another student on Wednesday before shooting Amanda Collette, said Joe Melita, executive director of the district's special investigative unit. He said investigators also are looking into whether a teacher or staff member knew Wimberly had a gun but did not...

First we had the Obama lawyer telling student journalists who discovered actual voter fraud that he was "watching them." We publicized that, and he issued an apology. Then there was the pro-Obama professor, who gleefully admitted to stealing McCain lawn signs. We publicized that, and he was fired and the matter was referred to law enforcement. We have another out of control Obama supporter who needs to learn that her actions have consequences. Looks like her name (late in the video at the top of the screen) is Diantha Harris and it looks like she teaches in Asheville, NC. She...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Officials in the United States are looking into the recent arrest of an Iranian-American student in Tehran who was working on a research project on women's rights in Iran. Esha Momeni, a graduate student at California State University-Northridge, was arrested October 15 in Tehran for unlawfully passing another vehicle while driving, according to Change For Equality, an Iranian women's movement. "We're seeking additional information about this case," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Wednesday. "We stand with all those in Iran who are working for universal human rights and justice in their countries." Momeni, who was born...

A criminal homicide charge was dismissed Friday morning against James Bryan Miller in the case in which a Central High School student was killed in a home invasion at Summit. General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon said, "I cannot imagine a case where there is more justification for taking a life." Isaac Robinson was killed in the incident on Oct. 3 at a trailer at 3933 Pattentown Road. County Det. Ed Merritt said Miller would likely have not faced any charges had he not fled the scene. He was later arrested in Whitfield County, Ga. Det. Merritt said the incident...