Free Republic

When I was growing up, my mother made me write and send Thank You notes to each and every person who ever gave me a gift—Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, graduation gifts, you name it. It’s a habit I carried into adulthood. When my wife and were married, we had Thank You cards in the mail within a week of the occasion. We have been blessed with a 17-year-old son. Ever since he’s been old enough to grasp a pen, he has been sending out Thank You cards for every gift received on every occasion. It’s only right and proper. Common...

The Department of Transitional Assistance paid out more than $2 million in benefits to 1,164 people who were dead, according to a scathing new audit calling on the embattled agency to tighten up its fraud investigations. The report, released this afternoon by state Auditor Suzanne Bump’s office, also showed where DTA failed to use technology that could have identified $15 million in questionable benefits and shelled out a $1 million more to those using fake Social Security numbers. The audits follows a damning report released earlier this year by the Inspector General’s Office, which found $25 million in EBT money...

Marathon bombings mastermind Tamerlan Tsarnaev was living on taxpayer-funded state welfare benefits even as he was delving deep into the world of radical anti-American Islamism, the Herald has learned. State officials confirmed last night that Tsarnaev, slain in a raging gun battle with police last Friday, was receiving benefits along with his wife, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, and their 3-year-old daughter. The state’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services said those benefits ended in 2012 when the couple stopped meeting income eligibility limits. Russell Tsarnaev’s attorney has claimed Katherine — who had converted to Islam — was working up to...

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Maine's second-largest city has earned some new bragging rights. Lewiston was one of 10 municipalities designated this year as an All-America City. The selections were made Friday night during an award ceremony in Anaheim, Calif., in the competition sponsored by the National Civic League. "My head is just spinning right now," Dottie Perham-Whittier, Lewiston's community relations coordinator, told the (Lewiston) Sun Journal. "I think we pretty much just leaped up on that stage." During its presentation the day before, the delegation from Lewiston talked about various city initiatives, including the Lewiston Youth Advisory Council, the Lots to...