The Challenger disaster is a perfect example of that.
It's quite possible that the sheer number of people running to FreeRepublic to get the latest updates have overloaded the server(s).
It's taking more than 30 seconds to bring up a new screen...and I'm on Cable for a connection.
I'll bet you're right. FR was fine until about 1000 (MDT), when the news was breaking nationally. We, of course, had our own AppyPappy FReeping from the Virginia Tech campus two hours before. FR is indeed the place to get the news!