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Residents may be stuck with tab, advocates say By Karen Gaudette ASSOCIATED PRESS September 7, 2001 SAN FRANCISCO -- Consumer advocates warned yesterday that a week's delay by state power regulators on issues key to dismantling deregulation could lead to residential customers shouldering most of the state's $9.5 billion power bill. During that week, the consumer advocates fear, big businesses will try to persuade state officials to continue direct access -- an option that allows customers to switch from local utilities to generally lower-cost power providers. If direct access is continued and big businesses opt to go with companies ...

Sep 7, 2001Report: DNA Tests Show Hair Found in Car Came From Long-Vanished Teamsters Boss Jimmy Hoffa The Associated Press DETROIT (AP) - In a break in one of the nation's biggest unsolved cases, a hair from Jimmy Hoffa was found in a car that a longtime friend was driving the day the former Teamsters boss vanished 26 years ago, The Detroit News reported Friday. FBI scientists matched DNA from hair taken from Hoffa's brush with that of a strand found in the borrowed car that Charles "Chuckie" O'Brien had been using on July 30, 1975, the newspaper reported, ...

Five people died in a car accident late Thursday or early Friday after the car in which they were riding plunged off a 100-foot cliff, authorities said. The car was driving on an airstrip, used by crop-dusting airplanes, which is built on a mesa, said Dona Ana County Sheriff Juan Hernandez. The airstrip is used by the Stahmann pecan farm. Three men and two women in their 20s were in the vehicle, Hernandez said.

Citizens group calling for action to curb border-area air pollution By Diane Lindquist STAFF WRITER September 7, 2001 In a sign of growing concern about new power plants in Baja California, a group of border-area residents is calling on the United States, Mexico and California to take immediate steps to protect the region from additional air pollution. The Imperial and Mexicali Clean Air Stakeholders is sending nine recommendations this week to 40 elected and appointed officials in Mexico and the United States. The recommendations would establish uniform environmental regulations and practices on both sides of the California-Baja California border. ...

Psychologist Alan Berman was one of three consultants hired by Kenneth Starr to help him convince the public that Vincent Foster committed suicide. Dr. Berman produced a 21-page report in which he said "In my opinion and to a hundred percent degree of medical certainty the death of Vincent Foster was a suicide. No plausible evidence has been presented to support any other conclusion." We have discussed that conclusion with Dr. Berman in two taped phone conversations. They reveal that he had far too little knowledge of the eyewitness and forensic evidence in the Foster case to make such a ...

A YOUNG bird of prey has been discovered trying to hatch a collection of lost golf balls in the mistaken belief that they are her eggs. Sybil, a six-month-old seriema running bird, crept off with the balls from a field next to her aviary at the New Forest Owl Sanctuary in Ringwood, Hants. She took them one by one to her nest, where she has spent the past two weeks protecting them. Her keeper, Peter Berry, who uses the field as a driving range to practise his golf, was suspicious when his balls began disappearing. He said: "Despite her young ...

A convenience store clerk was shot and killed Thursday night after he complied with a robber's demands, police said. At about 7:20 p.m., a man entered the Sunshine Food Mart, at 1845 S. 700 East, Salt Lake City, brandished a handgun and demanded money. The clerk, identified only as a male, opened the register and gave the robber an undisclosed amount of money, said Salt Lake police Sgt. Fred Louis. The robber then shot the clerk. "It's a brutal crime," Louis said. "The clerk complied. He didn't show any resistance." It appeared as though the clerk suffered a single ...

Join the FR smokers lounge bump list...click on the logo Welcome Friends, foes and associates to the completely remodeled Free Republic... Smoker's Lounge Here you will find a comfy place to smoke, drink, joke or whatever. We always have a great time, so sit back, relax and... Smoke 'em if you got 'em shssh shsshs shsshssh shsshsshs shsshssh shsshs shssh shssh shsshs shsshssh shsshsshs shsshssh shsshs shssh shssh shsshs shsshssh shsshsshs shsshssh shsshs shssh shssh aaaaa,:`___________________________||`,:'.",`.;'`,:'.',`: A very special thank you to Registered for providing us with this fine logo....we will bear it with pride.

Calif DWR Hasn't Received Any Invoice From ISO For Power Updated: Friday, September 7, 2001 05:57 PM ET     By Mark Golden Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The California Department of Water Resources has never received an invoice from the California Independent System Operator for power purchased on behalf of the state's insolvent utilities, DWR spokesman Oscar Hidalgo said Friday. Between the middle of January, when Gov. Gray Davis ordered the DWR to start paying for ISO power purchases and May 31, the ISO has procured about $3.3 billion in power on behalf of California's cash-strapped utilities, ...

CAPITOL RESOURCE INSTITUTE September 7, 2001SPECIAL REPORT and ACTION New attack on Dr. Laura Schlessinger by homosexual activists THE SITUATION Despite their demands for "tolerance," it appears that none are more intolerant than homosexual activists. Their intolerance is made increasingly apparent by their continued attacks on the popular talk show hostess Dr.Laura Schlessinger. The latest effort by these radical activists is an attempt to force the Southern California Placement Committee (SCPC) to cancel Dr. Laura as a guest speaker at this month's conference. The SCPC represents numerous child placement agencies in California, including the Department of Children's Services and Public ...

[This is very long, but explains in great detail many of the technical details of the gold scandal many Freepers are following] The JPM Derivatives Monster Out of all the incredible financial developments of the 1990s, one of the most important fundamental structural changes in the nature of the operation and interaction of the global financial system was the literal explosion of the use of derivatives. Derivatives are often highly complex financial instruments that "derive" their value from some other underlying asset. As the use of these instruments evolved and advanced to a stunning degree in the 1990s, an intriguing ...

Replay of live event from earlier tonight will be at 10:35 EST this evening. I just caught the last few minutes of the live broadcast, featured Tom Brokaw reading from The Greatest Generation.

First Lady Laura Bush took the national spotlight today as she kicked off the National Book Festival with a speech at the Library of Congress. Students from Abington Elementary school in Arlington, Va also took part in the event with NBA star Grant Hill, and WNBA star Lisa Leslie. Next week, Laura will speak before the congressional education committee regarding changes in education. So sit back and enjoy your daily dose of Laura- oh, and a little bit of Dubya too.

George Washington U. to cancel classes, close dorms during World Bank/IMF meetings Updated: Thu, Sep 06 12:00 PM EDT By Kate Stepan The GW Hatchet George Washington U. (U-WIRE) WASHINGTON -- George Washington University will cancel classes and evacuate residence halls Sept. 27 to Oct. 2 during anticipated demonstrations surrounding World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings that will be held that weekend, the University announced Thursday morning. Although the meeting are scheduled for Sept. 29-30, GW's Foggy Bottom campus will close for five days because of the large number of protesters anticipated. D.C. officials expect as many as 100,000 ...

Cal-ISO Violating Fed Law By Making Utils Buy State Pwr Updated: Friday, September 7, 2001 06:17 PM ET     By Jason Leopold Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LOS ANGELES (Dow Jones)--California's grid operator may be in violation of federal regulations by forcing utilities to buy expensive power the state secured under long- and short-term contracts in place of electricity that is available from their own low-cost power plants. The California Independent System Operator, the agency that operates the real-time electricity market and maintains reliability of the grid in the state, has given priority during the past three months to power ...

A girl who says she underwent two abortions after being impregnated by an adult foster brother is suing Planned Parenthood. The Glendale 15-year-old, who was 12 in the first instance, accuses Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Arizona of having failed to give authorities required reports until after the second abortion. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court contends that the girl was subjected to continued molestation and sexual exploitation because the abortion provider didn't notify police or the state's Child Protective Services agency of her Nov. 10, 1998, abortion. And that, the lawsuit claims in accusing Planned ...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - With a wary eye on their political future, Texas Republicans are urging retiring U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm (news - bio - voting record) to leave office before his term expires so Gov. Rick Perry can appoint a Hispanic to the job. In an odd spectacle reportedly aided by President Bush (news - web sites), Gramm has gone quickly from heavyweight to has-been because the Texas Republican Party wants to curry favor with the fast-growing Hispanic population that threatens its hold on power. Should a Democrat win Gramm's Senate seat next year, it would be an embarrassment ...

DURBAN, South Africa (AP) -- European negotiators at the U.N. conference on racism agreed to a carefully crafted statement Friday that they termed an apology for slavery, a move aimed at fending off lawsuits seeking reparations. But delegates remained deadlocked beyond the conference's scheduled closing Friday night, struggling over how to address the Middle East conflict and African demands for some kind of compensation for slavery. Formal negotiations wound down around midnight and were to resume later in the day Saturday. Officials said informal talks would likely continue through the night. The chief Arab negotiator denied there had been a ...

Friday, 7 September, 2001, 18:28 GMT 19:28 UK Giant wave hit ancient Scotland By BBC News Online's Helen Briggs A giant wave flooded Scotland about 7,000 years ago, a scientist revealed on Friday. The tsunami left a trail of destruction along what is now the eastern coast of the country. It looks as if those people were happily sitting in their camp when this wave from the sea hit the camp Professor David Smith, Coventry University Scientists believe a landslide on the ocean floor off Storegga, south-west Norway, triggered the wave. Speaking at the British Association Festival of Science in ...