Free Republic

Arianna Huffington’s surprise gift to Jon Stewart -- a convoy of shuttle buses to his “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington -- was an even bigger surprise to the folks at the Huffington Post. And the cost of the grand gesture -- an estimated $250,000 for 100 buses for thousands of New Yorkers -- is making some of Huffington Post’s finance executives wince, according to insiders. HuffPo’s President Greg Coleman agreed that the gesture came a surprise, but denied that there was any internal tension as a result.

The White House seems to be retreating from President Barack Obama’s campaign promise that he would not raise taxes on families making less than $250,000. Under persistent questioning from ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Sunday, Obama senior adviser David Axelrod declined to restate the vow and left open the possibility that the president might sign health care reform legislation that taxes high-cost, employer-provided insurance plans which some middle-class families currently receive tax free. “The president had said in the past that he doesn't believe taxing health care benefits at any level is necessarily the best way to go here. He still believes...

Aug. 12, 2005 — A federal jury has ordered a Kansas school district to pay $250,000 to a former student tormented by school bullies. "That's five years of my life that I had to live — just depressed, angry, scared," said the boy, Dylan Theno, 18, of Tonganoxie, Kan. "I can never get that back." Theno won the award Thursday after his family sued the Tonganoxie School District, claiming Theno had suffered years of bullying, and that school officials didn't attempt to stop the harassment.