Free Republic

Ynet is reporting that by order of the Agriculture Ministry, the magnolia tree brought from the US by the president and planted by Obama and Peres earlier this afternoon is being dug up. Really. Plants cannot be brought in from abroad “without undergoing a check” by the ministry, the report quotes the bureaucrats as saying. If this were April 1, we’d assume this was a wind-up. As the Netanyahu-Obama talks near their mid-evening break — there’ll be a press conference in 20 minutes or so, and then a working dinner — Ambassador Michael Oren is asked whether, for all the...

I want to plant a grape arbor. What is the best grape tu plant?

The Ann Arbor school district is investigating the actions - and legality - surrounding a field trip organized exclusively for black students at Dicken Elementary School last week. Superintendent Todd Roberts said the idea to take 30 black students to hear a special presentation by a black University of Michigan scientist was well-intentioned. But Roberts conceded the execution of that trip and its aftermath might not have been appropriate.

An Ann Arbor elementary school principal used a letter home to parents tonight to defend a field trip for black students as part of his school’s efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students. Dicken Elementary School Principal Mike Madison wrote the letter to parents following several days of controversy at the school after a field trip last week in which black students got to hear a rocket scientist. “In hindsight, this field trip could have been approached and arranged in a better way," Madison wrote. "But as I reflect upon the look of excitement, enthusiasm and...