Free Republic

It's been 20 years that America has had a minimum federal drinking age. The policy began to gain momentum in the early 1980s, when the increasingly influential Mothers Against Drunk Driving added the federal minimum drinking age to its legislative agenda. By 1984, it had won over a majority of the Congress. President Reagan initially opposed the law on federalism grounds but eventually was persuaded by his transportation secretary at the time, now-Sen. Elizabeth Dole. Over the next three years every state had to choose between adopting the standard or forgoing federal highway funding; most complied. A few held out...

$525,000 SETTLEMENT--Agreement ends two-year battleThe Florida Department of Children & Families has agreed to pay a 10-year-old Broward boy $525,000 for the abuse he endured in foster care -- roughly $10,000 for each of the 50 times the boy was molested, his lawyer said.The settlement, approved Tuesday by Broward Circuit Judge John A. Frusciante, ends a two-year battle between the boy, named John Jones in court papers, and the DCF, which took John into foster care at age 6.Broward children's advocate Howard Talenfeld, an attorney, sued the department on John's behalf in July 2001, claiming he had been repeatedly brutalized...