Free Republic

BRENTWOOD, NH (WMUR/CNN) - A New Hampshire homeowner is under court order to clean up his yard that's littered with thousands of boxes. If he doesn’t, the town will do it for him and stick him with the bill. Meanwhile, his neighbors are hoping their community will finally go back to normal. Michael Bates found himself back in court after failing to clean up his property in Salem, MA. The town estimates that there are some 2,000 boxes containing printers in the yard.

“This is my property. There’s a couple of people making up stories of things happening here that are not happening,” de Leon told KTLA as she sat in a vehicle, small dog on her lap. “They made up stories that people are somehow having sex in a public place. First thing, it’s not public, it’s a private place. And second, that’s completely false.” ... They are particularly upset over a listing on Airbnb.com for a “Hollywood Hills Camping Retreat.” The listing, taken down following news coverage earlier this week, described the rental of a “tent” that could accommodate 10 people...

We Americans are lucky, though we seldom reflect on it, that we have good neighbors. In East Asia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines face challenges from China over islands they have long claimed in the East China Sea. In Europe, Germany and other prosperous nations face demands for subsidies from debt-ridden nations to avoid the collapse of the euro. When Southern Europeans look across the Mediterranean, they see Muslim nations facing post–Arab Spring upheaval and disorder. The United States has land borders with just two nations, Canada (on which more on another day) and Mexico, where Barack Obama...

MEXICO CITY – An 80-year-old woman has joined her daughter and granddaughter in jail facing charges that they murdered a man to collect $2.4 million in insurance money, the Mexico City district attorney’s office said. All three women are accused in the death of 20-year-old Ruben Romero Reverte, who was found dead last August. The arrest of the grandmother, whose name was not released, came nearly two months after Leslie Arellanes, 20, and Roxana Arredon, 46, were taken into custody. The two younger women hoped to collect on five life insurance policies Romero had taken out with Arellanes’ grandmother as...

Neighbors, Police Say It Has Helped Thieves Enter Homes Through Roofs The shiny silver ladder stands two stories tall and is attached to the back of a Logan Circle rowhouse that has become the focus of the neighborhood's escalating drama over crime, private property and personal safety. To Nathaniel Rabinowitz, the ladder is his personal property and nobody has the right to touch it. To many neighbors, it is a scourge on the block that should be removed because it has abetted criminals in breaking into homes. D.C. police and neighbors believe burglars have used the ladder to climb atop...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The home of a San Francisco man who once tormented his neighbors by tracking them with surveillance cameras and blaring music from the roof went up in flames today, in what firefighters called an accidental blaze. The two-alarm fire broke out just after noon near the water heater in Don Bertone's home at 336 Lathrop Ave., in a southeastern neighborhood known as Little Hollywood. Firefighters believe a spark from the water heater spread to a can of gasoline that Bertone had stored nearby. The gasoline powered a generator that was supplying electricity to the home. Pacific Gas...

SAN JOSE – Five Chinese nationals from the South Bay are in custody this afternoon facing federal charges following the execution of search warrants yesterday targeting 10 unlicensed massage parlors that were allegedly being operated as brothels in San Jose, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. The suspects, who are expected to make their initial appearance in federal court here this afternoon, are charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to conceal and harbor illegal aliens for financial gain. The arrests and searches are the result of a year-long undercover investigation called “Operation Bad Neighbor” that involved U.S. Immigration and Customs...

<p>SAN CLEMENTE -- Two men were killed Monday after one had complained about the other over noise and a water leak at their apartment complex.</p> <p>Authorities said Peter Brandon Mehran, 25, killed Jaroslav Liska, 47. They called Liska's death a premeditated murder, and said Mehran died either by suicide or accident.</p>