Free Republic

More than $2.3 million in federal economic stimulus grants have gone to eight Tampa Bay area cosmetology and massage schools to pay tuition for the hairdressers, masseuses and nail technicians of tomorrow.

KOTA BARU, Malaysia - In a softly lit, wood-paneled spa, the personal beauticians of a Malaysian queen are training a new generation of Muslims in the art of feminine grooming as part of a royal effort to save young women from vice. The project has drawn attention as much for its objective as for its location - Malaysia's most backward state, Kelantan, and the only one governed by the opposition Islamic fundamentalist party that recommends keeping the female form under wrap. With the motto "Beauty Is Women's Top Asset," the salon set up in 2004 by Kelantan Queen Tengku Anis...

An alleged armed robber has just had the beating of a lifetime, at the hands of nearly 30 women inside a Shreveport beauty school. Blalock's Beauty School instructor Dianne Mitchell says, “Oh, I put something on him baby. He wasn't coming up out of here and telling nobody he robbed us and got away with it." Mitchell says the man walked in pointing a gun and telling the women to clean out their purses and hand him the cash. That's until, she tripped him. Afterwards she says, “I beat him with a stick." They all beat him with sticks, table...