Free Republic

In an unprecedented move, federal prosecutors Wednesday brought criminal charges against Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota and one of its employees for their role in the discovery of a dazzling ladyslipper orchid from Peru. Selby Gardens was charged with a misdemeanor violation of the Endangered Species Act, the first time any botanical gardens in the United States has been charged with such a crime, experts said. Selby's board of directors has worked out a plea deal with federal prosecutors that will allow the botanical gardens to pay a fine of $5,000, instead of a potential penalty of up to...

Tony Blair has sacrificed his political carrier for us. He’ shown such integrity I’m eternally grateful to Britain. This is no small measure. Does any one have a link to TB and those in the BP that support the US? A true show of gratitude is in order.

Florida finally gets a competent teacher and expels her. Had any students came to school yesterday, attempting to top Columbine, they would have been stopped by her. All teachers should carry handguns. The school massacres would end immediately. TAMPA -- On the second anniversary of the Columbine High massacre Friday, authorities worried a student would bring a gun to school. But it was a 44-year-old substitute teacher who was caught with a loaded .38-caliber revolver. Cynthia Seymour, a substitute for Hillsborough schools since March and a former sheriff's deputy, was questioned after a school deputy saw the handgun poking from ...

Linda Tripp addresses her people Speaking out for the first since the impeachment saga, Linda Tripp gets a hero's welcome from like minds at a Free Republic meeting. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Judith Greer June 6, 2000 | MIDDLETON PLACE, S.C. -- During a break Saturday in the meeting of the South Carolina Chapter of the Free Republic near Charleston, one of my pleasantly bourgeois luncheon companions told me that 75 percent of my tax money goes to pay the interest on the federal debt. I might have quickly swallowed my ...

LAKE WORTH, Fla. (AP) - Two attorneys hired to represent a 13-year-old accused of murdering his teacher said Sunday that their client fired the shot accidentally. Lance Richard and Robert Udell said eighth-grader Nathaniel Brazill did not intend to shoot Barry Grunow on May 26, the last day of school at Lake Worth Middle School. They say the fault lies with the .25-caliber Raven handgun. "It is our contention that the gun malfunctioned," Richard said. He and Udell were hired by Brazill's family Sunday, replacing public defender Randy Berman. A few hours before the shooting, Brazill, a top student with ...

One might expect news that Clinton rape accuser Juanita Broaddrick was hit with an IRS audit would warrant front-page coverage everywhere, given the overwhelming odds that it was a case of White House sponsored revenge against yet another Clinton-era whistleblower. But since this president came to town, the Washington press corps has metamorphosed into Pravda on the Potomac. And so the Broaddrick audit story rates just a mention here and there - nothing to get too worked up about and certainly nothing that warrants the attention of Peter, Tom, Dan and Bernie on the nightly TV news. Never mind that ...

By JAMIE MALERNEE © St. Petersburg Times, published May 24, 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPRING HILL -- Sandra Suter was standing in the check-out line at Wal-Mart on Monday when she saw several store employees wrestling with a man. "Drop the knife! Drop the knife!" one of the employees yelled at the man, who authorities say was trying to steal a VCR. The man, identified as Willie J. Redding, dropped the appliance, pulled a small blade and lunged, cutting two employees, a Hernando County sheriff's report said. Suter, a 53-year-old grandmother of two, reacted. Within seconds, she rushed to the scuffle. "I ...