Free Republic

PORT CLINTON, OH - A former Port Clinton High School teacher was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for having sex twice last year with a 17-year-old female student. Brett Dunbar, 26, also was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and court costs during his hearing in Ottawa County Common Pleas Court. In April, he pleaded no contest and was found guilty of one count of sexual battery, a third-degree felony. As a result of the conviction, he must also register as a sexual offender upon his release every year for the next 10 years. Dunbar sporadically cried as...

WASHINGTON - The voice of science is being stifled in the Bush administration, with fewer scientists heard in policy discussions and money for research and advanced training being cut, according to panelists at a national science meeting. ... Rosina Bierbaum, dean of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment, said the Bush administration has cut scientists out of some of the policy-making processes, particularly on environmental issues. "In previous administrations, scientists were always at the table when regulations were being developed," she said. "Science never had the last voice, but it had a voice." Issues on global...

President interviewed by Itar-Tass in advance of European trip President Bush said he is looking forward to meeting with his friend Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, on February 24 and would like to "reinvigorate" the relationship between the United States and Russia. "We've got the framework for a good strategic relationship," Bush said during an interview at the White House February 18 with Itar-Tass in advance of his visit to Belgium, Germany and the Slovak Republic. Rather than a "fresh start," Bush said, "I'd call it 'reinvigorate.' We've got the framework, and it gives us...

Al Franken shows some notes to Terry McAuliffe: