Free Republic

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A slim majority of Americans, including more conservatives and Republicans than previously, want to keep religion out of politics, a survey released on Thursday found. The results come as Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain actively vie for the support of religious voters among others ahead of the November 4 presidential election. The survey by the Pew Research Center found that 52 percent of Americans thought that churches and other religious institutions should stay out of politics, an increase of eight percentage points since 2004, when the last U.S. presidential election was held.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - A federal judge has overturned a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to allow oil and gas drilling near a forest and a river in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula. U.S. District Judge David Lawson of Detroit ruled Thursday the agency had acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in 2005 by giving Savoy Energy LP of Traverse City a permit to drill an exploratory well near the Au Sable River's south branch. The proposed wellhead would be located in the Huron-Manistee National Forest about three-tenths of a mile from the Mason Tract, a 4,679-acre wilderness area prized by anglers...

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — Search warrants unsealed Friday describe what may have been the final terrifying moments in the life of a promising college student: Kidnapped while studying at home, taken in her own vehicle to be robbed at an ATM, and shot multiple times.

A Pennsylvania school district has such a high number of students with sexually transmitted diseases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stepped in to track down students at risk for HIV. It’s estimated that 10 percent of the 3,000 middle and high school students in the Delaware Valley School District in Milford, P.A., are infected with an STD — including one confirmed case of HIV, Times Herald Record reported Friday. On top of those figures, about two dozen teenage girls in the school system have tested positive for pregnancy. A non-profit health clinic in Milford said they...