Free Republic

An Illinois circuit court judge was gunned down outside his home earlier this week as his wife was arrested and charged with his murder. The body of Illinois Second Judicial Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Valentine was discovered fatally shot outside of his Albion, Illinois during a wellness check on Nov. 5. The Edwards County Sheriff’s Office were called to the Valentines’ home on the 1100 block of County Road 600 in Albion, Ill. at around 12:14 p.m. when they made the disturbing find, the Illinois State Police said. Valentine, 43, had been the resident circuit judge for Edwards County...

LOS ANGELES -- Hacking and gasping, Irma Ortiz could cart her groceries only so far before she'd catch other shoppers glaring at her. Mortified, she'd abandon her cart on the spot and bolt for the door. Frank Herrera could gun his dirt bike only so far before choking on the rush of air. Go. Stop. Go. Stop. Exasperated, he gave up riding. Ortiz, 44, and Herrera, 34, are odd candidates for lung transplants, being nonsmokers and having considerable youth on their side. How they lost 70 to 80 percent of their breathing capacity is no less astonishing. They acquired the...