Free Republic

A former Black Panther who was convicted of murdering a New Jersey State trooper 49 years ago will soon be sprung on parole. New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled 3-2 to allow 85-year-old Sundiata Acoli, the Black Liberation Army activist who killed Trooper Werner Foerster in 1973, to go free. Acoli had appeared before the parole board eight times since 1993 — when he became eligible for parole on his lifetime prison sentence. “In light of Acoli’s verbal renunciation of violence as an acceptable way to achieve social change; more than two decades infraction-free in the federal prison system;...

Arrange these problems in order of importance: the threat of war in Iraq, the words Brett Favre and retirement in the same sentence, Wisconsin's giant budget deficit, all that extra white space next to this column, overcooked beef riblets served to inmate Robert S. Schmidt at the Washington County Jail. OK, pencils down. If you ranked the ruined riblets any higher than third place, you need to try again. Schmidt thought it was a serious enough issue to send me a copy of the complaint he filed with the jail last month. "I was served a food plate tonight that...