Free Republic

Former U.S. Senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who lost both legs and one arm in the Vietnam War and was defeated in his 2002 reelection bid by a Republican who argued he was too soft on terrorism and homeland security, died Tuesday at his home at the age at 79, according to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. A close friend and care giver told the newspaper that Cleland died from heart failure. The family requests that donations to be made to the Max Cleland Leadership Program at Stetson University. Cleland was elected to the Senate in 1996 but only served one term because...

Former Illinois Sen. Adlai Stevenson III (D) has died at the age of 90. Stevenson's son, Adlai Stevenson IV, confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times that his father died on Monday in Chicago, adding he had dementia. “He just faded away,” the younger Stevenson told the newspaper. llinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) praised the elder Stevenson's "passion for democracy" in a statement following news of his death while offering condolences to Stevenson's loved ones "on behalf of the Land of Lincoln."

Bobby Bowden, whose homespun charm and coaching savvy turned the Florida State Seminoles into a football superpower, died on Sunday morning. He was 91. Terry Bowden, son of the legendary coach, confirmed to The Associated Press that his father died at home surrounded by family. “It was truly peaceful,” Terry Bowden said in a text message to AP. Bowden won more major-college games than anyone except Penn State’s Joe Paterno. He retired following the 2009 season with a record of 377-129-4, but the numbers don’t reflect the impact he had on college football in general and FSU in particular. The...

A tutor given the Sinovac vaccine as her first jab died after receiving AstraZeneca as her second jab in Prachuap Khiri Khan on Tuesday. She was identified as Pongpak Satthasophon, 39, tutor and owner of a tuition centre in Muang district.Muang station police, who were alerted on Tuesday night, believe she had already died around three hours before her corpse was found at the tuition centreThe dead woman’s husband, Saksit Dujwan, 44, said both he and his wife received AstraZeneca as their second jab on Monday after previously being given Sinovac as the first jab.He said his wife got a...

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Edwin Washington Edwards, the high-living, quick-witted four-term governor who reshaped Louisiana’s oil revenues and dominated the state’s politics for decades, a run all but overshadowed by scandal and eight years in federal prison, died Monday. He was 93. Edwards died of respiratory problems with family and friends by his bedside, family spokesman Leo Honeycutt said, days after entering hospice care at his home in Gonzales, near the Louisiana capital. “I have lived a good life, had better breaks than most, had some bad breaks, too, but that’s all part of it. I tried to help as...

A National Guard member stationed in Washington, DC, to protect the Capitol died after suffering a medical emergency while off duty, a spokesperson for the force said Thursday. The Guard member’s name and details about their death were not immediately released. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Guard’s joint task force in DC said the death was under investigation.

Sources close to production say the contestant had completed the course, but required medical attention after leaving the course. He was then attended to by on-site emergency professionals, after which paramedics were called to the set, and the contestant was transported to a local hospital. No further information about the contestant has been released. All “Wipeout” contestants undergo medical exams before they are cleared to participate. There is a planned break in filming for the Thanksgiving holiday. The show plans to resume shooting sometime after that hiatus.

Bulgarian-born artist Christo, best known for wrapping buildings and famous landmarks in fabric or plastic, has died at his home in New York, aged 84. He passed away of natural causes on Sunday, according to a statement posted on the artist's official Facebook page. Christo, who always worked with his wife Jeanne-Claude, famously covered the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf in Paris with reams of cloth. His artworks "brought people together" around the world, the statement says. "Christo lived his life to the fullest, not only dreaming up what seemed impossible, but realising it," it reads, adding that the...

Jack Welch was a railroad conductor’s son who rose to chairman and CEO of General Electric.During the 20 years he led the conglomerate, its market value grew from $12 billion to $410 billion.Fortune magazine once called him “manager of the century,” but he also was known as “Neutron Jack” for slashing tens of thousands of jobs.  Jack Welch, a railroad conductor’s son who became chairman and CEO of General Electric and led it for two decades, growing its market value from $12 billion to $410 billion, has died. He was 84.His death was announced Monday by his wife, Suzy. With...

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Joseph Wilson, the former ambassador who set off a political firestorm by disputing U.S. intelligence used to justify the 2003 Iraq invasion, died Friday, according to his ex-wife. He was 69. Wilson died of organ failure in Santa Fe, said his former wife, Valerie Plame, whose identity as a CIA operative was exposed days after Wilson’s criticism of U.S. intelligence that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase uranium. The leak of Plame’s covert identity was a scandal for the administration of President George W. Bush that led to the conviction of vice presidential...

38-year-old Brandon John Chance and his wife, Aly, both jumped from the bridge around noon, but Brandon Chance deployed his parachute late and hit the water with the chute only partially deployed. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Lori Stewart said Chance’s wife pulled him from the water and performed CPR, but Chance did not survive his injuries. The I.B. Perrine Bridge spans a canyon 486 feet (148 meters) above the Snake River in Twin Falls, Idaho. It’s a popular destination for BASE jumpers and is the only man-made structure in the United States where people can BASE jump year-round without a permit.

Robert Rackstraw, who many researchers suspect could have been behind the infamous D.B. Cooper skyjacking, has reportedly passed away at the age of 75. Thanks to his ties to Oregon, where the legendary 1971 caper took place, as well as a checkered past which included faking his own death to avoid criminal charges and spending time in prison for grand theft, he wound up popping up on the proverbial radar of investigators looking into the case shortly after the skyjacking occurred.In 1978, the FBI briefly considered Rackstraw to be a person of interest in the case, but ultimately ruled him...

Ross Perot, self-made billionaire, renowned patriot and two-time independent candidate for U.S. president, has died after a five-month battle with leukemia. He was 89.

“They knew something was going on in their body and were able to get to the hospital,” Michelle’s sister-in-law Tracey Calanog told local TV station KVUE. Friends said the Air Force veteran and his wife loved to travel and tried to get away on annual trips with just each other leaving behind their young son, 2, David’s daughter from a previous relationship, and their dog, Zooey. According to Calanog, Michelle died first, then David, before he could be airlifted to Australia for treatment. An investigation into the cause of their deaths is ongoing, but a recent World Health Organization alert...

"An 11-year-old New Jersey boy died on New Year’s Day after suffering a severe allergic reaction to the smell of fish being cooked at his grandmother’s home in Brooklyn, New York, according to reports."

caused the skydiver’s death, according to the agency. The FAA said she was using her own equipment. Usually, FAA probes into such situations are limited to if the chute was packed properly and by the appropriate person. Fellow skydivers said she was experienced in the extreme sport. Meanwhile, the skydiving center itself has a decades-long history of deaths and was investigated by federal agents earlier this year, according to KTXL. Nineteen people have died there since the facility opened in the early 1980s, with six of them between 2016 and 2018. After trouble in 2016, 20 center instructors were suspended...

Parents of boy with rare degenerative brain disease say they are heartbroken after his death in hospital A 23-month-old boy with a rare degenerative brain disease, who was at the centre of a protracted legal battle, has died, his parents have said. Alfie Evans died at Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool in the early hours of Saturday morning. Announcing the news on Facebook on Saturday, his parents, Kate James and Thomas Evans, said: “Our baby boy grew his wings tonight at 2:30am. We are heart broken. Thank you everyone for all your support.” [...] This is a breaking news...

<p>The musician and actor, 67, who starred in TV's The Partridge Family (1970 to 1974), has died in Florida after being hospitalized with organ failure, according to a statement sent to USA TODAY by his representative Jo-Ann Geffen.</p> <p>"On behalf of the entire Cassidy family, it is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, our uncle, and our dear brother, David Cassidy," the statement said. "David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long. Thank you for the abundance and support you have shown him these many years."</p>

Voevodsky’s friends remember him as constitutionally unable to compromise on the truth — a quality that led him to produce some of the most important mathematics of the 20th century. Vladimir Voevodsky at the Institute for Advanced Study in 2016. In math as in life, Vladimir Voevodsky played by his own rules. Voevodsky, a Russian-born mathematical prodigy, produced a string of daring insights in the 1990s that revolutionized one of the central fields of mathematics and established him at the pinnacle of his profession. His work continues to reverberate today. On Sept. 30, Voevodsky died in Princeton, New Jersey, at...

SAN QUENTIN — A condemned murderer who was one of just 16 inmates on California’s Death Row to have exhausted his appeals died of unknown causes, prison officials announced this week. San Quentin officials are investigating the death of Fernando Belmontes, 56, but say there was no obvious cause. More details about his death have not been released. Belmontes was one of 16 condemned inmates — out of California’s nearly 750 — who had exhausted his appeals. As such, he was considered a top priority for execution. Belmontes was sentenced to die at 20 years old, a year after he...