Free Republic

Laura Chavez is shown in this Santa Fe County Jail booking photo. (Santa Fe County Jail) Laura Chavez, 60, of Santa Fe, N.M., is accused of repeatedly stabbing her boyfriend, Clyde “Butch” Smith, 48, when a family game of Monopoly went terribly awry. Chavez began to argue with Smith while playing the board game with her 10-year-old grandson. The boy told police that Chavez accused Smith of cheating at Monopoly, and then sent the boy to bed around 11 p.m. mid-argument. According to a probable cause statement released by police, the couple’s argument escalated until Chavez hit Smith over the...

CLINTON — The peace activists — a hospice nurse, a Catholic priest and a minister — said they were following a higher law to protest a crime against humanity: the making of nuclear weapons. The judge said the laws he took an oath to uphold bound him. “I’m obligated to follow the law and treat you like any other defendants,’’ Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge told the activists. With that, Elledge today threw the book at Father Tom Lumpkin, Rev. Erick Johnson and nurse Pam Beziat, meting out the maximum 30-day jail sentence for obstructing a roadway. They...

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio (AP) - Cleveland Indians outfielder Milton Bradley pleaded innocent Friday to charges of speeding and fleeing when an officer tried to ticket him. Bradley was driving 52 mph in a 25-mph zone early Saturday, according to a police report. A patrolman stopped Bradley and issued him a speeding citation, but Bradley refused it and sped away, according to the report. An officer briefly pursued him.Bradley called the police Sunday to say he wanted to pick up the ticket. He did so and also signed a signature bond.Bradley also was charged with failure to comply with police, a...

House OKs life sentences for hackers By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com July 15, 2002, 6:00 PM PT WASHINGTON--The House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bill that would allow for life prison sentences for malicious computer hackers. By a 385-3 vote, the House approved a computer crime bill that also expands police ability to conduct Internet or telephone eavesdropping without first obtaining a court order. The Bush administration had asked Congress to approve the Cyber Security Enhancement Act (CSEA) as a way of responding to electronic intrusions, denial of service attacks and the threat of "cyber-terrorism." The...