Free Republic

Democratic California Rep. Zoe Lofgren earmarked $2 million in federal taxpayer money for the renovation and relocation of a Planned Parenthood clinic in the omnibus spending bill currently working its way through Congress, according to analysis of the federal government’s budget by Open the Books. Members of Congress sometimes agree to vote for a spending bill under the condition that it includes funding for an unrelated cause or project they’re interested in in a process known as earmarking. The omnibus bill for the federal government’s 2023 budget includes $2 million for a Planned Parenthood clinic at the request of Lofgren,...

EMIDJI, Minn., March 14 (UPI) -- Babe, Paul Bunyan's blue ox companion, a concrete statue built in 1937 by the Bemidji, Minn., Rotary Club, will be getting $100,000 worth of repairs. Bunyan and Babe have been featured twice in Life magazine. Kodak has said they're the second-most-photographed statues in the United States, right behind Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Babe developed a one-inch-wide crack from the neck to the hindquarters that city officials have annually fixed with caulking and blue paint, but the crack continued to widen, reported the Grand Forks Herald. The Rotary Club raised more than $53,000 and...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Of nearly $23 billion coming to California to improve highways, roads and public transit systems, some $90 million has been earmarked for transportation projects that don't involve cars or any motorized vehicles. Marin County will demonstrate the influx of funds for alternative methods of movement with a $25 million pilot program creating pedestrian and bike trails that connect workplaces, schools, stores and other popular destinations. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri also will receive $25 million each for similar projects that are designed to motivate commuters to rely less on cars. The six-year, $286.4 billion highway bill passed...