Free Republic

Author Elmore Leonard, whose ear for gritty, realistic dialogue helped bring dozens of hard-bitten crooks, cops and cowboys to life in nearly 50 novels, died on Tuesday several weeks after a stroke. He was 87. link: http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/obit-elmore-leonard/2013/08/20/id/521297?promo_code=13E39-1&utm_source=13E39Boston_Herald&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1

RALEIGH -- For the second time in two years, state trial court Judge Evelyn Hill's remarks from the bench have earned a defendant a new trial -- this time a convicted sex offender. The state Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered a retrial for Douglas Shane Wright, 31, of Burlington, convicted in October 2003 of two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. He had been sentenced to four to five years in prison. Since her elevation from Wake County prosecutor to elected judge five years ago, Hill has been reprimanded twice for misbehaving and had one other conviction...