Free Republic

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Here's how the deal works. NASCAR wants establishment money and establishment credibility. NASCAR wants to look like a professional major league, not a motorized division of fake wrestling occasionally rocked by genuine tragedy. When those goals collided during the bumper-rattling, bump-drafting Budweiser Shootout eight days ago, superstar Tony Stewart sounded the alarm. He predicted possible death before the tour left Daytona unless NASCAR got a grip on rogue driving. NASCAR approach backfired The graphic public comments hit the NASCAR trailer like a tax audit. The bosses issued directives, policies, hints and outright threats. In effect, they...

Howard Morris, who died Saturday at 85, was an actor and voiceover artist who became a familiar figure to television viewers of the early 1950s as one of the regulars on "Your Show of Shows," the Sid Caesar variety series that launched some of the biggest names in American comedy. While his face was less known to later generations, Morris's voice popped up all over the airwaves. He could be heard in cartoons, as Fred Flintstone's boss, Mr. Slate, and as Jughead Jones in various televised versions of the "Archie" comic strip, as well as the title character in the...

A rock-throwing stranger throws a fit when arrested An unidentified man is in Wilson County jail after having been arrested Saturday night on Interstate 95 with a pile of rocks between his legs. Sheriff's Deputy J.W. Bissette found the man sitting cross-legged in the emergency lane of I-95 near the 114 mile-marker with a pile of rocks between his legs. Bissette was responding to the area after receiving a call about a man walking north on the interstate who appeared to be intoxicated. On his way, Bissette received another call that the man was throwing rocks at passing motorists. As...