Free Republic

FAIRVIEW, N.C. — Jamie Ager has spent much of the past year rebuilding his farm in the foothills of western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene tore through the region, cutting power, destroying fences and scattering livestock. Then, earlier this year, Ager lost his beef contract with local schools, a casualty of billions of dollars in cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Trump administration. Now, the fifth-generation farmer is running for Congress — part of a new crop of Democratic candidates the party is turning to as it tries to compete in the tough, often rural districts it...

Multiple agencies are investigating a plane crash into a residential neighborhood near the Troutdale Airport. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office has confirmed to KGW that a small aircraft has crashed into a Fairview neighborhood just after 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. The status of any injuries at this stage remains unclear. This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

The man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie held a fake driver's license bearing the surname of an infamous Hezbollah commander, it has been claimed. That driver's license, which was was found on 24-year-old Hadi Mater bore the name Hassan Mughniyah. Both the first and second names are linked to infamous terrorist organization Hezbollah. The group's current leader is named Hassan Nasrallah. While one of the group's most notorious figures was Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a CIA-linked assassination in Syria in 2008. NBC New York reports that Mater's social media accounts showed that he was sympathetic to Shia...

The instant you walk into the massive, 750,000-square-foot PHB Industries tool and die plant, the smells and sounds of the buzz and hum of machines and people making things engulfs your senses; instantly, you are aware you are in a place where man, woman, technology, natural resources, and robotics all collaborate for a multitude of product creation and assembly. Aluminum die-casting, zinc die-casting, machines of every size, shape, and capabilities are everywhere, some run by a computer, some giving off thousands of degrees of heat, and some guided by skilled workers.

Over the past year I have been going over articles about Asperger's syndrome. Asperger's syndrome is considered to be a highly functioning form of autism yet it is also considered to be a disability. Members of the autism community have worked for years trying to downplay the severity of the disorder. I first heard about Asperger's in 1998 while watching a documentary. Asperger's disorder was first invented by a German doctor named Hans Asperger. (the disorder was named after him.) Asperger did study on children who though they were bright were considered awkward. The world health organization began to use...