Free Republic

The Bennett lesson: All incumbents beware By: David Catanese May 9, 2010 07:28 AM EDT SALT LAKE CITY — It's on. The first incumbent of the 2010 election year crashed and burned Saturday, and there's ample cause for alarm for officeholders everywhere. There was no personal scandal, no whiff of corruption, no silver bullet here. Republican Sen. Robert Bennett was one of the most powerful and likable members of the Senate, he diligently protected Utah’s interests from his post in GOP leadership and he funneled millions of dollars back to his state as an appropriator. But Utah Republicans didn't care....

A police statement filed with the Wasatch County Jail implicates a father and son in the shooting death Sunday of a Heber City man, but it does not explain a motive. Antonio Pelaez-Vasquez, 55, and Cunny A. Pelaez, 19, admitted to being in their van when someone shot and killed Aniceto Armendariz, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Utah Highway Patrol. "During the same interview," the statement reads, "one of the suspects described the shooting incident and the weapon used." Police recovered a 20-gauge shotgun and shells from the scene and say Pelaez described the firearm. The...

Montgomery County Public Schools have barred parents from sitting in on classes in which a new sex-education curriculum will be taught, despite an official schools policy that encourages parents to visit their children's classrooms. The policy states that parents are welcome to visit their child's classroom with permission from school administrators. The policy says, "Classroom visits and conferences by parents and other persons in the school community are encouraged." Not this time. Brian Edwards, a county schools spokesman, said the parents' presence at the sex-ed classes would have a "chilling effect on the educational process." "If you're in a classroom...