Free Republic

Solyndra, the solar panel company whose highly publicized failure and consequent investigation by federal authorities has flashed across headlines recently, isn't the only business to go belly up after benefiting from a piece of the $800 billion economic stimulus package passed in 2009. At least four other companies have received stimulus funding only to later file for bankruptcy, and two of those were working on alternative energy. Evergreen Solar Inc., indirectly received $5.3 million through a state grant to open a $450 million facility in 2007 that employed roughly 800 people. The company, once a rock star in the solar...

The San Jose City Council on Tuesday decided overwhelmingly to move ahead with plans to invest $6 million in prime property owned by a former mayor and his family, casting aside charges that cronyism had helped forge the deal. The 10-1 vote to continue with the project, an urban market in San Pedro Square seen as key to a downtown redevelopment push, came with a large helping of praise for Tom McEnery, a prominent business owner but long a source of controversy over his role in charting downtown's future. "This isn't a political decision today," Vice Mayor Dave Cortese said....

Two men who are members of Gideons International, the Christian organization that is famous for, among other ministries, placing Bibles in motels and giving them to children, have been arrested after trying to hand out Bibles on a public sidewalk in Florida, according to a law firm. Officials with the Alliance Defense Fund have confirmed they will be representing Anthony Mirto and Ernest Simpson, who were arrested, booked into jail and charged with trespassing. Jeremy Tedesco, one of the ADF's lawyers on the case, confirmed to WND that the organization's clients were on a public sidewalk when they were handing...

A sex offender "with predatory tendencies" was prescribed Viagra when he lived at a recently shuttered south suburban nursing home, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan disclosed Tuesday. "This is really egregious," Madigan said after a news conference announcing new safeguards to protect nursing home residents from sex offenders and other ex-cons living alongside them. "Why would you ever be prescribing Viagra for a sex offender in a nursing home where you have residents who are clearly vulnerable?" Sex offenders on Viagra became an issue in May when New York found that Medicaid dollars were paying for 198 sex offenders in...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- An agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency was been suspended after video surfaced showing the man shooting himself during a gun safety class in front of a group of Orlando fourth-graders, according to Local 6 News. An investigation has been launched to determine who leaked the home video of the undercover DEA agent shooting himself at an event sponsored by the Orlando Minority Youth Golf Association. Before the shooting, the agent was videotaped talking about how certain weapons are popular with rap artists. "This is a Glock 40," the agent said on the tape. "Fifty Cent,...

Sierra Conservancy bills - Gov needs to hear from you DATE: MAY 2, 2004TO: ALL GRASSROOTS AND CONCERNED CITIZENS . . . . . . . . . . . (PLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR LIST OF CONTACTS) FROM: ROSE COMSTOCK - PRESIDENT - ALLIANCE FOR AMERICA           www.allianceforamerica.orgWHAT:    Wednesday of this week the California Assembly Appropriations Committee approved two bills that would establish a Sierra Nevada Conservancy. Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated that he intends to create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy during his first term in office. These two bills-AB 1788 and AB 2600-present radically different...

<p>Once again we have embarked on road constriction season. Once again I have to wonder at the supposed logic behind the planning. Neither of the two major cities I normally drive through seem to have any concern for the users of the highways when planning road constriction. Both cities have at least 2 routes through or around them, yet both insist on having all potential routes constricted at the same time. I'm sure that we can all agree that removing a lane or two from service will help to create traffic jams. I think we can all also agree that traffic jams add to pollution, road rage, and fuel use. They also increase the chance for accidents. If, in cities with alternate routes (i.e. a bypass route) one of the routes was left barrier free, much of the through traffic would use that route, not only making travel easier and safer for the commuters, but also improving safety for those working on the roads.</p>