Free Republic

A transgender heir to the Disney fortune has told of their guilt at not doing more to speak out against Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill, addressing the issue for the first time since their father announced to the world that he had a trans child. Charlee Corra Disney, a 30-year-old high school biology and environmental science teacher, came out as a transgender man who uses the pronouns 'they/theirs' to their family four years ago.

LOS ANGELES — Paris Hilton's younger brother, Conrad Hilton, has been arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly stealing a car and violating an ex-girlfriend's restraining order. Police say the 23-year-old Hilton Hotel heir was arrested shortly before 5 a.m. Saturday at a home in the Hollywood Hills. He allegedly was in a Bentley owned by his ex-girlfriend's father. Hilton was booked for grand theft auto and violating a restraining order and jailed on $60,000 bail. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had obtained a lawyer. Hilton has had a series of run-ins with the law. He was arrested two years...

In July 1981, the night before his glamorous wedding to Princess Diana, Prince Charles reportedly wept as he was still torn about his feelings for his former girlfriend (and then-mistress) Camilla Parker-Bowles. According to Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, a new biography of the Prince of Wales by royal writer Sally Bedell Smith, Charles felt pressured into his marriage to Diana — and he was still torn abut his love for the then-married Camilla.

EXCLUSIVE: Hillary Clinton's ties to the MOB: How former Secretary of State met with Mafia heir at his pizzeria where he asked for father's release from prison (in return for an offer she couldn't refuse) Hillary Clinton met with a Mafia heir who asked for his drug kingpin father to be released early from prison in exchange for votes, it has been revealed. The former First Lady met Giovanni Gambino, the son of Francesco 'Ciccio' Gambino and the cousin of Carlo Gambino - the boss of the notorious crime family and one-time head of the American Mafia - while she...

Millionaire heir to the Frito-Lay chip fortune, 44, dies at home just two years after he won battle against leukemia Carter Lay, an heir to the Frito-Lay potato chip company and leukemia survivor, died on Thursday, aged 44. The father-of-two was found in his Los Angeles home after police received a call that there was an unconscious male at the residence. Police found Lay in his bedroom unresponsive. CPR was administered but unsuccessful and Lay was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy report is underway, but his death is not believed to be suspicious, according to TMZ.

SEOUL (Reuters) – The death of a North Korean military official and the naming of leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un to the funeral preparation committee was jumped on by South Korean media on Monday as showing he had risen to second-in-command. In the opaque world of North Korea, experts are forced to dissect and analyze every snippet of information -- sometimes reading between the lines, or words -- in search of the truth. South Korean media concluded that by being named immediately after leader Kim Jong-il to the funeral committee by the North's state-run news agency KCNA, the leader's third son had...

Kim Jong Un appears live on Nork TV for 1st Time before thousands of goose-stepping soldiers... At a massive ceremony in Pyongyang, North Korea yesterday, Kim Jong Un -favored son of Stalinist dictator Kim Jong-Il- reviewed a massive military parade alongside his father in a ceremony dedicated to celebrating the 65th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers Party of Korea. The younger Kim's appearance in front of 20,000 troops, heavy weaponry, and huge crowds came two days after a senior official appeared to confirm that he would be the secretive state's next leader: "Our people are honoured to...

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has asked his country's overseas missions to pledge loyalty to his youngest son, signaling he has been anointed as next leader of the communist dynasty, a newspaper report said on Tuesday. Kim, 67, is thought to have suffered a stroke in August. Analysts have said the North's recent military actions, including a nuclear test last week, may be aimed at helping him solidify power so that he can name a successor. "It has been confirmed through various channels that North Korea sent emails to legations overseas, asking them to pledge their loyalty...

Multi-millionaire dog receives death threats A dog left £6million by her late owner has been moved to a safe house after receiving death threats. Trouble, a small white Maltese, inherited her fortune from property and hotel billionaire Leona Helmsley. The dog came out significantly better in its owner's will than members of the Helmsley family - two of her grandchildren received nothing. But the so-called Queen of Mean's multi-million dollar trust fund for Trouble may have backfired. The New York Post reports that Trouble's new guardians have received around two dozen death threats directed at the bitch. Two months ago,...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Peter E. Haas Sr., an heir of Levi Strauss & Co. who helped build the jeans company into a socially conscious clothing empire, has died. He was 86. Haas died of natural causes Saturday in his San Francisco home, company spokesman Jeff Beckman said Sunday. A great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss, Haas continued the tradition of the jeans pioneer, teaming up with his older brother, Walter A. Haas Jr., to transform the small maker of Western apparel into one of the world's most famous clothing brands during his 60-year career with the company. "Throughout his career and...

(AP) Spain's Crown Princess Letizia gave birth Monday to her first child, a girl who becomes second in line to the throne after her father Crown Prince Felipe. With Felipe by his wife's side, Leonor was delivered through a Caesarean section at Madrid's Ruber International Clinic, three weeks before the scheduled due date. Both mother and child were doing fine, said a visibly moved and happy Felipe accompanied by the team of doctors who assisted in the birth. "This is the most beautiful thing that can happen in someone's life," Felipe told reporters. "Both Princess Letizia and myself are absolutely...

Wal-Mart billionaire John Walton dies in plane crash55 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AFP) - John Walton, a billionaire heir of retail giant Wal-Mart, died when the small home-made plane he was flying crashed in a national park in Wyoming, authorities said. Walton's plane crashed at 12:20 pm local time (1820 GMT) shortly after taking off from Jackson Hole Airport in Grand Teton National Park, the National Park Service said in a statement. The cause of the accident was not immediately known. "Walton, the pilot and sole occupant of the aircraft, died on impact and was later pronounced dead at the scene...

By passing Initiative 402 in 1981, voters thought they had abolished this state's inheritance taxes. In reality the inheritance tax was abolished in favor of an "estate tax." This estate tax is also called a "pick-up tax," because the amount payable in the state estate tax was equal to the amount that one could credit against federal estate tax obligations. For example, if an estate received a $25,000 tax credit toward any federal excise taxes, it would owe $25,000 in Washington estate taxes. In other words, there was no net cost to an estate, and the state simply "picks up"...

Bush viewed as natural heir to Reagan's political legacyBy Ron HutchesonKnight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON - President Bush followed his father into the White House, but his political role model is another president - Ronald Reagan. Bush rarely talks about his father's influence on his political views, but he has been outspoken in his praise of the 40th president. Reagan's death Saturday renewed talk that Bush is the natural heir to Reagan's political legacy. Both pushed tax cuts while boosting defense spending - a combination that led to record deficits in both presidencies. Both set out to destroy an ideological...

GALVESTON, Texas - Following a six-week flight from authorities and nearly two years in jail, a cross-dressing New York real estate heir is going before a jury to face charges that he killed and dismembered a neighbor. Opening statements in Robert Durst's murder trial were scheduled for Monday. Durst, 60, is accused of killing his 71-year-old neighbor, Morris Black, then dismembering the body and throwing it into Galveston Bay in September 2001. Durst, who lived in Galveston as a mute woman, was arrested after parts of Black's body washed ashore. He posted $300,000 bond, then fled. Six weeks later, he...

Convicted Rapist and Cosmetics Heir Andrew Luster Begins 124-Year Prison Term Following Capture LOS ANGELES June 20 — Cosmetics heir and former fugitive Andrew Luster began serving a 124-year sentence he had dodged for months by fleeing to Mexico after his conviction for drugging and raping three women. The FBI put the 39-year-old great-grandson of Hollywood makeup legend Max Factor aboard a plane in Mexico and flew him back to California on Thursday, a day after he was captured by bounty hunters. Luster, who fled the country just days before the verdict five months ago, was arrested by Mexican police...