Free Republic

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) -- Air Force Officer Accession and Training School officials here are assessing the damage to Air Force ROTC detachments and Junior ROTC units affected by Hurricane Katrina. Twenty-five Air Force Junior ROTC units located in high schools in Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Alabama are potentially affected. Of the 70 instructors assigned to those units, only 25 have been accounted for. Reports have confirmed that at least 13 of the 25 high schools were destroyed. "We are assessing what it is going to take to re-establish those units in terms of uniforms, textbooks and supplies,...

Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has finalized his emergency budget-cutting plan, more or less - and large families living in Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza), the Negev, and the north are liable to be its hardest-hit victims. The program, outlined in a 150-page document, calls for the end to all income tax breaks in these areas, cuts in child allowances, and more. If a family is supported by a public-sector worker, its income will drop even further, as most such wages will be cut by 8-10%. These families could see their income drop by 600-1,300 shekels each month. Israel's average gross...