Free Republic

The Lansing School District is considering privatizing custodial services. The Lansing State Journal first reported the development in mid-July, and July 29 was the deadline for service providers to submit bids. With almost 12,000 students, Lansing is one of the state’s largest school districts. In Michigan and around the country, privatizing custodial services has saved school districts money. For example, the rural Ludington school district saved $150,000, about $67 per student. Lansing’s neighbor, the Okemos Public Schools, saved $600,000 — or $150 per student. If it follows through, the Lansing district will join nearly 260 others across Michigan that have...

As some of you may remember (but probably don't), I had to move two years ago. This is the first new house I've ever lived in, and it has those fancy super-vulnerable indoor walls (the kind you can't drive a nail into). Yesterday I was attempting to hang a picture. Unfortunately the picture was too heavy for the hook and it pulled it off the wall and dropped to the floor. I instinctively flung out my arms and found later that I had inadventently brushed against the wall with an arm that was coated with salve (for a psoriasis). The...

It looks like crack, but it is much cheaper, four times more lethal and called “oxi” or “oxidado” (rust). It’s a cocaine derivative, just like crack, but it contains kerosene or gasoline, acetone, battery fluid and other chemicals. The highly addictive drug is smoked, but there are also cases of oxi being grounded up in cigarettes or snorted as powder, and has been showing up in Brazil in alarming rates. Oxi is known as ‘the drug of death’ because it’s extremely harmful to the body and addictive right after the first try. “You use oxi once, and you want to...

Fitted or flat? That’s the weighty question facing the California Legislature, which is considering a bill that would regulate what type of sheets can be used on hotel bed mattresses across the state. Supporters of the bill argue it will reduce worker injuries by eliminating the need for workers to repetitively lift extremely heavy mattresses when making beds. They contend that flat sheets cause workers to strain their backs, shoulders and wrists, and are often responsible for repetitive motion injuries. State Bill 432, sponsored by Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), also calls for the use of long-handled tools like...

DALLAS, Texas (CNN) – Sen. Hillary Clinton, the first serious female contender for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, told supporters that she would clean house when she arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January 2009. “Now, you know, as President Bush is leavin’ and comin’ home, waiting in that Oval Office are gonna be a lot of problems,” Clinton told the crowd. “So, the next president is gonna have to get in there and clean house,” she added. “Now, I think we need somebody whose got some experience cleaning house to go into the White House,” she said to cheers....

ALBANY, Feb. 16 - The federal government may have cracked down on the use of soft money by national political parties, but the tradition is alive and well in New York State. Local parties can still accept unlimited corporate donations to their so-called housekeeping committees, which have few restrictions on how they can spend the money. The increasing use of party housekeeping committees was highlighted this year by the disclosure that the state Republican Party's housekeeping committee pays the salary of a full-time assistant for the state's first lady, Libby Pataki. Critics say the accounts are used to skirt the...