Free Republic

Measure intended to protect people with disabilities who have wandered away A bill meant to help those with developmental disabilities would allow government agencies to locate people with tracking devices, which has some concerned the measure gives the federal government too much authority and power. In 2008, Kevin Curtis Wills, a 9-year-old boy with autism, jumped into a river near a park and drowned. In 2014, a 14-year-old boy with autism, Avonte Oquendo, left his school and drowned in a river. Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.), who chairs the Congressional Autism Caucus and the Alzheimer’s Disease Task Force, introduced a...

Big Brother Bloomberg is watching. Smokers who've been buying cigarettes from Internet sites to beat the city's $1.50-a-pack tax are in for a shock: tax collectors know who you are and are now sending out thousands of bills going back more than two years, The Post has learned. Andrew Hoffer, a utility worker who lives in Queens, told The Post he was flabbergasted to get a threatening letter from the Finance Department demanding $1,005 for the taxes due on purchases he made back to July 2002. "I had a feeling of violation," said Hoffer, 37. "Internet purchases are traditionally...

The clerk at my local Post Office gave me this bit of news today. It is also being talked about on the eBay Boards. USPS is going to open and check every bit of "Media mail" (used to be book rate) to make sure the packages dont contain anything that is not allowed by the regulations. Here is what the clerk told me today: At first they issued a notice that anyone with Media mail had to bring it in UNSEALED before that would accept it, then the clerk told me that they changed that directive so the clerks had...