Free Republic

BRAINTREE, Vt. --An enigma on Flight 923, Catherine Mayo was a mystery in her small Vermont town, too. Mayo, 59, caused a major scare when she passed notes to crew members, urinated on the floor and made cryptic remarks to crew members on the London-to-Washington, D.C., flight. Her attorney, federal public defender Page Kelley, said Mayo was "just barely lucid" when they spoke. "She's got some very serious mental health problems," said Kelley.

Two people have been killed and 13 injured after a giant, inflatable sculpture blew free from its moorings. Many were inside the artwork, which consists of connected rooms, when it lifted 30ft into the air at Riverside Park, Chester-le-Street, County Durham. The Dreamspace sculpture is thought to have drifted for about 40m. A 38-year-old woman from the town and a 68-year-old woman from Seaham died. A three-year-old girl was seriously injured and was flown to hospital.

Why dad's eco-funeral went horribly wrong My father was buried in a cardboard coffin and placed next to a pet cemetery miles from our family home. Read about the 'green' funeral that went horribly wrong: By CLAIRE WALLERSTEIN Daily Mail 8th June 2006 As his final statement, a 'green' burial seemed the perfect way for my father to take his leave of planet Earth. Not only would it avoid rare tropical hardwoods being felled and carted halfway around the world for a coffin that would be seen for only a few hours, but the burial would cost fraction of the...

A woman who stabbed her husband's former mistress 18 times in a jealous rage was cleared of attempted murder yesterday. Alethea Foster, 61, gasped and stumbled in the dock after a jury of nine women and three men acquitted her of intentionally trying to kill or harm Julie Simpson, 45, a mature student at Cambridge University, last October. But she was sentenced to 30 months in prison for causing grievous bodily harm after stabbing her in the neck, face, head, chest and back, leaving her with a punctured lung, blind in one eye and disfigured for life. Cambridge Crown Court...

A 9-month-old boy was killed Thursday morning after his father bashed him into the hood of a car and then threw him into a canal during a domestic dispute, police said.

VACAVILLE, Calif. -- A 14-year-old boy was arrested Monday after bringing a gun to school and discharging it in the gym at the Will C. Wood High School, Vacaville police said. A 15-year-old girl sustained a wound to her face when the gun accidentally went off while the boy was handling it inside his backpack. The bullet struck a concrete sidewalk in the area of the school's gym, and a piece of the bullet or concrete struck the girl, according to Vacaville Unified School District Superintendent John Aycock. She was taken to VacaValley Hospital for treatment. "The girl wasn't a...

The hope for a better world and better America is gone. Finished. Done for. I don't know when this happened, but it did. So vote if you must. Democrat, Republican -- it doesn't matter. Better to enjoy yourself. Immerse yourself in pop culture. Go see Saw 3. What' J-Lo up to these days? Does Green Day have a new album? Forget about eating healthy. You think you're going to live forever? Have that extra cheese all meat pizza. You know you want it. Drink to excess. Don't pay your debts. Invite the collection agent to take it out in the...

Mom Arrested For Offering Toddler For Sex On Web POSTED: 6:26 am PST November 11, 2005 UPDATED: 9:18 am PST November 12, 2005 MARTINEZ -- A 22-year-old Martinez mother has been arrested after police say she allegedly offered her four-year-old child for $500 to sexual predators surfing the Internet in a Craigslist web personal ad. Police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding a posting that was soliciting for prostitution, said Martinez police Detective Gary Peterson. After a person who is not involved in law enforcement contacted Shannon Nicole Woods online, Woods agreed to...

Tips Lead to Arrest of Clown Assailant 2 hours, 38 minutes ago RENO, Nev. - A man dressed as a clown who assaulted another man and stole his bicycle at last year's Burning Man festival has been sentenced after the victim's friends tracked down the disguised assailant. Dennis Hinkamp had to have two plates implanted in his arm after the attack at the annual counterculture festival on the Black Rock Desert. Though his attacker disappeared into the crowd of painted and costumed celebrants, Hinkamp's friends launched an Internet search to find him. They linked him to a group called Anarchoclowns,...