Free Republic

KB Home may be the fifth-largest U.S. home builder, but it was No. 1 when it came to pay for its chief executive. Over the last three years, former CEO Bruce Karatz made $232.6 million in compensation. That's nearly three times what the chief executives earned at Pulte Homes Inc. and Centex Corp., which are bigger and more profitable. Among the nation's 12 largest builders, Karatz's closest competition came from Robert Toll, the CEO of Toll Bros. Inc. He pulled in $138.7 million over three years — a sum that Karatz outdid by nearly 70%. Karatz, 61, retired under pressure...

EDWARDS AFB - After more than 55 years of window-rattling and heart-thumping sonic booms, the familiar "Sound of Freedom" may be in for a change. In flights this week in the same supersonic corridor used by Chuck Yeager, a modified F-5 "Freedom Fighter" jet successfully proved that changing the shape of an aircraft can lessen the impact of breaking the sound barrier for those on the ground. "We're trying to fix what Chuck Yeager broke," said Northrop Grumman chief test pilot Roy Martin. In two flights Wednesday, the F-5 with a specially-shaped nose produced a smaller sonic boom than a...