Free Republic

An endangered Great White Heron has fully recovered from an emergency surgery after a fisherman pelted it with a rock at Bill Baggs State Park in Key Biscayne, Florida, in January. The rock broke the bird’s wing and reportedly caused the bird to bleed heavily. The man who threw the rock, Edgar Estuardo Valenzuela, was arrested after he admitted to the act of animal cruelty, which under Florida law typically carries a punishment of prison time or a hefty fine. However, when he was discovered to be an illegal alien from Guatemala, police were able to kill two birds with...

CARACAS, Venezuela – The Venezuelan government on Friday denied any link to a businessman who was stopped at an Argentine airport carrying a suitcase filled with nearly $800,000 in cash. The Venezuelan businessman, Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, carried the money from Caracas to Buenos Aires on a flight chartered by the Argentine government, and the undeclared funds were seized by customs agents last weekend. “We don't have anything to do with that plane or with that trip ... nothing to do with that businessman,” Venezuelan Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas told reporters. The incident has shaken the Argentine government, prompted one...

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Former President Nixon's private sanctuary, known as the Winter White House, was razed to make way for a new residence. AP Photo The ranch-style home at 500 Bay Lane in the Miami island suburb was where plans for the Watergate break-in at Democratic headquarters were discussed and where Nixon retreated as the scandal unfolded. "When he became president, he needed a getaway, and that became his Winter White House," said Paul George, history professor at Miami Dade College. Nixon bought the home from his former Senate colleague George Smathers and visited at least 50 times while...

A Mad Dash To Freedom On October 29, 2002, about 200 Haitians jumped off a stranded wooden freighter into the shallows off Key Biscayne. They lunged through chest-deep water in a mad scramble to evade the U. S. Coast Guard and the police to complete their illegal journey to Miami. With news helicopters capturing them live on national television, dozens of Haitians flooded onto a causeway leading to Miami as police officers converged. Many of the Haitians began commandeering passing cars and pick-up trucks and leaping onto truck beds. The Miami police closed the causeway for about two hours, clogging...