Free Republic

Legendary Houston newsman Marvin Zindler is suffering from inoperable pancreatic cancer. Zindler, who turns 86 on Aug. 10, said in a report filed for Channel 13's 6 p.m. newscast Thursday that he has pancreatic cancer that has spread to his liver. "I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me because I'm almost 86 years old," said Zindler, who looked wan and tired in the report. Despite the news, the consumer affairs reporter — who has worked for KTRK for 35 years and has a lifetime contract with the station — said he planned on filing reports as usual, beginning...

A Texas City woman says a cable company is putting the squeeze on low income people. She says poor people are getting taken for an extra dollar by Time Warner. Time Warner is charging more to folks who can least afford to pay. Geneva Hurst, 82, is upset because she had to pay a dollar extra when she paid her cable bill in person at a Texas City service center. She doesn't have a checking account or credit card and cashes her Social Security check to buy food and pay bills. Geneva said, "I goes there. I don't have a...

A lightning strike at a farm in northern Israel killed 10,000 chickens, according to a report. The single bolt of lightning hit the farm during a heavy storm, struck the electricity supply which set fire to the coop and killed the chickens. All that remained were a couple of singed chickens huddling in a corner. "There was a bolt of lightning which hit the power supply and whole building went up. I've never seen anything like it in my life," a farm worker said.