Free Republic

3,000 people attempt to get by without buying new things - For Shawn Rosenmoss, the deal-breaker was a drill bit. John Perry's worst temptation was a plumber's snake for his clogged drain. Sarah Pelmas and Matt Eddy succumbed to the siren song of new white paint. But aside from the occasional hardware crises, the Compact -- an ever-growing group who have vowed not to buy anything new except food, medicine and underwear -- is going strong on its first anniversary. The Compact originated in December 2005 at a San Francisco dinner party, where guests decided to take recycling one step...

Kathleen Wilson lay on the kitchen floor of her Fairfield home for nearly two years after she died, her son and husband stepping around the remains as they prepared meals and went on with daily life. Fairfield police discovered the corpse and arrested the woman's son, Jack Wilson, 58, Friday afternoon on suspicion of elder abuse. A concerned neighbor had reported not seeing the woman in about a year. Wilson told police his mother had fallen in the kitchen sometime in mid-2003 and had remained there ever since, said Fairfield police Sgt. Mike Johnstone. "He says he left her in...