Free Republic

I voted for Virgil Goode.

This comes after we showed you video on Thursday night of elderly and disabled residents, risking their lives, shuffling across a busy street. On the other side was the new designated smoking area. Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne discovers our video has revved-up interest in scaling back the state's tough smoking ban. Our new law clearly says you can smoke inside your residence, but there is not an exemption for people residing at assisted living centers. As our cameras found out, that means smokers, already in poor health, may have to brave dangerous conditions to light up. Some legislators say that...

AUGUSTA, Maine --Private clubs will have new procedures to follow when they vote on whether to allow smoking. Gov. John Baldacci on Thursday signed into law a bill that will allow club smoking policy to be decided by a majority of club members who return ballots, rather than a majority of all of a club's members. The new law will correct what critics saw as a flaw in the current procedure, in which smoking policy is decided by a majority of each club's members. Critics said that poses problems because many club members are inactive or can't be located when...

Drive one of these? You're crass and irresponsible, says minister on warpathBy Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent   The minister has accused urban drivers of using 4x4s unnecessarily (Dwayne Senior/Sunday) DRIVERS of gas-guzzling cars are to be penalised under measures being developed to tackle climate change. Ministers are particularly keen to target the growing number of people who drive large 4X4s around cities and venture off tarmac only when parking on grass verges. In an interview with The Times, Malcolm Wicks, the Energy Minister, said: “There is crass irresponsibility in some of the larger monstrosities people drive around suburbia and...

<p>THE OLD, TIRED IDEA that America has only a finite number of jobs -- and that we must guard them zealously against raids from cheap foreign labor -- has been making a remarkable comeback. The only difference is that its upside-down view of the economy has plumbed new depths.</p>

<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Democrats seeking to replace President Bush brushed aside their own differences on Thursday and roundly condemned Bush's handling of the economy and Iraq.</p> <p>"This president is a miserable failure," said former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, repeating the line twice and blaming Bush for the loss of American jobs and prestige.</p>