Free Republic

The children of US Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) relentlessly tormented their mom’s personal assistant, driving him to commit suicide, an explosive lawsuit claims. Brandon O’Brien, 35, worked for the senator’s wife, Nancy Bass Wyden — owner of Manhattan’s famed Strand Bookstore — from June 2022 to September 2024 and was “frequently tasked” with caring for the couple’s young kids, including driving them to school in NYC and watching them during trips to Disneyworld. The disturbing behavior began in September 2022 when the couple’s then-10-year-old daughter allegedly exposed herself to O’Brien, making “sexually explicit” comments and asking about his “intimate life”...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) is preparing legislation to expand production of semiconductors only weeks after his family members purchased stock in semiconductor tool manufacturers. Wyden and two other Democrat senators released a statement to announce they were working on legislation to “expand production of critical technologies like semiconductors, batteries and solar components” in the name of “economic recovery.” ‘By building on tools with records of success, we can also boost manufacturing in communities that have been left behind. We are working on new legislation that would expand production of critical technologies like semiconductors, batteries and solar components....

The Strand Bookstore, a New York City icon home to 2.5 million books and 92 years of storefront history, was commemorated by the city and chosen as a historic city landmark this week. Nancy Bass Wyden, the store's third-generation owner, isn't taking it as a compliment. "Some people have congratulated me and I said, 'No, this is no congratulations. This is a punishment,' " Bass Wyden tells NPR's Scott Simon. Bass Wyden feels that the designation is counterproductive. "We don't need the city to come in and just put red tape and bureaucracy and take control over decision-makings of the...

I feel sacrilegious for invoking such numinous phrases, but it’s hard to think of a better personal metaphor for the Strand, New York City’s iconic bookstore located in Greenwich Village. Visiting the store is its own pilgrimage for any starved bibliophile. In a world of Amazon shipping and the $.01 paperback, Strand is an oasis, offering a rarified shopping experience that slakes our need for spontaneity through the adventitious wandering of stacks. The atmosphere begs for browsing books, both old and new. It’s anonymous and crowded, like a self-contained city. And, as everything else in our harried age, it’s in...