Free Republic

Four Massachusetts residents are accused of using more than 100 stolen identities to get over $1 million in food stamps and pandemic-era unemployment benefits in a multi-state fraud scheme, federal prosecutors say. U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said stolen identities from Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico were used to obtain $440,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The defendants also allegedly submitted fraudulent documents in order to receive more than $700,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington and Nevada. --snip-- Three defendants charged...

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Some children in Canada are so well-off and so keen on current affairs that they donate thousands of dollars to politicians -- at least, that's what one contender for the leadership of the opposition Liberal Party seems to believe. Former Immigration Minister Joe Volpe hit the spotlight this week after it emerged that a pair of 11-year-old twins and their 14-year-old brother had each donated C$5,400 ($4,900) to his leadership campaign. The parents of the children -- who also donated C$5,400 to Volpe's campaign -- are related to the chairman of generic drug maker Apotex Inc. In...

A suspect, wearing a bulletproof vest with his head hidden under a jacket, is transferred from the Pau courthouse, Monday, Jan. 31, 2005 in Pau, southwestern France. Police have arrested a man believed to be a top suspect in the Dec. 18, 2004 grisly murders of two caregivers at a psychiatric hospital in southwestern France, authorities said Monday, Jan. 31, 2005. The man was not immediately identified. (AP Photo/Bob Edme) PAU, France -- Police have arrested a former psychiatric patient suspected in the deaths of two caregivers - one decapitated and the other with her throat slit - at a...