Free Republic

Poor Children: Monsignor Luigi Negri, the former archbishop of Ferrara, Italy, published on La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana a letter to the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing that killed 23 youngsters. The title: "Poor children of a society that does not recognize evil." Negri belongs to the small Catholic wing of the Italian Bishops. Only Two Things: Negri writes to the victims, "You were born, often undesired, and nobody has given you 'adequate reasons to live'. They only told you two things: that you can do whatever you want, because each of your desires is a right, and that it...

A woman in the border city of Laredo, Texas who was angry because she had been denied food stamps killed herself and shot and critically wounded her two children late on Monday. The woman, whom he declined to identify, pulled out a handgun and started walking through the office, threatening several employees, he said. She took an office supervisor hostage in a room in the office. After two hours of negotiations, the woman allowed the male supervisor to go free, but she remained in the office with her two children, a 10-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl. "About 11:45 last...

QUETZALTENANGO, Guatemala -- Across Central America, growing numbers of impoverished children appear to be setting out for the United States on their own, risking robbery, rape and death as they try to sneak illegally through Mexico and across the U.S. border. Last year, 6,460 underage illegal immigrants from Central America were detained in the United States while traveling without their parents and sent to government shelters, a 35 percent increase over the previous year. Many others likely slipped in undetected.

Congressional Republicans on Tuesday proposed a $100 million plan to let poor children leave struggling schools ...

July 2, 2004, 12:46AM Pastor arrested in fraud scheme Among four accused of misappropriating charter school funds By HARVEY RICE Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle A pastor who ran a Houston charter school once said to exemplify charter school problems was arrested Thursday along with three family members on charges of misappropriating $3 million in state and federal education funds. The Rev. Harold W. Wilcox, former head of the now-defunct Prepared Table charter school and pastor of the Greater Progressive Baptist Church, and three relatives were arrested at their homes. FBI agenst transport Louvicy Wilcox 51, to the federal courthouse The...

Proposed Cuts Could Impact Queens’ School Lunch Program by Jessica Bruder, Chronicle Correspondent May 01, 2003 It’s Friday afternoon at Long Island City’s PS 166, and a girl is nibbling on a pizza crust while waiting in line to throw away her lunch tray. All around her, the cafeteria buzzes while kids eat their lunches, many provided by the government.    Four out of five children at PS 166, 948 out of 1,164 students in all, are considered poor enough to qualify for federally funded school lunch. But according to child advocates, many of them risk losing their subsidized meals if...

<p>This month's election reaffirmed that while California is highly fragmented along cultural and economic lines -- the most complex society in the history of humankind, in fact -- its politics are largely the province of its whitest, oldest and most affluent residents.</p>