Free Republic

The U.S. services sector picked up speed in April, according to the Institute for Supply Management, with growth broadening across key components of the economy’s largest segment. The Services PMI rose to 51.6 percent last month, up from 50.8 percent in March and beating expectations for a modest dip. The increase marks a reversal from the prior month’s slowdown and suggests the sector may be reaccelerating heading into the second quarter. Three of the four major subindexes that feed directly into the headline PMI improved in April, with increases in new orders, supplier deliveries, and employment. Only the business activity...

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (I) received a bounce in the polls when he left the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an independent. But a new Rasmussen survey suggests the bounce is over. Marco Rubio leads the Senate race with 39%, followed by Crist at 31% and Rep. Kendrick Meek at 18%. Twelve percent are undecided.

Former Cork club hurler Jimmy Aherne wept when he was told he would be blind within three years. The father-of-four -- who is a second cousin to hurling legend Christy Ring -- was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The condition is cruel, as it has traditionally been untreatable. For decades, thousands of pensioners who lost their sight were simply told they had "old people's blindness" and that nothing could be done for them. But today, almost 12 months after that shocking diagnosis, the deterioration in Jimmy's eyesight has been halted and his good eye has improved to the point...

CHICAGO (Jan. 1) - Despite a sharp drop in homicides, Chicago has regained a title it didn't want: America's murder capital The city finished 2003 with 599 homicides, police said Thursday. That was down from 648 a year earlier and the first time since 1967 that the total dipped below 600. Still, the nation's third-largest city outpaced all others for the second time in three years. New York, with about three times the population, ended the year with 596 homicides. Los Angeles, which had the most murders in 2002 at 658, wound up 2003 with an estimated total just under...