Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS -- Mayor Ray Nagin described his experience being quarantined in China amid fears of swine flu exposure as "very surreal" in an interview with WDSU on Wednesday night.

PEARL, Miss. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi said Friday that it had received numerous reports from throughout the state from parents and students regarding alleged violations of students’ free speech following Tuesday’s election, Jackson television news station WAPT reported. On Thursday, the Pearl Schools superintendent said that a school bus driver and a coach were disciplined for allegedly telling students not to say President-elect Barack Obama’s name. Reporters with 16 WAPT News received several calls from upset parents that said a school bus driver told the children on a Pearl school bus that if they said Obama’s...

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A Volusia County school bus driver is in trouble Tuesday for threatening to leave kids on some train tracks with a train coming. The students from Campbell Middle School said the bus driver was upset because they would not stop talking. The school bus was headed eastbound on George Ingram Boulevard (see map) on Monday, two blocks from US-1. According to the students, the driver stopped on the tracks, opened the door and told them she wasn't moving until they quieted down. The kids had just left Campbell Middle School and were on their way home....

Cass County - Four people died in a crash involving a school bus in Cass County Friday afternoon. Three of the dead are confirmed to be students. The bus belongs to the Twin Lakes School Corporation in Monticello. The crash, which also involved two dump trucks, happened on US 24 about six miles west of Logansport......Indiana State Police say the school bus was headed westbound as two dump trucks headed eastbound. A moped or other small vehicle stopped or slowed down to turn. The first dump truck could not stop in time and tried to avoid the moped by moving...

Nobody saw it coming. The school bus had stopped on U.S. 301 in Citra to let three or four students step off. Suddenly, Jamar Williams and 20 others from North Marion high and middle schools were knocked around or thrown to the floor. A semi had struck the bus from behind. The vehicles lurched forward and erupted in flames. "It just hit. It happened too fast," said Jamar, 14. "It was just so smoky it was hard to see. "I just remembered from television, stay calm in these situations and don't panic," he said. "That's how people get killed." Despite...

CHARLOTTE (MCT) — The host of a Charlotte FM radio station that sent a staff member aboard a Charlotte-Mecklenburg school bus as part of a prank Monday said this morning that the incident was never meant to be malicious. "We thought it was pretty entertaining," said Brotha' Fred, host of the Morning Mayhem on WIBT (96.1 FM). "We try to entertain in a way that some people will think was funny and some won't." "But we had no malicious intent." A staff member from the show, Jase Edward "Cubby" Squires, 26, was charged with causing a disturbance on a school...

In a scene reminiscent of a satirical Carnival parade, about 75 protesters chanted and waved handmade signs outside a posh Canal Street hotel Friday evening while inside a gilded ballroom two stories above them Mayor Ray Nagin accepted the inaugural Award of Distinction for Recovery, Courage and Leadership from an honorary committee packed with his political allies. MICHAEL DEMOCKER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Protestors gather outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New Orleans Friday August 22, 2008 to protest Mayor Ray Nagin getting an award. Marching in a circle so they wouldn't halt foot traffic, protesters wearing T-shirts, shorts and paper hats...

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin refutes the findings of the latest UNO Quality of Life Study that show his approval rating has declined from 40 percent to 31 percent. "I think UNO needs a little more money in its budget. The sample size was pretty small, as well as, the margin of error was at 10 percent in Orleans Parish, which is unusual for somebody trying to assess the approval rating of a political leader. Nobody does that," said Nagin in an exclusive interview with Rush Radio 99.5 WRNO. According to the UNO poll, 49 percent of black respondents approve...

Here's how rising fuel prices affect an organization with a fleet of 1,273 school buses: The Montgomery County school board today will consider giving Superintendent Jerry D. Weast emergency powers to make students walk farther to school, if need be, in the coming academic year. (snip) Should prices continue to rise, the school system could save money by raising maximum walking distances for students, because more walkers means fewer buses. Currently, elementary school students walk up to a mile, middle school students 1.5 miles and high school students two miles.

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: You saw the school bus girl from February 15. A female Arizona bus driver and two female students go at it. But now someone is being charged. Here is the video from inside the bus. The blowout starts when a student demands she is let off the bus. The bus driver refuses. They start arguing. The driver takes the girl's cell phone and calls security. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are not allowed to touch me, lady. I am getting off the bus. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are not getting off the bus. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom, the bus driver...

Family members of the woman charged with causing the fatal school bus crash last month near Cottonwood say she left her native Guatemala two years earlier, hoping to make a better life for her family. The parents of Olga Franco tell the St. Paul Pioneer Press that she was sending them small amounts of money to help supplement about five dollars a day they earn growing corn. Franco is charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide in the crash that killed four students aged 9 to 13. Family members recall her as a loving daughter who helped care for...

SEASIDE, Calif. — A 15-year-old girl who stopped an out-of-control school bus she was riding on was handed a Saturday detention instead because she was skipping school. Marina High School student Amanda Rouse was on a bus with 40 elementary school students Wednesday morning when the driver fell out of her seat after a turn and hit her head. Rouse jumped up and applied the brakes, bringing the bus to a halt after striking two parked cars. No one was injured.

A 15-year-old girl who stopped her out-of-control school bus was hit with a Saturday detention because she was supposed to be in class when the accident happened. Marina High School student Amanda Rouse was on a bus with 40 elementary school students Wednesday morning when the driver fell out of her seat after a turn and hit her head. Rouse jumped up and applied the brakes, bringing the bus to a halt after striking two parked cars. No one was injured. But Rouse said she was punished because she wasn't supposed to be on the bus in the first place....

Ray Nagin welcomes "V-Day" Founder, Eve Ensler to cityNew Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he is "a vagina-friendly Mayor." Nagin made the remark while welcoming the author of the Vagina Monlogues, Eve Ensler to the city to promote the "V-Day" celebration in New Orleans next month. Scheduled to appear during 2 days of educational, cultural and entertainment events at the New Orleans Arena and Louisiana Superdome, are Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Glenn Close, Salma Hayek, Sally Field, Christina Lahti and Faith Hill. Ensler says they will celebrate V-Day's 10 years of ending violence in the world. Mayor Nagin began his...

CANTON, Ga. — A school bus has overturned in Georgia's Cherokee County, and authorities say two students are in critical condition. The bus lost control Monday morning on Highway 140 near Canton, about 40 miles north of Atlanta. Cherokee County 911 Center Supervisor Greg Argo said that 28 other students suffered minor injuries.

(WCCO) The driver of the van and the owner of the van involved in the fatal Cottonwood bus crash were each charged with four additional federal charges Friday. Prosecutors charged Olga Martina Franco del Cid, 24, the driver of the van, with two counts of aggravated identity theft and two counts of false representation of a Social Security number. Authorities have said she is in the country illegally. Francisco Sangabriel-Mendoza, 29, was the registered owner of the van involved in the crash and was also charged with two counts of aggravated identity theft and two counts of false representation of...

Surveillance footage from a Gilbert school bus shows the driver and a 15-year-old student physically confronting one another on February 15th.

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann has written to U.S. immigration officials to determine how an illegal immmigrant allegedly was able to cause last week's fatal school bus crash in Cottonwood. Bachmann asks the assistant secretary of Homeland Security in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Julie Myers, how federal and local law enforcement can ensure such a thing never happens again. Bachmann also raises questions with ICE about the suspect, Olga Martinez Franco, who had gone by the alias Alianiss Morales. A woman using that name was ticketed for driving without a license in Montevideo in 2006. Bachmann says she wants...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Immigration agents say they've learned the true identity of a van driver charged in a Minnesota bus crash that killed four children. Twenty-4-year-old Olga Marina Franco of Guatemala is accused of running a stop sign and hitting the school bus. Investigators say she gave them a fake name after last week's crash and told them she was from Mexico. Franco is charged with four counts of criminal vehicular homicide and lesser crimes. Authorities say she claims she stopped at the sign and the bus hit her. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers say they believe Franco is an...