Free Republic

A spirited poem decrying racial injustice and conservative politics read before hundreds at Sonoma State University’s weekend graduation ceremony drew sharp criticism from some parents over its tone and coarse language while prompting an email apology from President Judy Sakaki. Graduating senior Dee Dee Simpson recited her poem from memory Saturday night on stage at Weill Hall in the Green Music Center, where a record-setting 2,651 students received diplomas during the two-day commencement. In the poem, Simpson, who is African-American, railed against police violence that has claimed black lives and made disparaging references to President Donald Trump and Fox News....

Two space station astronauts are gearing up for a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk Friday to replace a presumably shorted out solar array voltage regulator that knocked one of the lab's eight power channels out of action late last year. They also plan to finish up ongoing work to route power and data cables needed for new docking mechanisms that will be installed later. The voltage regulator, a 200-pound box known as a sequential shunt unit, or SSU, is one of eight at the base of each of the station's solar power wings that serve to relay regulated 160-volt DC current to...

Sonoma State University student Gabrielle Chretien worries that if President Bush is re-elected, his war on terror will lead to more drawn-out military conflicts all over the world. "It's very sad," said the 20-year-old liberal studies major. "He's using money that we don't have for a war so many of us do not want, and yet there is no health care." Ashley Brucklacher has a different view. The 20-year-old communications major at SSU said she is also concerned about the war. But she supports Bush's actions, even if all the pre-war justifications have not panned out. "I don't think that...