Free Republic

President Joe Biden now uses the shorter steps to board Air Force One instead of the usual staircase that he often trips upon while boarding the plane, Politico reported Thursday in a 19-paragraph article. Politico, which frequently tries to protect the Bidens from political liabilities, such as its infamous reporting on the “laptop from hell” in 2020, permitted reporters Eli Stokols and Jonathan Lemire to write an article on Thursday about Biden’s deteriorating physical well being. “Biden downplays age talk — but subtle accommodations are being made,” the headline read with the subtitle, “From the dinners declined, to the way...

Milo O’Shea, an Irish character actor — recognizable by his black bushy eyebrows, tumble of white hair and impish smile — whose films included “Ulysses,” “Barbarella” and “The Verdict,” died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 86.

Thieves who aren't afraid of a little heavy lifting made off with more than $7,000 worth of galvanized stainless steel. The theft happened overnight Tuesday at H3 Steel in Peoria. The items reported stolen Wednesday included a 1,000-pound staircase that was taken from a flatbed trailer, according to a report.

Police are investigating after a British nuclear energy expert involved in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear programme fell 40 metres to his death from a UN building in Vienna. Officials announced today (Weds) that the man – named as Timothy Hampton – died on the spot yesterday after a fall from the 17th floor at Vienna International Centre (VIC), one of the United Nations’ (UN) main headquarters along with New York, Nairobi and Geneva. Authorities said the 47-year-old man – a member of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) – had joined the UN’s current talks with Iran over...

Dutch Millionaire's Daughter Released By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 15, 2:34 PM ET Kidnappers released a Dutch multimillionaire's daughter unharmed, but it was unclear if any ransom was paid to the abductors, who had demanded 660 pounds of cocaine, police said Thursday. Claudia Melchers, 37, walked barefoot into a train station in the town of Arnhem on Wednesday night. Her appearance came 48 hours after two armed men gained entry into her Amsterdam apartment, bound her, bundled her into a plastic crate, and loaded her into a vehicle. "We don't know why she was released," said police...

A few simple changes in the design and location of staircases could help fight obesity by making the buildings more "physical activity friendly", Study leader Dr. Ishak A. Mansi, of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, has revealed that the research team focussed on how changes in staircase designs could help fight obesity. "Changing stair design to encourage their use requires a set of interventions on both architectural and legislative levels to create physical environments that support active living," wrote the authors of the study.

A Brighton homeowner is in trouble with the city because an alleged break-in artist fell to his death early yesterday from a set of rickety exterior stairs attached to the man’s two-story house.

The legal tussle over President Clinton's 1996 designation of a vast national monument in southern Utah most likely ended Monday. Nearly a decade ago, Clinton stood on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona and announced the creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, covering 1.7 million acres including most of Garfield and Kane counties - much to the dismay of local elected officials who felt snubbed, and to those who wanted to develop a rich but remote coal preserve. Monday, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver threw out the claims of the last remaining plaintiff,...

Europe's oldest wooden staircase found in Austria Tue Oct 12, 1:05 PM ET Science - AFP VIENNA (AFP) - A 3,000-year-old wooden staircase has been found at Hallstatt in northern Austria, immaculately preserved in a Bronze Age salt mine, Vienna's Natural History Museum said. "We have found a wooden staircase which dates from the 13th century B.C. It is the oldest wooden staircase discovered to date in Europe, maybe even in the world," Hans Reschreiter, the director of excavations at the museum, told AFP. "The staircase is in perfect condition because the micro-organisms that cause wood to decompose do not...