Free Republic

A video posted online appears to show a Verizon picketer placing his young daughter in front of an oncoming truck — presumably carrying non-union employees — and then taunting the passengers with profanity-laced statements.

Oakland teachers have set a one-day strike for March 24, an action that could shut down schools unless district officials make major concessions at the bargaining table, union officials said Wednesday. The strike could leave parents scrambling for child care and force the financially strapped district to decide whether to keep schools open with administrators and support staff in classrooms or tell students to stay home. Teachers who represent the union at the school sites cast the strike votes this week, and the result was overwhelmingly for the one-day walkout, an action the union's general membership, which includes 2,700 teachers,...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration sought to counter industry rumors Wednesday that it might release oil from the government's emergency reserve to make up for lost Venezuelan imports. "Currently lending or exchanging oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not an active consideration," the Energy Department said in a statement. But the statement did not categorically rule out using the reserve in the future and said the department "continues to monitor the situation in Venezuela and its possible impact on U.S. markets." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the emergency oil stockpile is designed to be used for a severe...