Free Republic

Two 15-year-old Escondido girls pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted murder in a 2009 attack on a fellow eighth-grader whom they ambushed, beaten, carved and repeatedly stabbed, all because of a romantic rivalry, the North County Times reported. Charged as adults, the two teens took plea deals that might keep them in prison until they are in their early 30s. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the most serious charge, torture, which can bring a life sentence, the paper reported. The girls are set to be formally sentenced on Sept. 16. The two girls and their victim were 14 during the May 3,...

The harshest bullies in schools are girls who strike with words rather than fists but often are unaware of how much pain they inflict, according to an expert who will be teaching local educators this week how to bring victims and their tormentors together. "With that movie 'Mean Girls,' I think there's this stereotype almost that girls want to hurt girls, want to be cruel," said Cheryl A. Dellasega, a professor of humanities at Pennsylvania State University. "I don't think there's this inherent meanness in girls. ... I think girls use mean behaviors." While many girls do not consider themselves...

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has named James Brown, the so-called "Godfather of Soul," to a new and unusual, but apparently fictitious, senior diplomatic position, the State Department said. Spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed Monday that Powell had indeed appointed Brown to be the first US "secretary of soul and foreign minister of funk" but said the job description for the post had not yet been drawn up. In addition, he told reporters that it was uncertain whether the new title carried with it any salary or if Brown would be entitled to an office at the State Department. "I...