Free Republic

Boston authorities are looking into the brutal stabbing of a Boston rabbi as a possible hate crime as the alleged assailant was arraigned on assault charges. Khaled Awad, 24, appeared in Brighton District Church on Friday and was charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on an officer and will be held without bail until a dangerousness hearing on July 8. Awad allegedly stabbed Rabbi Shlomo Noginksi eight times on the street outside Shaloh House, a Jewish Day School and synagogue on Chestnut Hill Avenue in Brighton, at around 1.19pm on Thursday...

A family's second chance By Andrew M. Seder 12/17/2003 Charles and Barbara Smith and 14 of their 18 children are moving back into their North Scranton home today, just in time for the holidays. The Smith family was forced to leave the house after the city condemned it July 29 -- the first known Habitat for Humanity home in the country to be condemned. On Tuesday, a team of city inspectors went through the house at 2517 N. Main Ave. and removed the "unfit for human habitation" label. Mr. Smith says he regrets what happened because of "my neglect...