Free Republic

<p>SAN FRANCISCO — Legendary San Francisco stripper Carol Doda, whose splashy act helped introduce topless entertainment to the city more than 50 years ago, died at age 78.</p> <p>Doda died Monday in the city from complications of kidney failure, friend Ron Minolla disclosed Wednesday.</p>

HOUSTON -- A jury Wednesday convicted a woman of murder for stabbing her husband 193 times, rejecting her claim that she acted in self-defense after years of abuse. Susan Wright, 27, could get up to 99 years in prison. The sentencing phase was to begin in the afternoon. Prosecutors said she killed Jeffrey Wright in 2003 to collect on his $200,000 life insurance policy. Jeffrey Wright, 34, was found buried in the couple's back yard after Susan Wright's attorney reported the body to authorities. Wright, a former topless dancer, testified that her husband beat her repeatedly and that right before...

A city police officer who has patrolled some of Albany's toughest neighborhoods was brought before a city judge late Tuesday and formally charged with raping a topless dancer at his own bachelor party. Dressed in jeans, white sneakers and a button-down shirt, 29-year-old James Wood, a former sheriff's deputy who joined the city force in January, showed no emotion as he stood without handcuffs in front of Judge John C. Egan Jr., who set bail at $25,000 after telling the officer he was charged with a single count of first-degree rape. A swarm of high-ranking police commanders flanked the courtroom...