Free Republic

The Senate on Thursday voted in favor of legislation that would levy hefty new fines for illegal robocalls, advancing one of the most prominent congressional efforts to crack down on the scourge of billions of unwanted calls that aggravate U.S. consumers every year. The Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, which passed by a 97-1 vote, had received more than 80 co-sponsors by the time it reached the Senate floor. The bill, introduced by Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would give the federal government the authority to slap offenders with fines of up to...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon investigators have traced an outbreak of norovirus to a reusable grocery bag that members of a Beaverton girls' soccer team passed around when they shared cookies. The soccer team of 13- and 14-year-olds traveled to Seattle for a weekend tournament in October 2010.

An international team of scientists has discovered that the female ancestor of all living polar bears was a brown bear that lived in the vicinity of present-day Britain and Ireland just prior to the peak of the last ice age -- 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State University and one of the team's leaders, explained that climate changes affecting the North Atlantic ice sheet probably gave rise to periodic overlaps in bear habitats. These overlaps then led to hybridization, or interbreeding -- an event that caused maternal DNA from brown...

Questions about corruption swirling around Mayor James Hahn have their origins in the decisions he made at the start of his administration to put key fund-raisers in critical roles that would aid his future efforts to raise campaign cash. What analysts are calling the "perfect political storm" was virtually assured years ago by a cascade of decisions that put the demands of his campaigns and the interests of insiders at the top of the Hahn agenda. Among the decisions that observers point to is naming his relatively inexperienced 2001 campaign fund-raiser, Troy Edwards, to oversee the three proprietary departments --...

Secretary of State Kevin Shelley received $30,000 in donations to his 2002 campaign from a 62-year-old foster-care provider who said Friday that the money was tied to a home purchase from Julie Lee, the president of a nonprofit who is under fire for a series of questionable political contributions. State records show Eliana Maldonado wrote checks for $10,000 and $20,000 to Shelley on Sept. 27, 2002. Four days later, Maldonado took ownership of a three-bedroom, three-bath house from Lee and her husband, Shing Kit. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday that Patrick K. Hsu, a 69-year-old retired state worker, said...

Boomtime for ancient Ireland traced to Sligo 16 July 2004 Archaeologists are finally in agreement that the Megalithic period in Ireland 'boomed' between the years 4200BC and 3500BC. The date controversy over the Irish Megalithic period - most significantly characterised by the Carrowmore site in Sligo - was put to rest at an archaeology conference in Sligo. The findings of the conference have just been released even though it took place two years ago. The Carrowmore site has one of the largest concentrations of Megalithic tombs in Western Europe. It pre-dates the Newgrange and Boyne complex and is older than...

Bubonic Plague Traced to Ancient Egypt Cameron Walker for National Geographic News March 10, 2004 The bubonic plague, or Black Death, may have originated in ancient Egypt, according to a new study. "This is the first time the plague's origins in Egypt have been backed up by archaeological evidence," said Eva Panagiotakopulu, who made the discovery. Panagiotakopulu is an archaeologist and fossil-insect expert at the University of Sheffield, England. King Tutankhamun lies in his burial chamber in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. Some researchers now believe that the bubonic plague, or Black Death, originated in the village where builders...