Free Republic

Gloria Romero grew up in Barstow, the daughter of a railroad worker, and like many of the desert community's young, left for the big city – in her case Los Angeles, where she earned advanced degrees, and became a college professor and later a Democratic state legislator. By happenstance, however, Romero's most important legislation – empowering parents to take control of failing public schools – is making its first impact in Adelanto, just a few miles from Barstow. This week, a San Bernardino County judge ordered Adelanto's school board to stop stalling and grant the charter school petition of parents...

Noticeably missing from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee's lengthy introduction of the city's "official family" at Friday's funeral of two firefighters was public defender and pension reform advocate Jeff Adachi. That's because Adachi, who had been standing with other dignitaries at the memorial outside of St. Mary's Cathedral, was asked to leave before the service started.According to witnesses, a large firefighter in uniform came up to Adachi and asked him to leave, at the request of a member of the fallen firefighter's family.When asked about the incident, Adachi confirmed that he had been asked to leave. "I had gone to...