Free Republic

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. – A local Pizza Hut is drying off after a man ripped the bathroom sink out of the wall, causing thousands in damage. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office showed up at the restaurant at 25 Homestead Road in Lehigh Acres after a report of a suspicious person. Employees explained that the man walked into the Pizza Hut and asked to use the bathroom. After 30 minutes, one worker knocked on the door, asking if the man was alright. That was when it was noticed that water was coming from the under the door and beginning to flood...

A friend of mine has a massive collection, I do mean huge, of vinyl records that has avoided being destroyed by flooding for quite some time despite being stored in a basement. However, we finally had a big one that really did a number on them, and I'm not sure if they're salvageable. A lot of them are valuable and some are even rare, so this is just a shame. Does anyone have any tips on cleaning up vinyl (not bakelite) records and the best way to determine if they are beyond saving? Anything would help. Thanks!

The northbound lanes of a main section of the West Sam Houston Tollway/Beltway 8, which were flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey, were reopened Sept. 7 after pumping out standing water, but the southbound lanes likely won’t open until the middle of this week, according to the Harris County Toll Road Authority in Houston. The authority reported Sept. 7 that the tollway section from Westheimer to Interstate 10 was a lake, with 14 feet of water, when pumps arrived. By then, the water had finally receded enough for the authority and the Texas Department of Transportation to start pumping out the...

A state judge will not grant an injunction stopping changes to Pennsylvania's residential and commercial building codes, including mandatory fire sprinkler systems for new homes. Commonwealth Court Judge Johnny Butler said in a Wednesday order that the petition by the Pennsylvania Builders Association and private developers does nothing to address the underlying issue they are citing. The builders' January lawsuit is still standing. It says changes written by an outside code commission and adopted Dec. 31 by the state are unconstitutional delegations of lawmaking authority. It says the recent updates to the codes will increase the cost of construction and...