Free Republic

Monologist Spalding Gray, known to most normal people chiefly for his appearance in David Byrne's 1986 True Stories, has been found dead in the East River at lower Manhattan. Gray disappeared two months ago; speculation at the time was that he was a suicide and had leapt from the Staten Island Ferry.

A Chinese Internet dissident has been formally arrested and charged with subversion. Authoritarian China will tolerate little opposition to the continuing domination of the Communist Party. Internet writers are no exception. State media report 39-year-old prolific Internet author Du Daobin has been charged with inciting subversion of China's state power and attempting the overthrow of China's socialist system. He has already been in custody for four months. Police say his crimes stem from 28 articles he had written and posted on the Internet since 2001. Police also say Mr Du has confessed to the major facts, which include co-operating with...

Ken Kesey spun his magic again Friday in the heart of Eugene, this time with a little help from his friends. A statue of Oregon's most famous storyteller, unveiled at Broadway Plaza, put him squarely back in the community's midst two years and five days after his death from cancer at age 66. The sculpture shows Kesey sitting on a granite bench reading to his three grandchildren, who posed for the work. After friends and family pulled the rainbow-colored fabric back to reveal the statue, kids in the crowd of hundreds pressed in first. Zane Kesey, son of the late...

Judge censures the retirement home resident, calling him a 'mean old man' After giving him an earful, a King County superior court judge gave Paul Trummel his freedom yesterday -- although it may be short-lived. If the self-styled journalist wants to stay out of jail, he must by Friday remove phone numbers and addresses from his Web site that identify the directors of his old retirement center and stop bothering them. It's something he so far has refused to do. Trummel, 68, was locked up Feb. 27 after the judge, James Doerty, found his site was harassing administrators at Council...