Free Republic

Workers excavating an underground garage on the site of an old May Co. parking structure in Los Angeles' Hancock Park got more than just a couple hundred new parking spaces. They found the largest known cache of fossils from the last ice age, an assemblage that has flabbergasted paleontologists. Researchers from the George C. Page Museum at the La Brea tar pits have barely begun extracting the fossils from the sandy, tarry matrix of soil, but they expect the find to double the size of the museum's collection from the period, already the largest in the world. Among their finds,...

BANTAM - Film and stage actor Rip Torn was arraigned Monday on drunken driving charges in Bantam Superior Court. Elmore “Rip” Torn, 77, a Salisbury resident, pleaded not guilty before Judge Cara Eschuk to charges of illegal operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence and failure to drive in the proper lane. Torn is represented by Torrington attorney A. Thomas Waterfall of the firm Smith, Keefe, Moraghan and Waterfall. Eschuk warned Torn not to drive if his license is suspended. He was scheduled to return to court Jan. 28. Despite two prior drunken driving arrests in New York,...

For what is believed to be the first time in its history, the U.S. Senate will on July 12 be opened with a Hindu prayer, the Senate Chaplain's Office confirmed Monday. For more than 200 years, the Senate has opened each workday with a prayer usually delivered by the Senate Chaplain, currently Barry Black, a Seventh Day Adventist. It is common, however, for senators to recommend religious leaders from their home states to serve as guest chaplains. Rajan Zed, a Hindu chaplain from Nevada, on will become the first Hindu to deliver the morning prayer. In a statement announcing his...

Israeli Operational Successes Roundup:These are all of the major successes Israel has had in the past few weeks fighting terrorism3/8 - Ibrahim Makdme - Assassinated by Helicopter (alt spellings: Makadmeh, al-Maqadma)"killing him and three of his bodyguards."3/5 - Abdullah Jamal Barghouti - Arrested"IDF troops arrested a senior leader of Hamas's military wing in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources as saying Wednesday. According to the reports, IDF troops nabbed Abdullah Jamal Barghouti in his apartment and hastily evacuated him from the city."3/3 - Sheikh Muhammad Taha - Arrested"Sheikh Mohammed Tsalah Hassan Abdullah Taha, 65, one...