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Texas Independence Day Celebration | Texas Independence Day
WASHINGTON-ON-THE-BRAZOS, Texas – Bob Heinonen put on the uniform – red pants, white shirt, dark jacket with brass buttons and black cavalry boots – and stepped back 173 years in time.
As Texas hero William Barret Travis, he helped thousands celebrate Texas Independence Day on Saturday. They wandered around the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historical Site to mark the anniversary of the 1836 convention. Here on March 2 of that year, 59 delegates signed the six-page document that declared the Republic of Texas free and independent of Mexico.
“I want them not only to gain some knowledge about what really happened but also to be excited about it. If you’re excited about things, you want to learn about them,” said Heinonen, 66, a Minneapolis native whose computer job brought him to Texas 40 years ago.
Continue ReadingSamim Anghaie & Sousan Anghaie Accused of Defrauding NASA of Hundreds of Thousands of Taxpayer Dollars
Samim Anghaie, 59, is the Director of the Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute at the University of Florida. His wife, 55-year-old Sousan Anghaie, is president of New Era Technology Inc. (NETECH) in Gainesville, Fla.
Authorities say Sousan Anghaie persuaded NASA to award her company “several fully funded contracts,” including nearly $600,000 to develop and study a uranium-related technology.
But, according to an affidavit unsealed today in federal court, the couple allegedly used most of that money to buy personal luxuries — including their $480,000 home in Gainesville, a 2007 BMW and a 2005 Toyota Sienna sports van.
Continue ReadingLisa Lavoie: Teacher, student found in W.V. hotel
Police found a missing 15-year-old Holyoke boy late last night in hotel room in Morgantown, W. Va., with his eighth-grade teacher.
The boy, a student at Maurice Donahue Elementary School, “was found to be OK,” said Holyoke Police Chief Anthony R. Scott. The teacher Lisa Lavoie, 24, was taken into custody by local police and will be charged with enticement of a child, which is a felony, Scott said.
The boy’s mother contacted the school on Feb. 13, saying she was concerned about the relationship her son had with Lavoie, a first-year teacher. Authorities were unable to question the first-year teacher because she had left for the day as the school went on a one-week break. The boy’s parents reported him missing Feb. 16.
Continue ReadingPaul Zolezzi Dead: Left Suicide Note on Facebook (Paul Zolezzi Photo)
An aspiring model tormented by heroin addiction hanged himself in a Brooklyn playground early Friday after foretelling his suicide on Facebook.
A jogger discovered the body of Paul Zolezzi, 30, dangling from the monkey bars in Mount Prospect Park playground near the Brooklyn Museum about 7a.m., police said.
Hours earlier, Zolezzi had updated his Facebook page with an apparent suicide note, saying he was “born in San Francisco, became a shooting star over everywhere, and ended his life in Brooklyn. … And couldn’t have asked for more.”
Continue ReadingElizabeth Mun Identified As Concord Academy Teen Who Died After Andover Party
Elizabeth Mun Identified As Concord Academy Teen Who Died After Andover Party. Investigators have identified the Concord Academy student who died yesterday after being found unconscious in an icy stream after leaving a nearby house party.
Elizabeth Mun, a 16-year-old from Wellesley, was found face-down in a partially frozen Andover brook early Sunday morning after leaving an all-night party on foot. She was pronounced dead yesterday afternoon at a Boston hospital.
“She leaves behind all too early a loving family,” read a statement from the family of Elizabeth Mun of Wellesley, provided to The Associated Press.
Continue ReadingTracy Hottenstein: Hottenstein dead at Polar Bear Plunge
Police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found at the Sea Isle City Marina Sunday morning.
Police identified the woman as 35-year-old Tracy Hottenstein of Conshohocken, Pa.
Hottenstein was in Sea Isle City, N.J. for the annual Polar Bear Plunge weekend, according to police.
Continue ReadingFeds raid Lake Tahoe marijuana dispensary
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Federal agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in South Lake Tahoe on Thursday.
At about 11 a.m., five agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency — joined by members of the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, the South Lake Tahoe-El Dorado County Narcotics Enforcement Team and the South Lake Tahoe Police — served a federal search warrant on Patient to Patient Collective, located at 2314 Lake Tahoe Boulevard.
Agents seized between five and 10 pounds of processed marijuana and a “small amount” of U.S. currency from the collective, said DEA Special Agent Gordon Taylor.
Continue ReadingLake Tahoe: North Lake Tahoe Shop Local Winners Announced
Tahoe City, CA. (January 23, 2009) – The 2nd Annual North Lake Tahoe Shop Local Contest, held during December at business locations from Tahoe City to Kings Beach and developed to encourage re-investment of local dollars, was a “huge success” according to local merchants and program coordinators.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm for this year’s program,” said Carol Hester, owner of Geared for Games, located in the Boatworks Shopping Mall in Tahoe City. “We saw a definite increase in business from the local promotion efforts and people looking to spend locally this year.”
According to program’s “shop local card” entries more than $30,000 was reinvested at participating local North Shore businesses. “Shopping locally is very important for the economic vitality of our North Shore community,” said Cheri Sprenger, Executive Director of the North Tahoe Business Assocation, which helped produced the program with the Tahoe City Downtown Association. “The holiday program put together by the NTBA and TCDA was a fun way to help spread the message that spending your dollars locally ensures that more of that money is reinvested in our own communities.”
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