TheRepublic.com - Christmas News

Ask Babe: DiMaggio bat a winner, experts say

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:52:25 -0400

By BABE WAXPAK - Dear Babe: When I was a boy about 8 (I'm now 61) I was injured and in a hospital in Pittsburgh. A friend of my father, Carl Dephillipo from Cleveland, gave me a bat, which he said was given to him by, as well as used by, Joe DiMaggio. Mr. Dephillipo is still alive (about 87 years young) living near Cleveland and has had the nickname of "DiMag" forever. I have a copy of a news article (maybe 45-plus years old) where he discusses his collection. In the interview, he makes mention of his gift of a Joe DiMaggio bat to a crippled boy in Pittsburgh. I am that boy he notes but, I was not "crippled." Though for sure, a gift to a crippled boy makes a much better story. -- Tom Hadley, Hugo, Okla.

Family of late Steeler great Mike Webster fights on

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:22:54 -0400

By MARK ROTH - Garrett Webster still remembers the incident because it was so out of character for his dad.

Treasures: Will Barrymore prints bring fame, fortune?

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:18:55 -0400

By HELAINE FENDELMAN and JOE ROSSON - Dear Helaine and Joe: I would appreciate your opinion on the enclosed pictures. Could they possibly be by THE Lionel Barrymore? They are brass (I guess) etchings that I purchased many years ago at a household auction. They are very attractive, but do they have any value? -- J. R., Everglades City, Fla.

Finances of Toys for Tots in Naples, Fla., probed by...

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:49:59 -0400

By AISLING SWIFT - The local chapter of the popular U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program is being investigated after concerns that donors' checks weren't always being deposited into the charity's account.

Walters: Do California tax policies discourage job...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:17:31 -0400

Twenty years ago, as California struggled to emerge from what was then the worst recession since the Great Depression, then-Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature enacted a tax break to spur capital investment in job-creating small businesses. - The new law allowed investors in firms with no more than $50 million in assets and that had 80 percent or more of those assets and their payrolls in California to pay only half of the ordinary state income taxes on profits when they liquidated their investments.

Film: 'Angels' Share' lifts glass to whisky, second...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:54:11 -0400

Robbie's lawyer throws it up as a "Hail Mary" pass to the judge. - "The prospects of fatherhood have changed this young man, and he would grasp one last opportunity with both hands," she says of her client, who had a "chaotic childhood" and a history of violence signaled by the scar along a cheek. Now, his girlfriend, Leonie, is days away from delivering their first child.