Free Republic

HARRISBURG, Pa. —A judge has ordered the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to pay a former worker more than $3 million after finding he was wrongly fired in retaliation for blowing the whistle on agency practices. Ralph Bailets sued the turnpike commission and two of its officials over his 2008 termination. He says he was dismissed for questioning a major computer contract, hiring practices and how large trucking firms qualify for E-ZPass discounts. Prosecutors in 2013 used his testimony to file corruption charges against several agency officials. The judge ruled in June that Bailets was wrongly terminated. PennLive.com reports the judge ruled...

By John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal Already a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Michael Ramirez, former editorial cartoonist for The Commercial Appeal, this weekend received the cartoon industry's highest honor. Ramirez, 55, won the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year during the 70th annual "Oscars of cartooning," the awards ceremony of the National Cartoonists Society, the world's oldest, largest and most prestigious organization for professional cartoonists. The black-tie event took place Saturday night at The Peabody, marking the first time the cartoonists had met in Memphis. As the 73rd winner of the Reuben Award (a total...

this came by email from uscis@public.govdelivery.com. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services won the overall Igniting Innovation Award Monday at The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council’s Igniting Innovation Showcase and Award event in Washington, D.C. A panel of government and industry judges selected USCIS as the overall winner for their work with myUSCIS, a service, available in both English and Spanish, that helps people navigate the immigration process. The tool launched in December 2014 and provides up-to-date information about immigration benefits, resources to find citizenship preparation classes and doctors across the country, and tools to help prepare for...

On 10 February, 2016, Didarul  Sarder, who was legally armed, used his handgun to stop a vicious knife attack on a woman in the GM facility in Warren, Michigan.  He likely saved her life.  Most of the action was caught on video.  GM has a "Gun Free" policy on their sites.  The original speculation was that Sarder would be fired.  There was enough of a public outcry for GM to make an exception to their policy.  Mayer Jim Fouts led the fight to insure that Sarder did not lose his job.  Fouts said that Sarder should be rewarded for...

But in Florida, a 4-year deputy being honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for making more than 100 DUI arrests was too intoxicated to pick up his award. Pinellas County deputy Michael Szeliga arrived at a statewide police training event "ready to party," according to WFLA. Szeliga, who allegedly packed a bottle of liquor for the 2-day training event in Fort Lauderdale, was described as “staggeringly drunk” by a witness at the Friday night banquet where he was slated to receive the MADD award. A 274-page report on the deputy’s behavior indicates he and two other officers went to the...

Robert Clunie was born June 29, 1895 in Renfrewshire, Scotland. He began painting outdoors in his native Scotland at the age of 13 and was accepted to the Royal Scottish Academy. However, he cancelled his enrollment choosing instead to go to America. In 1911, he and his older brother William boarded the S.S. California for New York. Upon their arrival to the United States, they joined relatives in Saginaw, Michigan. In January 1918, wanting to escape the dark cold Michigan winters, Clunie boarded a train to Pasadena, California. It was on this return train trip back to Saginaw that he...

Once again the double standard is blatant. Critics of Islam are treated as bigots. A heroine like Ayaan Hirsi Ali who faced death threats for criticizing Islam won't be getting an award, but Rebecca Newberger Goldstein will. Ali is denounced as a bigot, booted off campuses and smeared in the press. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein receives the uncritical acclaim reserved for those who promote the unthinking prejudices of the left. Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes about Islam, which may not be criticized. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein writes about Orthodox Judaism, which like the more religious forms of Christianity, is an optimal target. Obviously...

Nothing from her campaign, nothing on Facebook, nothing on Twitter, and no response to media queries to Hillary Clinton about the expose’ video showing the Planned Parenthood abortion business selling the body parts of aborted babies.

The conservative group ForAmerica suggested that a Clinton campaign could use footage of Bush thanking Clinton 'to blunt any criticism that Bush levels against her.' Jeb Bush once handed Hillary Rodham Clinton an award for “public service.” Does this disqualify him from the 2016 Republican presidential race? At least one influential conservative group thinks it does. ForAmerica, an organization founded by the veteran Washington rightward figure L. Brent Bozell, released an ad-like video Wednesday attacking Mr. Bush as “unelectable” due to his presence onstage with the likely Democratic nominee at a Philadelphia ceremony about 18 months ago.

ARLINGTON, Va. (NewsChannel 8) – One of the most successful and recognizable singers in music history has found a higher calling. Rock icon Stevie Nicks has devoted countless hours visiting and helping wounded warriors and their families heal—both physically and emotionally. “I am more proud of this than Fleetwood Mac or any of the other things I’ve done,” she said. Nicks, the Grammy-award winning singer and star of Fleetwood Mac, was in the Washington area Tuesday, receiving an award for her profound and passionate work with the USO.

Burnside Watstein LGBT Awards celebrate historic year in Virginia [Virginia Commonwealth University VCU] By Megan Schmidt University Public Affairs (804) 827-0218 schmidtmr@vcu.edu Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014 “Oct. 6, 2014, marked the day that love won in Virginia.” Leticia Flores, former director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Psychological Services and Development, choked up as she delivered her acceptance speech at the 2014 Burnside Watstein Award ceremony. She was referencing the Supreme Court’s decision to let stand the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allowing same-sex marriage in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Wisconsin and Virginia. “I’m sorry. I get emotional....

Winners of the 2014 Dronestagram Photo Contest have finally been selected! Picking winners was a very difficult task especially because of the great quality of the photos that have been submitted. We tried to reward the photos that show the best the fantastic potential offered by drones in terms of image. It’s been an amazing first edition with many photos entered from everywhere in the world. Thank you all for joining in.We would like to extend a special thanks to our contest sponsors National Geograpic, Go Pro, Picanova, Droneshop and Parrot for generously offering amazing gifts !Are you one of...

In March, while scouring through her math teacher's pile of projects, Anna Olson was attracted to the sciences section, and discovered NASA's 2014 educational "REEL Science Communications" video contest. In a two-week period, Olson pulled together two different contest entries, with a little help from dad and movie producer Gregory T. Olson's green screen, brother Geoffrey Olson's guitar-strumming skills and fact-checking by older brother Alec Olson, who works in a lab at UC Davis. The Pacific Collegiate School student reviewed her video entries, posted on YouTube during an interview at her school. She pointed out that her winning entry had...

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio commentator who is a kind of a boogeyman to liberals, was honored Wednesday night with a children’s book award. Limbaugh won the Author of the Year prize in the Children’s Choice Book Awards for his book “Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans.” In accepting the award, Limbaugh was typically combative (if somewhat more subtly than usual standards). “I love America. I wish everybody did,” he said. “I hope everybody will. It's one of the most fascinating stories in human history ... and it's a delight and it's an opportunity to...

Matthew Gentzkow, an economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who has done innovative work analyzing issues like bias in the press and the impact of media on society, has been awarded the 2014 John Bates Clark Medal, the American Economic Association announced Thursday.

BALTIMORE, MD, April 17, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-abortion grantee of Catholic Relief Services has been announced as the winner of the 2014 United Nations Population Award. The award is given to organizations that demonstrate outstanding effectiveness in population control efforts, including contraception, sterilization and abortion. The grantee, Jhpiego, is a non-profit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. According to CRS’ 990s for 2012, the U.S. bishops’ organization gave Jhpiego a grant of $282,356 that year for “health.” As part of their work, the group has spearheaded national campaigns in the developing world to promote the abortifacient morning-after pill....

His first television show has only been on the air for three days, but Ronan Farrow is already winning awards for his journalistic work. Reach the World, a global education group, will honor the 26-year-old Farrow with its annual Cronkite Award for Excellence in Exploration and Journalism.

A Democrat State Representative, a former Democrat State Senator and a local Union President walked into a public high school in Connecticut to receive a Communist award. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke right? I only wish it was… According to an article on the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) News, People’s World, in December of 2013 a Communist award ceremony was held in a New Haven Connecticut public high school auditorium where the Democrat State Rep, Former Democrat State Senator and the local Union President all received awards: >snip "Former state Senator Ed Gomes, a steelworker, state representative...

DEERFIELD (CBSMiami) — Investigators say bad blood over an employee of the month award at a South Florida Wal-Mart store led to gunfire and criminal charges. According to a Broward Sheriff’s Office arrest report last month’s employee of the month at a Deerfield Beach Wal-Mart store on South Military Trail had her car shot up by a co-worker who was angry after she won the award. Willie Mitchell is charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle. The Broward Sheriff’s Office said surveillance video from a Wal-Mart parking lot shows Mitchell parking next to a co-worker’s earlier in December. A...

On Tuesday September 10, Jeb Bush, chairman of the board for the National Constitution Center and former governor of Florida, presented former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with the group’s annual Liberty Medal. It is widely speculated that both Bush and Clinton will run for their party’s nomination for the presidency in 2016. It is hard to understand why Gov. Bush would want to bolster Secretary Clinton’s credentials in such a way... In fact, following her stint as Secretary of State, it has been argued that America has never been more irrelevant and disrespected on the world stage... She accomplished...