Free Republic

Matt McGrath, a spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, confirmed the city will take responsibility for the $279 million itself, even though it has its own gap of nearly $200 million, including the cost of hiring new police. "I'm sure we will" come up with those funds, he said. But "no details" are available today.

Video shows a 26-year-old woman getting viciously beaten by several others Tuesday afternoon outside a store near 66th and Greenway Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. The woman is punched and kicked more than a hundred times over the nearly 3 minute long video. Her sister is also seen getting beaten up by the same group. No word on what started the fight. "It gets to the point where multiple people are beating up one to the point where she is on the ground unable to defend herself," Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker said. "You also don't see in the video she...

Concern about the political effects of a deeply unpopular county pop tax — on top of recent state and city tax increases — on Thursday hung over the first day of Cook County Democrats' endorsement session for next year's primary election. Northwest Side Ald. Nicholas Sposato, 38th, said he expects some backlash against the pop tax "down the road in the election next year." People complaining to him about the tax "are blaming the Democrats," he said, adding that the income tax increase would compound the problem. Democrats last month overrode Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of a state income tax...

llegals living in Los Angeles County were handed almost $1.3 billion in welfare payouts between the months of 2015 and 2016, Fox News reported, citing data. That’s billion with a capital “B.” That’s a quarter of what the county distributed to its entire needy population in those same months. Liberals and government elitists always like to make the case that citizens ought to support some cheap-sounding fee- or tax-paying cause by grandly pronouncing, “It’s just the cost of a cup of coffee,” or “If everyone just gave up their Starbucks lattes, it’d pay for itself.” Well, guess what $1.3 billion...

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh announced a violent crime plan and appointed a new criminal justice director Wednesday, just days after the city failed to go 72 hours without a murder in the "nobody kill anybody" weekend campaign. ... Her policy plan addresses three areas she believes are the root cause of violent crime: poorly trained police, poor drug policy, and an under-educated populace. [Snip] Pugh’s plan also addresses a criminal justice reform topic that has enjoyed wide bipartisan support across the country, which is lowering sentences for drug crimes. Her plan calls for increased investment in drug treatment programs and...

As President Donald Trump is set to visit New York City next week, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito says he may have the right to come but that his values are “not welcome here” in New York City. And she’s “ready” to join any potential protests that day. On Monday, while on his 17-day vacation at his golf course in Bedminster, N.J., Trump announced on Twitter that he is planning to go to New York City next week “for more meetings.” At the time, his spokeswoman said that they would provide more details “in the next day or two.” POLITICO,...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio treated his staffers poorly and often bullied them with harsh threats if they did not meet his demands, according to newly revealed emails. "What do I need to get you guys to follow a direct order? Do you need to experience consequences?" he threatened in one 2015 email, according to the New York Post. "I'm not raising this again: fix it, or I will [have] no choice but to find a way to penalize people. Not my preference, but I won't have my instructions ignored," he added. The emails show de Blasio blowing...

Hungry rodents are apparently menacing parents, nannies and babies on the Upper West Side. There are about 2 million rats in New York City, and some have settled in Central Park and Riverside Park.

The horrific treatment of Dr. Paul Church has become a nightmare – affecting him, of course, but ultimately all of us as well. Because he told the medical truth and refused to bow to political correctness on this critical public health issue, he has now been banned from four prominent Boston area hospitals and a urology clinic. This is the frightening state of today’s medical profession. Dr. Church is a urologist who was on the staff of several major Boston area hospitals and clinics for nearly 30 years. He was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. He has done...

The attorney general called the “open hostility” against protecting law enforcement -- while protecting criminal aliens -- “astounding” given the influx of Chicago’s violence crime. “The city’s leaders cannot follow some laws and ignore others and reasonably expect this horrific situation to improve,” Sessions continued. The grants, named for former New York City police officer Edward Byrne, who was murdered in 1988, would provide $3.2 million to Chicago, to be used for police vehicles. Funding from the grant is a small fraction of the city's budget. A requirement added to the grants would force local jurisdictions to report to federal...

Officials in College Park are weighing a plan that would make their city the largest in Maryland to give undocumented immigrants a right to vote in local elections, a long-standing practice elsewhere in the state that has drawn new scrutiny amid the simmering national debate over immigration...

Baltimore activists' attempt for a murder-free weekend proved to be too much to ask of the city, with at least three people shot, two of them killed, in less than 72 hours since guns were ordered to be put down.  Activist Erricka Bridgeford promoted the campaign as a "Baltimore ceasefire" and "Nobody kill anybody" weekend that began on Friday and ends Sunday night, garnering the support of thousands on social media since May. The city made it through Friday with no shootings reported, drawing hope from participants the campaign might see some success. But by Saturday, two men -- ages...

Baltimore is now averaging more than a murder a day, so a group of activists urged Baltimore residents to rally together for a ceasefire. This message encourages shooters to put down their guns for three days.This anti-violence effort began at midnight on Thursday with residents desperately hoping to prove peace is possible. Unfortunately, Baltimore Police have reported they’re investigating two homicides and one shooting since the ceasefire began.

American Green Inc. announced Thursday it is buying all 80 acres of Nipton, which includes its Old West-style hotel, a handful of houses, an RV park and a coffee shop. It says it plans to transform the old Gold Rush town into what it calls "an energy-independent, cannabis-friendly hospitality destination." The town's current owner, Roxanne Lang, said the sale is still in escrow, but confirmed American Green is the buyer. She declined to reveal the price before the sale closes, but noted she and her late husband, Gerald Freeman, listed the property at $5 million when they put it up...

Chicago faces an epidemic of gun violence. This year alone, more than 2,100 people have been shot, more than 400 killed.(snip) Young men on the city's south and west sides told CBS News how easy it is to get illegal guns, and why many never leave their homes without one. "I know people who can't walk from they house to the store without a gun," said Aaron Murph. "Because people getting killed left and right. It's sad." "I got shot twice and I could have been gone but I'm still here so, that scar, that's with me, so," said Tyshaun...

California’s top labor law enforcer wants federal immigration agents to stay away from offices where state investigators weigh claims about underpaid employees and workplace retaliation. Those contacts with immigration officers dovetail with a surge in complaints from California workers about employers threatening to have them deported. Last year, Su’s office in the Department of Industrial Relations investigated 14 complaints from workers who claimed their employers threatened them with immigration enforcement. So far this year, the department has opened 58 immigration-based retaliation cases, Su said. She said the presence of immigration officers in state offices could disrupt the enforcement of labor...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions banned sanctuary cities from participating in a federal public safety program. In a statement through the Department of Justice (DOJ), Sessions said sanctuary cities would not be allowed to participate in the Public Safety Partnership program until they prove that they have properly dropped their status and made efforts to reduce violent crimes by illegal aliens. “By protecting criminals from immigration enforcement, cities and states with so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies make all of us less safe,” Sessions said in the statement. “We saw that just last week, when an illegal alien who had been deported twenty times...

DETROIT (AP) - Half of Detroit’s eight mayoral candidates have been convicted of felony crimes involving drugs, assault or weapons. Three of the contenders on next Tuesday’s primary ballot were charged with gun crimes, and two of them were charged for assault with intent to commit murder, a Detroit News analysis shows . Some of the offenses date back decades. The most recent was in 2008. Political consultant Greg Bowens says there are candidates in every election cycle with past hardships. “ Black marks on your record show you have lived a little and have overcome some challenges,” Bowens said....

Meet the des-RUDE-as! Costumed characters in Times Square are giving the finger to attempts to rein them in, refusing to stay in designated areas and continuing to curse in front of kiddies and threaten passers-by for dough. Modal Trigger Foul-mouthed desnudas, grabby Hulks and tourist-terrorizing gangs of Minnie Mice are still brazenly holding the Crossroads of the World hostage even amid a heavy presence of NYPD cops, who act oblivious to their disturbing antics.

Remember two and a half years ago when students at a small Pennsylvania college demanded the name “Lynch” be removed from a campus building … because of its racial connotations? An Oregon school district is following their example. The Centennial School District in southeast Portland will be excising “Lynch” from three schools before the beginning of this school year: Lynch Meadows, Lynch Wood, and Lynch View elementary schools. The schools were named for the family which originally had donated land for the schools over a century ago, but Superintendent Paul Coakley says “many newer families coming into the district associate...