Free Republic

The young woman was killed in a satanic ritual by two MS-13 members after she disrespected their shrine to Satanism, prosecutors said Thursday in court. She died after she was shot several times in the face and chest... Prosecutors said both men were living in the United States illegally. In general, Sturdivant said, "the majority of the MS-13 members we come into contact with are here illegally."... The three "young, impressionable young women" ages 14-16 came under the influence of the adult male gang members and eventually were held in an apartment, Sturdivant said, confirming that at least two of...

A 26-year-old immigrant from El Salvador who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor has been released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas. Sara Beltran Hernandez was detained for 15 months after she fled violence in El Salvador, according to Amnesty International USA. She was released Thursday and was to receive a full medical evaluation later in the evening to "ensure that it's safe for her to travel to New York to be with her family and get the long-term care she needs," according to the human rights organization. On Feb. 23, Beltran Hernandez was returned to...

Some scary moments for a New Albany man. Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards say Shane Treadaway was sent to a Tupelo hospital Tuesday night. Authorities found him hanging upside down from a tree naked with a cable wrapped around him..."I was out walking my dog and just came home and a lady comes running down my brother's drive. I was thinking my brother was in trouble so I go out there to help after about three minutes in the woods I saw this man hanging upside down in the tree butt naked," said Jerry Feathers.

In Orange County, California, dozens of immigrants have signed powers of attorney authorizing relatives and friends to pick up their children from school and access their bank accounts to pay their bills in the event they are arrested by immigration agents. In Philadelphia, immigrants are carrying around wallet-size "Know Your Rights" guides in Spanish and English that explain what to do if they're rounded up. And in New York, 23-year-old Zuleima Dominguez and other members of her Mexican family are careful about answering the door, and get worried and start making phone calls when someone doesn't come home on time.

“He rarely speaks logically, and he only emphasizes one side of things as if it were the absolute truth. There are lots of moments when I suspected his assertions were factually dubious,” said Chikako Tsuruta, who routinely covers Trump-related news as an interpreter for CNN, ABC and CBS. “He is so overconfident and yet so logically unconvincing that my interpreter friends and I often joke that if we translated his words as they are, we would end up making ourselves sound stupid,”...This challenge, the likes of which they claim was not an issue when interpreting for renowned orator Barack Obama

Police say two women wearing stockings over their faces pulled a pistol at Elotes Mignelito, 801 N. 25th St., pointed it at stand operators and demanded cash. The women left in a silver Dodge Charger after getting cash from the stand. A witness followed the women to North 18th Street and Colcord Avenue, where one of the suspects started firing a paintball gun at the witness.

When 23-year-old Sahar Kian needed a roommate for her home near Georgetown University, she turned to Craigslist. Among her house rules? No alcohol, pets or meat products. And no supporters of President Donald Trump... Kian also insisted that her ad did not discriminate against "political differences."... Kian responded that her house rules aren't a case of "extreme vetting," a phrase Trump has used to describe the review process he intends to make newly arriving immigrants and refugees undergo, and that she wouldn't "drill" potential roommates on their political beliefs.

A few of the honorees at the Writers Guild of America Awards had strong words for President Donald Trump on Sunday night..."Donald Trump taking Obama's job would be like if the head of linguistics at Rutgers made fun of David Lee Roth, and David Lee Roth was like, 'I'm gonna take his job,'" Oswalt joked, as he mimicked a hit song from the '80s icon. Oswalt was accompanied on stage by two men dressed as "soldiers from armed forces of the Russian Federation." The gag continued all night, with the two uniformed men standing on stage as the evening's honorees...

The winning wrestler pulled a tearful runner-up next to him on the victory stand, and they exchanged a hug after a match that never took place. Mack Beggs, a transgender 17-year-old at Euless Trinity, won the girls 110-pound championship at Saturday's Class 6A Region II wrestling meet after a Coppell wrestler forfeited the final. Beggs, a junior, is taking testosterone while transitioning from female to male. Madeline Rocha's forfeit came 11 days after a lawsuit was filed against the University Interscholastic League by Coppell attorney and wrestling parent Jim Baudhuin, urging the governing body to suspend Beggs because of the...

A workmen’s café in central France was overwhelmed with phone calls from gourmet diners wanting to book tables after it was awarded a Michelin star — by mistake, it later turned out. Reporters, TV crews and prospective customers were astounded when they turned up at the Bouche à Oreille, in the small town of Bourges, to find a cheap and cheerful eatery with red and white polka dot plastic tablecloths. Many patrons wear high-visibility vests, it is often packed at lunchtime and the atmosphere is lively, with customers ordering beers at the bar. It serves its regular clientèle of local...

Texas election officials have acknowledged that hundreds of people were allowed to bypass the state's toughest-in-the-nation voter ID law and improperly cast ballots in the November presidential election by signing a sworn statement instead of showing a photo ID. The chief election officers in two of the state's largest counties are now considering whether to refer cases to local prosecutors for potential perjury charges or violations of election law. Officials in many other areas say they will simply let the mistakes go, citing widespread confusion among poll workers and voters..."We don't consider it something that we want to go out...

A witness told police that Darren Clark, 50, had gotten into an argument with his roommate of three years, Charles Jones, because Jones didn't flush the toilet after using it. Clark pulled out a knife and stabbed Jones, then fled, the witness said... Jones, who had been stabbed twice in the chest and once in his right arm, was taken to Methodist Dallas Medical Center. Clark was charged with one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon — family violence. He has been released from the Dallas County Jail after posting $50,000 bail.

Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, died Saturday outside Houston at age 69, The Washington Post reports. McCorvey was 22 when she sought a way out for an unwanted pregnancy, becoming Jane Roe, the pseudonymous plaintiff of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that established a constitutional right to an abortion. She died at an assisted-living facility in Katy due to a heart ailment, journalist Joshua Prager, who is working on a book about the case, confirmed her death to The Post.

Exactly 20,008 students were absent in the school district Thursday, compared to only 4,216 the previous day. AISD says they have 83,591 students in 130 schools — that’s almost 24 percent of their students marked as absent...Pflugerville ISD say they experienced a higher than normal number of absences Thursday. While they are still gathering their attendance data, only a handful of schools had attendance below 70 percent. Friday, students in Manor walked out of classes and caused traffic delays while protesting on US 290. The district said around 50 students at Manor High School were part of the protest; no...

Weeks following Election Day, stocks for two of the biggest for-profits detention center companies, GEO and CoreCivic, increased between 20 and 40 percent. Libal attributes the rising stock to President Trump’s tough enforcement of immigration laws. “That’s because investors believe that Donald Trump is going to increase deportation and detention of immigrants,” he said. “The longer someone sits at a detention center, the more money the private prison corporation makes.”

Trump currently dismisses climate change as a hoax invented by China, though he has quietly sought to shield real estate investments in Ireland from its effects. But at the Republican presidential contender’s Palm Beach estate and the other properties that bear his name in south Florida, the water is already creeping up bridges and advancing on access roads, lawns and beaches because of sea-level rise, according to a risk analysis prepared for the Guardian. In 30 years, the grounds of Mar-a-Lago could be under at least a foot of water for 210 days a year because of tidal flooding along...

KXAN obtained the latest estimates from the CVB showing 22 groups have expressed concern about the bill. If all were to cancel their convention bookings, the impact would be severe. Austin would lose an estimated 145,890 total hotel room nights and a total estimated economic impact of $109,683,377 between now and 2021. That equates to 4-5 groups a year. The Austin Convention Center hosts an average 60 big groups annually, a spokesperson told KXAN.

Zealandia – a new continent submerged in the southwest Pacific – is a step closer to being recognised, the authors of a new scientific paper claim. A paper published in GSA Today, the journal of the Geological Society of America, contends that the vast, continuous expanse of continental crust, which centres on New Zealand, is distinct enough to constitute a separate continent. Despite the obvious question of how something so large could be previously undiscovered, the paper’s authors argue that even “the large and the obvious in natural science can be overlooked”. Zealandia covers nearly 5m square km (1.9m sq...

A grassroots movement that seems to be a response to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s ongoing sting known as Operation Cross Check, as well as to the Trump administration, has called on people to unite in protest. A Spanish-language flier that has circulated in Austin and on social media calls on the “undocumented, residents, citizens and immigrants from all over the world” to boycott work, opening their businesses for the day, buying gasoline, attending class and more.

Over the weekend, AISD teachers attended a union workshop on how to answer students’ questions and fears on immigration policy, including what to do if an immigration officers knock on their door. While the district acknowledged the politically and social active epicenter that is the Texas capital city, they reminded staff to be “meticulous” and “calculated” in their response to controversial events, like the targeted Immigration and Custom Enforcement operation...“A district employee may not provide a legal sanctuary for students fleeing law enforcement or stop a local or federal officer from conducting a lawful investigation or lawful arrest,” the district...