Free Republic

“On behalf of Fresno State, I extend my deepest condolences to the Bush family on the loss of our former First Lady, Barbara Bush. We share the deep concerns expressed by others over the personal comments made today by Professor Randa Jarrar, a professor in the English Department at Fresno State. Her statements were made as a private citizen, not as a representative of Fresno State. Professor Jarrar’s expressed personal views and commentary are obviously contrary to the core values of our University, which include respect and empathy for individuals with divergent points of view, and a sincere commitment to...

MIAMI, FL – The Miami Dolphins have chosen nine recipients to receive social justice grants for the 2018 season. Art Detectives is an innovative arts-based learning experience bringing together South Florida police officers with 250 middle-school students from under-served communities. Community Justice Project, Inc. is a non-profit law firm that provides free legal and policy support to grassroots organizations fighting for racial justice and human rights in South Florida. Miami Gardens Police Department’s Citizen Observer Patrol Program. National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives South Florida Chapter. North Miami Beach Police Athletic League. Pridelines supports, educates and empowers South Florida’s...

Pledging to impeach President Trump would backfire on Democrats hoping to take back the House of Representatives this fall, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. The survey finds that 47 percent of registered voters would definitely vote against a candidate who wanted to remove Trump from office, while 42 percent would definitely vote for a candidate who would make such a promise. Forty-seven percent of independent voters - whose opinions could be decisive - also say they would vote against candidates favoring impeachment. Unsurprisingly, impeachment is a non-starter with 84 percent of GOP voters. And Lee Miringoff, the director...

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on Wednesday he would oppose President Donald Trump’s nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, in a blow to the nomination. “I believe our nation’s top diplomat must be forthright, and more critically his past sentiments did not reflect our nation’s values and are not acceptable for our nation’s top diplomat,” Menendez said. Nine of the 10 Democrats have announced they oppose Pompeo, and none has announced support. Every committee Democrat also opposed the nomination of Trump’s first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.

With few coal plants left to shutter, transportation is the main hurdle to meeting emissions targets. Liberal states’ carbon-cutting plans are stuck in traffic. Literally. Transportation emissions threaten to undercut blue states’ climate goals, raising questions about their ability to lead U.S. climate efforts at a time when the federal government is rolling back environmental regulations. Emissions from cars, trucks and other mobile sources are on the rise nationally. In 2016, they overtook power plants as America’s largest source of greenhouse gases. But the situation is exacerbated in blue states, where power-sector emissions have plummeted and planet-warming tailpipe pollution remains...

Predicting how climate change will alter the weather is becoming a flourishing business. The consumers are property owners and businesses that fear a rise in extreme weather — hurricanes, floods or heat waves, for example. Last year set a record for U.S. losses at over $300 billion. Rich Sorkin is seeking them out. Sorkin is CEO of a new company called Jupiter. "Our approach is, look, we're in the risk business." What Jupiter sells is risk assessment. How you can dodge the climate bullet? Sorkin says Jupiter has raised about $10 million in a matter of months and hired top...

BOULDER, Colo. -- At a rally on Pearl Street in Boulder on Tuesday, city and county leaders announced they will be suing two major energy producers, ExxonMobil and Suncor, alleging they are responsible for climate change. "This is about fiscal responsibility, it's about climate accountability," Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones said. "Local governments simply cannot afford to foot the bill of climate change alone so we are asking for compensation for those companies who have benefited tremendously huge profits from fossil fuels." Matt Dempsey with the Western Energy Alliance, a group that advocates on behalf of oil and gas producers, called...

If you’re sneezing a bit more this year, well you’re in good company. At least 50 million Americans suffer from allergies every year. But that number is climbing, and it may be related to climate change. Kara Crosby is an allergist with Colorado Allergy and Asthma Centers. She says she’s seen the change in her practice. “We have more patients coming every year,” she says, “and a lot of times their symptoms are worse.” Many of those patients are triggered by plant pollen. And global warming may be increasing the amount of time that pollen stays in the air. Lewis...

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump's campaign paid more than $66,000 to the law firm that represents Keith Schiller, his former longtime bodyguard, newly filed campaign records show. Schiller, who left a White House job in September, testified to the House Intelligence Committee in November that someone made an offer to send five women to Trump's hotel room in Moscow in the lead-up to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. Two people familiar with the matter told NBC News that Schiller painted the incident in a light favorable to Trump, saying he turned down the offer on Trump's behalf, treated it as a...

U.S. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell warned on Tuesday against trying to rescind some spending from a $1.3 trillion appropriations bill passed into law in March, an idea that has been promoted by House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. “We had an agreement with the Democrats” on the spending bill, McConnell, a Republican, said in an interview with Fox News when asked about reports that President Donald Trump wanted to cut a major portion of the spending.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz believes that the way James Comey handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails was a factor in Donald Trump winning the presidency. “Doing what he did 11 days before the election was inappropriate and definitely violative of longstanding FBI practice,” Wasserman Schultz said, adding that she couldn’t predict the extent of the impact or whether it cost Clinton the election. But, she said, it had a negative impact. “I don’t see how it couldn’t have. I don’t see how that announcement, him coming out again and saying what he said that close to the election,...

SEOUL, South Korea - Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, plans to formally announce his willingness to denuclearize his country when he meets with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea this month, an official from the South said on Tuesday. The statement is expected to be part of a joint declaration that the two leaders will adopt when they meet on April 27, said Mr. Moon’s chief of staff, Im Jong-seok. Negotiators from both Koreas have agreed on a rough framework for the joint declaration, he said. They are still discussing other aspects of the joint statement, such as whether the...

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The whacky weather we've had lately is what some consider a major sign from Earth. "Our Earth is basically letting us know that something is not right," said Denise Abdul-Rahman. With Earth Day just days away, the Greater Terre Haute NAACP discussed climate change and ways to combat it. Abdul-Rahman is the NAACP Indiana Environmental & Climate Justice Chair. "What is occurring is that as we put out greenhouse gases, or what are called CO2 or carbon pollution, into our atmosphere, it is warming the temperatures," she said, "and those temperatures are melting our glaciers and...

Rising temperatures, drought, and weather disasters can threaten people’s health. Nobody is exempt. But … Perera: “The health of children is disproportionately affected by climate change.” Frederica Perera is director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health. She says children are vulnerable because their immune systems are not mature. And, their rapidly growing bodies are more sensitive to damage from disease and environmental contaminants. In particular, children are more likely than adults to die from diarrheal disease, which is expected to become more common in some areas as the climate warms. And some children are at more risk than...

Mosquitoes—and the viruses that they carry—are pushing up the incidence of malaria globally and causing periodic explosive outbreaks of Rift Valley fever, which first brings on flulike symptoms but can turn into a severe hemorrhagic fever akin to Ebola. Bluetongue virus, a ruminant virus spread by midges that was once confined to tropical areas, has reached as far as Norway. Studies have shown shifts in cholera transmission with recent climate variability. As emerging diseases migrate to new areas, they encounter new species, making outbreaks even more difficult to manage. Unfortunately, writes journalist Lois Parshley in her feature article “Catching Fever,”...

The UK’s climate laws forged a path for others to follow. But as progressive nations commit to zero emissions, it must reclaim its leading role, writes Sweden’s deputy prime minister. What does it mean for a nation to be a “climate leader” in 2018? At the very least, it must mean having a firm plan in place to deliver your nation’s fair share of the Paris agreement. During that stunning fortnight in December 2015, 195 governments freely and willingly committed not only to keep global warming well below 2C, but to aim for the safer level of 1.5C. And they...

MOULTON, Ala. -- A special-needs student had a one-of-a-kind prom date when an NFL player returned to his home county in Alabama to take her to the dance. Don Jones is a 27-year-old defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers who is from Lawrence County. He told WBRC-TV it was a "blessing" to go to the prom Friday night with 18-year-old Lindsey Preston, who has Down syndrome. Jones is a family friend. His mother taught Preston in elementary school. Preston's mom, Kristi Martin, told The Associated Press that Jones danced with all the students and "made everybody feel special." Jones...

With more than 50,000 wind turbines in place across the U.S., wind power now accounts for 8 percent of the nation's energy-generating capacity — and experts predict that figure could rise to 20 percent by 2030. But all that clean, renewable energy comes with a high cost to the nation's wildlife. Researchers estimate that 140,000 to 328,000 birds are killed every year in collisions with the turbines' spinning rotor blades and support towers. The risk to birds is highest at night, when the blades and towers are cloaked in darkness. Now researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, have...

An undocumented mother of four from Laredo was detained Sunday by U.S. Border Patrol agents in San Antonio as she brought her 4-year-old special needs son, a U.S. citizen, into University Hospital for orthopedic surgery on his broken arm. San Antonio attorney Gerardo Menchaca said Monday that the woman, Silvia Macuixele, originally from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, was detained and fingerprinted at a checkpoint north of Laredo on Interstate 35 as she brought her son north by ambulance. Agents then followed the ambulance to San Antonio shortly after 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Menchaca said “an incredibly nice” agent stayed with...

TAOS, New Mexico - The U.S. city of Albuquerque passed measures on Monday that make it harder for federal officials to deport illegal immigrants, a week after a federal judge blocked a Trump administration effort to withhold funding from cities that took such steps. Albuquerque’s majority-Democratic council voted 6-3 in favor of a measure to prevent federal immigration officials from entering city-operated areas, including a prisoner transport center, without a warrant. In a televised meeting, the council also barred city workers, including police, from collecting information on peoples’ immigration status and prohibited local tax dollars from being spent on federal...