Free Republic

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday paved the way for Louisiana to use a congressional map in this year's election that includes two majority-Black districts. The court granted emergency requests filed by an unlikely alliance of Republican state officials and civil rights groups, who were united in asking the high court to block a lower court ruling that invalidated the most recently drawn map. State officials had said they needed to have the map finalized by Wednesday to meet bureaucratic deadlines and avoid "disarray."

SOUTH CHARLESTON, Ohio (WCMH) — Deputies in Clark County have arrested a man in his 80s accused of murdering an Uber driver while both were being targeted by a “scam call.” William Brock, 81, faces a felony charge of murder with additional counts possible, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators accused him of shooting Lo-Letha Hall multiple times on March 25 after she went to his house on an Uber assignment. Investigators first came to Brock’s property, about four miles west of South Charleston in Clark County, when he called them and said he shot someone attempting a...

Amid some already-historic changes around college football that include major conference realignment and an expanded playoff format, some interested parties are proposing another structural change to the sport: a so-called "Super League," according to The Athletic. The group calls itself College Sports Tomorrow. Composed of sports executives, university presidents, and at least one NFL official, it has a plan: Take the 70 most important programs in college football, including every Power Five school and Notre Dame, and name them as permanent members of a national league.

In mid-December, I wrote here that the U.S. had set a new annual oil production record: “The U.S. set a new annual oil production record on December 15, based on data from the Energy Information Administration. Although the official monthly numbers from the EIA won’t be released for a couple of months, we can calculate that a new record has been set based on the following analysis.” I could project that new record based on the weekly production numbers from the EIA, but I noted that official confirmation wouldn’t come until sometime this year. On March 11, 2024, the EIA...

The Super Bowl marks the year's biggest day for advertising, with top brands paying millions to get their messages in front of a television audience that reliably attracts more than 100 million viewers. Over the years, the cost of a 30-second advertisement has soared, making the Super Bowl the costliest advertising venue on TV. Because the Super Bowl is one of the few events that draws an audience of this size, companies are willing to shell out millions to promote their brands during NFL showcase. This year's crop of Super Bowl ads will feature dozens of top brands, from Anheuser-Busch's...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is rejecting the idea that Democrats played dirty during this week’s failed GOP effort to impeach the Homeland Security secretary, arguing that Republican leaders control the floor — and are solely accountable for the management of it. “It’s not our responsibility to let House Republicans know which members will or will not be present on the House floor on any other day or in connection with any given vote,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday in the Capitol.

Mojo Nixon, the unapologetically brash musician, actor, and radio DJ, died of “a cardiac event” on Wednesday, Feb. 7, his family confirmed to Rolling Stone. He was 66. Nixon was aboard the Outlaw Country Cruise, an annual music cruise where he was a co-host and regular performer. “August 2, 1957 — February 7, 2024 Mojo Nixon. How you live is how you should die. Mojo Nixon was full-tilt, wide-open rock hard, root hog, corner on two wheels + on fire…,” his family shared in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Passing after a blazing show, a raging night, closing the bar,...

WELLINGTON, Fla. (WPEC) — A Florida man accused of brutally beating and killing his father was upset after learning his dad received "the vaccine," investigators say. The 911 caller, who is a friend of the family, described the suspect, Brian Mcgann Jr., as a "delusional conspiracy theorist."

Special agents from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Criminal Investigations Division arrested an Orange man for allegedly making terroristic threats against Texas House Speaker and Southeast Texas Representative Dade Phelan. DPS reported that Daniel Troy Leblanc, 44, of Orange, was arrested Jan. 15 following an investigation into threats made against Phelan on multiple social media platforms. Leblanc was taken to the Jefferson County Correctional Facility on Jan. 17 under a $500,000 bond set by Justice of the Peace Ben Collins Sr. Collins ordered that, should Leblanc post bond, he is to avoid all contact with Phelan and wear...

DONALSONVILLE, Ga. (WTVY) - The reigning Miss Donalsonville (GA) faces murder and other charges related to the death of a young child. Sumter County, Georgia jail records show state investigators arrested Trinity Madison Poague on Friday. She is 18. “The investigation indicates an unresponsive 18-month-old boy was admitted to the emergency room at Phoebe Sumter Hospital in Americus, Georgia,” Georgia Bureau of Investigations said in a statement provided to News4. GBI said hospital staff tried to perform life-saving measures on the baby, but he died.

Huge volumes of US oil production, as well as output from Brazil and Guyana, have eaten away at the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies' command of global crude flows, with the energy cartel's market share dropping to its lowest mark in nearly a decade, according to the International Energy Agency. In its oil report covering data up to December 2023, the IEA said OPEC+'s market share had fallen to 51% in 2023. It hasn't been that low since the group expanded to include additional allies in 2016, the Paris-based firm said. "Record-breaking supply from the United States,...

The shooter who killed three people Wednesday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was a 67-year-old career college professor who may have applied for a job at the university but not been hired, a law enforcement source told CNN. The gunman died at the scene after a confrontation with police outside a university building, Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Kevin McMahill said. He was identified as Anthony Polito, that source and another source in law enforcement said. Investigators are looking into the possibility Polito may have been passed over for a job at UNLV, the first law enforcement source said....

Two bodies found in an eastern Bexar County home are believed to be connected to a series of shootings in Austin that left four people dead and injured three people, including two law enforcement officers. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said his office received information from the Austin Police Department around 7 p.m. Tuesday indicating a home in the 6400 block of Port Royal might be linked to the suspect accused of killing four civilians and injuring a cyclist, an Austin Independent School District officer and an Austin Police Department officer. Shane James Jr., 34, was charged with capital murder...

On Wednesday, Luke Combs' cover of the song "Fast Car" won song of the year at the Country Music Association awards – but singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, who first released the song in 1988, took home the award. With the win – a whopping 35 years after the song was released – Chapman became the first Black songwriter to win the song of the year prize at the CMAs.

As the global oil market focuses its attention on the oil-supply risks tied to the war between Israel and Hamas, U.S. production has climbed to its highest level on record and it's expected to continue its rise next year. That's a "testament to the ingenuity of the U.S. oil-and-gas industry," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group. The industry has faced a "harsher regulatory environment" under the Biden administration, which has plans for three oil and gas lease sales over the next five years. That would be the smallest number of lease sales offered in U.S....

Faruk Fatih Ozer, who ran crypto exchange Thodex until it imploded in 2021, was sentenced to 11,196 years in prison by a Turkish court for crimes including fraud. Delivering its verdict late Thursday, the court in Istanbul sentenced Ozer and his two siblings to similar-length jail terms, finding them guilty of aggravated fraud, leading a criminal organization and money laundering.

A man waited for his pregnant ex-girlfriend to come back to a safehouse where he stabbed her to death because he thought she would accuse him of domestic violence, which would send him back to prison, according to authorities in Alabama. The Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor said at a press conference that dispatchers received a call shortly after midnight on Saturday about a body found at a fire station, which also serves as a safe house for domestic violence victims. The victim, 37-year-old Treasure Hennessy, was suffering from several stab wounds. Her boyfriend, Bradley Wayne Stokes, was arrested Saturday...

A mohel who became a boldface name, he said his record in 45 years of performing the Jewish religious rite was 11 in a single day (including two pairs of twins). Armed with only a scalpel, a clamp and a metal probe, Philip L. Sherman would routinely carry out his surgical mission in about 15 seconds, leave in as little as 10 minutes and hotfoot it to his car, which was probably parked illegally but perhaps spared a ticket by the inspired placard on his windshield: “Mazel Tov! Bris in progress. Please don’t ticket.” Mr. Sherman, whose website (as well...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - A fifth suspect in the Montgomery riverfront brawl investigation has been arrested nearly a week after the incident captured national attention. On Friday, Montgomery police said Reggie Ray, 42, turned himself in. His surrender came days after law enforcement requested he come forward. Ray is alleged to be the person seen on video hitting someone with a folding chair. He’s now being held in the Montgomery Municipal Jail on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.

A fourth person has now been charged in last weekend’s riverfront brawl in Montgomery. Police said Mary Todd, 21, is charged with third-degree assault. She surrendered to authorities on Thursday and is being held in Montgomery’s Municipal Jail. Todd is charged in the assault on Harriott II Co-Captain Damien Pickett. Todd was among the group on a pontoon boat whose owner and occupants refused to move while the Harriott II was trying to dock Saturday evening.