Free Republic

One reason Democrats seem so fixated on importing illegal immigrants and allowing their children to stay and become citizens may be the exodus from high-tax and traditionally Democratic states. Anecdotal evidence is usually not helpful in determining trends, but when stories begin to accumulate and sound the same attention must be paid. Two friends of mine, who are longtime California residents, recently decided to move from that highly taxed state to states with lower taxes. As much as they love California, they tell me, they can no longer afford to live there. United Van Lines' National Movers Study has for...

New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that a coalition of East Coast states will sue the federal government over the Trump-signed tax overhaul, in the latest bid to undermine the law that Republicans have cheered. The states -- New York, New Jersey and Connecticut -- appear to be taking aim at a provision that limits residents' state and local tax deduction (SALT) to $10,000. While the law contains sweeping tax rate cuts for businesses and individuals, taxpayers in high-tax states like those in the Northeast are expected to take a hit from the SALT change. Cuomo called it...

An East Haven pastor who confronted police officers after they went into her church to arrest a suspect in a violent case of domestic violence has resigned. The pastor, Rev. Care Goodstal Spinks, confronted police officers outside Old Stone Church after they arrested 34-year-old Ryan Champlin. Police said Champlin went to the church Tuesday after assaulting his 59-year-old mother following an argument about him not paying to live at their residence. When Champlin’s mother tried to call 911, her son pushed her to the ground, police said. Champlin's mother locked herself in her bedroom, but her son kicked the door...

SOUTHINGTON, CT — In alphabetical order, a majority of Democratic and one unaffiliated candidates for governor endorsed the idea of installing electronic tolls on Connecticut’s highways and received applause for it. The nine candidates participated in a forum Friday sponsored by the Connecticut Construction Industries Association. The same group sponsored a similar forum in December for the Republican gubernatorial candidates as well. None of the candidates who are still in the “exploratory” phase of their campaigns for governor were invited to either forum — only the declared candidates. The problem: Connecticut’s special transportation fund will start running a deficit in...

Southington — Oz Griebel, a petitioning candidate for governor who once led the state Transportation Strategy Board, told an audience of construction executives and union members Friday that Connecticut must embrace electronic tolling and higher gasoline taxes to preserve and improve its transportation infrastructure.At a transportation forum for Democratic and unaffiliated candidates, Griebel offered the broadest prescription for how to stabilize and grow a special transportation fund now projected to hit insolvency by 2022, leaving the state unable to borrow money to address a growing backlog of transportation needs.Many of the Democrats, unlike the Republican field at a similar event...

MILFORD, Conn. (WTNH)– Two New Haven men were arrested Friday after allegedly robbing a Milford restaurant at gunpoint before being chased away by an armed customer. Police say 21-year-old Royshon Ferguson and 22-year-old Gregory McLaurin were arrested after an armed robbery was reported at the Smashburger, at 1590 Boston Post Road. According to police, Ferguson and McLaurin entered the restaurant armed with a .22 caliber handgun and ordered all workers and customers into the kitchen. While in the kitchen, McLaurin allegedly told the manager to open the safe or he would shoot her in the head. The manager then opened...

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WASHINGTON (WTNH) — Social media executives testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday about the steps the industry is taking to fight extremist propaganda online. Witnesses included representatives from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Lawmakers presses the executives on measure they are taking to ban extremist content. Executives at the hearing discussed a range of topics, including getting rid of instructional videos on the internet that explain how to launch a terrorist attack.

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH)– Congress has until midnight Friday, to strike a deal on a host of issues before government funding is set to run out. At the heart of it, nearly 800,000 undocumented young immigrants. That’s why dozens of Connecticut Dreamers are on their way to the nation’s capitol Tuesday morning. They’re message to Congress is to pass the Dream Act. Republicans and Democrats both want to lift spending caps, which limit the amount of money the government can spend without adding to the deficit. Democrats say in order for them to support the republicans’ spending plan, they must include...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — An Army veteran is suing a Veterans Administration hospital in Connecticut after he says someone left a scalpel inside him after surgery, and it was only discovered years later, after he suffered from long-term abdominal pain.

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The Supreme Court on Friday said it would consider whether states can broadly require online retailers to collect sales taxes even if they lack a physical presence in the state, taking a case that could have a major impact on online commerce. The justices on Friday took up that call, explicitly agreeing to consider whether the earlier high-court precedent should be overruled. “My bet is that they are looking at it to overturn,” said Edward Zelinsky, a tax-law professor at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law. The alternative, he said, would be to point to this issue as an example...

The Yale University psychology professor who called President Trump “mentally impaired” appears to lack a valid license to practice psychiatry in her home state of Connecticut.The professor, Bandy Lee, made the headlines over the past few days when she made a diagnosis of the president as suffering from a “mental impairment” that would disqualify him from the highest office in the land.Following Lee’s comments, the American Psychiatric Association released a statement on Tuesday warning members of its profession to refrain from making public diagnoses of public figures like Trump without a proper medical exam.“We at the APA call for an...

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On Sept. 19, Politico congressional reporter Burgess Everett tweeted that he suddenly “[Remembers Vermont has a Republican governor].” His tweet prompted Seung Min Kim, a fellow Politico reporter who covers the US Senate, to reply that she “[Learns Vermont has a Republican governor].” That, in turn, instigated a response by Wall Street Journal congressional reporter Byron Tau: “[Googles the name of Vermont’s Republican governor].” To which Phil Scott, Vermont’s Republican governor, responded that he “[Is Vermont’s Republican governor].” The moment was comical but also insightful, underscoring just how little Washington’s political class knows about who holds the executive power in...

The father of the family killed in a fiery Costa Rican plane crash was a senior investor at Bridgewater Associates, the giant hedge fund headed by billionaire Ray Dalio. Bruce Steinberg — who, along with his wife, Irene, and three sons, Zachary, William and Matthew, was among 12 people killed in the charter plane crash on New Year’s Eve — was a senior member of the Connecticut-based fund’s research team. Steinberg, 50, was also a graduate of Columbia Business School. “The Bridgewater family lost Bruce Steinberg (a senior investor at Bridgewater and a wonderful man) and his family in a...

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(Meredith) -- A man who allegedly tried to steal a pickup truck on Christmas day didn't get very far, thanks to a 9-year-old boy. Police said 32-year-old Ollie Dunn attempted to steal a 2009 Dodge Ram in Kokomo on Monday, according to WTHR. Little did he know, a 9-year-old boy named Larry Larimore was inside the truck. Despite being afraid, Larrimore pulled out a pellet gun and confronted the suspect. “As soon as he opened the door, I got scared,” Larimore told WTHR. “So I pulled out the pellet gun and pointed it at his head.” The suspect took off...

The petition to grant three Goshen elephants legal rights as “persons” was denied by a judge at Superior Court in Torrington on Tuesday, court records show. In a memorandum of decision, Judge James Bentivegna called the petition “wholly frivolous on its face in legal terms.” The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) had filed the lawsuit on Nov. 13, arguing that Beulah, Karen and Minnie — three elephants captured in the wild and now living at the Commerford Zoo in Goshen — are legal “persons” with fundamental rights and they must be released into a sanctuary. “‘Person’ is not a synonym for...

That's where the real assault is. For example: o "Students at the University of California San Diego filed a complaint and triggered an administrative probe after pictures of Kate Steinle were hung on campus," Bradford Richardson reported in The Washington Times on December 20, 2017. "Gregory Lu said he hung up 150 posters picturing Steinle with the caption, 'She had dreams too,' on Dec. 7. Four days later, he said he received an email from the Office for the Prevention of Harassment & Discrimination asking to meet with him." Lu has wisely waited to do so until obtaining legal counsel....