Free Republic

ISLAND PARK, N.Y. — Republican Ari Brown defeated Democrat David Lobl by a 2-1 margin in a special election for the New York State Assembly’s 20th District seat, as Republicans continue to gain momentum on Long Island and predict victories across the state and nationally next November. “This is just the beginning of a red wave like never before,” Brown said Thursday night, after he won the seat — covering areas including the Five Towns, Island Park, Long Beach and Atlantic Beach — which was vacated by Republican Melissa “Missy” Miller in February, who took a position on the Hempstead...

A suspected drunken driver accused of hitting and killing a New York City police officer streamed a video just hours prior saying "f--- the police." Jessica Beauvais, 32, of Hempstead, New York, was arrested Tuesday on charges of vehicular manslaughter, suspended license and intoxicated driving, according to NBC New York. She's accused of striking highway officer Anastasios Tsakos earlier that morning as he was directing traffic following a fatal car crash in Queens. Tsakos, 43, was taken to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital in critical condition, where he later died from his injuries. The nearly two-hour-long Facebook Live was streamed Monday...

For the third year in a row, Hempstead, New York sponsored a "Toy Gun Buyback” that encouraged kids to give up their toy guns in exchange for toys which Leftists deem to be “safer.” In the spirit of equality some children were given a toy gun so they could trade it in for a “safe” toy. Hempstead Village Trustee LaMont Johnson said, “The purpose is to offer a safe alternative to toy guns. We don't want the kids playing with guns. Guns are dangerous.” Mayor Don Ryan of Hempstead Village agreed, “Saying no to guns is important, even toy guns.”

Notorious street-gang MS-13 has reportedly ordered its members to “take out” police officers in New York; hoping to send a strong message to authorities following a serious crackdown on the group throughout the region. According to the New York Post, the NYPD is on high-alert after a confidential informant told police that gang members were given a green light to murder local police officers; particularly in the nearby town of Hempstead on Long Island. “The police have been making too many arrests and it’s time to take the streets back and take out (shoot) a cop like we do in...

So much time between now and then.

Wright State President David Hopkins announced Tuesday the university has withdrawn from hosting the first presidential debate in September. WSU cited rising costs and security costs Costs rose from $3.5 million to over $8 million University informed Commission on Presidential Debates at noon WSU in an internal remediation to overcome budget deficit UPDATE @ 2:58 p.m.: The president of Wright State’s faculty union, Martin Kich, said cancelling the debate was probably for the best. “I think It’s unfortunate we’ve gotten two months away from it and we have to pull the plug on it. I don’t think that makes anyone...

“In light of Wright State University’s announcement of earlier today, the September 26, 2016 Presidential Debate will be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. The Commission very much appreciates Wright State’s efforts. Hofstra University served very successfully as a presidential debate site in 2012. On September 23, 2015, the Commission announced that Hofstra University had agreed to serve as an alternate site this debate cycle if needed. The Commission looks forward to working with Hofstra once again.”

HEMPSTEAD, Tex. The state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland, the Chicago-area woman who three days later was found hanged in her cell at the Waller County jail, has been indicted on a perjury charge, a special prosecutor said here Wednesday. The charge against the Texas state trooper, Brian T. Encinia, is a Class A misdemeanor, and was announced at the end of a day of grand jury deliberations. The charge carries a possible penalty of one year in jail and a $4,000 fine, prosecutors said. The charge stemmed from a one-page affidavit that Trooper Encinia filed with jail officials justifying...

A Long Island educator says he was labeled a racist and fired for enforcing academic eligibility requirements for student athletes. Students who are failing two or more classes are ineligible for sports, teacher Robert Cincotta, who served as athletic director for the predominantly black Hempstead school district between 2005 and 2013, said in a Brooklyn federal lawsuit. In February 2013, he began checking grades for all the kids participating in winter sports in the district, such as basketball, wrestling and indoor track, and informing coaches of who would not be allowed to play, Cincotta, who is white, says in court...

A parent and a juvenile have been arrested after an attack on a Long Island teacher that a group said left the educator unconscious for several minutes. Authorities say the duo allegedly attacked the female math teacher Wednesday at Alverta B. Gray Schultz Middle School in Hempstead. […] The parent, Annika McKenzie, pleaded not guilty to assault charges and is being held in lieu of $10,000 bond. McKenzie’s attorney, Don Rollock, told NBC 4 New York that the parent came to the school because the teacher put her hands on her 12-year-old daughter. “Teachers shouldn’t lay their hands on kids,”...

You would think Hempstead Middle school principal Amy Lacey was asking to see the “papers” of the 50% Hispanic students at her school as this story is now getting national attention. But all she did was announce that students can not speak Spanish while in class to avoid disruption. The students make it sound like horrible discrimination and apparently the school district agrees. She has been placed on paid administrative leave and the school district is bending over backwards to apologize for the principal’s actions. But some residents of Hempstead (outside of Houston) agree with the principal according to KHOU11:

HOUSTON—A federal grand jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas returned an indictment today charging Barry Walter Bujol, Jr., with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno and FBI Houston Special Agent in Charge Richard C. Powers announced today. “Protecting the American public from the threat of terrorism, both international and home-grown, is the highest priority of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas,” said U.S. Attorney Moreno. “Proactive investigative efforts and cooperation between the...

"...Nobody is asking questions because they voted for an idea. Not Barack Obama’s ideas, but their own ideas. They picked something they really wanted or really needed and decided that Barack Obama could and would do it for them. Barack Obama represents to them a utopian idea that divorces itself from reality. The Barack Obama Elementary School is just a reaffirmation of that charge. He’s done nothing, but we’ve already named a school after him..."

Time is almost up for Texas residents who wish to submit a comment on the proposed Trans Texas Corridor, which must be received by the Texas Department of Transportation by Wednesday. Submissions of comments would have to be made either by mail or online at this point, and can be sent to I-69/TTC, P.O. Box 14428, Austin, TX 78761, or go to keeptexasmoving.com, then click on “question or comment” on the left side of the screen. Previously, throughout February and March, TxDOT held 47 well-attended hearings at which oral comments from the public were taken into account. The TTC has...

A Piney Woods retreat that has hosted national church conferences on controversial issues, celebrated the consecration of bishops and provided summer memories for thousands of teens now faces another kind of challenge. The nearly two square miles of forest, hills, fields, lakes and buildings that make up Camp Allen Conference & Retreat Center, 15 miles southeast of Navasota, lie in a two-mile-wide strip listed in state documents as the preferred route for the planned Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor. Proposed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2002, the corridor plan has drawn heated opposition at town hall meetings and public hearings throughout Southeast...

HEMPSTEAD -- The Trans Texas Corridor may be the most controversial highway ever built in Texas. That is, if it ever gets built. All month, there have been public hearings throughout the area where people have been showing up in droves to oppose it. People don’t drive very fast on Odis Styers’ family ranch near Hempstead, but TxDOT wants that to change. “It’s quiet, it’s peaceful,” Styers said. “It’s a shame a road is gonna mess it up.” The road is the Trans Texas Corridor. The plans call for it to come through here, and with it: separate lanes for...

ROBSTOWN, Tex. — Leon Little’s farm here near Corpus Christi would not be seized for Texas’s proposed $184-billion-plus superhighway project for 5 or 10 years, if ever. But Mr. Little was alarmed enough to show up Wednesday night with hundreds of his South Texas coastal neighbors to do what the Texas Department of Transportation has been urging: “Go ahead, don’t hold back.” Don’t worry. Texans have gotten the message, swamping hearings and town meetings across the state to grill and often excoriate agency officials about a colossal traffic makeover known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, a public-private partnership unrivaled in the...

Grimes County commissioners and County Judge Betty Shiflett made sure they attended a TTC/I-69 meeting at the Walker County Fairgrounds last week, as residents previously demanded they take a stronger stance against the proposed route through Grimes County. Shiflett received a roaring applause from audience members with her speech that ended with the question, “What part of “no” do you not understand?” Shiflett added that Grimes County was not given an option for having a town meeting, just the environmental meeting. “Representative Lois Kolkhorst stole the show as she announced loud and clear that she was against TTC I-69,” said...

A big protest is planned for Monday afternoon, ahead of the latest public hearing on the proposed statewide tollway. Lots of landowners are upset about the state’s plan to build a tollway from Mexico to northeast Texas. There have already been several town hall meetings about the Trans-Texas Corridor. Most of the people who have spoken out about the plan say it will put them out of business. But state officials argue the tollway is necessary to keep up with the growing population in Texas. Monday’s meeting is being held in Huntsville. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Walker...

Waller County officials are calling for the Texas Department of Transportation to hold another public meeting in their county on a proposed “superhighway,” after a Jan. 22 meeting was so packed that some people couldn’t squeeze into the meeting hall. TxDOT held a public meeting in Hempstead to gather public input on the Trans Texas Corridor’s proposed I-69 leg which could bring it through Waller and Austin counties, and small portion of Washington County. More than 800 people surged into the Knights of Columbus Hall in Hempstead. Officials said the hall is located on a narrow, dead end road that...