Free Republic

A special judge in Monroe County, Indiana, has denied a request by Planned Parenthood to broaden the medical exceptions under which abortions would be allowed under state law. Indiana’s abortion law, SB 1, protects nearly all preborn children in the state from abortion. Abortion is only permitted in cases of rape and incest, if there is a “lethal fetal anomaly” before 20 weeks, and when “abortion is necessary when reasonable medical judgment dictates that performing the abortion is necessary to prevent any serious health risk to the pregnant woman or to save the pregnant woman’s life.” The law also requires...

As the end date of Greyhound’s lease at its downtown Chicago bus station approaches, the company has begun routing more buses through Gary, Indiana, a new analysis of bus schedules shows. The changes suggest a proactive response to the potential closure of the downtown station, according to the report from DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development. The institute and advocates have been sounding the alarm about the possible closure of the downtown Chicago bus station for more than a year, saying such a move would have repercussions for low-income travelers, residents of communities without easy access to train or...

Taylor Swift's online support for Kamala Harris' presidential run has gained the approval of WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark. In an Instagram post published after Tuesday's debate between Harris and Donald Trump, the pop star girlfriend of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce announced she will be voting for the current Vice President rather than her Republican challenger. Now Clark has 'liked' Swift's post, potentially indicating that the former Iowa star will be putting her support behind Harris as well....

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is plowing ahead with his plan to avert a government shutdown despite GOP opposition that is large enough to tank the effort, setting the stage for a potentially embarrassing vote on the House floor that will foil the Speaker’s funding strategy. At least six Republicans, including hard-line conservatives and defense hawks, have said they will vote against Johnson’s government funding gambit, which pairs a six-month continuing resolution (CR) with a Trump-backed bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote. Republicans can only afford to lose four of their members if all Democrats vote “no” and there is...

A Missouri man wanted in connection with the 1993 murder of an Indianapolis woman has been arrested and charged with her death over 30 years after the case was opened. Dana Jermaine Shepherd, 52, is charged with two counts of murder and one count of rape in connection with the 1993 death of Carmen Hope Van Huss. Shepherd was arrested in Boone County, Missouri, on Friday, Aug. 30. He is charged in Marion County, Indiana. Shepherd reportedly works for the University of Missouri as a custodian. On March 24, 1993, 19-year-old Carmen Hope Van Huss was found raped and murdered...

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who appeared in his personal capacity, responded to a question on if the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, will ever support a ceasefire and arms embargo on Israel to win votes by stating that Harris is “behind peace. She’s one of the first people to have spoken out in the administration about a ceasefire. It has to be the kind of ceasefire that comes with the hostages coming home,” And has “been very focused on outreach to those who are taking to the streets, because...

The former student also told Alpha News that he submitted a report with the House Oversight Committee and spoke to a staffer for Rep. James Comer.. A man who says he joined Tim Walz on a trip to communist China is speaking out about his experience of traveling to the country with the future vice-presidential candidate. “It was almost a daily revelation of how much he adores the communist regime,” the former student told Alpha News. For over a decade, Tim Walz traveled to and from China. First arriving in the country in 1989, Walz taught at a high school...

The presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Monday that it has secured ballot access in three more states and has submitted signatures for certification in nine others. The campaign will also host a ballot access briefing on Wednesday afternoon. In a press release on Monday, the Kennedy campaign announced that the ticket of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nicole Shanahan secured ballot access in three more states, including Alaska, Indiana, and Nebraska. According to certification paperwork shared by the campaign along with the release, Kennedy will appear on the Indiana ballot under the We The People Party...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Touting President Joe Biden’s ‘Investing in America’ agenda, and speculation that he may be selected as a VP candidate, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will visit Central Indiana next week. The exact location of the visit to Central Indiana is not mentioned in a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation, other than it is a ‘future EV battery manufacturing facility in Indiana.’ Buttigieg is the former mayor of South Bend, Ind.

Harrowing footage captured an armed man being shot dead in Indianapolis as he yelled at a driver in a suspected road-rage incident. The footage shared on social media allegedly shows the moment Gavin Dasaur, 29, quickly approaches a white Chevy pickup truck on Tuesday evening and attempts to punch the driver while holding what appears to be a handgun. The driver tries to smack the punch away, with Dasaur shifting the weapon to his left hand as he appears to berate the driver while pointing at them repeatedly with his right hand. The driver then points their own gun at...

Farm equipment maker John Deere says it will no longer sponsor “social or cultural awareness” events, becoming the latest major U.S. company to distance itself from diversity and inclusion measures after being targeted by conservative backlash... John Deere also said it would audit all training materials “to ensure the absence of socially-motivated messages” in compliance with federal and local laws. It did not specify what those messages would include... John Deere added “the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy.” But it noted that it would still continue to “track and advance”...

An Indiana State Prison (ISP) employee has been caught allegedly trying to smuggle contraband into the facility. A nurse at the jail is accused of trying to smuggle cocaine and marijuana inside a frozen bowl of lasagna. Court documents say 46-year-old Regina Davis reported for work on July 3 and had her property scanned as a standard procedure before being allowed in the facility when security officers felt something was odd about the image of her bowl of lasagna. After chipping into the frozen pasta layers, two packages containing 84 grams of cocaine and 49 grams of marijuana were discovered...

Remember in July 2021 when Biden approached reporters outside the White House and said "My butt's been wiped"? I think we now know who wiped it.

Rep. André Carson (D., Ind.) will speak at the annual convention of an Islamic group linked to Hamas, along with one imam convicted in Israel of serving in terrorist groups and another who has denied the Holocaust, praised Adolf Hitler, and more recently said he doesn’t care about the October 7 attack. Carson, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, is slated to speak at the Islamic Society of North America’s convention in Dallas on a Sept. 1 panel with Mehdi Hasan, a journalist formerly with MSNBC and the Qatar-funded network Al Jazeera. Many of Carson’s fellow speakers at the...

President Biden’s campaign is intensely trying to quell speculation that he may drop out of the 2024 race following his lackluster debate performance last week. Most top Democrats have voiced support for Biden continuing in the race, while members of his family, including first lady Jill Biden, have declared they also want him to remain a candidate, casting doubt on the potential for replacing Biden. But if Biden were to step aside, several prominent Democrats could be waiting in the wings as possible successors. Here are the top possible Biden replacements: Kamala Harris Gavin Newsom Gretchen Whitmer Pete Buttigieg Josh...

new report suggests that presidential debate affected director Rob Reiner and actress Jane Fonda so immensely that the latter was reduced to tears while the former screamed at the TV. According to CNN, people in attendance at the Hollywood debate watch party this past Thursday said that Reiner and Fonda were emotionally swept up in seeing President Joe Biden perform poorly against former President Trump. A debate watch party in Los Angeles on Thursday night happened to feature Harris’ husband Doug Emhoff, Pritzker, Whitmer and Beshear. There were other high-profile attendees – by a few answers in, Rob Reiner was...

INDIANA — Attorney General Todd Rokita cautioned local officials in several Indiana cities and counties that he will pursue legal action against them after July 1 if they refuse to follow laws aimed at apprehending illegal immigrants. Attorney General Rokita’s office sent a blunt message to officials in East Chicago, Gary, West Lafayette and Monroe County: Confirm you have rescinded local policies that enable illegal immigration — or face swift legal consequences starting July 1. “The flood of illegal immigrants entering the United States is a problem that harms all of us,” Attorney General Rokita said. “The ones paying the...

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita told Newsmax on Wednesday that the recent court ruling to block the implementation of the Biden administration's new Title IX rules is a "big step" for the states fighting against the changes. A federal judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks the Biden administration's new Title IX rule, which would have expanded protections for LGBTQ+ students, in six states involved in a lawsuit over the changes: Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The decision came only a few days after another federal judge issued a similar order preventing the rule...

If Indiana is truly the “crossroads of America,” perhaps the stunning upset from grassroots activists at the state’s Republican convention over the weekend will serve as a crossroads for conservatives after wandering in the desert of failed primary challenges for years. On Saturday, despite strong backing from the state GOP establishment, GOP gubernatorial nominee Senator Mike Braun, and Donald Trump himself, RINO state Rep. Julie McGuire lost the lieutenant governor nomination to evangelical pastor Micah Beckwith by a narrow margin of 891-828 votes. Unlike in popular primaries where Trump and the establishment usually dominate against conservatives, conventions often yield different...

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) says the Department of Justice declined to prosecute threats against his family in contrast to how it has handled similar threats against Democrats. Banks questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland about the seeming disparity in response to threats against Banks and threats against Democratic members of Congress. Banks wrote in a letter to the Justice Department chief that the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana “declined” to prosecute a man despite “clear evidence” of threats against Banks’ family, according to ABC News, which obtained a copy of the letter. “When Capitol Police referred the criminal...