Free Republic

Death row inmates at Louisiana State Penitentiary have lost their latest legal battle for relief from triple-digit temperatures inside their cells at Angola. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling Wednesday (July 8) concluding that the sweltering conditions on death row do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Three death row inmates originally filed the lawsuit against the state in 2013, saying the conditions were unconstitutional. The suit alleged that heat indices, or measurements of how hot it feels, on death row had reached 172 degrees last year and 195 degrees in 2011."I feel like I'm on...

When school starts this fall, public schools in Louisiana will have the option to instruct elementary students on gun safety. Gov. Bobby Jindal on Wednesday (July 1) signed a bill into law that permits cities, parishes and local public school boards to provide students with "age and grade appropriate" firearm accident prevention and safety instruction. A suggested curriculum includes the Eddie Eagle Gunsafe Program, developed by the National Rifle Association.(snip)The bill received full passage by the Legislature, by a vote of 94-3 in the House and 38-1 in the Senate.

A "white people against white supremacy" rally and teach-in organized by the advocacy group European Dissent took place at Lafayette Square on Sunday, June 28, 2015. The gathering honored the nine black people who were murdered in Charleston, S.C. last week. "We stand in solidarity with black communities and other communities of color who bear the brunt of white supremacy and racism, here in New Orleans and across the world," the group said in a statement. "White supremacy is part of the fabric of America. White supremacy works through all of our systems and institutions to marginalize, silence, devalue, undermine,...

A Wal-Mart store in Slidell refused a request to decorate a cake with a design featuring a Confederate flag, but agreed to decorate a cake featuring the flag of the Islamic State terrorist group, or ISIS, a man says in a video posted to YouTube. Wal-Mart has apologized for selling the cake, explaining that the employee who handled the order did not recognize it as the ISIS flag. The corporation, a spokesman said, does not support ISIS. The YouTube video, posted Friday (June 26) by a man identified as Chuck Netzhammer, shows a man sitting on a motorcycle unfurl a...

Tim Thompson's friends all agree he was great man. He was a mentor to neighborhood youth. He knew just how to make people laugh. And he bought donuts for his girlfriend's dance class on the day of their big recital. Friends and family who gathered Tuesday night (June 24) to remember Thompson still are in shock over his violent death Sunday. Thompson, 40, was gunned down in the driveway of his girlfriend's mom's home in the Lower 9th Ward. No arrests have been made in his death. Tonja Walston, Thompson's girlfriend of four months, said whoever killed him "took away...

SLIDELL, LA (WVUE) - A nine year old boy made a touching gesture to a Slidell police officer, but the officer had one regret about the chance meeting, so he reached out to the public for help. Officer Joe McMahan was driving when another person asked him to pull over. After pulling over, a woman asked if she could give something to McMahan. The nine year old, identified as Jayden Witsell, stepped out of the passenger side of the car and approached the police cruiser. The boy asked if he could give something to Witsell. "For a moment, I didn't...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Members of the Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved an ordinance that will raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years. Officials explained the minimum wage will go from $9 per hour to $10.50 an hour beginning in 2016. The rate will then jump to $12 in 2017; $13.25 in 2018; $14.25 in 2019; and $15 by 2020. “We are already seeing the fruits of our labor as our own state and other cities nationwide begin exploring policies to increase their local minimum wage,” said L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson.

This has to be the month's top entry in the "Just when you think you've seen it all" category — and it will be more than a little interesting to see how the nation's press handles it. As the Associated Press reported a week ago, the City Council in Los Angeles, by a vote of 14-1, ordered the drafting of a law mandating a citywide minimum wage of $15 per hour by 2020, noting that "the support of Mayor Eric Garcetti virtually guarantee its eventual adoption." Now that it's almost a done deal, labor unions whose members earn less want...

Israeli consulate plot mastermind going to jail Ringleader Kevin James was 'architect, mastermind of very troubling offense, judge says AFP Published: 03.06.09, 23:58 / Israel News The ringleader of a radical Islamic group that planned to bomb Israeli assets and US military facilities in California was on Friday jailed for 16 years, justice officials said. Kevin James, 32, pleaded guilty to conspiring to wage war against the United States through terror for his part in the plot, which involved three co-conspirators currently in custody. Prosecutors said the plotters were part of Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh (JIS,) which was founded by James...

Dawud Abdulwali was taken into custody Tuesday by members of the Los Angeles Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Los Angeles Fire Department, LAPD Officer Tony Im confirmed to KTLA. Abdulwali was arrested at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and was booked less than two hours later at the LAPD’s 77th Street station, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department online inmate records. No other details of the arrest were immediately available. The suspect’s bail was set at $1,036,925, according to the Sheriff’s Department. Officials from the arresting agencies and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office...

A Gert Town woman is accused of taking a baseball bat to her boyfriend, his car and his eastern New Orleans house Sunday, after New Orleans police said she found the man inside his residence with another woman. Jaylen Griffith, 21, was arrested Sunday after police said they caught her fleeing the attack on the 30-year-old man shortly before 9:30 p.m. in the 7400 block of West Cavelier Drive. An arrest report said Griffith, who listed a home address in the 3200 block of South Lowerline Street, was intoxicated by alcohol at the time she was apprehended.According to police, NOPD...

Republicans believe a Supreme Court ruling against ObamaCare this summer would give them leverage to force President Obama to scrap the healthcare law's central pillars. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who is leading the Senate GOP’s response to King v. Burwell, said Republicans will be willing to strike a deal with Obama to ensure that the 7.5 million people who stand to lose their subsidies are protected, at least until the 2016 elections. But in return, they would demand that Obama to do something he has long resisted: nix the employer and individual mandates for insurance coverage. “Is the president going...

On 23 April, an alert neighbor stopped an ongoing crime spree by shooting a burglary suspect in the leg, allowing police to apprehend the suspect.   While the situation is still under investigation, it appears that the shooting was justified, given the facts reported.   From the Lake Charles Police Facebook page: Lake Charles Police responded to a prowler call in the 3700 block of Vanderbilt Street. While on the way to that call, Officers were advised that a shot was fired at the same location. When officers arrived, they discovered that a homeowner had encountered a subject running from a...

William Strength had quite a night. Authorities say the 23-year-old Harvey resident stole an excavator and led Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies on a drunken chase through parts of the West Bank, plowing over trees and utility poles before sinking the 89-ton machine in the Harvey Canal. No one was injured during the joy ride. But it left behind a path of destruction. "I just would like someone to pay for the damage," said Albert Daigle, 69, whose business, Daigle Towing Services LLC., took the brunt of the rampage.The excavator plowed through the locked, chain-link fence on the side of...

A National Guard reservist has been arrested at the Canadian border in Washington for allegedly trying to aid al-Qaida in a plot to attack a Southland subway. Nicholas Teausant, 20, of Acampo, Calif., was charged Monday with attempting to provide material to support a foregoing terrorist organization, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office said. He made his first appearance in a federal courtroom in Seattle Monday afternoon.

The FBI secretly kept tabs on Nicholas Michael Teausant for six months, having a confidential informant meet with him repeatedly in Stockton at breakfast joints, a park and a flea market as the 20-year-old student allegedly spun his vision of jihad against the United States. Federal court papers say Teausant talked for months of his desire to train fighters in Syria, to bomb the Los Angeles subway system over the New Year’s Day holiday and to spark a civil war that would topple the U.S. government. :snip: In Internet postings quoted in the complaint, as well as conversations Teausant had...

Well wishes have been pouring in to the Slidell Police Department since one of its officers was shot last Friday. But one in particular has hit the mark. On its Facebook page Friday, the department showcased a letter sent from Anderson, Missouri, by a young girl. The girl, Kaeleigh Ash, wrote by hand: "To the officer who got shot. I say a prayer every night for you to get better. Hope you feel better soon." Since the department posted the letter close to 1,100 people have "liked" the girl's heartfelt card. The reserve officer, Sgt. Cliff Laigast, an 8-year veteran...

BATON ROUGE - A trooper was injured and two people died in several crashes involving impaired drivers on Easter morning. In Baton Rouge Parish, troopers say Magen Alicia Hall was nearly double the legal alcohol limit when she allegedly plowed into that back of a trooper's SUV around 2:40 a.m. Sunday. State police say the trooper was already investigating an earlier crash involving a drunk driver on the side of I-12 near LA 3245 and O'Neal lane when 24-year-old Hall crashed into his Tahoe around 2:40 a.m. Sunday. Investigators say both the trooper and the arrested driver from the previous...

Never one to bemoan an increasing amount of options in 22LR, I am pleased to see Savage releasing the Landry Signature Series Rifles. Modeled with input from Troy, Jacob, and Chase Landry (from Swamp People), the Landry series rifles feature a synthetic stock with a transferred gator camouflage pattern.

I occasionally see where rifles are used in crime.  It is rare enough that it is noteworthy.  The reasons are simple and easily understood.  Rifles are much harder to conceal, and criminals do not like to draw attention to themselves.  To rob someone, criminals want compliance; to get compliance, they need to be close.  If you are close, it is much easier to disarm someone who has a rifle than it is someone who is armed with a handgun. I was taught in the Army; a rifle gives you more to grab on to, and more leverage to twist...