Free Republic

Governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislative leaders reached a tentative deal on Thursday to raise New York state's minimum wage towards $15 per hour but fell short of a uniform state-wide increase, lawmakers said. The deal outlines a faster rise in New York City, but carves out a slow lane for small businesses and its surrounding counties. In less prosperous areas north of the city it rises to $12.50 per hour before a state review of the law's impact. The minimum wage has been a sticking point in difficult budget negotiations that threaten to delay a spending plan past the...

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Who says police work can't sometimes be fun and games? Around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Huntington Beach police Officer Scott Marsh was on patrol when he spotted what he believed was a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot at Cross Park near the intersection of Graham Street and Edinger Avenue. There he discovered an unidentified woman and her 11-year-old daughter had been living out of their car, said Officer Jennifer Marlatt, spokeswoman for the Huntington Beach Police Department.

What would Jesus pack? The Mississippi Senate just passed a bill that would allow churches to train members to carry guns and act as security guards during religious services — and exempt them from legal action if they use their weapons. “This will allow a church to have a sergeant-at-arms to protect the church body, just like we have (in the Legislature),” Sean Tindell, a Republican state senator, was quoted as saying by the Clarion-Ledger. Tindell pointed to last year’s massacre at a church in Charleston, South Carolina as an example of why churches need an armed guard. Others said...

Annapolis Update #4 - Outlook for Maryland Businesses There is some truly bad legislation coming through the Maryland General Assembly which will have a huge negative effect on businesses presently in the State and on businesses considering moving here. 1. HB 610 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Act - Reauthorization has passed the House and is now in the Senate. These greenhouse gas initiatives will continue to punish conventional utility producers (coal and natural gas), forcing them to pay fines for carbon output. These fines will be passed on to the rate payers -- residential and commercial -- which will drive...

Donald Trump’s luxury golf development in New York’s upscale Westchester County tried to obtain permanent work certifications for a trio of South American immigrants who came into the country illegally, records show. At the time, Trump Briarcliff Manor Development LLC already was employing the Ecuadorean workers as stonemasons. Despite the Trump campaign’s hard-line stance against immigrants in the U.S. illegally, his development company acknowledged in its government applications for the certifications that the three had an immigration status of “EWI,” or “entry without inspection.” “It means that you snuck across,” said Kevin Miner, co-chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s...

Controversial coal executive Robert Murray is planning a fundraiser for Ted Cruz on April 6, though he says he isn’t endorsing the Texas senator for president. Murray, the CEO of the Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp., said he would support the eventual Republican nominee but wants to help fill Cruz’s campaign account to keep him competitive with front-runner Donald Trump. “I have not picked a candidate, but I do know that Ted Cruz needs some money,” Murray told The Hill from his office in St. Clairsville, Ohio, which is located directly over a coal mine. “I think at this time in...

Donald Trump is about to find out that Wisconsin is different. And one of the reasons is conservative talk radio. In recent years, Wisconsin has repeatedly found itself at the epicenter of political upheavals (Scott Walker, Act 10, recall elections, Paul Ryan). In 2010, no state switched more decisively from blue to red and in this traditionally progressive state the GOP still controls the governorship, both houses of the legislature, a majority of the congressional delegation and (at least for now) a U.S. Senate seat. The heart of the conservative resurgence here is southeastern Wisconsin – which is turning out...

A hooded man took a woman hostage at a convenience store in Denver, Colorado. Police arrived on the scene, and the criminal attempted to leave the premises with a gun pressed to the woman’s back. After making threats to take the woman’s life, a Police decided to take lethal action. Once a clear shot was available, a sniper dispatched the hostage taker with extreme prejudice. The woman is shaken up, but otherwise doing very well. The criminal however, is left in critical condition. Read more at http://americangg.net/he-threatened-to-take-her-life/#FdDMEJYzehQ8PMEb.99

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina is celebrating a decision by a U.N. commission expanding its maritime territory in the South Atlantic Ocean by 35 percent to include the disputed Falkland islands and beyond. The Argentine foreign ministry said Monday that its waters had increased by 0.66 million square miles (1.7 million square kilometers) and the decision will be key in its dispute with Britain over the Islands.

The city of Portland, Oregon, has set aside $30,000 to pay for bus fares for homeless individuals to leave town. The program, called Homeward Bound, is similar to programs offered in other cities. It is intended to help solve the homelessness problem in the city, which is so serious a state of emergency was declared last fall....

Marauding parents in Easter Egg hunt rampage: Out-of-control adults push children to the ground, steal their buckets and leave one four-year-old 'bloody' at chaotic free event Children were trampled as 1,000 people stormed the PEZ center field 9,000 eggs were laid out on three different age-bracketed sections But when the egg hunt started, 'parents stormed the field stealing eggs' One four-year-old was left 'bloody', many toddlers 'pushed into the mud'

California lawmakers and union leaders have reached a tentative deal to raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next several years, the Los Angeles Times reports. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is expected to make the formal announcement as early as Monday. According to the L.A. Times, the minimum wage will jump from $10 to $10.50 an hour in 2017 and will increase by $1 every year after that until reaching $15 an hour in 2022. Business with fewer than 25 employees will have an extra year to comply. "The governor and stakeholders have all been negotiating...

PHOENIX — Insisting it's good from everything from civics to brain development, state lawmakers want to require students to know how to read and write in cursive. Legislation on the desk of Gov. Doug Ducey would mandate that schools include cursive reading and writing in their curriculum. Specifically, students would have to show by the end of fifth grade they are "able to create readable documents through legible cursive handwriting.'' But, unlike a requirement that students know how to read by the end of the third grade, there is nothing in the law that says students who can't display that...

An Egg Harbor Township veteran who died after setting himself on fire Saturday outside a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Northfield has drawn attention to problems in the VA system. Charles R. Ingram III, 51, was airlifted to the Temple Burn Center in Philadelphia on Saturday, where he died later that night, Northfield police said. No note of explanation was left at the scene or at Ingram's home, said Northfield acting Police Chief Paul Newman. RELATED ARTICLE EHT man sets himself on fire in Northfield Ingram's family members have declined to speak to The Press. But the public...

Two trucks, one carrying beer and the other hauling chips, collided in Florida early Wednesday, littering the highway with the stuff that couch potatoes' dreams are made of. The crash between the semi-tractor trailer transporting Busch beer and the box truck filled with Frito-Lay products happened on Interstate 95 in Brevard County just after 3:10 a.m., the Florida Highway Patrol said. "Neither driver was hurt, but you had Doritos and Busch beer all over I-95," Sergeant Kim Montes, a spokeswoman for the Florida Highway Patrol, told NBC News. "That's like a Super Bowl commercial right there."

SEATTLE - Police and firefighters spent much of Tuesday and Wednesday morning trying to coax down a man who climbed to the top of downtown Seattle's iconic 80-foot-tall Sequoia tree and has refused to come down. Crews brought a ladder truck to the scene, at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Stewart Street, after receiving reports of a man stuck in the upper branches of the tall tree, just after 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. The fire truck's ladder was extended to within a few feet of the man, then negotiators climbed up and tried to speak with him. So far he...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.9news.com/news/politics/landlord-wont-rent-to-trump-supporters/92988606

MCSO now on-scene on Shea Blvd. where protestors have blocked access to this morning's #TrumpRally in Ftn. Hills

A new bill introduced in Connecticut changes state law so that guns are confiscated from the subject of a protective order the moment the request for the order is filed rather than waiting until the accused has an opportunity to have his or her case heard by a judge. The measure is supported by state senator Mae Flexer (D-Killingly), who says, "The minute a woman comes forward and asks for a temporary restraining order is the most dangerous moment of her life." Opponents of the measure point out that the request for a protective order on the accusation of criminal...

A missing puppy that fell off a fishing boat nearly five weeks ago in the waters off Southern California was recently found by the U.S. Navy, and will be reunited with her family Wednesday in San Diego. U.S. Navy officials say Luna – a one-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd – was presumed to be lost at sea after falling overboard near Naval Auxiliary Landing Field San Clemente Island (SCI) in Southern California on Feb. 10.