Free Republic

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WSVN) — Police say a man who tried to carjack two people was thwarted after the victims both pulled out guns to protect themselves. According to Fox 30, Jacksonville police officers arrested 36-year-old Christopher Raymond Hill, charging him with strong-arm robbery, carjacking with firearm or deadly weapon, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and trespassing. Detectives said the incident began when Hill robbed a Walmart liquor store, and attempted to flee in a silver Ford SUV. However, witnesses said the vehicle would not start, so he first tried to carjack Scott Reardean at knifepoint, cutting him on his...

A British woman plunged to her death, along with her partner, while taking a selfie on a picturesque wall in Portugal, according to local authorities. Perth man Michael Kearns, 33, Louise Benson, 37, his British partner, fell 30 metres off a beach wall and were found by shocked locals early on Tuesday morning. Rui Pereira da Terra, the captain of the maritime authority in Cascais, said the two victims appeared to have lost their balance while taking a photograph overlooking Fishermen’s Beach. “Everything seems to indicate that the fall happened when they were probably trying to take a selfie,” he...

Prosecutors expected to find a pretrial letter in the envelope, which was handed to them by a man accused of pistol-whipping and robbing his online date. Instead, a Pennsylvania deputy district attorney got a smelly surprise when she opened the envelope at a court hearing on April 19 before trial: It contained “only fecal matter” — and no letter to speak of, according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office. The incident may have hurt prosecutors’ noses, but apparently it didn’t help the defendant’s case. Rasheem Drummond, the 34-year-old Harrisburg resident on trial, was found guilty April 24 of robbery...

Save Fort Huachuca hosted the cast of a Los Angeles-based play about African American Army nurses stationed at the post during World War II on Tuesday, giving the actresses a chance to walk in the the historical footsteps of the characters they play. Seeing the actual setting for her play “Fort Huachuca” was always in the back of playwright Ailema Sousa’s mind during the two years she spent researching and writing the work, which debuted at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival on June 7. Sousa, who studied history as an undergraduate, first conceived of the idea following a struggle to...

Rats prefer the neighborhoods of Harlem, the Upper West Side, and Bedford-Stuyvesant — and they really like to party in the summer, a new study shows. Citywide, the rat population grew about 10 percent from 2016 to 2017 based on complaints filed to 311, the RentHop study released on Tuesday shows.

In May, Williamson County Engineer Terron Evertson said it will take at least 200 trucks of concrete to fill the cave. Tim Kelley, who lives near Cambira Cavern, told CBS Austin he is looking forward to the cave being filled in. His driveway access has been blocked for months, making mundane tasks like grocery shopping a hassle. Although the County says the caves do not pose a risk to homeowners nearby, Kelley said the unknown still makes him a bit uneasy. "Even if there is a 5% chance (the cave) goes under my house, that's still a big deal to...

ARTESIA, N.M (KRQE) - A New Mexico mother says she was trying to save her pet. Now, she's facing charges for firing off her gun to scare away a pair of pit bulls that attacked her dog. On the morning of Monday, April 30, Baeza says she was taking her puppy out to go to the bathroom with her 4-year-old daughter when she looked over to see her dog being mauled to death. "I went over to my dog and he had a big split down the middle of his chest, I guess from where the dogs were kind of...

FULL TITLE: Woman, 20, 'beat to death a 46-year-old man who just survived brain surgery because he asked her to stop hurling bottles into a river' A 20-year-old Louisiana woman has been arrested for the murder of a 46-year-old man who was beaten to death while recovering from brain tumor surgery. Blaine Manalle, of Slidell, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Jeffery Howell. Howell was beaten to death during a brawl on a sandbar at West Pearl River on Saturday. Manalle was arrested on Monday night and booked into the St Tammany Parish Jail. Two men...

PITTSBURGH - Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to support long-time cartoonist Rob Rogers. Rogers has been drawing political cartoons since 1993. But in the last few weeks, many of his controversial cartoons haven't been making the paper. They've covered topics like immigration, racism and the National Football League. The story has now gained national attention. Participants told Channel 11 they hope their action will hold the Post-Gazette accountable. In a statement to the Washington Post, the Post-Gazette's publisher and editor-in-chief said this is an internal, personnel matter that has little to do with politics, ideology or President...

A pig farm in Saskatchewan caught on fire and caused millions of dollars in damage, including the deaths of 12,000 pigs. The volunteer fire department responded to an emergency call to fight the blaze, but when they got there, an employee of the farm didn't let them in.

26-year-old Mariah Parker says that she's going to bring racial justice to the county. Athens-Clarke County, GA - Newly-elected County Commissioner Mariah Parker took her oath of office on Monday, with a raised "black power" fist and her other hand on the autobiography of Malcolm X. “They asked if they would like the Bible and I said no. My mother asked if there was a copy of the Constitution around. No,” Parker said, according to AJC. “I wanted Malcolm’s book. I think they saw it coming.” Parker said that she sees the parallels between herself and Malcolm X. She has...

A house explosion in a suburban neighborhood of Cleveland left one person dead and another critically injured, Cleveland Fire officials said. ... Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia of the Cleveland Police Department said the original call was for “wires down” and that EMS and the fire department were notified and were responding.

A woman who was struck by a bowl of pasta during an argument involving a man at a Connecticut restaurant was awarded more than $100,000 by a jury last month. The jury in Waterbury, Conn., ruled on May 31 in favor of Constance Koulmey, who was the unintended target of the pasta thrown by James Sweeney, an attorney, back in March 2015, according to The Connecticut Law Tribune. Koulmey, of Woodbury, said in her lawsuit that Sweeney, of Spring Lake, N.J., tossed the bowl of pasta "with fra diavolo sauce" when he was having an argument with another man at...

U.S. Navy Divers Tasked to Investigate Claims By Ken Regis The U.S. Navy was summoned to nearby Badluck Lake, Wisconsin to investigate claims made by several residents of Armbegone, a fishing village with a population of 850 permanent residents. “We learned that an extraordinary number of local residents had similar experiences at the lake and we wanted to confirm their accounts and, at a minimum, recover their property” said Master Chief Petty Officer and Master Diver, Gil Abel who is stationed at the U.S. Navy’s facility in Great Lakes, Illinois. Navy divers search in vain for lost weapons After...

The best way to move Baltimore forward from its blight, unemployment and horrific three-year cycle of violent crime and record homicide rates is to stand up to it with gusto. "Stop whining and start winning," retired U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski told a group of about 75 business leaders at an informal panel Wednesday afternoon downtown. The event was sponsored by the Baltimore Efficiency and Economy Foundation, a nonprofit centered on civic advocacy, and held at 750 E. Pratt St. Mikulski took the microphone after nearly an hour and a half discussion about how the city could turn itself around and...

Mexico was an unfamiliar place for 19-year-old Manuel Antonio Cano-Pacheco. He was only three years old when his parents brought him to the United States – without a visa. In 2015, as a teenager in Des Moines, Iowa, he qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the initiative spearheaded by President Barack Obama to give temporary protection to undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children. Cano-Pacheco gained DACA status and with it, a work permit, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But then he was arrested and convicted on two misdemeanor drug charges.

George Horsley drives to Austin each day to practice his profession – that of a property appraiser with a lot of experience serving the McLennan County Appraisal District. Those days are long gone. He says it’s the best thing that ever happened to him. Tomorrow, on Sunday, June 10, he and Gordon Harriman, a professional property manager whose great grandfather founded Crawford Austin, an operation that today owns “right at” 1,000 parcels of commercial property in the environs of Waco, Jerusalem-on-the-Brazos, will join us at RadioLegendary to rag chew the beaudacious efforts of the industrial establishment of this community to...

Phocian Fitts fatally struck an 80-year-old former teacher in a crosswalk, but said people "hit and run all the time." Boston, MA – A man who fatally struck an 80-year-old pedestrian with his car and sped away expressed no remorse during a television interview that ultimately led to his arrest for homicide (video at link). “People hit and run people all the time, you see what I’m sayin?” Phocian Fitts told WSB. “So it’s like, it just happened to be an unfortunate situation where I was driving.” The incident occurred just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday, as 80-year-old Theodore Schwalb...

DAVIE, Fla. - An arm was found inside an alligator that was caught in a Davie lake, sources told Local 10 News. The body part is believed to be that of a missing woman who disappeared while walking her dogs at the Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Rob Klepper said evidence from the necropsy indicates that the woman was bitten by the 12-foot, 6-inch gator. "The FWC believes that the victim is deceased and we will continue recovery efforts on the lake with local authorities," Klepper said.

Just a month before the Fourth of July holiday, authorities say they seized 50,000 thousands of pounds of fireworks from homes in Northern California. It came in as an anonymous tip and turned into one of the largest illegal fireworks busts in state history. Cal Fire pictures show federal, state, and local law enforcement, carrying out mortars, missiles, and tons of pyrotechnics … Authorities also say the explosives came from states where they’re legal, such as Montana and Nevada. And it’s sparking a new border debate over illegal fireworks. “When it comes over our borders, it has to stop,” said...