Free Republic

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requires that foster parents give up their Second Amendment rights in order to be eligible to be foster parents. The Second Amendment Foundation has funded a lawsuit to challenge this requirement as unconstitutional. Federal District Judge Paul Maloney held the lawsuit against HHS may go forward. From prnewswire.com: U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney issued the ruling in a case involving William and Jill Johnson and Brian and Naomi Mason, all of Ontonagon. While the judge dismissed claims from the Masons, he allowed the Johnsons to continue. The judge dismissed a...

Bath Township, MICHIGAN (WJRT) - (08/21/2018) - The Michigan Department of Transportation tweeted out photos of a motorcycle on I-69 missing its driver. MDOT is using the photos as reminder of the importance of driving safety in work zones as the busy construction season is wrapping up. Their Facebook Post, which has generated thousands of responses and shares, asks if you have lost a motorcycle driving on I-69 in Clinton County Monday. One of the photos, which appears to show tire imprints in wet concrete, serves as a reminder of why it's not a good idea to use closed lanes...

Recent polls and surveys are delivering, at best, mixed news for Republicans regarding the upcoming midterm elections. The good news is that prospects have turned positive for Republicans to win Senate seats currently held by Democrats in Florida, New Jersey and Wisconsin. But looking for good news in the House is a bigger challenge. Probability assessments from various sources give Republicans a 25 to 50 percent chance of keeping control of the House. A survey from Pew Research points to greater engagement from Democratic voters -- by measures such as participating in rallies and making political contributions -- than Republicans....

A federal judge has given the OK to a lawsuit filed against the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services over its rule that foster parents in the state do not have Second Amendment rights. Well, the rules say they can have guns, but they have to be inoperable. The case was brought on behalf of William and Jill Johnson, a retired Marine and his tackle shop-owning wife as well as another couple and the Second Amendment Foundation. The state asked the Johnsons to be foster parents for their grandson. But during the course of the necessary paperwork for the...

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A white sex offender arrested for allegedly urinating on a 5-year-old black girl and calling her a racial slur has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the case as prosecutors and police determined the story was fabricated.

A Grand Rapids, Michigan man accused of urinating on a 5-year-old girl was cleared of all charges Friday after police determined the child's story was fabricated. A police spokesperson for the Grand Rapids Police Department confirmed to Fox News Friday night that no charges would be filed against 60-year-old David Allen Dean. A 5-year-old girl, who was not identified, falsely claimed the man urinated on her as she was hiding in bushes while playing hide-and-seek with friends.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The 5-year-old was playing hide-and-seek with her friends when it happened. Now, the man accused hurling racial slurs at the child while urinating on her as she hid in the bushes is behind bars. Michigan State Police records show David Allen Dean, 60, of Grand Rapids was arrested Wednesday on the charge of felony sex offense excluding assault and commercializing. Arrested, but not formally charged, investigators will not confirm the suspect's identity until he is arraigned. Katrena Rapier identified Dean as the suspect. Her two young boys were playing with the alleged victim and her...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A story about a white man urinating on a 5-year-old black child and calling her a racial slur was fabricated, police said. Grand Rapids police and prosecutors late Friday, Aug. 24 said they determined the story was not valid and said no charges would be issued against a 60-year-old man arrested following the initial report on Wednesday. Police said several children, all 7 or younger, were playing together sometime before 6 p.m. Wednesday when one of the children urinated on the 5-year-old girl. Kent County prosecutors said the parents of the children, in talking with them,...

A story about a white man urinating on a 5-year-old black child and calling her a racial slur was fabricated, Michigan police said.Grand Rapids police and prosecutors late Friday said they determined the story was not valid and said no charges would be issued against a 60-year-old man arrested following the initial report on Wednesday.Police said several children, all 7 or younger, were playing together sometime before 6 p.m. Wednesday when one of the children urinated on the 5-year-old girl.Kent County prosecutors said the parents of the children, in talking with them, ultimately determined the children "concocted the story to...

Congratulations to Republican, Troy Balderson, who has won the Special Election in the 12thCD, Ohio. The Trump supported Balderson, joined a bevy of other Republican "Mid-Term" Primary winners in Ohio, MIchigan, Kansas & Missouri. The Democrat Party, wildly hailed, "Blue Wave" has yet to surface.

American political leaders of both parties are paying tribute and offering prayers for ailing Arizona Sen. John McCain, but President Donald Trump has so far been silent. Neither the White House nor the president has yet spoken out after McCain's family announced Friday that the former prisoner of war and longtime public servant would no longer seek medical treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are praising McCain and offering prayers for his family, as is Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee....

Mitt Romney (R) said the "last 24 hours" have confirmed his "faith" in the U.S. justice system after President Trump's former campaign chairman was convicted on eight felony counts while his former personal lawyer pleaded guilty to various counts including campaign finance law violations. "The events of the last 24 hours confirm that conduct by highly-placed individuals was both dishonorable and illegal," Romney, who is running for the Senate in Utah, wrote in a tweet on Wednesday. "Also confirmed is my faith in our justice system and my conviction that we are a nation committed to the rule of law."...

Mitt Romney 1 hr · The events of the last 24 hours confirm that conduct by highly-placed individuals was both dishonorable and illegal. Also confirmed is my faith in our justice system and my conviction that we are a nation committed to the rule of law.

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... “In 2016, a lot of us assumed we knew what would happen in Michigan and Wisconsin,” Salvanto told The Post. “It was a great lesson for us pollsters: Even if you think you know what will happen, poll it if you can.” Blame it on the Blue Wall. Since 1992, in six consecutive presidential elections, a solid block of 18 states had voted for the Democrat every single time. They would have given Clinton 239 electoral votes — 89 percent of the way to victory — if she had held on to them all.Few bothered to ask those states’...

And Democrats accuse President Trump of racism and name-calling. A Democratic legislator in Michigan actually referred to her Asian opponent in the state senate race as “ching-chang” and “ching-chong.” And Rep. Bettie Cook Scott was not caught making the repeated remarks behind the scenes but in public, outside polling stations during this week’s primaries, according to the Detroit Metro Times. Allegedly insulting her Democrat opponent, Rep. Stephanie Chang, Scott also reportedly attacked one of Chang’s campaign volunteers as an “immigrant” and said “you don’t belong here” and “I want you out of my country.”

By this point in the Interstate 696 rebuild project, state transportation officials had envisioned drivers headed eastbound would have been shifted to new concrete paved on the westbound side. That hasn't happened -- yet. A spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transportation said Thursday the changeover likely will take place the week of August 20. "Early plans did expect the traffic shift to be in late July, but it's up to the contractor to organize his work crew and locations," Diane Cross of MDOT's communications staff said in an email. "As long as he meets the contract reopening date in...

In Michigan's state Senate race, Democrat Rep. Bettie Cook Scott had the perfect vote-getting pitch in her primary race against fellow Democrat, Rep. Stephanie Chang: "Don't vote for the ching-chong." According to Detroit's Metro Times: Scott is alleged to have referred to Chang as "ching-chang" and "the ching-chong" to multiple voters outside polling precincts during last Tuesday's election.  She's also said to have called one of Chang's campaign volunteers an "immigrant," saying "you don't belong here" and "I want you out of my country." Chang and Scott were running in the Democratic primary for state Sen. District 1.  Chang won the election...

SUFFOLK, Va. - Police responded to a report of a gunshot victim Thursday morning around 10:45 a.m. Police said the shooting that happened in the 300 block of East Washington Street started with an argument. News 3's Rachael Cardin spoke to a witness who said he heard the two people in a local barbershop arguing over whether or not Halle Berry played or would play Aretha Franklin in a movie. Police said the fight turned physical and then one of the subjects produced a firearm, shooting the other man at least once outside the shop. Both men got emergency medical...