Free Republic

A military plane that flew over Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon briefly caused widespread confusion as New Yorkers wondered why the aircraft was circling so low over the city. A spokesman for the FAA told Business Insider in a statement that the C-130 spotted overhead was “conducting authorized flights over New York City in coordination with FAA air traffic control.” Col. Nicholas Broccoli of the 160th Rescue Wing added to The Washington Post that the plane was simply carrying out “standard military training.” Aviation writer Jason Rabinowitz, however, said on Twitter that it is “not normal” for military aircraft to circle...

Froufrou Fifth Avenue resembles a police state. Officers wielding gigantic guns guard Trump Tower, where President-elect Donald Trump conducts all transition business, and soon lots of presidential business, too. Shoppers patronizing the stores, cafes or public gardens inside must endure layers of security screening. Streets and sidewalks are barricaded; traffic is snarled; and costumed buskers milk money from the looky-loos obstructing the entrances to Gucci and Tiffany. The challenges of securing this 58-story building in a high-density neighborhood will, by Inauguration Day alone, drain $35 million of local taxpayer money. Who knows the additional costs to commerce and property values?

Do not fear the future my children for I am your Redeemer(past brought forward) to condemn darkness so that you may walk in the light therefore I am the alpha and omega of your life's existence for you abide in me alone. Romans 8:1-2 Escape from Bondage 8 Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior]. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has set you free from...

County leaders are hopeful that the $1 trillion infrastructure investment promised by Republican president-elect Donald Trump will have a big impact on the region. Trump has promised to prioritize infrastructure spending in his first 100 days in office. The move is one that Democrats, now in minority positions in both houses of Congress, have said they're willing to support. The plan, which is not yet fully fleshed out, looks to rely heavily on billions of dollars of infrastructure tax credits to private entities. And while Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen warned recently that weighing down the national debt with...

An ongoing investigation by the highly respected U.S. attorney for Southern New York, Preet Bharara, apparently is targeting the top levels at City Hall, and there are reasons to expect that if a case is brought, it will be under the leadership Jeff Sessions, President-Elect Trump’s designee for attorney general. Michael Goodman of the New York Post reports on some serious clouds on the leftist mayor’s horizon, as the mayor desperately tries to hide emails that have been subpoenaed: Mayor de Blasio, calling questions about his shady dealings with political consultants and lobbyists a “distraction,” says from now on. he will release...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Police have arrested four Virginia men who they say were part of a conspiracy to smuggle guns from their home state into New York City for sale on the street. Prosecutors say 28-year-old Clive Dixon, the suspected ringleader of the group, was apprehended along with three of his suppliers following an investigation into the "iron pipeline" of illegally trafficked firearms. Emmanuel Dentmond, 22, and Teal Holt, Jr., 27, were arrested at separate Virginia Beach residences and are currently in the Virginia Beach City Jail awaiting extradition. According to court documents, between March 28, 2016 and November...

Local farmers say a new proposed law in the Town of Sweden could cripple their businesses and potentially their livelihood. Best known for their U-Pick Pumpkin Patch and October events, McCracken Farms draws in people from all over the state every year. Now, the farm's owner, Paul McCracken tells us it might be more difficult to bring in all those visitors. "We've been doing this for over 30 years and now all of a sudden, here's a whole slew of zoning permits and special-use permits," says McCracken. "The list goes on and on, it's unnecessary." The newly required permits come...

LeBron won't stay at Trump hotel with team © Getty Images A group of Cleveland Cavaliers players are refusing to stay at a Trump hotel in New York City, according to ESPN. The Cavaliers have a contract with Trump SoHo hotel in lower Manhattan, but a group of players have been excused from staying there. LeBron James is among the players who will not stay at the hotel, ESPN reports. James endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton about a month before she lost the election to Donald Trump.

My experience protesting the election result at Trump Tower in New York City When I finally gathered enough emotional strength to watch Hillary Clinton’s concession speech, I sobbed the whole way through. One line in particular resonated with me: “Please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it.” I wrote that sentence in my journal over and over again and hung the page above my desk. Even though the unimaginable had happened, I refused to accept defeat. I refused to let Clinton down. In that moment, I promised myself that no matter how hopeless things may seem...

President-elect Donald Trump has become more popular among New York voters since his stunning win on election night, according to a Siena College poll released Monday. Forty-one percent of voters in the state now hold a favorable opinion of the president-elect ― the highest ever favorable rating in any Siena poll of New York. Trump’s favorable rating is 7 points higher now than it was when the college conducted its last poll just before Election Day. Likewise, his unfavorable rating has dropped by 10 percent in the same period, from 63 to 53 percent. Trump lost the largely Democratic state...

Yuletide capitalism is running rampant this year — with the cost of a Christmas tree topping $1,000 in one Manhattan neighborhood. Longtime Greenwich Village tree seller Heather Neville said Sunday that her tallest — and priciest — offering will command an astonishing $77 per foot from any buyer who can’t haul it home. “This 13-foot tree — a beautiful fir — is $750, and with delivery, installation with a stand and tip would be $1,000,” said Neville, who bills herself as the NYC Tree Lady. Neville, 40, broke down the add-ons as $200 for the stand, $25 for delivery and...

Officials are conducting an urgent review of the billions of dollars that New York City receives each year from the federal government to identify the streams of money that may be most at risk once President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office. Mr. Trump, a Republican, has threatened to punish cities that defy his efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, and there is also concern that the Republican-controlled Congress may seek to slash longstanding aid programs. “There’s urgency because the threat seems greater than it’s been,” said Tony Shorris, the first deputy mayor, referring to the effort to identify which programs may...

When the modern Tea Party movement coalesced in the early days of the Obama presidency, its allusion to the political grievances of the protesters in Boston Harbor a couple of hundred years earlier seemed plausible enough: Its members felt that their taxes were too high and their interests not adequately represented by the remote authorities in Washington. But the election of 2016 presents a challenge to that historical lineage. The home states to the Tea Party are actually doing great on the taxation and representation front. It’s the progressive blue states that should be protesting. Start with the Electoral College....

There’s going to be the same old “sheriff” in this town. Preet Bharara, The gungho federal prosecutor has agreed to “stay on” as Manhattan U.S. Attorney after President-elect Donald Trump offered him the gig during a meeting Wednesday afternoon at Trump Tower in Midtown. “We had a good meeting. I agreed to stay on. I have already spoken to Senator Sessions, who is as you know is the nominee to be the attorney general. He also asked that I stay on, and so I expect that I will be continuing to work at the southern district,” Bharara confirmed to a...

...So, the model of an officer's gun dates him or her like rings on a tree. The outer bands are the semiautomatic, 9-millimeter pistols. The next ring is much thinner, the brief period of the so-called spurless revolver, a gun with an internal hammer that for safety cannot be cocked. Finally, in the center, there is the classic revolver, such as the Smith & Wesson Model 10 or the Ruger Police Service Six, more commonly seen on "T.J. Hooker" reruns or film noir than on the streets of New York. The grips still echo the earliest revolvers, designed in the...

ALBANY – New criminal penalties have been approved to restrict the use of automated ticket purchasing software known as “bots” that can gobble up mass amounts of sports and entertainment tickets before fans hoping to attend a popular event even have a chance to tap the buy button on their computers.

The state of New York is spending $750 million on the Buffalo plant as part of an economic revitalization project called the Buffalo Billion initiative spearheaded by Governor Andrew Cuomo. SolarCity pledged $150 million toward the plant... Tesla and Panasonic will manufacture and produce solar cells at the Buffalo plant as part of Tesla's new solar aspirations since it acquired SolarCity on November 17 in a deal worth roughly $2 billion. Initial production at the plant will center around Tesla's solar roof product. Louis Ciminelli, CEO of LPCiminelli, is known as a generous supporter of Cuomo. Ciminelli, along with his...

The two young Somali sisters sat at a table in the central registration center signing up for what would become their next big challenge in their journey to America – school. They came to enroll in the Buffalo Public Schools at an old building on Ash Street, an Ellis Island of sorts for thousands of immigrants and refugees entering an education system that has struggled over the years to keep up with their growing numbers. Many show up speaking no English. Others may have had little formal education in their home countries. Most encounter vast cultural differences. The City...

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Police on Sunday were searching for a woman they said pickpocketed multiple people who were outside waiting to see the performers from the Broadway smash “Hamilton” in Midtown. Between May 25 and Nov. 6, six people reported having their property removed as they waited for the stars of “Hamilton” outside the Richard Rodgers Theatre, 226 W. 46th St. The suspect used the victims’ credit cards to buy about $2,200 worth of merchandise at Macy’s, Junior’s Restaurant, Rite Aid, Target, Designer Shoe Warehouse, Burlington Coat Factory, and Duane Reade, police said. “That’s very surprising. I wouldn’t expect...

Just weeks after Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential race, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is reaching out to her donors to talk to them "about the direction of the country," and some of Clinton's backers aren't happy. "Many of us are still grieving," one commented this week for the New York Post's Page Six. "It's like going after the widow at a funeral."