Free Republic

Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio has been sent back to jail for allegedly violating her probation again by refusing to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet. Wasn't Astacio already in jail? Last month, she was in jail for violating her probation related to a drunken driving conviction. Last week, a hearing determined that she should be released due to a technicality. Astacio's lawyer argued that she was not immediately given terms of her probation when she was sentenced in July. How did she end up in court again? Upon released from custody on Monday, she's accused of refusing to put...

Simeon D. Mokhiber, 42, of upstate New York had a close call in court last week. Mokhiber is an Iraq combat veteran who served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division as well as the National Guard. Following his active duty service he worked private security details protecting U.S. officials in both Iraq and Afghanistan. But last year he was pulled over in Niagra County and charged with driving under the influence. (A charge which was dismissed.) The police found three 17-round Glock magazines in a container in his vehicle. There was no firearm in the car… just the magazines.

How is the truck attack a cowardly act? I have absolutely no defense for the murderer and think he should be summarily tried and executed. However, really, how was his attack cowardly? He ran over people knowing what the consequences were going to be and jumped out with useless "guns" knowing he would be shot. How is that cowardly? Takes a lot of guts (no pun intended at all), if you ask me. When law enforcement should be saying we are going to kick asses and take names, all they can say is that this was a "cowardly act". Looks...

A terrorist attack just took place in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday afternoon, as a middle eastern man shouting the now-famous Islamic war-cry Allahu Akbar mowed down bikers and pedestrians near Chambers Street and West Street in lower Manhattan, near Stuyvesant High School. At least eight people were killed in the heinous attack and up to fifteen injured. Witnesses described how the middle eastern man shouted Allahu Akbar prior to running over people using a rented Home Depot truck, before hitting a school bus. After the truck-killing-frenzy on West Side Highway bike lane ended, the (still unidentified) suspect exited the...

At least six people were killed and 15 were injured when a truck driver deliberately mowed down people in lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon, officials tell News 4 New York. Sources initially said they were responding to a report of at least five people shot near West and Chambers streets in Tribeca, but officials say their investigation now shows the injuries may have come from the truck crash. Police sources tell News 4 that a box truck driver was traveling the wrong way down a bicycle path, injuring several people. The box truck then collided with a Home Deport rental truck,...

Jennifer Schwartz Berky, a New York county legislator, was filmed by police cameras as she freaked out over getting a speeding ticket in Kingston, NY. She claimed to have PTSD and to be having a panic attack during the encounter, which reportedly lasted for about half an hour.

Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein will be hosting a star-studded fundraiser for Hillary Clinton on Monday night in New York City. The Democratic donor, who owns the Hamptons house next door to the $50,000-a-week vacation home the Clintons rented last summer, has already maxed out to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and contributed up to $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation. His latest favor for his Hamptons pal will be hosting the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, and climate change hero Leonardo DiCaprio at his Manhattan home for a fundraiser benefitting the Hillary Victory Fund, according to the...

“In 1971, the year that we set the beginning of The Deuce, I was 11 years old,” co-creator David Simon recalled. At 17, he spent the summer in New York while working at an uncle’s warehouse: “I can tell you that, while the city felt electric and volatile and amazing and, from its debauchery to its culture, it felt like an incredible place, it was also dangerous as hell.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York claimed on MSNBC Monday morning that he was an “immigrant,” despite being born in the United States. Host Stephanie Ruhle asked Cumo if, “New York [is] prepared for those people when the airports open to leave Puerto Rico and move to your state?” in reference to the victims of the recent recent disaster in Puerto Rico. Gov. Cuomo stated, “New York is prepared to do whatever we can do to help. We believe in immigration in New York. We are a state of immigrants. I am an immigrant. I’m wholly against this anti-immigrant fever...

Wonder why New York property taxes are sky-high, particularly in the Long Island and Lower Hudson Valley suburbs around the city? The Empire Center’s latest analysis flags one key reason: the astounding pay doled out to government workers in those areas — especially uniformed services, like police and firefighters. For the second year in a row, the center found, 47 of the top 50 highest-paid local-government workers outside New York City were police officers — with five of the top seven on the Town of Ramapo payroll. The No. 1 earner, Ramapo Police Officer Thomas Donnelly, pulled in $441,968 in...

There's a new complaint against Rochester Judge Leticia Astacio. She is accused of violating the conditions of her probation. The complaint was filed on Friday after her ankle monitoring device reportedly detected alcohol. According to News 10 NBC, Astacio's lawyer blames the reading on body lotion containing alcohol. The apparent violation was on July 14th, one day after Astacio got out of jail. A hearing is set for Wednesday. Judge Astacio recently served jail time. She has been ordered to spend three years on probation and six months with an ankle monitor for violating the conditions of her conditional discharge...

Apparently Chuck Schumer just had a “Come to Jesus” moment with his thinking on Trump and Russia, Russia, Russia. Or else aliens have abducted the real Chuck Schumer. “When you lose to somebody who has 40 percent popularity, you don’t blame other things — Comey, Russia — you blame yourself,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an interview.

If we ever want to have viable public transportation in New York, it is essential that we get our elected and appointed officials onboard. Not just metaphorically onboard to adequately fund mass transit, but actually onboard the trains and buses that are the lifeblood of the city. Anyone who lives or works here knows the wretched state of New York’s mass transit. In April, there were 74,000 subway delays, up 164% from the average monthly delays in 2012. Talk to a New Yorker and you’ll get a recent subway or commuter rail horror story, or three.

Since May, dozens of illegal immigrants have been arrested and deported from Saratoga Springs, raising concerns about how increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement action could impact the busy horse racing season. At a town hall meeting on Monday, Saratoga Mayor Joanne Yepsen made it clear that the city's police force would not be initiating or participating in ICE deportation efforts. The declaration was met with applause, WTEN-TV reported.

Ryan Mauro and Martin Mawyer at Clarion have an interesting report linked to Islamberg. A long-time associate of a U.S.-based Islamist terrorist organization, Muslims of America (MOA), has been arrested in Johnson City, NY. Authorities discovered that he had a large cache of weapons inside a storage locker. A source inside MOA says the weapons were intended for the group’s “Islamberg” headquarters in Hancock, NY. On May 31, Abdullah was arrested after trying to steal four boxes of ammunition from a local Gander Mountain store. When police questioned him about the purpose of the ammo, his answers made them suspicious,...

United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley defended the Trump administration’s plan to drastically cut America’s spending on the UN Tuesday. She told a House subcommittee that the proposed cuts had sent “shockwaves” through the body — and that such cuts had put the UN “on notice.” “My job was to go the UN and find value,” Haley told a House appropriations subcommittee. “We want to make sure the U.S. voice is strong, use it for negotiations in every way possible, to push foreign policy… but at the same time the UN has fat around the edges.” Haley faced tough opposition from...

WE, GENEVA RESIDENTS CONCERNED ABOUT THE POISONED FOUNDRY ZONE, DEMAND: •An apology from the city government to the community •All communications from the city about the foundry zone in both English and Spanish, and an interpreter at council meetings •Signage and fencing on the foundry site alerting people of the contamination there •An immediate public and independent investigation of what the city knew, when they knew it, and why they didn’t tell residents •Private residences must be decontaminated before the foundry site •No new development before our neighbors are cared for •The city must inform every resident in the contamination...

This is what happens when the New York City subway literally feels like hell. Desperate straphangers stuck for nearly an hour in a powerless subway car with no air conditioning tried to break out of an F train at Manhattan's Broadway-Lafayette station Monday evening, video posted to Twitter shows.

What in the name of RuPaul is wrong with the New York City Board of Education? Parents are furious after children as young as 5-years-old were exposed to an erotic drag show performance at what was supposed to be a school district talent show. “My first reaction was what the hell is going on,” parent Raquel Morales told me. The New York Daily News described the lewd performance as “complete with gyrations, tongue gymnastics and a flashed G-string.” The May 25th performance shocked and enraged parents who could not believe the school district would allow a grown man to spread...

Bill Clinton will deliver the commencement address at Hobart and William Smith Colleges next month, the schools announced Wednesday. Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States and founder of the Clinton Foundation, is scheduled to speak at the Geneva colleges on Sunday, May 14. “We are honored to welcome President Clinton back to Hobart and William Smith as the 2017 Commencement speaker,” HWS President Mark Gearan said in a release. “President Clinton’s leadership has transformed millions of lives around the world, from his time as Arkansas attorney general and then governor, to two terms in the White House, and...