Free Republic

Congressman Chris Gibson of New York is calling for an investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration after learning hundreds of millions of dollars in loans went to Health Republic, an insurance co-op that lasted only two years, and which caused 215,000 New Yorkers to lose their insurance. Health Republic was founded in 2013 with $265 Million in federal loans. It soon became one of the largest health insurance cooperatives in the United States. Now it is no more after New York regulators discovered massive deficits in Health Republic's books. Originally ordered to close by December 31, regulators had to bump...

The principal of DeWitt Clinton HS, a struggling Bronx school in Mayor de Blasio's multimillion-dollar Renewal program, changed students failing grades to passing without teachers knowledge or consent, insiders told The Post. In one case, Santiago Taveras gave a senior who received a "no show" in a global-history class a 75 and changed her failing 55 grade in gym to a minimum passing 65, records show. She then got a credit for each class, which she did not deserve, several staffers charged. He thinks he is God and can do whatever he wants. ... Taveras changed a students failing 55...

Muslim-Americans who sued the New York Police Department over a surveillance program launched after 9/11 say calls from the Republican presidential campaign to put them under more scrutiny are recklessly seizing on public fears and distressing Muslims in the U.S.

Mayor de Blasio said his son Dante has been active in protests over racial issues at Yale — and they both agree the school should drop the name of a prominent defender of slavery. Dante, a freshman, is assigned to Yale’s Calhoun College, named for John C. Calhoun, a U.S. vice president and South Carolina senator who vehemently backed slavery as a “positive good” for the nation. “He’s very concerned, and he certainly notes the fact that the college he’s in, Calhoun College, is named for someone it shouldn’t be named for,” de Blasio told reporters Monday. “ That’s quite...

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced as part of his "See Something, Send Something" campaign a new mobile app that allows New Yorkers to alert authorities of potential threats. The "See Something, Send Something" app allows anyone with a smart phone to report suspicious activity directly to the New York State Intelligence Center in the form of photos or written notes, according to a press release. The press release reminds users to only report “suspicious behavior and situations (e.g., an unattended backpack or briefcase in a public place) rather than beliefs, thoughts, ideas, expressions, associations, or speech unrelated to...

It pays to have friends in high places. Al Sharpton gave himself a 71 percent raise last year after his National Action Network group drew a record $6.9 million in donations — as the controversial cleric’s association with Mayor de Blasio and President Obama lent him a newfound air of legitimacy. De Blasio’s election gave Sharpton a seat at City Hall, as the mayor treated him as an adviser and presented him at a press event next to Police Commissioner Bill Bratton after the death of Eric Garner. Also in 2014, Obama addressed NAN’s annual convention, bringing along five...

Rev. Al Sharpton will Announce that NAN is Convening a National Summit of Black Ministers to discuss the Recruitment of Black Churches as Sanctuaries for Syrian Refugees and to Recruit Congregation Members to provide Homes to Those Seeking Asylum. Rev. Sharpton will also condemn a lack of mercy, compassion and the perpetuation of Islamophobia by certain leaders

Mayor de Blasio says New York City will not turn away any refugees fleeing Syria. De Blasio said Tuesday that New York "is a proud immigrant city" and would welcome refugees trying to escape the conflict in their homeland. Many public officials and U.S. presidential candidates have expressed wariness at admitting refugees in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris last week. De Blasio chided a pair of local Republicans running for president. He called New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie "an embarrassment to this country" and said that the city "will adhere to the words of our Founding Fathers,...

Mayor de Blasio is moving to clean up a state medical-insurance mess that blindsided thousands of New Yorkers, including 114 cancer patients in the city who were about to lose their doctors. Under a hastily drawn-up deal, the patients will continue to get coverage for treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center under the city's MetroPlus health plan. The patients had faced a tough choice: pay out of pocket or find new doctors because of the impending bankruptcy of Health Republic - one of the state's ObamaCare providers and the only one that covers treatment at Sloan Kettering.

Apparently the Democrats including both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have cast their lot with the Black Lives Matter movement for next year, no doubt hoping to hang on to the full share of the black vote which Barack Obama drove to the polls in the last two cycles. If that's how they’re going to play it, then it’s time to prepare for the inevitable media assault and ensure that some measure of truth leaks out during the process. One good place to start would be the grade school level math required to analyze the most common claims being tossed...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed Hillary Clinton on Friday for president. "The candidate who I believe can fundamentally address income inequality effectively, the candidate [that] has the right vision and the right experience and ability to get the job done is Hillary Clinton," de Blasio said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." De Blasio, who was Clinton's campaign manager for her 2000 Senate bid, had been debating for months whether to endorse her. "I've seen her vision and platform develop over five months. I'm extremely pleased with what she's put on the table," said de Blasio, who also served...

Slain NYPD Officer Randolph Holder’s fiancée was stunned to hear that the Rev. Al Sharpton was asked to speak at his funeral — because the policeman detested the anti-cop preacher, she told The Post on Monday. “He didn’t like [Sharpton]. He wasn’t a fan. So I don’t know why [Sharpton] is speaking,’’ Mary Muhammad said. Sharpton claims that he met with Holder’s father and that the dad asked him to speak at Wednesday’s service. On Saturday, Sharpton made a condolence call at the elder Holder’s home in Far Rockaway and tweeted a photo of himself with Holder and other family...

In his 1999 book, Dr. Ben Carson wrote that our nation’s history on racial injustices made it impossible for the black community to think of the judicial system in anything but racial terms and that white Americans were only able to view racial violence in a modern context. In his book, The Big Picture, released by Zondervan, Carson argued white Americans had “no grasp on the history of racial violence in this country.” Carson wrote of a time his mother was thrown in jail for a minor traffic violation as an example of personal history of the racial injustice in...

NEW YORK (AP) — Divers searching the Harlem River recovered a gun "consistent" with the weapon used to kill a police officer during a foot chase in Manhattan, the New York Police Department said Sunday. Chief of Manhattan detectives William Aubry said the weapon was found around 3 a.m. Sunday. The gun will be tested for fingerprints and DNA, as well as test fired, to determine whether it is the same gun that was used to shoot Officer Rudolph Holder in the head. "That firearm is consistent with the firearm that we were looking for," Aubry said. The police also...

Protesters flip off NYPD days after cop slay By Amanda Lozada Just four days after the on-duty murder of a hero NYPD street cop, a rally in Washington Square Park against “police terror” devolved Saturday into a raucous, law-enforcement gripe-fest. Protesters held signs reading “Rise Up! Stop Police Terror!” and “Murder with a badge is still murder.”

CHICAGO — The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said on Friday that the additional scrutiny and criticism of police officers in the wake of highly publicized episodes of police brutality may have led to an increase in violent crime in some cities as officers have become less aggressive. With his remarks, Mr. Comey lent the prestige of the F.B.I., the nation’s most prominent law enforcement agency, to a theory that is far from settled: that the increased attention on the police has made officers less aggressive and emboldened criminals. But he acknowledged that there is so far no data to...

COLLEGE POINT, Queens – 44-year-old Todd Cardillo flew up from Florida for a second, NYPD ceremony honoring his slain father this year — and, for a second time, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio did not attend an event designed to “right a wrong” from more than 43 years ago when former Mayor John Lindsey failed to attend the 1972 funeral for Patrolman Phillip Cardillo, who was fatally shot in a racially-charged incident at a Harlem mosque. Mayor de Blasio was traveling in Israel this past weekend, and when PIX11 asked Commissioner Bratton about the current mayor’s absence, Bratton...

An NYPD housing officer was killed Tuesday night, shot in the head by a trigger-happy perp during a chase and gunfight on a pedestrian overpass above FDR Drive in East Harlem, police said. Officer Randolph Holder, 33, was shot in the forehead by the callous gunman, who had stolen a bike and was being pursued by cops along the promenade hugging the East River around 8:30 p.m., Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said. The brave officer died at 10:22 p.m. at Harlem Hospital. A suspect, shot in the legs, was arrested. Holder, who emigrated from Guyana, was a third-generation police officer,...

The New York Police Department has equipped x-rays in some of its vans but it’s refusing to talk about them due to “security concerns.” Even though these x-ray vans reportedly cost $825,000 a piece, NYPD is staying completely silent about them and their purpose. “Those are issues I’d prefer not to divulge to the public at this time,” NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said, NYMag reports. “I will not talk about anything at all about this — it falls into the range of security and counter-terrorism activity that we engage in.” Bratton was asked to comment on a request from the NYCLU...

EXCLUSIVE: De Blasio administration joins fight against law that would exclude immigrants, felons from voting district count The de Blasio administration has joined a Supreme Court fight that could change the way voting districts are carved up to exclude residents like immigrants and felons from the population count, the Daily News has learned. If successful, Evenwel vs. Abbott would dramatically change the political landscape in immigrant-rich communities like New York, because it would draw districts to include only eligible voters. Immigrants, felons who have lost the right to vote and children would be excluded. In court papers filed last week,...