Free Republic

Rep. Matt Cartwright (D., Penn.) called the possibility of more Americans losing their insurance policies under Obamacare “a good thing” in an interview on MSNBC Live Friday. A member of the “strike team” sent by the White House to promote the law, Cartwright continued the talking point that those losing their insurance would ultimately benefit from that happening. “They have immense deductibles,” he said. “They have annual and lifetime caps. There’s so many people out there with what I call phony insurance policies, and the fact that they’re going to lose those policies, sooner or later, I think is a...

At just about every place I’ve ever worked, there’s been one feature in my office that has always stood out. That feature is a bucket of baseball bats. I have been collecting miniature baseball bats from major- and minor-league baseball parks since the mid-1990s. At first, it was because these bats, which range in price from $3 to $12, are the cheapest things you can get as souvenirs at the ballpark. But after a while, I started collecting them because they inadvertently sent a message. That message: Leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone. Granted, I’ve never hit anyone...

Lesson: Don’t punch someone who is holding a camera.In November, we told you about the woman who took a photo (left) of the man who allegedly punched her at Broad and Arch, a split second after he hit her in broad daylight. That same man was also accused of punching another woman within the same week at a SEPTA station at Broad and Erie. Now, police have a suspect in custody. Colt Younger, 26, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with two counts of simple assault and one count each of recklessly endangering another person and harassment. That’s his...

Dozens of people gathered outside Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's locations Downtown on Thursday morning to protest low wages as part of a national campaign energizing fast-food workers. Carrying placards and shouting slogans such as “No justice, no doughnuts,” about 75 people rallied in front of the Dunkin Donuts in Market Square and the nearby McDonald's on Stanwix Street. The actions are part of push by labor unions, worker advocacy groups and Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25. President Obama says he would back a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, and on Wednesday addressed income equality in...

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was fined $100,000 by the NFL on Wednesday for his near-collision with the Ravens kick returner Jacoby Jones on Thanksgiving night. The NFL is also considering downgrading one of Pittsburgh’s draft picks after the order is set, a source told NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport.

Babe Hefforn, immortalized in "Band of Brothers," has passed away. Click link.

President Barack Obama won reelection last year warning voters about what he called an extreme Republican agenda that would roll back the social and economic victories of the previous years. But that agenda is on the move in the states, and on the ballot in next year’s most competitive governors’ races — all of them in places he won in both 2008 and 2012: Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Maine and Michigan. The White House has committed to its first Democratic Governors Association fundraising event of the cycle and pledged to help candidates next year, people familiar with the discussions confirmed...

Lower Merion police say a female Saint Joseph University student was sent to the hospital after being punched and robbed while walking along City Avenue in the Merion section of the township Nov. 22 at 3:05 a.m. According to police, the woman had just left the 7-Elenve store at 169 West City Avenue in Bala Cynwyd and was walking toward the university on the Lower Merion side. When she was approached by three males, one of them punched her in the face. She fell to the ground. She told police that she didn’t remember what happened next. The money she...

Last year, the city of Camden decided to can its unionized police force in favor of ununionized county cops who hit the streets this April. ... The city has been run exclusively by Democrats for several generations, and some local leaders openly worried that Camden, which already had the highest crime rate per capita last year, would get worse. But it hasn’t. In fact, crime’s gone down

Teresa Heinz Kerry: 'I'm an African American' First lady-wannabe Teresa Heinz Kerry sometimes describes herself as an "African American," even though she grew up amidst segregated privilege in colonial Mozambique. "My roots are African," she told a reporter in 1995. "The birds I remember, the fruits I ate, the trees I climbed, they're African." Throughout the 1990s, Heinz Kerry referred to herself as "African American," the Baltimore Sun revealed on Tuesday. And when her use of the term set off a firestorm of controversy in 1993, she defended the claim. "African-hyphen-American belongs to blacks," Heinz Kerry's spokesman told reporters, insisting...

NANTICOKE — A 97-year-old woman was killed in an apparently random home-invasion robbery on Thanksgiving night, according to state police. The body of Gertrude Price, was found in her 23 E. Grand St. home by her family Friday morning, Trooper Martin Connors said. No arrests have been made. “I know a lot times we say there is no cause for concern because it doesn’t look random,” Connors said. “This, unfortunately, is exactly the opposite of that. It looks as if this poor lady, 97 years old, lived her whole life and has to leave this world this way.”

Police are investigating a vicious attack on a Manhattan chef who was walking alone on Tuesday night when he was allegedly assaulted by a group of six to eight men, all between the ages of 16 and 21. ‘I'm not well, a lot of swelling and overall pain,’ said victim Diego Moya. ‘Should be four weeks until I lose the wires and can eat normally, which is devastating being a chef. Means I can't work.’(continued)

Did you ever imagine that, in America, groups of black thugs would attack unsuspecting whites? Did you ever think the first black president and Oprah Winfrey would encourage division and hatred between races? In today’s America, that’s the unfortunate reality. In what many tamely call the “knockout game,” black teenagers target whites to attack them without provocation. The aim is to knock the victim unconscious with one blow. Man, woman, young or old – it doesn’t matter – these thugs do not care. Authorities have reported violent attacks in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Connecticut and Illinois....

Want to know which candidate for governor Pennsylvania Democrats prefer? According to a new survey released today, the answer is a former owner of an abortion clinic. Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Allyson Schwartz refuses to say if, when she ran an abortion business in the state, she would refer women to Kermit Gosnell’s infamous abortion facility. But she is leading all Democratic candidates for governor. From a poll: Things are pretty wide open when it comes to the Democratic primary for Governor. The leader is undecided, with 27% of voters unsure on who they want the nominee to be. Allyson Schwartz...

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A horse pulling a buggy with an Amish family aboard in rural Pennsylvania was struck by a bullet fired from a moving car and later died, police said on Tuesday. No people were injured in the drive-by shooting, which occurred on Sunday in the village of Ronks in the heart of Lancaster County's Amish country, said Lieutenant Robin Weaver of the East Lampeter Township Police Department. The buggy was about a mile from home when the two adults and three children aboard heard a loud crack, police said. {snip} The family continued home, where they realized the...

Want to know which candidate for governor Pennsylvania Democrats prefer? According to a new survey released today, the answer is a former owner of an abortion clinic.Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Allyson Schwartz refuses to say if, when she ran an abortion business in the state, she would refer women to Kermit Gosnell’s infamous abortion facility. But she is leading all Democratic candidates for governor.From a poll: Things are pretty wide open when it comes to the Democratic primary for Governor. The leader is undecided, with 27% of voters unsure on who they want the nominee to be. Allyson Schwartz gets 21%...

A horse pulling an Amish buggy was killed Sunday in a drive-by shooting in Pennsylvania, police report. The horse was towing a buggy with five occupants around 9 PM when “an unknown type car also traveling north passed the buggy,” according to East Lampeter Township Police officials.

Taiwan-based Foxconn Group will invest US$40 million in Pennsylvania, the US, over two years, according to group president Terry Guo. The investment is in line with the US government's Advanced Manufacturing in America policy, Guo said. Foxconn will invest US$30 million in Foxconn East America, a subsidiary based in Harrisburg, to expand an existing R&D team to set up an advanced manufacturing facility for high value-added products for applications including automobiles, medical care and environmental production, Guo said. The expansion will recruit about 500 employees. In addition, Foxconn will invest US$10 million in Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh specifically for...

Republican Governor Tom Corbett, who announced he's running for re-election next year, likes to tell Pennsylvanians he hasn't raised taxes. He ran for office four years ago saying he wouldn't raise taxes. But that's exactly what he is doing today when he signs a "transportation funding bill" to fix roads and bridges along with subsidizing public transportation systems (especially in the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh areas). The bill replaces an out in the open 12 cent a gallon gas tax at the pump with a backroom tax on gas at its wholesale price. It also raises registration fees for vehicles in the state...

Like many of her Allentown neighbors, Josefina Nivar knew she would need help navigating the Affordable Care Act. So when she learned there would be an information session about the insurance plans, she invited as many people as she could. Nivar, originally from Galicia, Spain, arrived at the community meeting with her elderly parents and waited for her neighbors to show up. None did. "They are afraid," she said last week. Hispanic people, many with limited English language skills, are disproportionately represented among the uninsured. The language barrier and cultural differences add levels of difficulty to an enrollment process including...

Today, the Philadelphia City Council voted unanimously to ban the manufacturing of guns by 3-D printers, making Philly the first city to do so. Which is interesting, because the author of the bill, Kenyatta Johnson, isn’t aware of of any local gun-printing 3-D printers. ”It’s all pre-emptive,” says Johnson’s director of legislation Steve Cobb. “It’s just based upon internet stuff out there.” We would hereby like to claim credit for this legislation by pointing to Nick Vadala’s comprehensive May 10th piece on guns made by 3-D printers. It reads, in part: People have been manufacturing their own guns for hundreds...

HARRISBURG, Pa. – A Christian homeless ministry in Pennsylvania is fighting against county officials for being booted from public property after five years of outreach. Isaiah 61 Ministries, which feeds the homeless in Harrisburg two days each week, says that it was recently ejected from the Dauphin County Courthouse parking lot and advised that members could be arrested for loitering if they continued their outreach at the location. The county had announced earlier this year that it planned to post “No Loitering” signs around the property. “The County Commission has basically come out and said, ‘Look, you’ve got to move...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Police have arrested a 15-year-old and are searching for a second suspect in connection with a “knockout” attack in Northeast Philadelphia earlier this month. Investigators say a 15-year-old male has been arrested and they are searching for a second suspect for their roles in an attack outside a pizza shop in Fox Chase on November 11th. The victim in the November 11th assault told Eyewitness News that he was walking out of a pizza shop when he was attacked. “Someone asked me for a cigarette and by the time I got my hands out my pocket, I...

With all of the practical ObamaCare disasters in the news the last few weeks, we need to still keep an eye on the threat it represents to religious liberty and free expression. Thankfully, yet another federal court has recognized those dangers inherent in the HHS contraception mandate issued as part of the regulatory scheme implementing the Affordable Care Act: The right of church-related organizations to keep a clear conscience trumps the federal government’s desire to improve access to contraceptives, a federal judge ruled Thursday in a preliminary decision that could set the tone in a legal fight of national scope.U.S....

HARRISBURG - More than $2 billion will soon begin to flow into road and bridge repair and mass-transit improvements after the state House gave final approval Thursday to the long-awaited transportation bill. The House sent the bill - the first comprehensive transportation-funding legislation in 15 years - to Gov. Corbett late in the day with a 113-85 bipartisan vote. With it, Corbett notched a major legislative victory. He said it represented a "new era in resurgent and reenergized Pennsylvania." "This bold transportation plan demonstrates that our elected officials are serious about keeping our residents safe and our economy strong," he...

William Medina, 24, and Robert DeCarr, 18, were armed and masked when they held up Krick’s Korner Market in Reading, Pa., Monday. WPVI-TV Channel 6 reports that the robbery happened a little after 2 p.m., and that the two gunmen harassed and pointed their weapons at the terrified employees before making their way to their getaway car, driven by 21-year-old Alexander Garcia-Bialek. The two men were loaded up with lottery tickets, cigarettes and cash, and as they exited the store, they were approached by an armed bystander who had been watching the robbery. He told them to stay where they...

In the Marcellus and Utica shale regions of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, natural gas is being fracked and pumped from the ground at a prodigious rate. While most people are familiar with natural gas and the Marcellus Shale, there's a second, quieter revolution playing out in the gas fields. And energy companies are investing billions to get a piece of it. As it comes from the ground, natural gas isn't an homogenized, pure element. It's a mix of different compounds, more akin to a stream than anything else. Within that stream are trace elements of propane and ethane, commonly...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Amtrak wants to know how one of its trains took a wrong turn and got lost in the Philadelphia suburbs. Worried and baffled were most travelers at 30th Street Station Tuesday night. Mike Roberts of Coatesville said, “Wow, that’s crazy. That’s not professional at all. How could that happen?” It sounds wild, but Amtrak officials confirm it did happen and what they can tell us so far is this: Amtrak Train 644 that left 30th Street Station for New York City accidentally ended up on the SEPTA tracks. The train actually traveled several miles before the mistake...

Recent Attacks Have Targeted Brooklyn Jews; 78-Year-Old Woman Latest Victim NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A disturbing and brutal game among teens is also targeting other victims in other cities. Just last week, CBS 2’s John Slattery reported on a disturbing series of attack on Jews in Brooklyn. Now we’re find out New York City is not alone. Brutal video is coming in from various places, including Pittsburgh, where a teacher was attacked, and London, where a teen was hit from behind. On Tuesday afternoon, CBS 2 learned of another victim — a 78-year-old woman attacked a week ago Saturday in...

President Barack Obama is skipping events marking 150 years since Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. This shouldn't be a huge shock. Yes, Obama has sometimes embraced the opportunity to compare himself to Lincoln. And what a historical opportunity to miss: The nation’s first black president honoring Lincoln’s legacy in person. But parks officials point out that the last sitting president to attend a Nov. 19 event in Gettysburg was Rutherford B. Hayes. No, what’s surprising is the White House's apparent explanation for Obama’s decision to turn down an invitation offered months ago: It’s Obamacare’s fault. Specifically, the HealthCare.gov debacle.

The Quinn and Rose show has been on the air for 18 years with great success. Ten of those years were at 104.7. We love doing our show. We want our listeners to know how much we have enjoyed bringing you the news every morning. We feel like we are all part of one big family. Your loyalty and support over the years has meant so much to us and we think you know that. Please know that we appreciate each and every one of you. A morning without you is like a morning without coffee. And we HATE a...

A United Methodist minister convicted under church law of performing his son’s same-sex wedding ceremony could learn if he’ll be defrocked. A jury of his pastoral peers convicted the Rev. Frank Schaefer Monday of breaking his vows by officiating the 2007 ceremony in Massachusetts after a trial that has rekindled debate over the denomination’s policies on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The jury reconvenes Tuesday morning for the penalty phase, at which both sides will present witnesses. Schaefer could face punishment ranging from a reprimand to a suspension to losing his minister’s credentials. …

50 Years ago today . . . Long before smartphones and text messages made the world instantly available with a split-second tap, reaching out to touch someone could take a full 10 seconds. That was just to dial a number, ticked out one deliberate digit at a time, on a mechanical wheel owned by the phone company. Monday marks 50 years since the United States began saying goodbye to the classic rotary phone, replaced by touch-tone services that slashed dialing time and foreshadowed a digital revolution that keeps reshuffling everyday communication. The push-buttons became an especially big deal in Western...

A Pennsylvania pastor charged under United Methodist law with officiating his son's same-sex marriage is scheduled to go on trial. The Rev. Frank Schaefer, 51, could be defrocked.... "Public opinion has changed very rapidly," said the pastor's son.... ...Schaefer could have avoided a trial if he had agreed never again to perform a same-gender wedding, but he declined because three of his four children are gay.

The state Insurance commissioner cast doubt Friday on a plan by President Obama to stop insurers from dumping more than 250,000 Pennsylvanians whose medical coverage did not meet the minimum requirements of the new health care law. Insurance Commissioner Michael Consedine questioned whether Obama had the legal authority to allow insurers to reinstate or extend those policies. He also said the state has limited power to force insurers to comply with a scheme that he said “heightens confusion” surrounding the law's implementation. “I think there are very fair questions being raised about the legal authority for the president to say...

President Barack Obama visited the home of a Comcast exec on Thursday night — and he didn't leave empty-handed. A fundraiser at the Mt. Airy home of Comcast executive vice president David L. Cohen raised $1 million. Obama was raising funds for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Even though Pennsylvania doesn't have a Senate race in 2014, its wealthy donors can certainly make a difference. --snip-- Air Force One landed at Philadelphia International Airport early in the evening, then the president was driven to the $10,000-$32,000 per plate dinner.

On the first weekday of chol hamoed Sukkot, most years, my wife and I take our four children to Hershey Park. The park, which is in Lancaster, Pa., is closed to everyone but frum Jews on that day. Lancaster is not known as a center of frumkeit — it is most decidedly “out of town — but on that day Hershey not only makes accommodations for the visitors, but actually reconfigures the whole park to be frum friendly. The food stands, including the kettle corn that draws some of the longest lines, are all kosher. Placards advertise the times for...

Parents found guilty of murder after SECOND child dies from pneumonia because they prayed instead of seeking medical attention A Philadelphia couple were found guilty of the third-degree murder of their son after pleading 'no contest today. Herbert and Catherine Schaible's 7-month-old son Brandon died last April 18 from dehydration and pneumonia when his parents decided to pray for him to get better rather than seek medical attention. At the time, the Schaibles were on 10-year probation for their 2-year-old son Kent's similar death in 2009. The terms of their probation required the Schaibles to seek medical attention any time...

When it comes to correcting the record about a timeless speech, no retraction is too late. One-hundred and fifty years after Abraham Lincoln passionately appealed for the preservation of the union in the Gettysburg Address, the Patriot-News of central Pennsylvania, known back then as the Patriot & Union, is retreating from its stance in 1863 that Abe’s Civil War speech was “silly.” “In an editorial about President Abraham Lincoln’s speech delivered Nov. 19, 1863, in Gettysburg, the Patriot & Union failed to recognize its momentous importance, timeless eloquence, and lasting significance,” the paper wrote on its editorial page Thursday. “The...

It took 150 years, but a Pennsylvania newspaper said Thursday it should have recognized the greatness of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address at the time it was delivered. The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, about 35 miles northeast of Gettysburg, retracted a dismissive editorial penned by its Civil War-era predecessor, The Harrisburg Patriot & Union.

PITTSBURGH — Students at Brashear High School in Pittsburgh will return to school Thursday, less than a day after a shooting outside the school injured three students. (snip) The shooting happened just blocks away from the campus Wednesday. Investigators said the 16-year-old charged in the shooting “planned the ambush” as retaliation to a fight that happened at the school last month. A.J. Willet was taken into custody shortly after the incident. Channel 11 News was there as he was taken from Pittsburgh police headquarters to the Allegheny County Jail late Wednesday night. As of Thursday morning, two of the victims...

Authorities in Pittsburgh, Pa., responded to reports of gunfire near an area high school just after dismissal Wednesday afternoon. Police officers rushed to Brashear High School, where three male students were reportedly injured, according to KDKA. Authorities were searching for the suspected shooter or shooters in the woods behind the school, WPXI reports.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Pittsburgh Police dispatch reports that they are responding to a possible shooting at Brashear High School. Police and other emergency personnel are on the scene of the high school. Pittsburgh Police dispatch will only confirm that they are getting reports of at least three people shot.

Lately not a day seems to pass without some tragic mass shooting. The latest comes from Pittsburgh, where Channel 11 News reports that three people were shot Wednesday afternoon outside Brashear High School. More: According to emergency dispatchers, police were sent to the school on Crane Avenue just before 3 p.m. Wednesday.Channel's Rick Earle has confirmed that authorities are looking for a shooter in the woods behind the school.At this time, the extent of the victims’ injuries is unknown Live webcast available in the original article

It was everything red-blooded Americans love: politics, Christmas and 20 percent off. There was a hum of anticipation Tuesday evening at the Barnes & Noble at Southmont Center in Bethlehem Township. It was too early for Black Friday. Stephen King's new thriller was already out. Bill O'Reilly's latest effort was old news. The buzz centered on Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, and her new book, "Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas."Bethlehem being the Christmas City, it was a fitting kickoff for Palin's new book. The Fox News pundit met her fans...

This fast food establishment allegedly in Ephrata is looking for new employees, but they have someone specific in mind which is creating quite a stir. As the sign says: “Now Hiring Must Be Mexican I’m not exactly sure of the reasoning. Maybe none of the current staff can speak español or perhaps they need to fulfill their EEO report, I’m not exactly sure. What do you think? Do you find this sign offensive or are you okay with their honesty. (POLL-AT-LINK)

Millions of people could qualify for federal subsidies that will pay the entire monthly cost of some health care plans being offered in the online marketplaces set up under President Obama’s health care law, a surprising figure that has not garnered much attention, ---snip-- Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia has four plans that are free to some customers. But the company, along with other insurers, has been careful not to publicize its free coverage for fear of alienating customers who will need to pay more.

Full Title: Policy keeping girls off boys' wrestling team prevents 'undesired contact of sensual body parts,' says Line Mountain High School WILLIAMSPORT — The prospect of co-ed wrestling presents dilemmas, such as how an adult male coach demonstrates techniques on a middle school-aged female, the Line Mountain School District claims. That is one of the arguments the Northumberland County school district makes in urging U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann not to make permanent the order he issued Oct. 31 that allowed a seventh-grade girl identified only as A.B. to sign up for the middle school wrestling team. The...

PITTSBURGH — The Roman Catholic bishop of Pittsburgh said that he will refuse to sign a document allowing a third-party insurer to provide preventative reproductive services for employees of a diocese-related charity even if it means that the nonprofit will have to pay fines. According to Channel 11's news exchange partners at TribLIVE, Bishop David Zubik said Tuesday in federal court in Pittsburgh that he wouldn't be able to live with himself "knowing that we're contradicting what we believe." The Pittsburgh and Erie dioceses are challenging a new health care mandate that requires religious employers to either provide contraceptive and...

U.S Rep. Scott Perry's position on any House legislation protecting Americans from discrimination in the workplace based on their sexual orientation could be influenced by U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey's support of a similar measure last week.... “I think Sen. Toomey seems like a pretty reasonable individual who represents a state that has very diverse political leanings,” he added. “My point is, not having read the [Senate] bill, the fact that Sen. Toomey would support it I think bodes well for whatever the content of the bill is. Until I read it I can't really pass complete judgement on it, but...