Free Republic

The bell in the Independence Hall tower rang at 9 a.m., and Mark Sanford took a deep breath. He grabbed a giant check for “one trillion dollars,” stood next to a tiny wooden lectern, and asked me if I was ready for him to kick off a news conference announcing his bid to challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 Republican primary. It didn’t really feel like a news conference. I was the only reporter there. And when it began, the only others around besides his two aides were a family 30 yards away with a selfie stick and a...

On July 19, 1955, Vernon Law was the starting pitcher in the Pirates' 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Braves. ... Law started and pitched the first 18 innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter. In those 18 innings, he allowed nine hits, two runs -- only one of which was earned -- two walks and 12 strikeouts. On July 19, 1955, Vernon Law was the starting pitcher in the Pirates’ 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Braves. Law, nicknamed The Deacon, was not the winning pitcher and didn’t even get a complete game on that Tuesday night at Forbes Field. But...

Will a hyperloop work in Pennsylvania? That’s the question officials from legislative and executive branches, statewide agencies, organizations and departments, as well as a handful of private business leaders are trying to answer. Fifty people, invited to a workshop at Dixon University in Harrisburg on Wednesday, met to talk about the possibility of building a hyperloop system in the commonwealth. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has until April 2020 to complete a $2 million state-legislative commissioned study on its viability. Media wasn’t permitted to attend the invitation-only meeting. According to the turnpike’s research, a hyperloop combines a magnetic levitation train and...

Natural gas developers in Pennsylvania are hoping a recent water quality report by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission could squelch plans for a fracking ban that’s currently being considered by the neighboring Delaware River Basin Commission. The SRBC’s Remote Water Quality Monitoring Network report, which was released last month, revealed that water quality scores at 14 of the 16 stations in the basin were in the “good” or “excellent” categories According to a fact sheet from the Susquehanna commission, the monitoring stations are located in areas where active drilling takes place, as well as areas free of development, in order...

A precautionary boil water advisory has been issued for nearly 900 households in parts of Pittsburgh’s West End neighborhoods after a water main broke on Mount Washington Saturday afternoon. The boil water and flush advisory applies to portions of Ridgemont, Westwood and Elliott, according to the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority. Many residents in the area had no water service or experienced low water pressure due to the break, which occurred around 3:30 p.m. along a 16-inch water main on Virginia Avenue at Kearsarge Street, the PWSA said. PWSA officials said the break was isolated and normal water service was...

Rain or shine, cold or warm, false information or not, the Columbus Day parade will take place Saturday morning in Bloomfield. The event was never in question. But there was certainly some confusion. That’s because someone went around Bloomfield’s business district this week passing out flyers falsely claiming that the parade had been canceled. The flyer, which included an official Pittsburgh Columbus Day parade logo, said “it has been brought to our attention that this is an offensive holiday. “Columbus’ arrival to America caused the mass murder of Native American people,” the letter read. “There are plenty of other ways...

Now the Governor has come up with a unique plan to end the stalemate. Using an obscure state law regulating utility companies through the power of the Public Service Commission, Andrew Cuomo (who helped kill the pipeline project) is simply ordering the utility to hook up the gas lines anyway. But there isn’t enough natural gas in the existing pipeline to keep adding more service points. If they continue to hook up new customers, you’re going to see the backpressure in the lines start dropping during peak demand hours. If you look at the configuration of a typical gas furnace...

Democratic state legislators urged Pittsburghers on Thursday to support a bill that would ban the use of some military-style rifles by everyone except service members and law enforcement personnel. The lawmakers also said hunters in Pennsylvania don’t need the added firepower of semiautomatic rifles, including AR-15-type weapons, even though the Legislature passed a law in 2017 allowing that. The weapons increasingly are being used in mass killings that are “traumatizing today’s children,” said state Rep. Ed Gainey, D-Lincoln-Lemington, at a gathering sponsored by House Democrats at the Carnegie Library in Homewood. He and others called for support of a bill...

Philadelphia raised the flag of China at city hall last week to honor the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.  Mayor Jim Kenney announced last Tuesday the observation of “The People’s Republic of China Flag-raising Day,� according to Xinhua, China’s official state-run press agency.The City of Philadelphia released photos of the event, showing a small crowd of attendees watching as the flag of China is raised.The Epoch Times reported that local community groups had strongly opposed the raising of the Chinese flag, viewing it as an endorsement of the communist nation’s oppressive regime.“Raising this flag, a symbol of the birth of the Chinese Communist...

A now-deleted tweet by Philadelphia District Attorney spokesperson Jane Roh has outraged Maureen Faulkner, the widow of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, whom Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of murdering in a 1981 shooting. Faulkner, now a California resident, was in Philadelphia on Friday to lead a protest against Philly DA Larry Krasner’s involvement in Abu-Jamal’s ongoing appeal for his 1982 conviction

Thousands of pro-lifers stood outside in all kinds of weather Sunday to pray for unborn babies and their mothers. People gathered in about 1,600 communities in the United States and Canada for the annual Life Chain, according to organizers. The event brings pro-lifers together in their local communities to pray for an end to abortion and peacefully witness to the truth about life in the womb. In West Reading, Pennsylvania, about 75 people stood on the sidewalks in the rain, holding signs encouraging mothers to choose life, the Reading Eagle reports. “We got rained on quite well but people stayed...

Pittsburgh has become the second U.S. city to incorporate United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into its practices, planning and policies, an initiative that will affect more than $4 billion worth of public and private projects in the region during the next 12 years. Mayor Bill Peduto announced the commitment to the 17 U.N. sustainability goals Friday, saying they identify the most important issues facing the globe -- poverty, hunger, climate change, education, gender equality and health, among them. He said the goals will help inform coordinated and collaborative programs and partnerships with universities and nonprofit, business and civic sectors, and...

This cohort leans Republican now more than ever; a Gallup poll this year shows they favor the GOP by a whopping 25 percentage points. It was as if the Democratic Party didn’t understand how much they needed labor. Oddly, it appears they still don’t. “The working-class voters in my county tend to wonder if the party still wants them,” says Mark Hackel, the Democratic chief executive of Macomb County, Mich., where voters favored Trump over Clinton by 11 percentage points. “They’re not really sure where they fit in.” Mike Mikus, a Democratic strategist who helped guide Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s...

Rahm Emanuel raised taxes to get city worker pension funds on a ‘path to solvency.’ The shortfall still ballooned by $7 billion. ... A record-high property tax increase. A new tax on water and sewer service. A higher 911 emergency fee on telephone lines... Emanuel’s series of tax hikes was painful, but he promised the extra money was part of a plan to get the woefully underfunded city worker pension funds on a “path to solvency.”.. in the four years since .. The pension funds are actually worse off. When Emanuel pushed through the tax hikes, the city worker retirement...

Pride, patriotism and service are literally at the heart of Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania . A towering obelisk, topped with a statue of a World War I doughboy, looms over the traffic diamond at the heart of Main Street. Off to the right, a fountain bubbles in the midst of a spotless park featuring a Victorian-style gazebo and a gleaming black granite wall, bearing the names of about 2,000 borough residents who have served in the U.S. military. Another 103 names were just added as applications flowed in from local families looking to honor those who have served. The spirit that...

What a difference a year made for Joseph Alcoff. On Monday, the 37-year-old has a court date in connection with charges he’s facing in Philadelphia that include aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation for allegedly being part of an Antifa mob in November that attacked two Marines, Alejandro Godinez and Luis Torres, both Hispanic. Alcoff and two others charged in the attack have pleaded not guilty. ANTIFA FIGURE CHARGED IN MARINE ATTACK But while Democratic officials are distancing themselves from Alcoff now, until recently he was a well-connected, aspiring political player in Washington who may have even had a hand in...

Pennsylvania’s top law enforcement officer is joining several other top state Democratic officials in backing the legalization of marijuana for recreational use by adults.Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a Friday statement on Twitter that he changed his mind after months of internal research and discussions with law enforcement colleagues. 🗣�ANNOUNCEMENT After months of internal research & discussions with fellow law enforcement, I am in support of efforts to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana use for Pennsylvanians over the age of 21.— AG Josh Shapiro (@PAAttorneyGen) September 27, 2019 Shapiro’s announcement comes two days after Gov. Tom Wolf made a...

The attorney for two of three men charged with assaulting two black women last week at a North Side gas station denied Thursday that the defendants are racist and rejected calls to upgrade the charges against them. “My clients are not racist,” lawyer David Shrager said during a news conference at his Downtown offices. “They love that community. They feel terrible that people think this was based in some way, shape or form on racial discrimination when it was not.” Mr. Shrager represents Balkar “Bill” Singh, 40, of Harmar, and Sukhjinder “Simon” Sadhra, 35, of Ross. He said that police...

Reuters) - Having his morning coffee and cigarette outside a Starbucks in one of the most politically contested counties in the United States, Richard Sibilla recoils at the memory of President Donald Trump's election. But impeach him now? Sibilla can see little upside. "After this he has a much better chance of winning another election, as scary as that sounds," said Sibilla, 39, a resident of Pinellas County, Florida, who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. "It's not even worth following because it's all going to help him." Among the public, interviews with more than 60 voters across four of...

Contract employees at Google's Pittsburgh campus are voting on whether to unionize Tuesday. If successful, this will be the first union with the Pittsburgh Association of Tech Professionals, a new arm of the United Steelworkers. Renata Nelson, a Google contractor in Pittsburgh, said the main priorities are to improve wages and benefit, and to cement job security. "Our salaries are fairly low compared to industry average," Nelson said. "We've seen people being hired at lower and lower rates recently." Google contractors in Pittsburgh are employed through international consulting company HCL Technologies. According to United Steelworkers, HCL employees work at Google's...