Free Republic

Abortion doctor Steven Brigham's decades of disciplinary trouble came to a head Wednesday when the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners yanked his last remaining medical license. The board cited Brigham for doing late-term abortions that began in New Jersey and ended in Maryland, violating the laws of both states. It ordered him to pay a $140,000 penalty and as-yet-unspecified costs of prosecution, even though Brigham revealed that he is in dire financial straits from IRS liens imposed on him for not paying employee taxes. Without a New Jersey license, Brigham will lose his eight clinics in the Garden State,...

CHAKA FATTAH has been walking the halls of Congress for nearly 20 years, but he never forgot his friends back home. Tax records reviewed by the Daily News show that between 2001 and 2012, nonprofits founded or supported by the Philadelphia congressman have paid out at least $5.8 million to his associates, including political operatives, ex-staffers and their relatives. Three people who had ties to the organizations were later convicted of federal crimes.

Students from at least two Philadelphia public high schools are refusing to go to classes this morning to protest the cancellation of their teachers' labor agreement. "We're striking because every single teacher in the districts benefits are at risk and being played with through politics," organizers said in a Facebook post. Dozens of students protested outside the High School for Creative and Performing Arts on South Broad Street and the Science Leadership Academy at 55 N. 22d St. in Center City. The School Reform Commission on Monday canceled the labor contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers in a move...

A field supervisor in the Census Bureau’s Denver region has informed her organization’s higher-ups, the head of the Commerce Department and congressional investigators that she believes economic data collected by her office is being falsified. And this whistleblower — who asked that I not identify her — said her bosses in Denver ignored her warnings even after she provided details of wrongdoing by three different survey takers. The three continued to collect data even after she reported them. ... Census is broken up into six regions. Cheating has already been proven in the Philadelphia region. And with this whistleblower’s letter,...

Philadelphia teachers vowed to fight a sudden move by the district Monday that cancels their union contract and forces them to start paying health premiums of as much as $140 a month. The teachers union, with about 15,000 members, accused the state-led School Reform Commission of ratcheting up its “war on teachers.” However, district leaders said there was nothing else to cut after years of funding woes that have prompted nearly $1 billion in cuts that includes the loss of 5,000 positions and the closure of 30 schools. Many Philadelphia schools operate without a nurse or librarian on duty

FULL TITLE Allentown woman charged after admitting leaving threatening messages for Rep. Mario Scavello An Allentown woman is awaiting a district court preliminary hearing, charged with leaving threatening, vulgar messages at state Rep. Mario Scavello's Pocono Township office last month. "With your backwards (expletive) views on abortion, you should be taken out back and shot," Sharon Marie Manning, 47, is accused of saying in one of two Sept. 18 voice mails to Scavello's office. "You're a (expletive) and an (expletive) and and you deserve to die." Manning allegedly left a followup voice mail minutes later, stating, "If your jackass self...

In a stunning move that could reshape the face of city schools, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted Monday to unilaterally cancel its teachers’ contract. The vote was unanimous. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers was given no advance word of the action — which happened at an early-morning SRC meeting called with minimal notice — and which figures to result in a legal challenge to the takeover law the SRC believes gives it the power to bypass negotiations and impose terms. Jerry Jordan, PFT president, called the move "cowardly" and vowed to fight it strongly. "I am taking nothing off...

A would-be robbery suspect was beaten up when he found out the hard way that a convenience store clerk on the University of Pittsburgh campus is also a former Golden Gloves boxing champ. The boxer, Eric Sydnor, told KDKA-TV he just did what he had to do when 45-year-old Leverett Johnson walked into the convenience store with a gun Saturday night. "He got slammed," Sydnor told the station. Johnson was still in the hospital Tuesday, recovering from the beating Sydnor administered, police said.

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ mascot Jaxson de Ville was seen on the field Sunday carrying a sign that read ‘Towels Carry Ebola’ in an apparent attempt to make fun of Steelers fans’ use of the Terrible Towel. On Monday, Jaguars team President Mark Lamping apologized for the incident....

Two teachers have taken Pennsylvania’s largest teachers union to court over its attempt to decide which charities may be supported by teachers as an alternative when they decline to join the union on religious grounds. The teachers, Chris Meier from Lancaster County and Jane Ladley from Chester County, are required—as a condition of employment—either to be a member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association or pay a nonmember “fair share” fee of $435. Last spring, PSEA accepted Meier and Ladley’s status as religious objectors. In lieu of paying membership dues, state law instructed the teachers to pay a “fair share”...

PLAINFIELD, Vt. (AP) - A one-time death row inmate now serving a life sentence for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer spoke to students graduating from a Vermont college on Sunday, encouraging them to strive to transform the world. Mumia Abu-Jamal spoke by video to 20 students receiving bachelor degrees from Goddard College in Plainfield. He earned a degree from the college in 1996. "Think about the myriad of problems that beset this land and strive to make it better," Abu-Jamal said in the video. He said his studies at Goddard allowed him to learn about important figures...

Two students at Bryn Mawr College tacked up a Confederate flag in their dormitory hall and taped a "Mason-Dixon line" across the floor - a move they said was merely a display of their Southern pride. But that display sent the small Main Line women's college into an uproar, with cries of protest from the student NAACP group and others, who called the items symbols of white supremacy, slavery, and hate. "I shouldn't have to walk past a Confederate flag on the way to my Black American Sociological Perspectives class, where we literally watch videos and learn about how that...

The 18-year-old sister of a suspect in a deadly police ambush said she thinks her brother, Eric Frein, has fled the Pocono Mountain woods, according to a story in The Morning Call. Tiffany Frein told the Call she believes the intensive manhunt has failed to capture her brother because he is no longer in the deep woods where officers are looking for him.

A patient who was evaluated for Ebola at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., does not have the disease, according to the DC Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Patient had traveled to Nigeria recently. That person was admitted to the hospital in stable condition and was isolated. The hospital continues to treat the patient for other illnesses. In a White House briefing Friday, Sylvia Burwell, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said of the Howard case, "What you see are people taking precautions." There are no confirmed cases of Ebola...

When it snows, Albert Smith dreads having to put on a couple of coats and sit in his car in the parking lot of the West Mifflin Manor apartment complex to smoke a cigarette. But after the Allegheny County Housing Authority banned smoking inside his building this week, he fears that's what he'll have to do. “I'm not on board,” said Smith, 72, a smoker since he was 15 who sat outside the subsidized apartment complex with a pack of Pall Malls in his shirt pocket and a smoke-free sign tacked to the wall behind him. “I pay $400 a...

Patient traveling from Nigeria admitted to Howard Univ Hospital in DC with possible Ebola symptoms. From Howard Univ : "we have activated the appropriate infection control protocols, including isolating the patient" Howard Univ: a patient ​has been admitted in stable condition, following travel to Nigeria w/ symptoms that could be associated with Ebola.

DNA testing was inconclusive on soiled diapers thought to have been left by Pennsylvania police ambush suspect Eric Frein, the FBI said Friday. The diapers had been exposed to the elements, so "you can’t say one way or the other" whether Frein wore them, said Edward Hanko, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia FBI office. State police announced last week they had discovered diapers in the northeastern Pennsylvania woods where Frein is believed to be hiding, and that he might have worn them so he could remain stationary for long periods of time.

UPDATE: Fire damages three buildings at Flight 93 National Memorial Posted: Friday, October 3, 2014 3:21 pm | Updated: 5:07 pm, Fri Oct 3, 2014. Six fire departments were called to a working structure fire at the Flight 93 National Memorial headquarters along Park Headquarters Road in Stonycreek Township. The fire was reported around 3:15 p.m. Friday. “There was a fire up in north headquarters,” said Mike Litterst, spokesman for the National Park Service, which oversees the park. “The headquarters is located about two miles away from the memorial.” Litterst didn't have any knowledge about the extent of the damage....

Six fire departments have been called to a working structure fire at the Flight 93 National Memorial headquarters along Park Headquarters Road in Stonycreek Township, according to scanner reports. The fire was reported around 3:15 p.m. Friday. The Daily American has sent a reporter to the scene and will provide updates as they become available.

A couple weeks ago, I was reading Greg Williams’ blog in which he talked about life after closing the Walk A Crooked Mile Bookstore at the Mount Airy Train Station, which he ran for 18 years. He spoke about seeking “the place where one’s bliss meets the world’s need.” Greg said he had just discovered a group called Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light, “a community of faith-based organizations responding to climate change as a moral issue,” and that he was planning to go with them to the People’s Climate March in Manhattan on Sept. 21. My wife Zipora and I...