Free Republic

Pennsylvania's self-destructing attorney general, Kathleen Kane, should resign. This week alone, The Inquirer has reported that she disrupted a second political corruption case, while the Supreme Court upheld a probe into her dissemination of grand jury information that could yield criminal charges. It's now clear that since her early days in office, Kane's attempts to protect legitimate law enforcement targets and smear rivals have been at odds with the public interest.

Authorities say Keonna Thomas' use of social media is what led them to make the arrest. Police say she planned to link up with terrorists in Syria. NBC10's George Spencer has a closer look at the woman accused in the case. (Published Friday, Apr 3, 2015) A Philadelphia mother of two who goes by the name of "YoungLioness" on Twitter was arrested by federal authorities Friday and charged with trying to support ISIS with money and resources. Keonna Thomas, 30, appeared in court in full black dress with only her eyes showing just hours after her arrest. According to the...

--SNIP-- Kane's office declined to comment. Lanny Davis, her outside lawyer and spokesman, later said that she signed and sent paperwork to Saylor for a Norristown grand jury. The Norristown grand jury recommended criminally charging Kane with perjury, obstruction of justice, official oppression and criminal contempt for allegedly leaking grand jury information to a Philadelphia newspaper. The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to nullify the grand jury's report. Its evidence remains sealed.

Republican presidential hopefuls are united in blasting President Obama for his chaotic enforcement of marijuana laws, but the unity quickly breaks down when they are asked how they would handle things if they were in the White House. Some have sent mixed signals, saying state decisions should be respected while questioning how Mr. Obama has respected those decisions. Others have refused to say how they would wield the federal bureaucracy against marijuana. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is one of the few potential candidates to take a firm stance, saying he would insist on following federal statutes that outlaw the drug....

EBENSBURG – In the words of Cambria County Sheriff Bob Kolar: some people collect model cars, some people collect motorcycles, some people collect guns. One middle-aged Cambria County man is a collector of the latter. When an angry lady friend decided to strike out, it was in the direction of those guns that she struck. A total of 306 rifles and shotguns – some of which the woman alleged had been stolen – were removed from the home by Kolar and his deputies. “We wore bulletproof vests. We had no idea what we where getting in to,” Kolar said Wednesday....

Energy: New federal regulations on fracking on public land ignore a study documenting that methane found in well water is unrelated to the location of hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells. When the Obama administration recently released its new regulations on fracking — regulations that it said were needed to keep up with the advance and success of the decades-old technology to meet public safety needs — the Independent Petroleum Association of America and Western Energy Alliance immediately filed suit, saying that the new regs were based on "unsubstantiated concerns" that lacked any scientific basis. "Hydraulic fracturing has been conducted...

Republicans are debating whether their path to the presidency in 2016 runs through the blue-collar Rust Belt states, or the demographically changing new South and Sunbelt states. For Democrats looking to retake the Senate, however, the formula is more clear-cut: Win back white working-class voters, or be consigned to a longer-term minority. Most of the Senate battlegrounds run through the Midwest—Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio—along with New Hampshire, which carries demographic similarities with those older, whiter Great Lakes states. To defeat the vulnerable Republican incumbents, Democrats have a challenging task ahead: Making inroads with blue-collar voters, who have been stubbornly resistant...

Martina White became the city's second Republican member in the state House on Tuesday night, with a commanding win in a special election for Northeast Philadelphia's 170th District. Her victory - by a margin of 14 percent with 97 percent of the vote tallied Tuesday night - prompted Republican celebrations and Democratic recriminations. White defeated Democrat Sarah Del Ricci, who was handpicked for the special election by Lt. Gov. Mike Stack III. White credited the win - the first pickup by the Republicans of an open General Assembly seat in Philadelphia in 25 years - to the hard work of...

Imprisoned journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal is in intensive care for treatment of diabetes and is “not doing well,” his family said Tuesday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Abu-Jamal, 60, was taken from the Pennsylvania state Correctional Institution in Mahanoy to Schuylkill Medical Center in Pottsville Monday after passing out, his wife Wadiya Jamal said outside the hospital. She says prison officials told her he is in diabetic shock. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer: His blood sugar level was very high – 779 – when he arrived at the hospital and remains at more than 300, she said....

Former death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal was rushed to a hospital to be treated for complications from diabetes, according to family members and supporters who asserted Tuesday that the state prison system has been providing him with substandard medical care. […] Abu-Jamal, 60, is a former Black Panther serving life in prison for the 1981 murder of white Philadelphia Officer Daniel Faulkner. His conviction was upheld through years of appeals, but he has gained international support for his claim that he’s the victim of a racist justice system. A federal appeals court threw out his death sentence in 2008, citing...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Pennsylvania's highest court says a county judge acted properly when he appointed a special prosecutor to look into grand jury leaks tied to the state attorney general's office.

Today is the tenth anniversary of Terri Schaivo's death after a 13 day process of killing by starvation. At 5 pm today a Memorial Mass will be celebrated in memory of Terri by Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput at the Chapel of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. The 2015 Life and Hope Award Gala will occur at 7:15 pm at the Union League of Philadelphia, 140 South Broad Street. The keynote speaker will be Glenn Beck, who invested much time and effort on behalf of Terri and in support of her family. Glenn spoke at a...

A nonprofit advocacy group that supports former death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal reported that he had been hospitalized Monday afternoon. Prison Radio, which distributes recordings made by Abu-Jamal in prison, said the 60-year-old had been transported from the State Correctional Institution at Mahanoy in Schuylkill County at 1 p.m. to the intensive care unit at Schuylkill Medical Center.

UNITED FEDERATION OF HUMANITY LOCAL 15120 OFFICIAL GRIEVANCE FORM Grievance filed against: Steel Valley Education Association Grievance alleged: The union representing Park Elementary School teachers filed a cruel, insensitive, unnecessary and ultimately impotent grievance against Steel Valley School District. Said grievance involving a special needs student violates the compassion, decency and concern for others clauses of its collective bargaining agreement with the UFH, hereafter referred to as “humanity.” The grievance was incalculably unintelligent and an enormous public relations gaffe that casts Park teachers as complete cads. Those aren't explicit violations of the CBA but should be noted for the record....

Chick-Fil-A Opens Slew of New Stores Nationwide Despite the occasional negative press, Chick-Fil-A’s franchises are thriving throughout the United States. Shortly after the arrival of spring, new Chick-Fil-A restaurants are cropping up in states like Florida and Pennsylvania, signaling that the chain responsible for “Eat More Chicken” ads continues to outperform competitors, such as KFC and Church’s. As reported by the Palm Beach Post, Chick-Fil-A’s newest restaurant held a grand opening in Delray Beach, Florida on March 26 to hundreds of people anxiously awaiting its debut. For more than 24 hours, customers camped outside the new restaurant hoping to be...

http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/03/26/angies-list-class-action-lawsuit/

It's an anniversary date, but at 36 years it's not one that normally requires the amount of reflection 20, 40 or 50 years after the fact would necessitate. Still, you can never do too much on it, considering the crisis at Three Mile Island that began in the early morning of March 28, 1979, ranks among the top couple of events to ever affect Harrisburg and the midstate. Its repercussions still are being felt today.

A "food source" sickened nearly 100 restaurant patrons in Philadelphia last month, but city and state health officials say Pennsylvania law bars them from disclosing what the food was or how it was contaminated. Philly.com reported Friday ( http://bit.ly/1HQbZYs ) that dozens of lawyers and law students became sick after a Feb. 27 feast at Joy Tsin Lau in the city's Chinatown. Some said they were bedridden and others had to seek medical attention after becoming sick, but the owner said her restaurant didn't cause it.

Imagine there's no IRS. It isn't hard to do. No Obamacare to pay for. And no budget deficits too. Imagine all the people, living with a flat tax. You may say Ted Cruz is a dreamer, but he's not the only one. He hopes some day—especially if you live in Iowa—you'll join him, and, well, he'll be president. That, at least, was the message during his announcement, oddly redolent of John Lennon, that he's officially seeking the highest office in the land. It was a conservative wish list to not only repeal the 21st century, but the 20th, too. About...

Many of the key figures cited in a scathing inspector general’s report this week are allies of Hillary Rodham Clinton, marking the latest in a series of stumbles for the former first lady and secretary of state that likely forced her to delay her planned presidential campaign announcement.A Democratic strategist familiar with her team’s thinking said they are scrambling to limit the damage and readjust the campaign rollout schedule after the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general revealed an apparent cronyism scandal that ensnared Mrs. Clinton’s brother, Anthony Rodham, and two of her political confidants, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and former...