Free Republic

A long-running court battle between a Harrisburg restaurant owner and former state Health Secretary Elia Avila that stemmed from an argument over an egg sandwich apparently has ended quietly with a $75,000 settlement. The recently-reached accord between Avila and Richard M. Hanna, which falls to the state to pay, can be gleaned from records filed in Dauphin County Court. Eli Avila cropFormer Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Eli Avila.State of Pennsylvania Those documents state that Avila, who resigned his state job in October 2012, and Hanna and their lawyers are barred from discussing the agreement that resolved the suit Hanna filed...

The Palestinian Authority has set new conditions for agreeing to extend the peace talks with Israel after April, PA officials in Ramallah said Thursday. The new Palestinian conditions include Israeli recognition of the pre-1967 lines as the future borders of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital and the release of 1,200 Palestinian prisoners, the officials said. The Palestinians are now demanding that Israel release three senior prisoners: Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Sa’adat and Fuad Shobaki. The new conditions also include a complete cessation of settlement construction, PA sovereignty over Area C in the West Bank, a halt of...

ROSS TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – A tree trimmer was seriously injured after being cut in the neck with a chainsaw Monday, and now we’re getting our first look at an X-ray of his injury. Police say the 21-year-old James Valentine, from Adler Tree Service in Gibsonia, was in a tree in Ross Township when the accident happened.

After Rumspringa (running around) is over, the Amish young person returns after being gone for two years, and agrees to live according to the Amish ordnung (rules for living) pertaining to clothing, trnasportation, electrical appliances/power, etc, how do Amish bishops, ministers and deacons deal with the inward person(s) that none can see? Which is a greater threat to an Amish person's salvation - the "English" or the carnal man/sinful nature that we (Christian or non-Christian still possess and have to deal with until we are are glorified in heaven? The Apostle Paul: I do the things that I don't want...

Sad but true, this is the way it works in the United States. Two men entered a convenience store, pointed their guns at the clerk, and robbed the store. As they exited the store, an armed citizen confronted them. The robbers pointed their guns at the honest citizen and he shot and killed both of them. Now the family of one of the dead robbers wants “justice.” They want to sue the honest citizen. And leave it to the media to give the families of armed robbers a forum. In what has become a cliché, the mother of an armed...

The Palestinian Authority (P) Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash and the former Chief palestinians want soverignty over western wallJustice of the PA's Religious Court both recently declared that the PA's Islamic belief and political position is that Jews are prohibited from praying at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA denies Israel's history and rights in Jerusalem, but these statements by top religious leaders go even further. The PA claims that the area of the Muslim holy site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, includes not only the mosque itself, but extends over the...

Pennsylvania has a state preemption statute that prevents local governments from creating a crazy patchwork of local firearm laws.  Such a patchwork would effectively chill the exercise of second amendment rights in the State.  From the Pennsylvania statutes: (a)  General rule.--No county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms, ammunition or ammunition components when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth. The problem is that there are no teeth to the law, because there are no penalties imposed on local governments who violate...

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office ran an undercover sting operation over three years that captured leading Philadelphia Democrats, including four members of the city's state House delegation, on tape accepting money, The Inquirer has learned. Yet no one was charged with a crime. Prosecutors began the sting in 2010 when Republican Tom Corbett was attorney general. After Democrat Kathleen G. Kane took office in 2013, she shut it down. In a statement to The Inquirer on Friday, Kane called the investigation poorly conceived, badly managed, and tainted by racism, saying it had targeted African Americans.

D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc. appears to be building its seasonal beer brand. The Pottsville-based brewer will be releasing a new seasonal beer, Summer Wheat Traditional Weizen Beer in April. It is the third beer in Yuengling's seasonal lineup which includes Bock in the spring and Oktoberfest in the fall. The Summer Wheat is brewed with a combination of wheat and barley malts. A Hallertau hops and Bavarian-style top fermenting yeast will deliver a thick, creamy head with overtones of banana and clove, according to a press release. The authentic German Weizen style beer will boast a slight hazy appearance...

The York County Sheriff's Office released dash cam video from a traffic stop in which a deputy shot an elderly man reaching for his cane. WARNING: Video includes some graphic material and language.

The most anti-Israel President in US History We were warned. [video] BUT THIS IS STUNNING– A top Obama official this weekend told the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper that there is no need for Palestinians to recognize Israel. Israel National News reported: The United States believes there is no need for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to recognize Israel as a Jewish state as part of a peace agreement, State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday. Psaki, who spoke to the PA-based Arabic-language Al-Qudsnewspaper, said, “The American position is clear, Israel is a Jewish state. However, we do not see a need that...

The United States believes there is no need for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to recognize Israel as a Jewish state as part of a peace agreement, State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday. Psaki, who spoke to the PA-based Arabic-language Al-Quds newspaper, said, “The American position is clear, Israel is a Jewish state. However, we do not see a need that both sides recognize this position as part of the final agreement.” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been adamant on the PA recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, explaining that the Arabs’ refusal to recognize Israel stands at the heart...

Entrance to Frank's Gun Shop by Ashley Hardway In this highly unusual case, the action was all caught on video.  The gun shop owner, Frank Petro, knew the former officer, Jack O. Edmundson.  Family members said that Edmundson had been extorting Petro by impersonating a state lottery officer.  The scam was that Edmundson claimed that Petro's winnings were fraudulent, and that he would jail Petro unless Petro paid him the winnings.   Petro, as a highly regulated gun shop owner was particularly vulnerable.  Even an accusation might have resulted in the BATFE pulling his license and livelihood.   When Petro's...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — Same-sex couples legally married in another state may face extra time filling out their tax forms in Pennsylvania.Pennsylvania doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages, so if a couple was legally married in another state, the partners can not file a joint state tax return here. “Typically, if folks file jointly or separately, they most times would not have any difference in the tax liability in Pennsylvania,” notes Rosalind Sutch, a CPA with the firm of Drucker & Scaccetti, in Philadelphia, “so the requirement that Pennsylvania has recently noted on its web site that folks of the same sex...

A Pennsylvania woman has admitted to killing a man she met through a Craigslist advertisement and claimed to have killed more than 20 other people across the country. Miranda Barbour, 19, claims in an interview with the Daily Item of Sunbury, Pa., to have killed at least 22 other people in Alaska, Texas, North Carolina and California in the last six years. Barbour reportedly claimed it was part of her involvement in a satanic cult, though she offered few details of the murders she claimed to have participated in. “I can pinpoint on a map where you can find them,”...

HARRISBURG — Former Acting Attorney General William H. Ryan Jr., a top aide to Tom Corbett when the governor was attorney general, changed the period for retaining the office's emails from five years to six months, according to a document released on Friday by Attorney General Kathleen Kane. The revelation was disclosed as Kane reviews whether Corbett's investigation of serial predator Jerry Sandusky was slowed for political purposes. It took almost three years until Sandusky's arrest in November 2011 — 11 months after Corbett became governor. “I can assure you it had nothing to do with protecting anybody,” Ryan said...

The next president of Penn State will be a familiar face on campus here — Florida State President Eric Barron, a source confirmed Friday. Barron, a 20-year faculty member and a former dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, has been chosen to be Penn State’s 18th president. Penn State’s board of trustees will vote to hire Barron during a special board of trustees meeting at noon Monday at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. The board’s compensation committee also must approve his contract. Barron will succeed Rodney Erickson, who delayed retiring and opted to lead the university...

A recent report from January, which the media has kept a tight lip on, has exposed the widespread human rights abuses of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The report, from the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), charges PA and Hamas for repeated cases of torture, oppression, assaults on freedom of expression and academic freedoms, as well as ignoring court orders. In January alone the report notes ten Arab residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza were killed through "anarchy, lawlessness and misuse of weapons," reports Mosaic Magazine. In the same month, ICHR reports...

By Sarah Fruchtnicht, Wed, February 12, 2014 A Pennsylvania substitute teacher claims he was wrongfully terminated after he reported suspicion of child sexual abuse to police. Meadville Area High School teacher Christopher Harmon insists he was threatened for reporting his suspicions to authorities, instead of the principal, and was fired the day after he made the report. Harmon filed suit in federal court against the Crawford County School District, its Superintendent Charles Heller and MASH Principal John Higgins on Feb. 3. The lawsuit states that Higgins "attempted to intimidate and dissuade Harmon from making any additional reports of suspected child...

EAGLES MERE — A popular winter attraction in Sullivan County is back on after a two year hiatus. The ice toboggan slide in Eagles Mere is up and running and Friday night fans came out in droves for ride. Flying at neck-braking speeds, feeling icy winds slap your face, the ice toboggan slide in Eagles Mere is simply a pure adrenaline rush. “Most amazing thing in the world,” said Elizabeth Decherney of Eagles Mere. “I’m like freaking out about going on it but that’s just because I’m a worrier,” said Tori Garcia, who was up from Virginia visiting her grandmother....