Free Republic

Multiple senior members of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration and the head of his People Power Party (PPP) tendered their resignations on Thursday after vote counts confirmed that the left-wing Democratic Party decisively took over the National Assembly in Wednesday’s midterm election. The Democrats overcame a chaotic campaign season in which leader Lee Jae-myung survived a would-be assassin stabbing him in the neck. The day he was released from the hospital, three members of his party defected, protesting that Lee was running an authoritarian and corrupt “regime” within the party. Lee was in court on Tuesday for a hearing addressing...

The largest consumer bankruptcy law firm in Illinois and one of the biggest in the country has filed for bankruptcy after taking millions in taxpayer-backed loans meant to help struggling businesses survive the pandemic. The Semrad Law Firm LLC, which markets itself as DebtStoppers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 26 in Delaware, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to reorganize under a judge’s supervision and keep operating while paying creditors at least part of what they’re owed. ... The PPP loans were aimed at small businesses that needed help keeping employees on the...

Tens of thousands of fraudsters splurged on Lamborghinis, vacation homes, private jet flights and Cartier jewelry by fleecing the PPP loan system in a $200 billion heist — and did it because the COVID loan scheme was so easy to milk. Approximately $1.2 trillion was rushed through Congress in 2020 and 2021 in COVID bailout cash for businesses and spent on the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDLP) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) schemes. But a new report from the Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General reveals an astonishing 17% vanished to fraud — an estimated total of...

OceanGate Expeditions, the company behind the Titan submersible disaster, was forgiven of its $450,000 Paycheck Protection Program loan, according to the ProPublica PPP Loan Database. OceanGate builds submersibles for tourism and research, but its inherently risky business model raises questions, and led to the tragic deaths of five people in the ocean in June. Its liability waiver for sub tourism mentioned the possibility of death three times on the first page alone. Now, some are accusing the company of cutting corners. James Cameron, the renowned Titanic explorer and director of the 1997 movie, said, "I was very suspect of the...

MIAMI — Daniela Rendon, 31, of Miami made her appearance in federal magistrate court today and was charged with fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief loans and grants under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Relief Program. According to the indictment, Rendon submitted fraudulent applications seeking COVID-19 relief funds from the Small Business Administration and PPP. She is alleged to have falsified her revenue and payroll and submitted fraudulent IRS tax forms. According to the charges, Rendon received approximately $381,000 in fraudulent funds. To disburse the funds, she is alleged to have enrolled with a payroll processor to...

A new poll shows Gov. Kathy Hochul with a big lead over Republican rival Lee Zeldin (R-Suffolk) despite a plurality of New York voters saying they have an unfavorable view of the Democratic incumbent ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Just 36% of respondents had a positive opinion of Hochul, compared to 41% unfavorable – but she had a 54% to 39% lead over Zeldin, according to data compiled by Public Policy Polling on behalf of her political allies. Zeldin, her conservative challenger, has come within single digits in two GOP-friendly surveys in recent weeks, with others showing her lead...

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks said the Biden White House pointing to Republican members of Congress who got Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans forgiven to respond to criticism of its student loan program is wrong because the PPP loans were designed to preserve jobs and were designed to be forgiven, while student loans “are things people signed promising to pay them back.” He also stated that the response lacked class, and “if you’re going to be unclassy, be smart about it. Don’t be dumb about it if you’re not classy.”

White House aides repeatedly refuse to address the cost of President Joe Biden’s decision on Wednesday to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt. “I can’t give you that off the top of my head,” White House director of domestic policy Susan Rice said Wednesday during the daily briefing when asked whether the administration had estimated the cost of the president’s decision. She repeated the cost of the program would not be fully known until the federal government knew how many people would take advantage of it. The president spent several months stalling a decision on canceling student debt, telling...

Paul Pelosi, the husband to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), is linked to a company that saw millions in loans forgiven through the Paycheck Protection Program.The Paycheck Protection Program was a national mainstay at the height of the pandemic to help small businesses make their way through a marred economy and retain employees.However, elites also took advantage of the program, and Paul Pelosi might have benefited, according to a report....EDI Associates, a restaurant-based company, will not have to repay two loans worth a total of $1.7 million in federal government loans, according to the report.

Pennsylvania could continue to work with a partnership headed by an Australian firm to replace nine major bridges across the state and maintain them for for 30 years. It just has to find another way to pay for the work now that adding tolls of $1 or $2 per vehicle is off the table. The state Department of Transportation continues to review how it will replace the bridges, which are estimated to cost $2.5 billion. They are considered economically important structures, but the state said it doesn’t have the funds to replace them. One possibility is that the state continues...

Study found that taxpayers shelled out $4 for every $1 in wages and benefits received by workers from the Paycheck Protection Program. Taxpayers paid $4 for every $1 in wages and benefits received by workers in jobs saved by the federal government’s pandemic Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The Fed study also found PPP didn’t support jobs at risk of disappearing, and money flowed disproportionately to wealthier households. “The PPP was a very large and very timely fiscal-policy intervention, saving about 3 million jobs at its peak in...

A Las Vegas callgirl who comes up repeatedly on Hunter Biden‘s laptop hit the jackpot with a $20,207 check from the federal government for her “female owned sole proprietorship” shortly after her well-connected client’s father moved into the White House, according to federal records. The check Uncle Sam cut to Cheryl Deboves was part of the coronavirus Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) bailout, and she listed it as saving one job in the field of “Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers.” But unless she changed professions after President Joe Biden’s troubled son abandoned his laptop in a Delaware computer repair shop, her...

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will negotiate with a nine-member group of contractors headed by an Australian firm to replace nine bridges proposed for tolling at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion. The group — which calls itself Bridging Pennsylvania Partners — lists Macquarie Infrastructure Developments LLC of Sydney as the lead contractor and includes FCC Construccion, S.A., of Spain, as well as six Pennsylvania companies. They include Joseph B. Fay Co. and Shikun & Binui America Inc., of Pittsburgh. The contract will require that 65% of the work be done by Pennsylvania firms. State Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Johnstown...

A transportation company owned by Mike Collins, a Republican running for Congress in Georgia’s 10th District, received a $920,000 loan in April of 2020 as part of the Trump administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The next year Collins personally loaned his political campaign a total of $465,000, none of which has been repaid by the campaign.

The toll lanes for Florida’s I-4 Ultimate, a seven-year, $2.4 billion project, are now open, with 21 miles of rebuilt highway and new express lanes between Orange and Seminole counties. It is the largest road project in state history. Highlights of the project: Reconstruction of I-4 lanes and adding four new tolled I-4 Express lanes – two in each direction; Reconstruction of 15 major interchanges; Replacement of 74 bridges, widening of 13 bridges, and adding 53 new bridges. The I-4 Express lanes, the centerpiece of the project, are now open on the interstate’s center lanes and separated by concrete barriers....

Construction on Interstate 35W between North Tarrant Parkway and Eagle Parkway has officially crossed the half-way mark. The project, from public-private partnership North Tarrant Express Mobility Partners, is improving existing toll-free lanes and building two toll managed lanes in each direction. North Tarrant Infrastructure is the general contractor on the project. “This latest project on 35W is on track and will produce extra capacity and congestion relief north into Denton County by late 2023,” said Francisco Galdeano, COO of North Tarrant Express Mobility Partners Segment 3.

Several non-profit organizations that distribute crack pipes as part of smoking kits received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Daily Caller analysis of loan filings found. The Daily Caller identified eight organizations that received PPP loans and distribute kits with pipe components or a fully assembled smoking device. Those organizations received more than $5 million in PPP loans during the pandemic, including two organizations that received more than $1 million each. The federal government distributed $800 billion in PPP loans during the pandemic, with the majority going to business owners, shareholders, creditors, and suppliers, according to...

After years of work, shifting lanes, blocked exits and delays, the I-4 Ultimate Construction project is finally almost done. The new system will bring new lanes and tolls, and will offer a road that should be safer and faster. Advertisement Lynden Turnquest works for Truly Nolen, and for more than six years he's weaved his way through construction, hoping for relief, but not betting on it. "Once it opens up and the construction is done it'll be like WOOHOO!!! And then it's back to traffic again," Turnquest said. But how did we get to the point where officials felt we...

Celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church buckled to pressure and will repay $4.4 million in COVID-19 disaster loans meant for small businesses, according to a new report. In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, Lakewood — whose pastor Osteen is reportedly worth $50 million — defended its decision to seek support from the Paycheck Protection Program and insisted neither Osteen nor his wife received any of the money. “Like many organizations temporarily shuttered by the pandemic, this loan provided Lakewood Church short-term financial assistance in 2020 ensuring that its approximately 350 employees and their families would continue to receive a...

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation took the next step toward replacing and charging tolls on as many as nine bridges Monday, but motorists won’t pay to use the bridges until 2023 at the earliest. PennDOT announced it has selected three firms to submit proposals for finishing the design of the nine bridges and propose whether to bundle them together under one contract, replace them individually or a combination of the two. The department’s goal is to turn the bridges over to private firms to design and replace them, then maintain them for 30 years with the tolls covering the costs....