Free Republic

Shorewood — A Shorewood man has been charged with 13 counts of voter fraud, allegedly using other peoples' names and addresses — even driving to Indiana — to cast multiple ballots in multiple elections. According to a criminal complaint, 50-year-old health insurance executive Robert Monroe cast two ballots in the April 2011 Supreme Court election between David Prosser and Joann Kloppenburg, two ballots in the August 2011 recall election between Alberta Darling and Sandy Pasch, five ballots in the Gov. Scott Walker recall election in June 2012, one illegal ballot in the August 2012 partisan primary election and two ballots...

Starting date: July 24, 2014 Type of communication: Recall Alert sub-type: Notification Subcategory: Extraneous Material Hazard classification: Class 3 Source of recall: Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recalling firm: Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd. Distribution: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec Extent of the product distribution: Retail CFIA reference number: 9067 Affected products Brand name Common name Size Code(s) on product UPC Kirkland Signature Whole Mixed Nuts 1.13 kg Best Before 02 APR 2015 0 96619 17766 0

For much of the spring, it seemed as if General Motors issued a new round of recalls every other day, but the automaker has been largely quiet on that front for over three weeks. Could the recall party be coming to an end? Based on a new press release from GM, the answer is probably "no". The release outlines six new recalls, some big, some small. They cover a range of recent models from GM's surviving four nameplates and affect roughly 823,000 vehicles. This brings the total number of vehicles recalled by GM since January 1, 2014 to 28,767,143. Here's...

General Motors Co (GM.N) on Wednesday announced six recalls covering 717,950 vehicles in the United States for varying reasons. None of the recalls were related to the ignition switch issues that have caused nearly 15 million recalls of GM vehicles worldwide this year. The new set of recalls brings GM's recalls worldwide this year to nearly 30 million. The largest recall is for a potentially loose bolt in power adjustable front seats for several cars from model years 2010 and 2012.

WASHINGTON — Only three months ago, Mary T. Barra arrived for the first time on Capitol Hill to apologize — publicly, profusely and personally — for General Motors’ long failure to recall millions of small cars. On Thursday, Ms. Barra returned to Washington again, and this time, she drew the line. As senator after senator offered more bruising criticism of G.M., Ms. Barra, G.M.'s chief, signaled that there were limits to what the automaker would do. G.M., she said, will not expand its compensation program for victims. The company will not waive its protection from lawsuits gained in bankruptcy reorganization....

In what may come as a surprise to residents of Colorado Springs and Pueblo, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t think those cities have roads. Bloomberg told Rolling Stone that he was “sorry” about the recalls of two state senators last year over the Democratic state legislature’s gun-control laws, but added that their districts were so “rural” that, “I don’t think there’s roads.” “In Colorado, we got a law passed. The NRA went after two or three state senators in a part of Colorado where I don’t think there’s roads,” said Bloomberg in the interview published online Wednesday....

Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg scoffed at rural Colorado’s reaction to gun control during an interview with Rolling Stone in this month’s magazine, suggesting that only the parts of the country without even the most basic components of civilization would be opposed to more gun control. Bloomberg was asked about the successful recall races of Democratic State Senators in response to the strict gun control legislation passed in the state. “The NRA went after two or three state Senators in a part of Colorado where I don't think there's roads. It's as far rural as you can get,” he said. ......

What the hell is going on over at General Motors? First the manufacturer announced on February 7th that a defect relating to 619,122 cars was identified, but that figure hiked to 25.7 million vehicles to date. As if that wasn't enough of a handful, the carmaker gets utterly ridiculous because of 542 redesigned ignition switches recalled in view of a faulty tab. According to an official statement, those 542 badly designed replacement ignition switch kits will be brought back to the Delphi Automotive plant in Mexico, disposed of and replaced with better built ones. Furthermore, this botchy mess "convinced" Delphi...

Sen. Thad Cochran’s (R-Miss.) campaign said Tuesday it “screwed up” its Federal Election Commission reports when disclosing $53,000 in get-out-the-vote cash payments, and will have to amend its filings. The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss., reports that campaign adviser Austin Barbour said the campaign made a mistake when disclosing large sums listed as reimbursements for “Campaign Walkers” to staffer Amanda Shook. Conservative blogger Charles Johnson reported Monday night that the reimbursements, including payments ranging from $8,000 to $15,000, violated FEC rules, which declare staffers can only be reimbursed for food and travel costs. Any other reimbursements to staff are considered loans,...

The precinct level returns in Hinds County bolster the theory that a surge in black, Democratic turnout allowed Senator Thad Cochran to defeat Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party-backed state senator, in last month’s Republican primary runoff in Mississippi. Mr. Cochran won by 7,667 votes. Nearly half — a net 3,532 votes — came from the most Democratic precincts in Jackson’s Hinds County, where President Obama won a combined 97.8 percent of the vote in 2012, according to figures released Tuesday night by the Mississippi secretary of state. The surge in turnout was clearest in overwhelmingly black precincts; turnout sometimes increased...

Subaru last week announced a second recall for vehicles which are prone to brake line corrosion in "salt belt" states. This latest recall follows a 2013 recall for the same issue, which can cause brake failure from burst brake lines due to rust. As Subaru does the right thing by consumers and motorists regarding the safety concern, General Motors continues to claim that brake line rust is a normal maintenance issue and refuses to recall its vehicles with the same problem. The Subaru recall weakens GM's defense that rusting brake lines do not need to be addressed by manufacturers...

Detroit: General Motors Co., which has recalled about 20 million cars and trucks in North America this year, added 428,111 more US vehicles to that tally, including its redesigned full-sized pickups and large sport-utility vehicles. GM said it needs to recalibrate software that controls the gears to fix the four-wheel drive on 392,459 pickups and SUVs, including the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups from 2014 and 2015 model years and the 2015 Chevy Tahoe and Suburban. The effected models can switch into neutral on their own, the automaker said on Friday in an e-mailed statement. If this occurs while...

House lawmakers told General Motors CEO Mary Barra on Wednesday that they were not satisfied with her company’s own probe into the slow recall of defective, deadly vehicles. "I want to be clear today that our investigation does continue,” Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), said. Barra was returning to Capitol Hill for the first time since releasing an internal review that found GM had a pattern of " incompetence and neglect " that led to its failure to recall more than two million defective cars made from the mid-2000’s until earlier this year. GM fired 15 people...

<p>DETROIT — General Motors says it needs to change or replace the keys for about 3.4 million cars because they could cause the ignition switch to move out of position if they're carrying too much weight.</p> <p>GM said in a statement Monday that the switches can rotate out of "run" if the key has excess weight and the car "experiences some jarring event," such as hitting a pothole or crossing a railroad track.</p>

DETROIT — To the legal department at General Motors, secrecy ruled. Employees were discouraged from taking notes in meetings. Workers’ emails were examined once a year for sensitive information that might be used against the company. G.M. lawyers even kept their knowledge of fatal accidents related to a defective ignition switch from their own boss, the company’s general counsel, Michael P. Millikin. An internal investigation released on Thursday into the company’s failure to recall millions of defective small cars found no evidence of a cover-up. But interviews with victims, their lawyers and current and former G.M. employees, as well as...

Video of press conference at source. General Motors has dismissed 15 employees and disciplined five others in the wake of an internal investigation into the company's handling of defective ignition switches, which lead to at least 13 fatalities. GM CEO Mary Barra says the personnel worked in several areas including engineering, legal and public policy, and that a disproportionate number of them were senior executives or higher. Barra described the conclusions of the investigation as “extremely thorough, brutally tough, and deeply troubling.” Barra says that the report found no conspiracy to cover up facts or trade-off between safety and cost,...

(Reuters) - General Motors on Tuesday apologized to families of accident victims who have been notified to bring in cars for replacement of defective ignition switches. "We are deeply sorry to those families who received a recall notice," said GM spokesman Greg Martin in response to questions from Reuters. GM has recalled 2.6 million of its most popular models to replace a defective switch that it has linked to 13 fatalities. Some families who lost loved ones in fatal crashes have complained that GM should not have sent them notices to bring in cars for repairs. Terri DiBattista, who lost...

GM (GM, Fortune 500) has raised the number of frontal-impact crashes linked to the problem ignitions to 47 from 32, according to company spokesman Greg Martin. Because of the flawed ignition, key rings holding more than one key could cause the ignition to suddenly switch to the off position. That can lead to a loss of power -- locking the steering wheel and interrupting airbags from deploying in an accident. GM says the number of deaths tied to front impact crashes stemming from this defect remains at 13. On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reportedly said the number...

As a result of the latest recalls, GM GM -1.83% expects to take $200 million more in recall-related charges in the second quarter, bringing the period’s total to $400 million. The latest recalled cars include: --1,339,355 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia full-size crossovers. --1,075,102 of the previous generation 4-speed automatic transmission Chevrolet Malibu from the 2004-2008 model years and Pontiac G6. --1,402 Cadillac Escalades and Escalade ESVs .