Free Republic

California and 15 states that want the U.S. Postal Service to electrify its mail delivery vehicles are suing to halt purchases of thousands of gas-powered trucks as the agency modernizes its delivery fleet. Three separate lawsuits, filed Thursday by the states and environmental groups in New York and California, ask judges to order a more thorough environmental review before the Postal Service moves forward with the next-generation delivery vehicle program. Plaintiffs contend that purchases of fossil fuel-powered delivery vehicles will cause environmental harm for decades to come. The lawsuits could further delay the Postal Service's efforts to replace the ubiquitous...

The Goldwater Institute is a leading free-market public policy research and litigation organization that is dedicated to empowering all Americans to live freer, happier lives. We accomplish real results for liberty by working in state courts, legislatures, and communities nationwide to advance, defend, and strengthen the freedom guaranteed by the constitutions of the United States and the fifty states. The following column is by Nicole Solas, a mother in Rhode Island and a client of the Goldwater Institute.I’m just like any parent—when I enrolled my daughter in kindergarten, I wanted to know what she would learn. In response, our school...

Biden's recommendation letter for Chinese executive's son was sent directly to Brown's president, email says. ... The resident has repeatedly denied discussing Hunter's business ventures with his son. Fox News Digital obtained emails between Hunter Biden and his business associates involved in his firm Rosemont Seneca’s joint venture with Chinese investment firms Bohai Capital and BHR. ... Hunter held a 10% stake in BHR as recently as last year, the White House previously acknowledged. ... In an email dated Jan. 3, 2017, and sent to Hunter Biden and his business associates Devon Archer and Jim Bolger, CEO of BHR ......

When asked whether someone who doesn’t know what a woman is should serve on the Supreme Court, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “I think it’s pretty clear that Judge Jackson is a woman. So, I don’t think she has any doubt as to what a woman is." At the Capitol on Thursday, March 24, CNSNews.com asked Sen. Whitehouse: “Senator Blackburn, on Tuesday during the hearing, asked Judge Jackson to define the word ‘woman’ and Judge Jackson said, ‘No. I can’t.’ Should someone who does not know what a woman is serve on the...

Thirteen Catholic lawmakers in the U.S. Senate voted Monday in favor of a failed attempt to pass a sweeping new abortion law that threatened to override states’ pro-life laws and remove restrictions on abortion up to the point of birth, in some cases. Their support of the defeated bill, called the Women’s Health Protection Act, placed them sharply at odds with the clear teaching of their Catholic faith, which strictly prohibits abortion and condemns efforts to promote it. Church leaders and Catholic pro-life advocates were quick to criticize the senators’ votes after the measure was defeated on Feb. 28. “Catholics...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island’s Senate president wants to require the state to be powered completely by renewable energy by 2030. Democratic Senate President Dominick Ruggerio introduced legislation this week. The Senate approved his similar legislation last year, but it stalled in the House. Former Gov. Gina Raimondo signed an executive order in 2020 setting a goal for the electric grid to operate with 100% renewable energy by 2030. Ruggerio’s bill would write that goal into law, accelerate current plans and outline the path forward. “Rhode Islanders are already feeling the effects of climate change and the risks facing...

America's blue states are increasingly chasing normalcy, especially when it comes to face mask rules meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. The latest: New York and Rhode Island on Wednesday joined New Jersey, Delaware, California and other states that have recently announced an end date for mask requirements and other COVID restrictions. Recent announcements made include: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Wednesday the state will drop its indoor mask mandate and a requirement that businesses ask customers for proof of vaccination starting Thursday. "At this time, we say it is the right decision to lift this mandate...

A Rhode Island hospital is dealing with a Covid-19 outbreak with patients after it asked staff who had tested positive, but were asymptomatic, to come in due to a staffing shortage. Eleanor Slater Hospital, a state-run facility with campuses in Cranston and Burrillville, reported it had 28 infected patients as of Thursday, according to the Boston Globe. The hospital has roughly 200 patients. On Saturday, the hospital had two Covid-positive staff members come into work and three on Monday, according to a memo posted on the official Rhode Island state website. "The decision to utilize covid-positive staff who are asymptomatic...

The Rhode Island Department of Health stands by the decision to allow COVID positive health care workers to return to their jobs instead of rehiring unvaccinated workers who were terminated because of their inoculation status. Updated quarantine and isolation guidance from the Rhode Island Department of Health allows employees to continue working at hospitals and nursing homes without restrictions if the facility is so short-staffed it's a safety hazard for patients and residents. The updated guidance sparked some criticism after health care workers were placed on unpaid leave for not getting vaccinated, with critics questioning if lifting the mandate would...

In response to the recent tragedy in Oakland County, Michigan, what did the anti-gunners do? Following their standard course of action, they are politicizing the deaths of four high school teens in an attempt to undermine your constitutionally-protected rights. In fact, bowing to the will of their far-Left overlords, anti-gun senators are bringing H.R. 8 to the Senate floor—which is a bill to institute Universal Background Registration Checks (UBCs). And to make matters worse, they are trying to do this by unanimous consent—without an actual vote. Please, contact your Senators and make sure they know you’re opposed to H.R. 8...

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) are urging President Biden not to nominate Jerome Powell to serve another term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, warning that his refusal to use the Fed to prepare the economy for the impact of climate change is a major problem. The Democratic senators join Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who are trying to steer Biden away from Powell, who was appointed chairman by President Trump, and toward picking Lael Brainard, the only Democrat on the central bank’s seven-member board. “Jerome Powell refuses to recognize climate change as an urgent and systemic economic...

New York, Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. are among the largest cities in the Northeast, with a plethora of towering office buildings populating their skylines. Ironically though, none of these locations are listed in the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Top 10 Commercial Office Markets for the third quarter of 2021. Instead, the South and West dominate the list, with places like Austin, Boise, Chattanooga, and Omaha, plus three different locations in Florida–Daytona Beach, Palm Beach, and Miami. Also absent from the register are metropolitan locations like Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, and Seattle. NAR analyzed 390 commercial...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Gov. Dan McKee on Friday released a working draft of his administration’s vision for Rhode Island’s future. The 55-page RI2030 plan looks at spurring economic growth, strengthening education, addressing climate change, prioritizing housing, and enhancing public health, among other things. The plan was put together with feedback from the public through 13 virtual community conversations. The draft plan also calls for addressing racial inequity and poverty. “Historic and ongoing systemic exclusion of people of color from economic opportunity has led families of color in Rhode Island to be trapped in the cycle of poverty at higher...

A concerned mom says she’s filed a police report against North Kingstown High School in North Kingstown, Rhode Island for promoting a book with gay pornography to minors in the school library. The pornographic book was published by Lion Forge Comics and is titled “Gender Queer: A Memoir.” It was authored and illustrated by Maia Kobabe, who uses the made-up pronouns of e/em/eir and whose work focuses on “anti-fascism,” according to a description on Amazon. Nicole Solas, a resident of South Kingstown and mom of a kindergartener, posted a picture of the book in a display case on Twitter and...

Ivy League colleges say vaccination works — but students have to mask up inside The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that COVID vaccines “can keep you from getting and spreading the virus” but that has not stopped all eight Ivy League universities from mandating indoor masking for all students. It also has not stopped the CDC from recommending masking indoors. According to a College Fix analysis, at least 240,000 students, faculty and staff at the Ivy League colleges will be both fully-vaccinated and required to mask indoors this fall semester. The Fix reviewed university COVID dashboards, campus papers,...

After it looked like the legislature was finally about to reclaim its authority, Governor McKee plunged the state back into unilateral rule. For all the wrong reasons earlier this summer, the Rhode Island General Assembly finally did the right thing in restoring a proper balance of powers. But just weeks later, the governor double-crossed lawmakers with an audacious, and likely illegal, power play. Now some lawmakers are speaking out against their own party’s governor and asking leadership to intervene against his latest gambit. In a state where COVID-19 case and fatality rates have persistently ranked among the worst in the...

Henri formed in the mid-Atlantic. After initially following a loopy southward and westward track, Henri is forecast to move northward toward New England. Mash the graphics below to enlarge. All links and images are self-updating. GOES Satellite Floater NHC Public Advisories NHC Forecast Discussions Buoy Info Tropical Tidbits by Levi Cowan NWS Radar

The Rhode Island branch of a major teachers union is suing to block a school district from fulfilling a mother's public records requests, citing the sheer volume of requests and concerns about teacher privacy. The case revolves around a mom, Nicole Solas, who caught national attention for her quest to address critical race theory (CRT) in her child's district. School board members previously considered suing Solas over her copious records requests – at least 200 – but declined prior to the recent lawsuit. "We are asking the Court to conduct a balancing test to determine whether our members’ privacy rights...

Police are investigating after a mob of ATV and dirt bike riders allegedly pulled a woman out of her car and beat her in a late-night attack in Providence, Rhode Island -- the latest incident in what officials are saying is a spate of "out of control" violence. The incident happened Tuesday night, shortly after 11 p.m., according to a copy of the police report obtained by ABC News. The 35-year-old victim had honked her horn at a group of about 10 ATV and dirt bike riders after they failed to move through two green lights, according to the report.......

When Nicole Solas, a Rhode Island mom, was preparing to enroll her daughter in kindergarten this year, she had one simple question: did the school teach critical race theory and gender theory to five-year-olds? The answer to that question was not so simple, or at least, the South Kingstown, Rhode Island school district didn’t want it to be. Both the principal and chair of the school committee told Solas she would need to submit public records requests in order to find out the content of her daughter’s taxpayer-provided education. When Solas submitted the requests, the school rejected them, claimed the...