Free Republic

Police: 3 wounded in Virginia bus station shooting; suspect in custody Bus station shooting A police officer talks with bus patrons outside the Greyhound Bus Station on Thursday, March 31, 2016, in Richmond, Va. Virginia State Police said at least two troopers responding to a shooting at the Richmond bus station and civilian have been taken to a hospital. A police spokeswoman says the shooting suspect was in custody. (Steve Helber / AP) Virginia State Police say two troopers responding to a shooting at a Richmond bus station and a civilian have been taken to a hospital. Spokeswoman Corinne Geller...

Police and ambulances rushed to a Greyhound bus station in Richmond, Va. Thursday after reports of an active shooter, according to local media. ADVERTISEMENT Paramedics rushed at least four people to a nearby hospital, WRIC reports. It was unclear whether the shooter was among them.

The Richmond Police Department is trying an innovative approach to reduce violent crime.  Because the policy targets people who are not allowed to own guns, it might have positive effects.  David Kennedy has shown that most murders are committed by a very small group of violent individuals, usually associated with gangs and/or drug trafficking.  Identifying and focusing on those individuals has been shown to drastically reduce the murder rate.  One of the methods used to do this is to encourage people to turn in violent felons who illegally possess firearms.  Richmond Virginia has decided to run with this idea....

Explanation: Can you identify a familiar area in the northeast USA just from nighttime lights? It might be possible because many major cities are visible, including (right to left) New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond and Norfolk -- Boston of the USA's Northeast megalopolis is not pictured. The featured image was taken in 2012 from the International Space Station. In the foreground are two Russian cargo ships with prominent solar panels. This Northeast megalopolis of the USA contains almost 20 percent of the people of the USA but only about 2 percent of the land area. Also known also as...

A Vallejo man, Richmond police officer and active community member was fatally shot at his home in the Glen Cove neighborhood early Thursday. Vallejo police said Augustine “Gus” Vegas, 58, was killed after being shot multiple times inside the house. Vegas was a 15-year veteran with the Richmond Police Department, and last served in the regulatory unit. The suspect, identified as Robert Vega, 30, of Fairfield, has been taken into custody and is the father of Vegas’ 6-year-old grandson. The shooting was reported by a family member at 4:39 a.m. in the unit block of Narragansett Court at the victim’s...

A Virginia man who was allegedly attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group and a man accused of helping him have been arrested. Prosecutors said in a statement Saturday that 28-year-old Joseph Hassan Farrokh was arrested Friday at the airport in Richmond, Virginia. Officials said his ultimate destination was Syria. Officials also arrested 25-year-old Mahmoud Amin Mohamed Elhassan, who they say drove Farrokh to Richmond. Both men are from Woodbridge, Virginia. Farrokh, a U.S. citizen born in Pennsylvania, has been charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Elhassan,...

Virginia GOP'ers returned fire over the state Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring's move to halt recognition of concealed carry permits from 25 different states. Our General Assembly has already identified who can and cannot conceal handguns in Virginia, and we cannot have that decision undermined by recognizing permits from other states with more permissive standards, Herring said when he made the announcement last week. Republican state legislators could strip Virginia Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe of his protective detail. Virginia Sen. Bill Carrico told The Herald Courier last Tuesday he plans to propose a budget amendment during the State Senate's January...

Prosecutors in Northern California have charged a self-employed plumber who allegedly threatened to kill Muslim people outside a mosque with making criminal threats and hate crimes. [...] [55-year-old William] Celli is accused of yelling "I'm going to kill you all" outside the Islamic Center of West Contra Costa County on Dec. 4 and of posting a picture of a pipe bomb on social media the same day. ...

A neighborhood in Richmond had to be evacuated Sunday when police say a man was making explosives in his home with the intent of harming the Muslim community. Police received a tip from a caller on December 17th who said a man was making the devices and threatening to harm Muslims.

'Take Off with Ted' Richmond Rally Friday Dec. 18th, 2015 Doors Open: 10:00am Program: 11:30am Life Church 8378 Atlee Rd Mechanicsville, VA 23116 Register for the event.

The historic St. Paul’s Episcopal Church known as the “Cathedral of the Confederacy” has begun removing all images of the Confederate flag from within its walls. The measure includes six plaques with various versions of the Confederate flag, the church’s coat of arms with the flag on kneelers at the high altar, and bookplates in some books in the church’s library. The coat of arms will be retired, and the church will start to dig deeper in its history, the role of race and slavery in that history, and how parishioners can engage in conversations about race in the Richmond...

RICHMOND, Ind. — A man who led police on a three-county chase in August is in jail again, this time on public nudity charges. David Simpson, 22, address at large, is in Wayne County Jail on a charge of public nudity after police say he was found running naked in Glen Miller Park in Richmond Wednesday night. In August, Simpson allegedly drove a stolen BMW from Indianapolis to Englewood at speeds of 110 miles per hour. Multiple law enforcement jurisdictions were engaged in a chase with the stolen vehicle. Simpson attempted to drive through a closed construction area on Interstate...

GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with the media before addressing the Family Foundation of Virginia's 30th annual gala at the Greater Richmond Convention Center Saturday, November 14, 2015. (Alexa Welch Edlund) Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in Richmond to boost his presidential bid in the commonwealth, said Saturday that the terrorist attacks in Paris underscore the threat the Islamic State poses to the United States."I want to express solidarity with the people of France, with the people of Paris - all across America, Americans are lifting them up in our prayers, we are standing with our friends and...

Republican Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz stopped by Richmond Saturday for a conservative fundraiser with the Family Foundation. Fresh off the campaign trail in South Carolina, Senator Ted Cruz wasted no time in speaking to our allies from Richmond."I want to express solidarity with the people of France. With the people of Paris," said Senator Ted Cruz.Terrorism is now a topic climbing to the top of the political conversation, with Cruz saying America needs to better arm Kurdish Peshmerga troops fighting ISIS in Iraq."They are risking their lives, but they're using out-moded military equipment. ISIS has American military equipment they've captured in Iraq,"...

A presidential campaign rally for Republican frontrunner Donald Trump gave way to pushing and shoving as the billionaire's supporters clashed with a group of Latino student protesters. Around a dozen students tried to interrupt Trump, who had just began his speech at a Richmond, Virginia rally, shouting "We're here to stay," and "Dump Trump."

Black Lives Matter and pro-illegal alien Latino activists were forcibly removed by Virginia State Police officers after disrupting a rally held Wednesday evening in Richmond by leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. There were reports that ‘small fights’ had broken out between the protesters and Trump supporters. A cellphone video shows an apparent Trump supporter arguing with and then spitting on a protester. One report said the disruptions lasted for around thirty minutes. When the protesters first made their presence known in the capacity crowd of about 5,000, Trump responded by saying, “That’s why we have freedom of speech, folks!”,...

October 14, 2015: It was YUUUUGE. GOP Presidential candidate and front-runner Donald J. Trump was in Virginia today for a rally in Richmond at the Richmond International Raceway.

Nine graffiti artists who spray painted creations across the world-renowned 5Pointz building filed a lawsuit Friday in Brooklyn federal court, seeking unspecified damages from the owner who whitewashed away their artwork. [Snip] The aerosol artists say they are owed substantial cash damages because Wolkoff painted over their al fresco works. [Snip] The iconic buildings had more than 350 works of visual art on the walls — inside and out — when Wolkoff destroyed them, the lawsuit said. The colorful, eye-catching creations were torn down for good last summer.

Self-driving cars are taking to the streets in California this summer, but the Golden State isn't the only one opening its roads to autonomous cars.Virginia just announced that 70 miles of highway in the Commonwealth would be open to self-driving cars, like the cars in Google's fleet. Any autonomous vehicle wanting to travel those routes, called the Virginia Automated Corridors, will be overseen by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which helped the state government plan the project.As the Richmond Times-Dispatchreports the plan is for companies to test how their cars react in real-world situations on highways packed with human drivers....

I’ve been a florist in Richmond, Wash., for more than 30 years. In that time, I’ve developed close relationships with many of my clients. One of my favorites was Rob Ingersoll. Ingersoll came in often and we’d talk. Like me, he had an artistic eye. I’d try to create really special arrangements for him. I knew he was gay, but it didn’t matter — I enjoyed his company and his creativity. Then he asked me to create the floral arrangements for his wedding. I love Rob, and I’d always been happy to design for his special days. But there’s something...