Free Republic

ST. CROIX — It was all talk and little to show for it back in June 2016, when The Consortium asked Governor Kenneth Mapp about a timeline for jobs he said would be coming to St. Croix through the ArcLight Partners, LLC agreement, as the firm had partnered with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., also called Sinopec, for the expansion of the Limetree Bay Terminals’ oil storage facility, other oil-related work, and, importantly, some oil refining. These jobs were to be aside from the roughly 500 people currently working at the oil storage facility. “I have no specific date to...

ARLINGTON — Mayor Jeff Williams called it the largest entertainment complex outside of Las Vegas. Alex Tisch, executive vice president of Loews Corporation, said it would be "the biggest destination outside of Orlando." They were talking about Arlington's entertainment district — an area just south of Interstate 30 buttressed by a major league baseball stadium, a young but already iconic NFL stadium, Six Flags over Texas and soon, the first luxury hotel of its type in the city. Williams, Tisch and others were on hand Wednesday to celebrate the official groundbreaking for Live! by Loews, a posh 14-story, 302-room hotel...

The Air Force faces many millions of dollars in potential liability for the mass shooting at a small-town church in Texas earlier this month by a former servicemember, legal experts say. “I think it’s almost inevitable that the Air Force will be sued,” said retired Lt. Gen. Richard Harding, former judge advocate general of the service. “And I think there’s a case that can be made, you bet.” If lawsuits against the Air Force were successful, said Don Christensen, the service’s former top prosecutor, the damages could be huge. “What is being shot while you’re in church, watching your baby...

The driver of a pickup displaying an expletive-filled message to President Donald Trump and his supporters in the Houston area was arrested Thursday on an outstanding warrant. Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office records show Karen Fonseca was arrested about 2 p.m. Thursday on an outstanding fraud warrant issued in August by the Rosenberg Police Department. She remained in the county jail Thursday night with bond set at $1,500. A sheriff’s spokesman has not answered a message seeking details behind the warrant. Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls had threatened Fonseca with a disorderly conduct charge over the decal. However, District...

Heroes need prayers, too.Stephen Willeford — the Texan who confronted and shot the gunman who killed 26 people at a rural Baptist church Sunday — could use a bunch of prayers, his close friend John Wood says.To many, Willeford’s actions outside the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs made him a hero.But the hero, who is described as a faithful Christian, was distraught when he called Wood at his Ohio home right after confirming gunman Devin Patrick Kelley’s death.“I talked to him immediately after it happened, basically before any of the law enforcement arrived,” Wood — a retired Church of Christ...

Cell Phone Data At the same time, while the cell phones of most Twin Peaks Mass Murder witnesses were searched, there doesn’t seem to be any public record that Doan’s cell phone or the cellphones of other Twin Peaks employee witnesses were ever examined by police. It has just never come up in the criminal cases. But it is an issue in the Multi District Litigation against the restaurant that is unfolding in Dallas. In fact, besides never being searched by police, Doan’s cellphone seems to have disappeared from June 2015 until November 8, 16 days after he testified in...

In the criminal justice system, the district attorney has more far-reaching powers than any other figure, given that some 95 percent of felony convictions arise from guilty pleas, resulting in prosecutorial discretion rather than that of judges or juries. Thus it’s critical that whoever occupies the post of district attorney be beyond reproach on all ethical and moral levels. And that’s why the sworn affidavit by one of McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna’s former prosecutors should be exceedingly worrisome to every law-abiding citizen. Greg Davis, a veteran prosecutor who put 18 people on death row before going to work...

This might not be how it was supposed to go. After a tumultuous year of protests, sinking ratings and ticket sales for the NFL, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was prepared to act. Last week, news that Jones had threatened to sue NFL commission Roger Goodell rocked the political and sports world. Jones had been extremely critical over many of Goodell’s decisions, and was vocal over this mishandling of the players’ protests during the national anthem. Jones decided to put his money where his mouth is, and hired an attorney in an attempt to stop negotiations for Goodell’s lucrative contract...

Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday withdrew his support from Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore, saying allegations of sexual misconduct should be looked at by prosecutors. “As it stands, I can’t urge the people of Alabama to support a campaign in the face of these charges without serious, persuasive demonstration that the charges are not true,” the Texas Republican told reporters, according to a Texas Tribune reporter. “Both last week and this week, there are serious charges of criminal conduct that if true, not only make him unfit to serve in the Senate but merit criminal prosecution,” he added.

HOUSTON - Congressman Gene Green's office has confirmed that he is not seeking re-election in 2018. Through a statement, Green said it is time "for me to be more involved in the lives of our children and grandchildren." Here is the full statement: “Serving as an elected official is one of the greatest honors our country can bestow on a person. I have been blessed and fortunate to serve almost 46 years in elected office. Since 1973, I have served as a Texas State Representative for 13 years, Texas State Senator for seven years and since 1993 as a member...

Establishment Republicans once dreamed of replacing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with a less bombastic alternative in 2018. Those dreams now appear out of reach, even as a North Texas Republican with ties to state’s old political guard is on the verge of launching a challenge to the first-term senator. A Fort Worth-based super PAC aimed at replacing Cruz with a Republican in the “leadership style” of President Ronald Reagan has barely raised any money. Its favored candidate, Christian television executive Bruce Jacobson, last week stumbled in the early stages of a possible campaign rollout. And while Cruz, who has more...

During a November 13 appearance on NBC’s Today, former Vice President Joe Biden answered a question on Texas church attack hero Stephen Willeford by saying, “Well, first of all, the kind of gun being carried he shouldn’t be carrying.” His response came in response to an audience member who was asking how Democrats can justify pushing gun control when it was clearly the presence of a gun in the hands of Willeford that ended the attack. On November 6 Texas officials credited Willeford with ending the attack. Willeford, who is a former NRA instructor and current NRA member, ran out...

DALLAS (AP) — Texas landowners who live along a river separating them from Oklahoma have reached a settlement with federal officials saying the Texas border lies with the meandering flow of the river. A federal judge on Wednesday approved the terms that settle a long-running dispute involving the Bureau of Land Management and property owners along the Red River. The BLM had argued the river has shifted as much as 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) in some areas over the past century, and some of the dry land where the river once flowed belonged to the government, not residents who claimed...

The case of Rolando Martinez seems like an ideal scenario that gun control advocates would use to push their agenda. A crazed man with an “AR-style” rifle allegedly terrorized over a dozen people in Austin, Texas, shooting at several and hitting four. One of the victims, a 7 year-old-girl, is in critical condition.

The recent Texas church shooting, the terrorist driving a truck through a crowd in New York City, and the Las Vegas massacre may seem shocking – but to anyone who has been paying attention, they should not. Our culture is undergoing a hostile takeover. American society used to be governed by Judeo-Christian do-unto-others morals. But we have drifted (been pushed, really) into a hedonistic YOLO (You Only Live Once) cultural morass. The upshot of this is a distinct lack of respect for human life in general, as well as a pervasive, insidious obsession with self. This is the “me” generation,...

Texas religious leaders gathered Thursday to bless an abortion clinic and its staff as a judge considers whether to allow the state to ban brutal dismemberment abortions on live unborn babies. The pro-abortion clergy prayed at the Whole Woman’s Health abortion facility in Fort Worth, Texas, blessing its staff and patients, saying prayers and singing “Hallelujah,” according to the Daily Caller. The Texas abortion chain is one of the groups challenging the state dismemberment abortion ban. It also has a poor reputation for patient health and safety, racking up dozens of health and safety violations in the past decade. They...

One month of increased security at the McLennan County Courthouse cost more than $400,000 in overtime pay for the first Twin Peaks shootout trial, bringing the county’s total costs to date related to the deadly melee to nearly $1 million. McLennan County commissioners Tuesday approved several line-item budget requests to fund expenses as testimony in the trial of Bandidos Dallas chapter president Jacob Carrizal entered its fourth week Monday. The overtime cost came in at about $365,000, County Auditor Stan Chambers said. With taxes and benefits, that amount reaches about $440,000, said Frances Bartlett, first assistant county auditor. County Judge...

The jury in the first Twin Peaks trial of Dallas Bandido Jake Carrizal was leaning toward a not guilty decision on all three charges before the judge declared a mistrial on Friday. A member of the jury, who spoke to Channel 6 on the condition of anonymity, would not provide the exact split on any of the three charges. But, the juror said the final split on all three charges was in favor of a not guilty decision. The juror said during the course of nearly 16 hours of deliberations, there were points where the jurors were leaning toward Carrizal...

Jessika Edwards told CNN that she and Devin Kelley worked together at Hollomon Air Force Base in New Mexico from 2010 to 2012. Kelley was released from the military on a bad-conduct discharge in 2014 after serving time for assaulting his wife and stepson. Edwards said that when the two made contact on Facebook in 2014, Kelley said he had been purchasing dogs through Craigslist and then using them for “target practice.” While in the Air Force, she said, Kelley was preoccupied with mass murders and made jokes about killing people. ..." In 2014, the same year he allegedly made...

The bodies in Texas weren't cold when the moronic Senators from my state of CT- Murphy and Blumenthal- were already politicizing the tragedy. Both of these tools called for "common sense" gun control measures as if none existed today. Further, they failed to mention what these simple "common sense" measures are, but then again they never do. So let me offer an outline for more gun control. Let us assume that democrats will be calling for another ban on assault weapons, or anything that looks like an assault weapon or just looks plain scary, toys included. Such a plan would...