Free Republic

Tenants in about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments will not see their rents increase for the next two years after New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board approved a first-of-its-kind freeze at an annual hearing Thursday night. The 7-1 vote marks the first two-year rent freeze in the board’s history and fulfills a key campaign pledge from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who named six of the board’s nine members. The decision applies to rent-stabilized apartments in buildings with six or more units built before 1974, as well as apartments in buildings that receive certain tax breaks or government subsidies. The freeze applies to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with the maker of Roundup weedkiller Thursday in a ruling expected to block thousands of lawsuits alleging it failed to warn people the product could cause cancer. The case came before the justices after a tidal wave of litigation that included some multibillion-dollar verdicts against Bayer, a Germany-based agrochemical manufacturer that acquired Roundup when it bought its original producer Monsanto in 2018. The decision is a victory for President Donald Trump’s administration, but it provoked outrage from allies in the “ Make America Healthy Again” movement who want to rein in pesticide use....

With Germany poised to become the latest country to raise its retirement age, that unpopular option may fall on Americans as Social Security faces insolvency in the next six years. Germany’s government-appointed pension commission this week released a series of recommendations to strengthen its pension system, including gradually raising the retirement age to 70 by 2092. The standard retirement age in Germany has already been creeping higher and is set to hit 67 by 2031. The German commission also recommended scrapping a rule that currently allows workers who have contributed for 45 years to retire at 63 without financial penalties....

ALBANY, N.Y. (WNYT)- Five local arrests in Latham are tied to a national health care fraud crackdown centered in part on alleged Medicaid transportation fraud. Related: Former CFO admits to stealing $4M from Albany electrical firm Federal officials said June 23 that five people were arrested locally and four federal search warrants were carried out. The case included two taxi companies, Carl’s Cab and Latham Taxi, and a search warrant at a home on Glendale Road in Latham.

The White House on Wednesday officially asked Congress for $87.6 billion in supplemental funding to pay for the Iran war, curtail the ongoing Ebola outbreak and provide aid to U.S. farmers, among other requests, according to a copy obtained by The Hill. In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought asked for $67 billion for the Defense Department, down from an expected $200 billion first floated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in March. But even with a smaller price tag, the bill will need some support from Democrats to...

In the fourth and final decision issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Mullin v. Doe, a case concerning whether the Administration may terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations. In a majority opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the Court held that the challengers—TPS beneficiaries from Syria and Haiti—were not entitled to interim relief blocking the termination of their TPS designations. The Court concluded that the TPS statute limits judicial review of non-constitutional claims and prevents courts from second-guessing the agency’s TPS termination decisions on those grounds. Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion. Justice Kagan filed a dissenting opinion,...

The Supreme Court will be releasing Opinions from the October 2025 this morning at 10:00.Scotusblog will be liveblogging the release and we will be following along.There are 12 decisions pending for this term and we expect all opinions will be released by June 30th. You can find a list of the cases at October 2025 cases. Note: The word "held" after the case name indicates the Opinion has already been released. The word "Issues" indicates the questions to be resolved by the Court.You can find the Opinions on this term's previously decided cases at October 2025 Opinions. Today's opinions will...

U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin, hand-picked by Joe Biden, just tossed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against four Democrat-run New Jersey sanctuary cities, handing illegal alien criminals another layer of protection. Judge Evelyn Padin dismissed the Department of Justice’s case against Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Hoboken without reaching the merits. She ruled the federal lawsuit had a “fundamental flaw” because it challenged only the cities’ sanctuary policies and did not also target New Jersey’s statewide Immigrant Trust Directive, the NY Times reported. Padin wrote that the city policies “do not operate in isolation” from the state directive that already restricts...

Paired with an abundance of visitors and boating opportunities, Lake Mead in Nevada is one of America’s deadliest national park sites. Now, as the peak summer season kicks into high gear, the National Park Service (NPS) has suspended its recovery dive team responsible for recovering the bodies of drowning victims. On May 14, NPS Park Dive Officer Sergeant Ryan McCrea announced in an email that Lake Mead dive operations would be put on hiatus, effective immediately, due to staffing shortages and the need for more equipment and training. “The park temporarily stood down its dive team to ensure safe operations...

President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela had caused what he described as "a devastating number of deaths" as officials continued assessing the extent of the disaster. Trump said the United States was prepared to assist with the ongoing response. "The U.S.A. stands ready, willing, and able to help!" Trump said. "I have instructed all agencies of our government to get ready to move quickly. We will be there for our new and great friends."

Tragic news has broken out of Venezuela. On Wednesday, Venezuela was hit by back-to-back earthquakes causing buildings to collapse across its capital. The USGS revealed the earthquakes were measured in at a magnitude of 7.1 and 7.5 making the earthquakes two of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the country. Currently no death toll has been reported but due to the large amount of residential buildings collapsing thousands are feared dead. Here was the aftermath: Video circulating from La Guaira, Venezuela, showing the aftermath of the devastation caused by powerful earthquakes.Thousands of people are feared dead in the earthquakes, according...

A federal judge, appointed by former President Joe Biden, is blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from arresting illegal aliens at courthouses, a practice considered by law enforcement to be the safest way to apprehend those eligible for deportation. On Tuesday, Judge P. Casey Pitts, appointed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California by Biden in 2023, issued an order that will halt ICE’s ability to broadly arrest illegal aliens at courthouses across the United States. “Because the record before the Court demonstrates that ICE … failed to provide reasoned explanations for their actions,...

President Trump's meeting with Republican senators on Wednesday turned testy, and at one point, he sternly told Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy to sit down, after questions arose about the War Powers Resolution, according to sources directly familiar with the meeting. Cassidy had been trying to respond to the president, telling the president he should sit down — but Cassidy later relented, saying he would be seated, but not at Mr. Trump's behest. "He raised his voice. I lost my temper. That's not appropriate. It's the Irish in me, but I again matched his tone and his volume," Cassidy told reporters...

Jack Clark discusses Anthropic's regulatory fights, the possibility of recursive self-improvement, and how AI could reshape the economy.Today's guest is He's the co-founder of the artificial intelligence company behind Claudeand the head of its newly launched , a forum designed to think through the philosophical, political, and practical challenges that AI poses to society. Nick Gillespie talks with Clark, a former tech journalist at and , about his company's with the Trump administration; whether Anthropic should have held back Mythos, its superpowerful version, from general release; and what might happen if and when AI becomes fully capable of "," or...

The Trump administration on Wednesday sent Congress a long-awaited supplemental funding package to help cover the cost of the Iran war. The administration is asking for about $87.6 billion to address "urgent needs" related to the Iran war, as well as other funding to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa and provide support for American farmers. The request will face an uphill battle and puts vulnerable Republicans in a politically tricky position, since backing it could be seen as support for the unpopular war. It's all but certain to face stiff opposition from Democrats, putting its passage in...

Peruvian radical leftist lawmaker and presidential candidate Roberto Sánchez announced on Tuesday that he will not recognize the victory of conservative former first lady Keiko Fujimori, as Peru’s slow vote-counting process nears its end. Peru has marked more than three weeks without any final results from the extremely close June 7 presidential runoff election between Fujimori and Sánchez. The election, much like its first round, has been marred by a slow vote-counting process by National Electoral Processes Office (ONPE). As of Wednesday morning, with 99.859 percent of all votes counted, Fujimori holds a 43,386-vote lead against Sánchez. In the past...

President Donald Trump has accused America's biggest oil companies of ripping off drivers at the gas pump - ordering the Justice Department to investigate after crude prices plunged but retail prices did not fall as quickly as he wanted.In a furious post sent after midnight on Wednesday, Trump said oil companies were failing to pass on the full benefit of sharply cheaper crude to ordinary Americans.'The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.'Those prices are dropping like a rock! In...

A federal judge on Wednesday permanently banned Trump from implementing his executive order that required proof of citizenship when they register to vote. Boston-based US District Judge Denise Casper, an Obama appointee, said the Constitution “does not grant the President any specific powers over elections.” The DOJ will immediately appeal. “A federal judge on Wednesday permanently barred President Donald Trump’s administration from implementing most of his first executive order on elections, part of which sought to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The judge agreed that the Constitution gives states and Congress the...

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., sparked fierce backlash after her apparent defense of accused antifa cell members sentenced to decades in prison for a violent attack on a Texas immigration facility that federal prosecutors called an act of terrorism. One of the defendants, Benjamin Song, a former Marine Corps reservist, was handed a 100-year prison sentence — the maximum punishment — Tuesday after being convicted of attempted murder for shooting Alvarado Police Lt. Thomas Gross, who survived a bullet to the neck.

The right to vote is among our most cherished liberties, but equally important is the public’s confidence that every lawful vote -- and only lawful votes -- determines the outcome. Election integrity is not simply about preventing fraud; it is about preserving trust. An election that half the country believes was unfairly manipulated is an election that erodes trust in the republic and confidence in the system, regardless of who wins. Such elections have become standard practice in California -- not by accident, but by intent. The state has embraced a philosophy that treats virtually every security measure as an...