Free Republic

A New Orleans sheriff has been indicted with 30 felony offenses in connection with a jail break last May, in which 10 inmates escaped. On Wednesday, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced that Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson had been indicted by a special grand jury convened to investigate the May 16 escape at the Orleans Justice Center. “While Sheriff Hutson did not personally open the doors of the jail for the escapees, her refusal to comply with basic legal requirements and to take even minimal precautions in the discharge of her duties directly contributed to and enabled the escape,”...

Fast-rising gas prices lifted the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge to 3.5% in March, its highest rate in almost three years, new data showed Thursday. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index rose 0.7% from February, a faster-than-expected acceleration from the previous monthly pace of 0.4%, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The annual rate of inflation, which jumped from 2.8% in February, is now running at its fastest pace since May 2023. The PCE Price Index is the inflation gauge the Federal Reserve uses for its 2% target rate. The sharp hike in energy prices, an aftershock of the Middle East...

Ford Motor Company says it will earn more money this year than previously expected after receiving a larger tariff refund than cross-town rival General Motors (GM), with both brands now forecasting improved financial results. Ford reported it will receive a one-off tariff refund of $US1.3 billion, nearly three times the $US500 million that GM expects to be refunded. The automaker also said it has effectively halved its expected tariff costs for 2026 to $US1 billion, due to both the refunds and its lower reliance on imports into the US, where it builds 83 per cent of its North American model...

David Allan Coe, the outlaw country music legend and pioneer songwriter behind hits such as “You Never Even Called Me by My Name” and “Take This Job and Shove It,” has died. He was at 86. David died Wednesday in a hospital, his rep told the New York Times without elaborating further. “David is a musical treasure,” the representative said. “Even in his years of declining health, David appreciated all of the fans.” A cause of death has not yet been confirmed. “One of the best singers, songwriters, and performers of our time [and] never to be forgotten,” his wife,...

Florida Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon temporarily disrupted final passage of a Gov. Ron DeSantis-backed redistricting bill by shouting in a bullhorn during the vote.

The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100% of gross domestic product, crossing a once-unthinkable threshold, on the way toward breaking the record set in the wake of World War II. As of March 31, the country’s publicly held debt was $31.265 trillion, while GDP over the preceding year was $31.216 trillion, according to data released Thursday. That puts the ratio at 100.2%, compared with 99.5% when the last fiscal year ended Sept. 30. That figure will likely climb for the foreseeable future because the federal government is running historically large annual deficits of nearly 6% of GDP, which add to...

[Catholic Caucus] The Pope of What?There is no doubt in my mind that Leo is the true and valid pope. The question in my mind is, “the pope of what?”“He is the pope of the Catholic Church,” you might say. Your answer assumes that the Church of Rome is the Holy Catholic Church that was founded by Jesus Christ. You believe that. But you do not — cannot— know that.There is a difference between knowing and believing. I define “knowing” as when you learn something that is consistently verifiable and universally accepted. “Belief” is a conclusion that you reach about...

The shipwreck of a WWI US combat vessel has been discovered off the Cornish coast by a team of divers – 108 years after it sank. The US Coastguard Cutter TAMPA has been missing since being torpedoed by a German U–boat in 1918. Now, it has been found, 50 miles offshore in Newquay by the Gasperados Dive Team. All 131 lives on the vessel were lost including those from the American navy and coastguard, and British civilians. Dominic Robinson, 54, a member of the Gasperados Dive Team, says they have been searching for the last three years for the ship...

As I recover from foot surgery in Chicago, my break from the Walk Across America has given me time to do more than reflect. I’ve seen so many things on my walk so far through small towns, big cities, ghettos, suburbs, open-air drug markets, posh farmers markets and even the occasional country market. Throughout it all, I’ve seen Americans of so many stripes, and they’re all moving forward, moving with a sense of purpose in their work and in their belief in God. And when I returned home to the South Side of Chicago, I was struck by the stillness...

A planned Muslim-led city in the heart of Texas is one step close to becoming a reality after a judge said the state must comply with developers. The East Plano Islamic Community (EPIC) mosque is hoping to create a new neighborhood for its followers just outside of Dallas, close to the town of Josephine. Initially called EPIC City, the project was rebranded as The Meadow last year. The master-planned city will include 1,000 homes, a mosque, green spaces and schools. Hundreds of locals have spoken out against the idea, along with state legislators including Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General...

A few days ago, I wrote about hate being the lifeblood of the democrat party. Things have gone downhill quickly since then. Let's get right to it. Almost six years ago, the late and great Scott Adams said Republicans will be hunted. That was prescient. Then the other day I saw a post from Elon Musk on X. In it he said"If they’re willing to die to assassinate, imagine what they will do if they gain political power"Indeed. We are in war. A declared war. A not-so-civil war. On April 22 Hakeem Jeffries declared war on Republicans: “We are in...

A former Chick-fil-A employee in North Texas is accused of stealing more than $80,000 by processing 800 fake macaroni and cheese tray refunds to himself, authorities said. According to Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office online booking records, Keyshun Darnell Jones was arrested on April 18. He was charged with several felonies, including property theft between $30,000 and $50,000, money laundering between $30,000 and $50,000, and evading arrest, records show. According to the Grapevine Police Department, an investigation was opened in November 2025 after a Chick-fil-A franchise owner in the city, located in the Dallas-Fort Worth multiplex, reported a theft. While detectives...

California’s soaring cost for its dragged-out high-speed rail construction was inflated by another recent political embarrassment for the state: labor icon Cesar Chavez.

HOLY SMOKES. Leftist Judge Tracy Davis just slashed a 65-year recommended prison sentence IN HALF for a r*pist — she felt bad he was a black 'victim' This is madness. These judges are a threat to EVERYBODY. They must be removed

Existential crises tend to arrive when the gap between how life feels and how we thought it would feel becomes too wide to ignore.For a growing number of Americans, 2026 hasn’t just been hard. It’s been disorienting. A Talker Research survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that one in three people (32%) say they’re currently experiencing an existential crisis, with younger adults far more likely to feel that way than older generations. Nearly four in ten (37%) say their entire lives feel out of their control... A separate survey of 5,000 Americans, conducted by Talker Research for Current in December...

[Catholic Caucus] Amazon Church renews ‘synodal commitments’ in line with ‘dream of Pope Francis’Pope Leo XIV sent a video message approving of the ‘objectives’ of the Amazonian ecclesial body as they vowed to implement Francis' ‘deeply synodal’ plans.The Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA) has re-elected its leadership and doubled down on promoting a “synodal” Church in continuity with the “dream of Pope Francis.”In March, CEAMA held its 6th General Assembly under the motto, “I am about to do something new; even now it is springing forth. Do you not perceive it?” (Is 43:19) in Bogotá, Colombia. The body elected...

The day after he turned 100 in 2022, Lester Wright ran the 100-meter dash in 26.34 seconds, setting what was believed to be a world record and becoming the fastest known centenarian. As a crowd of 38,000 stood and cheered, he set off down the track at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, one of the country’s premier track meets, wearing a running singlet, tights to his knees and two thin ponytails braided by his daughter. Wright, a slender World War II veteran, swung his arms rhythmically and lifted his knees high. The only centenarian in the nine-man field, he crossed...

Poland is financing the “strongest land army in Europe” on debt, shrinking personnel and a repayment schedule that collides with the very years NATO expects the threat from Russia to peak. Can the model hold when the bills come due? There is a conversation Europe is postponing. Across the continent, defence spending is rising at a speed not seen in decades. Governments are accelerating procurement, expanding forces and constructing new financial instruments to fund deterrence. The urgency needs no explanation. But what has moved more slowly is the conversation about how all this will ultimately be paid for. In few...

Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Thursday she was suspending her campaign for the US Senate — clearing the way for far-left candidate Graham Platner to face five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins in November. “While I have the drive and passion, commitment and experience, and above all else –the fight — to continue on, I very simply do not have the one thing that political campaigns unfortunately require today: the financial resources,” Mills said in a statement. “That is why today I have made the incredibly difficult decision to suspend my campaign for the United States Senate.” The 78-year-old Mills,...

Surveillance video captured a Jewish man being assaulted outside a Los Angeles synagogue in an incident that police are now investigating as a hate crime.