Free Republic

His name was Walker and he walked across the state. That’s what Illinoisans remember most about Dan Walker, the maverick Democratic reformer who served one term as governor in the mid 1970s. Walker died Wednesday morning at his home in Chula Vista, California. He was 92. They recall his epic 1,197 mile stroll across the state in the summer of 1971, from within sight of Kentucky to the Wisconsin border. “It’s remarkable to me how many people remember that walk,” his son, Dan Walker Jr., one of his seven children, said Wednesday. The second thing they remember is that Walker...

Viewers of CNN’s “New Day” must have been terribly confused when afternoon anchor Brooke Baldwin popped up out of the blue to retract and apologize for something totally unspecified. Baldwin never once told the early morning audience what it was she was talking about. Because the decision was made not to disclose the reason for the retraction and apology, the whole thing came off as a bizarre non sequitur. For those of you who don’t know, during a Tuesday afternoon interview with Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummings, Baldwin said of our veterans who become police officers, “I love our nation’s veterans,...

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is putting a lot of emphasis on Iowa in his presidential campaign, is continuing to notch endorsements from some well-known activists in the state. Former Secretary of State Matt Schultz told the Quad-City Times on Wednesday he is endorsing Cruz for president. "I’m looking for somebody who’s going to stand up and fight for our country, and he gives me hope we can turn things around," said Schultz, who is now the Madison County Attorney. "He's not going to back down from a fight." In a letter to two dozen members of the Cruz...

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is putting a lot of emphasis on Iowa in his presidential campaign, is continuing to notch endorsements from some well-known activists in the state. Former Secretary of State Matt Schultz told the Quad-City Times on Wednesday he is endorsing Cruz for president. "I’m looking for somebody who’s going to stand up and fight for our country, and he gives me hope we can turn things around," said Schultz, who is now the Madison County Attorney. "He's not going to back down from a fight." In a letter to two dozen members of the Cruz...

Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's five relatives are being guarded by 16 FBI staffers -- and the feds want them to testify this week so they can be sent back to Russia on Friday, according to court transcripts. “It’s an enormous expense and distraction for the agency, and that’s just part of the expense that the government has endured,” federal prosecutor William Weinreb said during a closed-door meeting Monday with the defense and Judge George O’Toole, according to transcripts shown on the court's public terminal. “The FBI is devoting 16 personnel full time to taking care of them, both guarding them...

This Vine from twitter really says it all about what's happening in Baltimore, doesn't it? https://vine.co/v/e7Z0T35Xg2n

Hillary Clinton's first official foray into the 2016 presidential campaign is raising questions about whether the former first lady, senator and secretary of state can find the same common ground with voters -- and the same success -- her husband did in winning two terms in the White House. Unlike Bill Clinton, whose ability to convey to individual voters an air of personal concern for the issues that affected them and their families -- a campaign technique referred to as "retailing" -- Hillary Clinton's initial attempt to connect with voters at an Iowa coffee house and her stealth visit to...

The attorney arguing for same-sex "marriage" before the Supreme Court Tuesday hopes that the traditional definition of marriage will fall.  Mary Bonauto, answering a question posed by Justice Samuel Alito, also said she believes that "times can blind" people to more open definitions of institutions like marriage. The high court devoted an almost unheard of two hours to oral arguments to help them come to a decision on two questions they are expected to reach by June: does the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States require states to allow marriage between two persons of the same sex,...

WASHINGTON - There's an old, common sense saying about never putting your eggs in one basket. Yet that's what Democrats have done by overwhelmingly bowing to Hillary Clinton's vaunted ambition to be the next president of the United States. But the polls of the last few weeks suggest that Clinton's coronation campaign, with all of the trappings of pomp and power that preceded it, is coming apart at the seams. The former secretary of State's precipitous decline was first noticed in March in a national CNN poll that found her unfavorable numbers were rising, and perceptions of her as honest...

A Colorado Springs mom is the latest target of a scam going after military families in Southern Colorado. The scammers pretend to be with TRICARE to try to get victims' personal information. 11 News first learned about the scam earlier this year, but we keep hearing from more people in the community who are getting these calls. Penni Schacherer lives in Colorado Springs, and says she was in the middle of homeschooling her son when her phone rang. The caller claimed to be with TRICARE and offered her a special cream that relieves pain. Schacherer tells 11 News she was...

In this century, economic growth has averaged 1.9 percent per year—down from the 3.4 percent the prior two decades—and anemic growth is a major force squeezing wages, the middle class and working poor. Conservatives and liberals blame too much or too little government. Either way, getting policy right is critical to restoring opportunity for everyone. Here are four issues that will be tough to solve but warrant serious attention. 1. The Baby Drought The birth rate predictably fell during the recent recession but has not recovered. At 948 children per 1000 women, fertility is below what is necessary to maintain...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has chosen former Secretary of State Matt Schultz to chair his Iowa campaign in his bid for the Republican Party's nomination for president. Schultz, who currently serves as the Madison County attorney, supported Sen. Rick Santorum in his failed 2012 presidential campaign, though he won the Republican Iowa caucuses. "He is a consistent conservative who cares about liberty and won't back down from a fight,"(continued)

Clashes between police and desperate earthquake survivors broke out in Kathmandu on Wednesday as tempers frayed in the wake of a deadly earthquake that took more than 5,000 lives. Frustration over the slow pace of the aid operation has been building on the streets of Nepal’s capital, where tens of thousands of people are sleeping rough in 16 makeshift refugee camps following the 7.8 magnitude quake. Scuffles broke out at the city’s main bus station on Wednesday morning after thousands of people swarmed there hoping to board vehicles back to their rural homes. When they were unable to travel, rioters...

Hours after residents of Baltimore, Maryland, set the city aflame, President Barack Obama took to the Rose Garden to explain in professorial style just why America, under his administration, keeps watching young black men loot buildings and attack police officers. "We have seen too many instances of what appears to be police officers interacting with individuals -- primarily African-American, often poor -- in ways that have raised troubling questions. And it comes up, it seems like, once a week now, or once every couple weeks," Obama said, proclaiming that police brutality against blacks amounted to a "slow-rolling crisis." He added,...

When police spotted Freddie Gray and he took off running through his Baltimore neighborhood, officers made a split-second decision to give chase, setting in motion his death in custody and rioting in the streets. Fleeing from police is not, by itself, illegal in America, and the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that in safe neighborhoods, people not suspected of criminal activity can ignore a police officer who approaches them, even to the point of walking away. But courts have set a different standard for places where street crime is common, ruling that police can chase, stop and frisk people...

According to a senior law enforcement source, the embattled mayor effectively told her officers to do nothing as the city began to burn - raising questions as to whether the rioting could have been stopped. Asked by Fox News if the mayor was responsible for the order, the source said, 'You are God damn right it was.'

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will both be making overtures to Hispanic voters Wednesday, speaking to national groups on issues that could increase their appeal within the rapidly growing voting bloc in the 2016 election. What they will discuss -- and how they will discuss it -- could provide a preview for the different way in which the two candidates will reach out to Hispanics once the primary season is properly underway. Fresh off a trip from Puerto Rico, Bush on Wednesday will speak the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference in Houston, a gathering of...

<p>That’s the blunt warning a group of prominent religious leaders is sending to the Supreme Court of the United States as they consider same-sex marriage.</p> <p>“We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line,” read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage. “We stand united together in defense of marriage. Make no mistake about our resolve.”</p>

Like cars, some microbes use oil as fuel. Such microorganisms are a big reason why BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was not far worse. "The microbes did a spectacular job of eating a lot of the natural gas," says biogeochemist Chris Reddy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The relatively small hydrocarbon molecules in natural gas are the easiest for microorganisms to eat. "The rate and capacity is a mind-boggling testament to microbes," he adds. As Reddy suggests, the microbes got help from the nature of the oil spilled—so-called Louisiana light, sweet crude mixed with natural...

“It’s time to change our approach,” Clinton said in her first major policy address since launching her presidential campaign earlier this month. “It’s time to end the era of mass incarceration.” Clinton spoke in the days after violence and protests have swept through the streets of Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a spinal-cord injury while in police custody. In a speech at Columbia University, Clinton spoke of protests over policing in Ferguson, Missouri; Charleston, South Carolina; and in New York, and repudiated policies dating to her husband Bill Clinton’s presidency that lengthened...