Free Republic

The Florida Supreme Court has upheld a law that forbids local governments from restricting sales of guns and ammunition beyond state law. In a 4-1 ruling, the court said local officials could face stiff penalties if they try to enforce the restrictions that go beyond the Florida law. Florida passed a law in 1987 the stated local cities and counties could not have restrictions on guns that were more restrictive than the state's, law. "It is not a core municipal function to occupy an area that the Legislature has preempted, and local governments have no lawful discretion or authority to...

Menopause, the end of menstrual cycles, can produce symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia and mood changes. Women do not need to suffer in silence: Many treatment options are available. Hormone replacement therapy is an estrogen medication; for women with a uterus, hormone therapy typically includes estrogen plus progestogen medication to prevent endometrial cancer. For women younger than 60 or within 10 years after their final period, the benefit of hormone therapy outweighs the risk in healthy women with postmenopausal symptoms, according to recent guidelines from the North American Menopause Society. Many studies have shown that systemic hormone...

Fox News Senior Vice President of News & Politics Alan Komissaroff died on Friday after suffering a heart attack at his home earlier this month. He was 47 years old. "This is an extremely difficult day for all of us who worked closely with Alan, and we are completely heartbroken," FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and FOX News Media President Jay Wallace wrote in a memo to colleagues.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — Ukraine will have to wait longer to find out if it will get advanced German-made battle tanks. A dispute over sending the tanks from Western allies to help Ukraine against Russia’s invasion played out both in public and private on Friday, as more than 50 defense leaders meeting in Germany failed to hammer out an agreement — stalled by Berlin’s hesitation. Failure to reach agreement on what has become an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders largely overshadowed commitments from a number of nations — including the U.S. — to send billions of dollars in...

America is investigating its first two cases of a 'concerning' strain of super-gonorrhea that shows signs of resistance to a range of antibiotics. Officials say that both patients — who have not been named — are from Massachusetts and likely caught the disease in the state. There is no connection between the pair, which suggests the sexually transmitted infection (STI) is spreading.

Giving colon cancer patients chemotherapy before surgery cuts their risk of the disease coming back, according to the results of a Cancer Research UK clinical trial. The FOxTROT trial showed that giving colon cancer patients chemotherapy before rather than after surgery reduced by 28% the chance of cancer returning within 2 years. Colon cancer patients were divided into two groups in the study. The first group received 6 weeks of chemotherapy, followed by surgery, then 18 weeks of chemotherapy. The second group had standard treatment for colon cancer, which was surgery first followed by 24 weeks of chemotherapy. Through follow-up...

Sen. Lindsey Grahm (R-SC) in Ukraine on Friday called for more military aid to Ukraine, charging that the “world order is at stake.” Graham said, “We will continue to ask the American people and the congress to send aid to Ukraine, economic aid and military aid to accomplish the objective of driving the Russian invader out of Ukraine.” Sens. Graham, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) met with U.S. officials and Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Playing videogames could trigger a potentially fatal cardiac episode in children with existing heart conditions, according to an international study published this week. The study, "Life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death during electronic gaming," examined 22 incidents in which children between the ages of seven and 16 experienced an irregular heartbeat, either proven or suspected, and lost consciousness while playing videogames. Six of the children suffered cardiac arrest, and four died. "This is a relatively small study, but we still found a number of cases where children who were actively engaged in video games had a very severe cardiac event,"...

Findings from a study show an implementation science approach using team-based coaching and automated surveillance reporting significantly reduces the risk of acquiring post-procedural acute kidney injury (AKI) when compared to other interventions. Up to 14 percent people who undergo cardiac catheterization procedures each year experience acute kidney injury (AKI). Research has shown there are basic steps that cardiovascular interventional teams can take to help prevent AKIs. These include ensuring that patients are well-hydrated going into procedures and that they receive an IV fluid bolus, allowing them to eat and drink up to two hours before procedures, and limiting the amount...

A Belarussian millionaire living in Cyprus. A dinner with the CEO of Snap. A six-figure patent troll case. They are all part of the history of Prisma Labs, a largely obscure artificial intelligence startup that spent years under the radar until November, when the company introduced "Magic Avatars." The feature in Prisma's Lensa app has allowed millions to turn mundane selfies into dazzling AI-generated animated portraits of fairy princesses and astronauts. And it has brought in tens of millions of dollars. Now, Prisma is trying to capitalize on the magic. Company executives are scrambling to come up with ways to...

Growing shares of Americans believe that a person’s gender is determined by their sex assigned at birth, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, which finds major differences by religion on this question and others about transgender issues.Among U.S. adults overall, six-in-ten now say that whether a person is a man or a woman is determined by their sex assigned at birth. This figure is even higher among White evangelicals (87%) and Black Protestants (70%). Among Catholics, the share who say a person’s gender cannot differ from sex at birth has risen from 52% in 2021 to 62% this...

As we did in 2015 and 2016, you are not going to find pretending in our analysis of the 2024 presidential race. Yes, my friends we are again going to deconstruct the GOPe roadmap and President Trump’s recent moves highlight his ability to see it also.Before digging into the details, strategies and motives, let me make two things clear. First, CTH has no relationship with the campaign of President Trump. However, that said, we do share an identical ability to see the GOPe Club maneuvers.Second, Trump’s moves are Trump’s moves. Meaning, President Trump is making these decisions himself personally. These...

For older adults, higher levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) are associated with increased fracture risk, according to a study. Sultana Monira Hussain, M.B.B.S., Ph.D. and colleagues examined whether higher HDL-C levels are predictive of increased fracture risk in older adults in a post hoc analysis of data from the Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) clinical trial and the ASPREE-Fracture substudy. Overall, 1,659 of the 16,262 participants with a plasma HDL-C measurement at baseline experienced at least one fracture during a median of 4.0 years. The researchers found that each 1 standard deviation increment in HDL-C level...

Former Navy SEAL Daniel W. Swift was killed in Ukraine on Wednesday, a Navy official told NBC News Friday. Swift had been in active deserter status since March 11, 2019, the Navy Absentee Collection and Information Center said.

Leakage of the mitral valve due to degenerative prolapse is a common condition known as primary mitral regurgitation (MR). While the treatment has traditionally been surgical repair, recently some success has been achieved with transcatheter edge-to-edge repair using a clip-like device delivered percutaneously without surgery. The FDA has approved transcatheter therapy for patients deemed too risky for surgery, but current clinical trials are exploring its use in lower risk patients. Similarly, surgical valve repair has evolved with more precise techniques and less invasive approaches. Leading cardiology and cardiothoracic surgical researchers analyzed recent national data to assess the outcomes and risk...

Alan Komissaroff, a Fox News senior vice president who supervised the cable-news outlet’s political-news coverage, has died following a heart attack. He was 47 years old.

Washington (AFP) – Ukraine should not fixate on defending the city of Bakhmut at all costs and instead use a window of opportunity to prepare a major counter-offensive against Russian forces, a senior US official said Friday. That industrial hub has become the epicenter of the grinding war in eastern Ukraine, involving mass artillery strikes, slow advances and high casualties for both sides. Bakhmut has also turned into a key political and symbolic prize, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visiting the frontlines there in December, right before his dramatic trip to address the US Congress in Washington. However, a senior...

Louisiana woman allegedly stabs boyfriend after he urinated in bed while asleep Video shows drag-denier George Santos dressed in drag, boasting about drag shows Mental health blogger Beth Matthews dies after ingesting poison she ordered from Russia NEWS Facebook Twitter Flipboard WhatsApp Email Copy Mike Pompeo: Trump told me ‘shut the hell up’ about China COVID secrecy By Steven Nelson January 19, 2023 12:13pm Updated WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleges in an explosive new memoir that former President Donald Trump told him to “shut the hell up for a while” about China hiding early COVID-19 pandemic...

Historic redlining and other racist policies have led to present-day racial and economic segregation and disinvestment in many cities across the United States. Research has shown how neighborhood characteristics and resources are associated with health disparities such as preterm birth and asthma, but most of these studies are limited in scale and overlook many aspects in a neighborhood that are difficult to measure, including dilapidated buildings and crosswalks. Now, a new study led by Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and the Center for Antiracist Research (CAR) at Boston University (BU) has utilized panorama digital technology through Google Street...

SAN FRANCISCO — When Lyft laid off 13% of its workers in November, Kelly Chang was shocked to find herself among the 700 people who lost their jobs at the San Francisco company. “It seemed like tech companies had so much opportunity,” said Chang, 26. “If you got a job, you made it. It was a sustainable path.” Brian Pulliam, on the other hand, brushed off the news that crypto exchange Coinbase was eliminating his job. Ever since the 48-year-old engineer was laid off from his first job at the video game company Atari in 2003, he said that he...