Free Republic

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking legal action against the Austin Independent School District after his office said it was made aware of a claim that top officials “implemented an unwritten policy of developing and teaching curricula in the (district) in violation of state law prohibiting instruction on critical race theory (CRT) and related topics,” a court document said.Critical race theory is a concept that looks at how race relations have shaped the current social, cultural and legal world in the present time. It was banned from being taught in Texas classrooms in 2021.Paxton’s office is accusing AISD’s school...

Paul Sperry @paulsperry_ NEW: It's now official: Hunter Biden has been stripped of his license to practice law in the nation's capital despite his father pardoning him of multiple felonies: "ORDERED: Robert H. Biden is hereby disbarred." 6:38 PM · May 5, 2025

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Moody Air Force Base, GeorgiaMoody Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation near Valdosta, Georgia. The base is in northeastern Lowndes County, Georgia, with the eastern border of the base following the Lanier County line. Georgia State Route 125 runs through the western side of the base, leading southwest 11 miles to the center of Valdosta and northeast 6 miles to Ray City.The 23d Wing organizes, trains and employs combat-ready A-10C, HC-130J, HH-60G, Guardian Angel Weapons System. The 23d Wing is home to the Air Force’s legendary “Flying Tigers”...

Air traffic controllers who lost communication with aircraft at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, leading to hundreds of delays for more than a week, are taking special government leave for traumatic situations to recover from the stress. The controllers in Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control, which coordinates planes arriving at Newark, “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them,” on Monday April 28, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a statement shared with CNN. The connectivity between Federal Aviation Administration radar and the frequencies that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army is pausing helicopter flights near a Washington airport after two commercial planes had to abort landings last week because of an Army Black Hawk helicopter that was flying to the Pentagon.The commander of the 12th Aviation Battalion directed the unit to pause helicopter flight operations around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport following Thursday’s close calls, two Army officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday. One official said the flights have been paused since Friday.The pause comes after 67 people died in January when a passenger jet collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter...

The jury in the trial of Christopher Schurr went home without a verdict on Monday after hours of deliberation. While the facts of the case have never been in dispute — Schurr shot Lyoya in the back of the head as the two struggled over his taser during an April 2022 traffic stop — it's the jury's duty to decide whether Schurr acted within his role as a police officer when he fired the fatal shot. The Prosecution's Case Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker argued Schurr's use of force was not necessary. To this end, he called to the stand...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson 🚨BREAKING: President Trump directs the DOJ to free Gold Star mother Tina Peters from Colorado prison. 7:35 PM · May 5, 2025

The president and two other top officers of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s labor union were suspended from their posts Monday after an investigation by the union’s parent organization found $800,000 in credit card purchases that were unaccounted for. The International Assn. of Fire Fighters, which oversees the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City and other local firefighter unions across the country, suspended President Freddy Escobar and the two others over diverse financial improprieties, including “serious problems” with missing receipts, according to a letter by IAFF General President Edward Kelly to UFLAC members. The IAFF appointed a conservator to take...

Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer NEW: 🚨 Trump’s Medicaid Promise Under Siege by RINO Saboteurs Like Paragon Health CEO Brian Blase @brian_blase 🚨 In a shocking betrayal of President Donald Trump’s unwavering commitment to America’s working-class families, and his promise to protect Medicaid, Paragon Health @Paragon_Inst CEO Brian Blase, a covert Never-Trumper masquerading as a MAGA loyalist, is spearheading a dangerous campaign to undermine the Republican Party’s midterm prospects. 2016 tweets from Brian Blase reveal he once said, “This is why we can’t have Trump.” Along with bashing Trump on X, Blase has also complimented Barack Hussein Obama. See screenshots below 👇🏻...

Seat-less Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will try his luck in Alberta. After losing on election night in his now-former Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, the Tory leader will get the chance to snag a seat in the House of Commons thanks to Battle River-Crowfoot MP Damien Kurek, who has agreed to step aside. “It has been a tremendous honour to serve the good people of Battle River-Crowfoot as their Member of Parliament since 2019,” Kurek said in a statement. “Their support and commitment to the Conservative movement and our mission to bring back hope and prosperity to this country has been...

A bruising battle over academic freedom is being waged in Texas, where the legislature is poised to give the state power to screen faculty, programs and courses in one of the country’s largest public university systems, and experts say the outcome could reverberate for higher education nationwide.Conservative lawmakers, who control all levers of government, are advancing a measure they say would hold institutions more accountable and ensure curriculum is “free from ideological bias.” Faculty could be removed or face civil penalties for violations. Schools that fail to comply could be barred from spending state funds.“Higher education should be about teaching...

An Episcopal congregation here, after facing months of backlash from some neighbors in response to its proposal for a 17-bed homeless shelter, now has been targeted by ersey]the town for possible public seizure of the 11-acre church property through eminent domain. The congregation, Christ Episcopal Church, says the property is not for sale, yet the elected town council on April 30, during a raucous and contentious meeting, agreed to begin the process of buying or seizing the church and five other properties to create two new town parks. The Rev. Lisa A. Hoffman, Christ Church’s rector, said that a Toms...

Eighteen states sued the Trump administration Monday over its halting of permits for wind-energy projects, arguing that its actions posed an existential threat to the burgeoning industry.“This administration is devastating one of our nation’s fastest-growing sources of clean, reliable and affordable energy,” said Attorney General Letitia James of New York, which is one of the plaintiffs. She said the halt threatened “the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs and billions in investments” and was “delaying our transition away from the fossil fuels that harm our health and our planet.”The halt on federal permits for wind energy was first laid out...

Russia says Ukraine has launched an overnight drone attack targeting Moscow for the second night in a row. All four of the capital's major airports have been closed temporarily to ensure safety, Russia's aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said on Telegram. Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on social media at least 19 Ukrainian drones had been destroyed before they reached the city "from different directions". He said some of the debris had landed on one of the key highways into the city, but there were no casualties. Ukraine has not yet commented on the reports

An 88-year-old man and a dog were killed in apparently separate bear attacks near the victim's home in Florida, officials said. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call shortly after 7 a.m. Monday involving a "bear encounter." The attacks occurred "some time apart" on Monday, and the man and the dog were found within a couple of hundred yards of the area, according to FWC spokesperson George Reynaud. His daughter saw a bear attack the dog and then went looking for her father, who is believed to have been attacked earlier on Monday, Reynaud said.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed Monday a repeal of the District’s new minimum wage law for tipped workers, which she said is suffocating the city’s restaurant industry. However, city-council leaders suggested the measure may not have the backing of the legislative body. Ms. Bowser said her fiscal 2026 budget proposal includes returning to the prior system and the one used in most of the U.S., in which waiters, bartenders and similar professions that historically have relied mostly on tips have a separate and much lower minimum wage. She said this would lower costs for the District’s restaurateurs and strengthen a...

Kelly Spill didn’t cry when she was diagnosed with stage III rectal cancer at age 28. She held her emotions together when her surgeon told her that she might not be able to carry another baby — treatment with radiation can significantly affect fertility — and that she might need to have a colostomy bag attached to her to collect her bodily waste after surgery.“I didn’t cry at both of those,” said Spill, who at the time was newly engaged and just months postpartum. After welcoming son Jayce into the world, she and her fiancé had planned to elope to...

Two commercial aircraft were ordered to abort landings at Reagan National Airport on Thursday after a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter entered airspace near the runway while en route to the Pentagon. Delta Air Lines Flight 1671, arriving from Orlando, and Republic Airways Flight 5825, arriving from Boston, were both directed to perform go-arounds by air traffic control at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time. “A UH-60 Blackhawk was directed by Pentagon Air Traffic Control to conduct a ‘go-around,’ overflying the Pentagon helipad in accordance with approved flight procedures,” said US Army spokesperson Capt. Victoria Goldfedib in a statement. ”As a...

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered a sweeping purge of senior Pentagon leadership, demanding a 20% reduction in four-star generals and admirals across all branches, according to a memo obtained by CNN. Hegseth’s memo frames the cuts as “critical” for “removing redundant force structure to optimize and streamline leadership.” As of February 2025, the U.S. military has 38 active-duty four-star officers across its branches: 11 in the Army, 3 in the Marine Corps, 8 in the Navy, 12 in the Air Force, 3 in the Space Force, and 1 in the Coast Guard.

People living in San Francisco who earn over $100,000 a year are considered low-income, according to a new report. The report was released by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) last month. In San Francisco, the report states, a single-person household with income of $109,700 is considered low-income. A two-person household with an income of $125,350 would similarly be classed as low-income. The HCD’s report crunches federal income data, takes into account household size, and then calculates five categories of income, ranging from acutely low to moderate. The determinations are then leveraged to determine who is eligible...