Free Republic

Henry Lee, the famed forensic scientist who helped bring modern crime scene investigation into the public spotlight through his involvement in high-profile cases like the O.J. Simpson murder trial, has died. He was 87. Lee "passed away peacefully" Friday at his home in Henderson, Nevada, following a brief illness, according to a statement from his family and the University of New Haven, where he taught for more than 50 years. Lee rose to fame after his testimony in Simpson's 1995 trial, in which he questioned the handling of blood evidence. He also served as a consultant in other well known...

The woman, identified as 46-year-old Gabriela Bautista, is the second person to suffer a fatal bite in recent weeks.An aerial shot of Wildwood Regional Park near Thousand Oaks, CaliforniaA 46-year-old hiker died after a rattlesnake bit her on a popular Southern California hiking trail, the area’s second death by snakebite this year, authorities say. Gabriela Bautista was hiking at Wildwood Regional Park, a popular area near Thousand Oaks with 17 miles of trail, when she suffered a bite on March 14 at about 11:40 a.m., Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson Andrew Dowd told the Thousand Oaks Acorn. Emergency services airlifted...

“An Arizona deputy was arrested on kidnapping charges and booted from the sheriff's department that's leading the months-long Nancy Guthrie investigation. Ex-Pima County deputy Travis Reynolds, 22, was detained on Thursday and accused of kidnapping a detainee whom he was transporting to the Pima County Jail. The Tucson Police Department charged him with one count of kidnapping in connection with alleged misconduct that reportedly occurred while he was on duty,' according to a police statement obtained by Fox. Following his arrest and given the serious nature of the allegations, Reynolds's employment with the Pima County Sheriff's Office was immediately terminated.”

Conservative talk show host Dennis Prager is suing Cedars Sinai Medical Center, another hospital and a rehab clinic over medical malpractice and elder abuse, accusing them of failing to properly treat his severe spinal injury and causing “costly complications.” The 77-year-old Prager, a best-selling author who has hosted a syndicated right-wing talk show for more than four decades, was stepping out of his shower in November 2024 when he slipped and fell backwards, striking the back of his head on the side of a bathtub and suffering a severe spinal cord injury. In his civil complaint, filed Friday in Los...

Over 13,000 adults and 8,000 teens will be baptized in France this Easter, setting a new record, the French Bishops' Conference announced on March 25. "How is this happening? What's going on?" Archbishop Olivier de Germay of Lyon, France, didn't try to downplay the mystery. He serves as the point person for the catechumenate for the French Bishops' Conference (CEF). Speaking from Lourdes, he noted the many unknowns still surrounding the surge in teen and adult baptism requests. During the Easter Vigil, on April 4, the Church will celebrate 21,386 adult and teen baptisms. The CEF shared these staggering figures...

Msgr. Gherardini on the SSPXReading his biography, one can hardly understand why a professor of theology and philosophy like Monsignor Brunero Gherardini was attacked so vehemently.[1] Born in 1925 in Prato (Tuscany), he died at the venerable age of 92—in 2017—in Santa Marinella (Rome). Throughout his entire life dedicated to serving the Church, Gherardini followed a consistent intellectual and spiritual path that led him to key positions within the famous Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis (Pontifical Lateran University) and the Pontificia Academia Sancti Thomae Aquinatis (Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas). There he taught courses in ecclesiology, ecumenism, and other fundamental theological...

Just when we thought the campaign for California’s governorship couldn’t get any weirder, it did. A Tuesday night debate at the University of Southern California was cancelled late Monday amid allegations of racism because all the candidates invited to participate are white while the four Democrats who were left out are Latino, Black or Asian. USC chose debaters on the basis of their standing in the polls or the amounts of money raised or being spent. It meant, for example, that San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was included because of his heavy financial support from Silicon Valley, even though he...

For decades, one of the most reliable pillars of pro-Israel sentiment in the United States was not just Jews but conservative Christians. That support had a theological motor: Israel mattered not just as an ally on a Cold War map, but as a central actor on the map of the End Times. Put simply, Christians needed Jews to return to the homeland of Israel to usher in the second coming of Christ. But now, that theological motor is sputtering… Young evangelicals are less tethered to elaborate prophetic systems… The consequence is subtle but profound: Support for Israel increasingly has to...

French police on Saturday stopped an apparent bomb attack outside a Bank of America branch in Paris. The French counter-terrorism prosecutor's office said it was investigating a "terrorist criminal conspiracy".

A stubborn patient has refused to leave her Florida hospital room even though she was discharged by doctors five months ago, a lawsuit alleges. Charlotte Paynter has allegedly been unlawfully occupying Room 373 at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital since October, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the hospital on March 3. Paynter, 69, was admitted to the medical facility for treatment for an undisclosed condition last year, the hospital said in the complaint obtained by the Daily Mail. Doctors issued a formal discharge order on October 6 after it was determined that she no longer needed acute care services, the...

The U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), has been pulled from active operations in the Red Sea and sent to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay in Crete following a March 12 onboard fire and mounting system strain after months of sustained combat operations. The fire, which broke out in the ship’s main laundry area, injured sailors, damaged living spaces, and required hours of firefighting and recovery efforts. After nearly nine months at sea – one of the longest and most demanding deployments in recent Navy history – there is growing concern that the Ford could now...

By Dr. John Bergsma (intro, first and second readings) and Dr. Brant Pitre (Gospel Reading) This Sunday’s readings might seem bipolar or schizophrenic. We begin Mass with exultant cheering as we relive Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We end the Readings on a note of solemn silence, unable to process the reality of one of the most egregious abuses of judicial process and power in human history, in which the only innocent man ever to live is executed. What does it all mean? Despite a few mysterious prophetic texts that seemed to intimate this possibility, the idea that the Messiah...

Most of the country saw population growth slow down or even reverse in 2025, new data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveals. Of the country’s more than 3,000 counties, about 80% saw declining population or slower growth between July 2024 and July 2025. Counties that were already shrinking also saw that trend accelerate. One major reason for the drop, according to the agency, was a significant decline in international immigration to the U.S. in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term. The biggest swings were along the U.S.-Mexico border. Laredo, Texas; Yuma, Arizona; and El Centro, California, all...

For generations, the conventional wisdom went something like this: serious money lives in New York. The serious decisions about who gets capital, who gets to list on an exchange, who gets to participate in the grand machinery of American finance—all of it emanated from a few square miles of lower Manhattan, governed by institutions so entrenched they seemed geological. Wall-Street wasn’t just an address. It was a statement about where power lived and who held it. That era is ending. And the remarkable thing isn’t simply that it’s ending — it’s why it’s ending, and what that tells us about...

Explanation: Robert H. Goddard, considered the father of modern rocketry, was born in Worcester Massachusetts in 1882. As a 16 year old, Goddard read H.G. Wells' science fiction classic "War Of The Worlds" and dreamed of space flight. By 1926 he had designed, built, and flown the world's first liquid fuel rocket. Launched 100 years ago on March 16, 1926 from his aunt Effie's farm in Auburn Massachusetts, the rocket, dubbed "Nell," rose to an altitude of 41 feet in a flight that lasted about 2 1/2 seconds. In this posed photo, Goddard stands next to the 10 foot tall...

Tens of thousands of people have gathered in London to march against the far right in the biggest multicultural demonstration in UK history. Organisers claimed half a million people had travelled to the capital for the Together Alliance march. Police estimated the turnout closer to 50,000, although they admitted it was difficult to judge due to how spread out the crowd was. Beginning in Park Lane, more than 100 charities, campaign groups and trade unions marched to Trafalgar Square via Whitehall in a show of unity against far-right politics. The protest was in response to Tommy Robinson’s “unite the kingdom”...

NBA and NFL players are involved in a truly remarkable story after being scammed by a catfish pretending to be a famous adult actress. The NFL Players Association is now speaking up and make players aware of shady characters. The nature of the statement from the NFL PA stems from a fraudster targeting many stars and their personal information. The Athletic detailed a shocking account recently regarding various NBA and NFL players being targeted by a man that posed as an OnlyFans creator. Kwamaine Jerell Ford allegedly pretended to approach top athletes and gain their trust for the purpose of...

A man was killed and several others were wounded by an Iranian ballistic missile fired at central Israel late Friday, the sixth attack that Iran launched on the country throughout the day. The missile carried a cluster bomb warhead, spreading bomblets over a wide area. A bomblet impact in Tel Aviv killed a 52-year-old security guard who was not in a bomb shelter at the time. The victim was named as Vyacheslav Vidmant. Vidmant was employed by the Tel Aviv municipality to secure residential buildings that had been evacuated in the same location after a deadly Iranian attack on the...

"Activist and trial lawyer attacks on herbicides imperil US and global health and nutrition" President Trump recently signed an Executive Order invoking the Defense Production Act to ensure increased domestic supplies of elemental phosphorus – a critical component of glyphosate-based herbicides that are vital for America’s non-organic crop productivity and thus national security. The EO has rekindled anti-pesticide activism and public concern about glyphosate, which used to be the primary ingredient in Roundup for home use but was changed following numerous class-action lawsuits. It’s also created internal conflicts within the “Make America Healthy Again” movement because the President and HHS...

California Governor Gavin Newsom sits down with CNN's Dana Bash to talk about the future of the Democratic Party. He says the party should be "less prone to spending disproportionate amount of time on pronouns, identity politics. More focused on tabletop issues, things that really matter — the stacking of stress in terms of the electricity bills and childcare costs and health care and obviously housing costs."