Free Republic

New York firefighter Jason Stokes, 41, has pleaded not guilty to the felony arson charge. A firefighter in upstate New York is facing a felony arson charge after authorities say he set his family’s house on fire and wrote an anti-police message outside as a potential cover-up. Jason Stokes, 41, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony second-degree arson following the mysterious Aug. 10 summer blaze in Endicott, just west of Binghamton, local station TV WBNG reported. Stokes, his wife and two teenaged children escaped the home safely, state police said. Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell described an “obstacle course”...

Energy: After more than five years of a fracking moratorium, a leading energy company walks away from its leases, leaving New York, its natural gas riches — and the jobs and wealth they could generate — unrealized. In 2000, people from Chesapeake Energy began arriving in Broome County, New York, a few miles north of the Pennsylvania border. Broome had seen better economic days but was lucky to be sitting right atop the natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale formation, which stretches through much of the Northeast. Over the next few years, Chesapeake was able to snap up drilling rights to some...

Fair Lawn officer killed in shootout     Play the video (04/18/03) BERGEN - A manhunt involving numerous law enforcement agencies was launched on Thursday night after a shootout in Bergen County ended with one police officer dead and another wounded.Fair Lawn Police Officer Maryann Collura was helping a Clifton officer who was involved in a car chase on Thursday night. The Clifton officer was chasing a red sports car that was eventually stopped on a church's front lawn.Authorities say when the officers tried to arrest the people in the car, at least one of the suspects and the Clifton...