Free Republic

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis woman is calling her house cat a hero for protecting her family from a man trying to break into her home on the city’s southeast side. The woman told police she was watching television in her living room when she heard someone at her front door. It happened early Wednesday morning on Finley Avenue near Walker Avenue. Cynthia Kootz told 24-Hour News 8 she got Binky about six years ago. She described him as loyal — her best friend and protector. She said the man pushed open the screen window, and that’s when Binky came...

Donald TrumpÂ’s second Executive Order on visa entry from six majority Muslim countries is now before the Supreme Court. Trump is seeking review of the 4th CircuitÂ’s decision upholding a Maryland District Court injunction halting the Executive Order. In addition to the Petition for a Writ of Certiorari asking SCOTUS to hear the case on the merits, Trump has a request for a stay of the lower court injunctions pending a decision on the merits. The application is on a fast track, with the Court setting June 12 as the deadline for opposition papers. The 4th CircuitÂ’s decision found that...

AUSTIN, TX (InsideEdition.com) — The man who claimed he was going to sue a woman for texting during their first date has opted to call it off. Brandon Vezmar met Crystal Cruz on the online dating app Bumble. On Saturday, he took her to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at a movie theater in Austin, Texas. He claimed she was texting through the movie and got fed up. “Maybe you can take it outside,” he said he told her. “She was behaving as if it was normal,” he told Inside Edition. “So much so, that I thought to...

MARION, Ind. (WISH) – The grandmother of a young girl who was molested and impregnated in Marion says the man charged with the crime was someone they trusted. 34-year-old Nicholas Deon Thrash is facing 10 counts of child molestation. “He’s not type of person that you’d think would do something like this,” said the grandmother. She said she met Thrash multiple times. “We invited him into our home. He helped my husband all he could,” said the grandmother. Now Thrash is behind bars, and family says the young girl is 20 weeks pregnant. “Now her whole life has changed. …...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — More than $1 million worth of medical equipment has been declared lost from the Indianapolis VA Roudebush Medical Center in recent years, an I-Team 8 investigation has uncovered. At best, VA officials concede that the losses are small in terms of the inventory’s size, but may indicate poor record-keeping. At worst, the records show a systemic pattern of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of items that go missing each year at the Indianapolis VA. What’s more, I-Team 8 discovered that four years after the VA inked a massive $543 million contract to install tracking devices on...

NEW YORK (AP) — Free preschool for 4-year-olds was a signature issue that helped New York City’s mayor win office in 2013. Now up for re-election, Bill de Blasio wants to add thousands of classroom seats for 3-year-olds, too. His initiative, which could eventually enroll up to 62,000 kids, would be among the largest public investments in preschool in the United States for children that young. A few states, including Florida and Oklahoma, have universal, publicly funded pre-K for 4-year-olds, but such programs for 3-year-olds are much more rare. Education advocates said the plan announced last week by de Blasio,...

KOKOMO, Ind. (WISH) — People in Kokomo are on edge following the arrest of an 80-year-old on rape charges. A woman told police it happened Sunday night on Lafountain Street. According to Kokomo police the woman went to the man’s house to sell him a tablet. It’s not clear how this transaction was initiated, but police say it didn’t originate online. The 29-year-old woman says she was held against her will at gunpoint. Police arrested William Graham for rape, armed robbery and confinement. 24-Hour News 8 was able to speak with the man’s brother, who says this is out of...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Supreme Court says an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer cannot sue a gun shop for damages after a suspect shot him with a gun bought at the store. According to court documents, Demetrious Martin, a convicted felon who was unable to legally purchase or possess a firearm, shot IMPD Officer Dwayne Runnels during a traffic stop in December of 2011. The vehicle was stopped after matching the description of a car connected to an armed robbery and shooting. As Runnels approached the vehicle, Martin exited the car and proceeded to fire two shots at Runnels....

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO) – An assistant professor at Indiana State University has been arrested in regards to recent emails threatening the Muslim community. ISU officials say Azhar Hussain, an assistant professor of aviation technology at the university, was arrested on a felony charge of obstruction of justice, and a misdemeanor charge of harassment. Hussain has also been immediately suspended from his teaching duties, according to Provost Mike Licari. ISU officials say the charges stem from emails that were received on campus, containing anti-Muslim messages and threats toward members of the Muslim community. Officials say the first report of the...

Former Hillary Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Palmeri acknowledged Wednesday that the press has a liberal bias, but she claimed that actually makes journalists harder on Democrats in their coverage. Palmieri spoke alongside former Bush administration spokesman Ari Fleischer at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., as part of a series of panels on "First Amendment challenges in the early days of the Trump administration." "I think most journalists are probably leaning more to the left than the right," she said. "Think about the kind of person that's drawn to do this as a career. They believe in government, they think politics matters,...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly announced he will support the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch for his Supreme Court seat. The announcement came Sunday afternoon in a decision that differed from many other Democrats who opposed the nominee. Donnelly said in a statement: I have said consistently that part of my job is to carefully review, debate, and vote on judicial nominations, including nominees to the Supreme Court. It is my obligation as Senator to consider the qualifications of each nominee that comes to the Senate floor to determine if he or she can faithfully serve on our...

<p>CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man who wrapped electrical tape around a dog’s muzzle to stop her from barking has been sentenced to five years in prison.</p> <p>Media outlets report William Dodson’s sentence Friday represented the state’s maximum for animal cruelty. However, Dodson’s sentence for mistreating Caitlyn won’t extend his prison time.</p>

The dam has to burst. I was against CBO health care scoring before it was cool to be against CBO healthcare scoring. In the run-up and aftermath of passage of Obamacare, I devoted numerous posts to the way the way Democrats gamed CBO scoring to present an unrealistic projection of how the law would actually work. CBO Credibility The First Victim Of Obamacare (March 19, 2010): Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday how pleased she was with the precision of the CBO report on the cost of Obamacare. It would be easy to laugh out loud if so much were not at...

CORBIN, Ky. (WKYT) - A bizarre situation brought the Friday morning practice for the Corbin High School track team to a screeching halt. Sickness canceled classes on Friday, but the track team still held practice. The track coach spotted a woman taking off her clothes. Before he could react, the naked woman jumped the chain link fence and began running with the boys on the track. Police say Leger never touched the boys, but just ran alongside them. "One of the coaches saw her a couple hundred yards away I guess by the softball field. She had clothes on. He...

FRANKFORT, KY (WCMH) — A Kentucky lawmaker has introduced a bill that would require men seeking treatment for erectile dysfunction to jump through several hoops beforehand. Rep. Mary Lou Marzian (D-Louisville) introduced House Bill 369 on Feb. 12. The bill would require that a man visit a doctor twice before the doctor can prescribe any drug for erectile dysfunction, be married and get a signed and dated letter of consent from his spouse. The bill also calls for the man to “make a sworn statement with his hand on a bible that he will only use a prescription for a...

WINTER HAVEN, FL (WFLA) – Two Florida teens are facing first-degree murder charges in connection with the disturbing murder of a man that detectives say happened during a sexual encounter. Donald Merkley, 67, was found dead in his house on Jan. 11, after a fire at his home. Detectives initially believed the fire was caused by a small electric heater, and ruled it accidental. But, when one of the teens came forward with details about what happened, the fire turned into a murder investigation. Detectives say Byron Lasiak, 16, of Winter Haven told them that he and Jerry Johnsey, 18,...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Immigration advocates are pushing for Indianapolis to become a “sanctuary city.” These advocates say families are being torn apart because of deportations under the Trump administration. That’s why they came to the sheriff’s office looking for answers. About 20 people went to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office looking to speak with him. They say they don’t want local resources to be used to deport people. This is after President Trump’s immigration executive orders and ramped up deportations. Sheriff John Layton originally said that he wouldn’t meet with this group but eventually met with them. “I am standing...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A woman scammed thousands out of members of Hispanic churches after saying she would get them immigration documents, according to prosecutors. Judith Palma, 57, also went by the name Roma Smith, according to investigators. She is accused of committing 17 counts of theft by taking more than $67,000 from 31 victims. “Anyone with concerns regarding immigration status is urged to seek services from a licensed immigration attorney,” Prosecutor Terry Curry said. “We understand recent federal policy changes have heightened the urgency to resolve outstanding immigration issues, but such conditions may make individuals easier targets for scam artists....

PUTNAM COUNTY (WTHR) - Police are looking for two men who ran from a traffic stop along Interstate 70 near Cloverdale Saturday morning. Indiana State Police stopped a van with Texas registration for unsafe lane movement on eastbound I-70 near the 43 mile marker just east of Cloverdale around 9:00 a.m. During conversation with the driver of the blue Toyota Sequoia, the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Trooper noticed possible criminal activity. Eight passengers were carrying no identification, including a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, both traveling without parents. The people in the van are believed to be from Guatemala, Honduras,...

<p>SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Alec Baldwin does a pretty convincing Donald Trump impersonation – just ask a newspaper in the Dominican Republic.</p> <p>El Nacional published an apology on Saturday after mistakenly running a photo of the actor doing his impression of the U.S. president on “Saturday Night Live” instead of Trump himself.</p>