Free Republic

LEANDER, Texas — Leander resident Shaun Noll never expected to spend Easter morning going through the wreckage of his home. But that’s where he found himself after a battery for his cordless vacuum exploded. On Thursday, Noll’s two young sons were in his living room when a battery that had been plugged into the wall charging a cordless vacuum exploded. --- end excerpt ---

Harvard University employs about 1,352 full-time administrators for every 1,000 undergraduate students enrolled at the university, an analysis conducted by The College Fix found. This is more than a nine percent increase from the 2013-14 school year, when there were 1,240 administrators per 1,000 students, according to the analysis, which used data provided by Harvard to the federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. During the 2021-22 school year, the most recent year for which data are available, Harvard had 10,120 full-time administrators and support staff on its payroll; in contrast, it had 3,899 full-time teaching and instructional staffers. The total...

El Paso police said in a news release that Phoebe Copas, 48, was a passenger on an Uber ride when she shot driver Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52. The incident happened around 2:20 p.m. on June 16 on U.S. 54 near Loop 375. According to police, Piedra was driving Copas from the Westside area in El Paso to Mission Valley. During the drive, Copas believed she was being kidnapped and taken to Mexico, police said. The El Paso Times reports Copas told officers that she saw traffic signs that read "Juarez, Mexico," leading her to believe that her driver was trying...

President Joe Biden is announcing that he will speak at the United States Air Force Academy’s Commencement Ceremony next month. This comes after he presented the Air Force Falcons with the Commander-In-Chief's trophy at the White House Friday, April 28. The graduation ceremony is expected to take place Thursday, June 1, at the Falcon Stadium. Gates will open to the public at 6:30 a.m. and the ceremony is expected to begin around 9:30 a.m. Tickets are required to attend. For more information about graduation week you can click the link here.

DEER PARK, Texas — Two people have been injured in an ongoing fire at a Shell chemical plant in Deer Park, officials confirmed. The extent of their injuries is not known. This is happening at a facility near Beltway 8 and SH 225. The fire started burning around 2:54 p.m., according to officials. All employees were evacuated and accounted for. Harris County Pct. 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia issued the following statement on the fire at around 4:43 p.m.:“My office has been in touch with the Office of Emergency Management, and we have also personally spoken with the plant manager at...

NAVARRO COUNTY, Texas - State troopers stepped in to take an injured colleague's daughter to a Daddy-Daughter dance he couldn't attend. DPS trooper Curtis Putz was investigating a crash on I-45 in Navarro County during February's winter storm when he was hit by another vehicle. Putz suffered several broken bones, including a broken hip, pelvis, femur, ribs, forearm and shoulder, according to his wife. He also had a lacerated liver, lacerated arteries and road rash. While Putz is on the long road to recovery several DPS troopers went the extra mile to share a special moment with his family. Five...

I was surprised to open today's paper and find a full-page ad from World Business Chicago, encouraging Texas businesses to move to the windy city.The ad lists three things Chicago believes in, namely:Every person's right to vote, Protecting reproductive rights, and Science to fight COVID-19. There is no publicly available source for the ad that I'm aware of, but will attempt to post an image of it in the thread below.

Shortly before Apple CEO Tim Cook took the virtual stage at the iPhone maker’s Apple Park headquarters campus for WWDC 2021 on Monday — at which the company unveiled a ton of new software updates, including some major new privacy enhancements — an email landed in my inbox underscoring how critical those privacy features are going to be once they roll out with iOS 15. Basically, there’s been another huge data leak, this time exposing several billion passwords in what just might be the biggest dump of passwords online ever. This news comes via the team at CyberNews, which reports...

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels will fly above North Texas on Wednesday to honor health care workers and first responders on the front line of the fight against COVID-19. U.S. Rep. Kay Granger (TX-12) made the announcement Monday morning on her website, saying the flyover will occur over Fort Worth at 11 a.m. and last roughly 35 minutes. “I’m proud to partner with the Navy to bring the Blue Angels to Fort Worth, showcasing our community’s deep appreciation to the brave doctors, nurses, first responders, and essential workers on the frontlines of our nation’s fight against the coronavirus,” Granger said...

Marriott said Tuesday approximately 5.2 million guests worldwide may have been affected. The information taken may have included names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, loyalty information for linked companies like airlines and room preferences. Marriott said it’s still investigating but it doesn’t believe credit card information, passport numbers or driver’s license information was accessed.-- excerpted per copyright list --

A society dedicated to preserving the “much-abused” apostrophe is to be shut down as its chairman said “ignorance and laziness” had won. John Richards, who worked in journalism for much of his career, started the Apostrophe Protection Society in 2001 after he retired. Now 96, Richards is calling time on the society, which lists the three simple rules for correct use of the punctuation mark.

TinyPic is shutting down its image hosting service because we can no longer support a free service that derives 100% of its revenue from ever declining on-site ad revenues. While you may continue to host images from our site until further notice, we encourage you to consider selecting one of the premium plans offered by our sister site, Photobucket. Thanks for using TinyPic for your hosting needs over the years. We apologize that we can no longer continue providing this service, but Photobucket is a great option going forward.

Federal officers exchanged gunfire with an active shooting suspect Monday morning outside the federal courthouse in downtown Dallas. The suspect is in custody and was taken to the hospital, police said. -- snip -- Several witnesses have said that there were at least 10 shots fired.

A former Plano high school student was sentenced Monday to 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty to an ISIS-inspired plot to commit mass murder at a Collin County mall. Matin Azizi-Yarand, 18, discussed his plans with an undercover FBI employee to "run and gun" with firearms blazing at the Stonebriar Centre Mall in Frisco and to kill civilians and police officers during the slaughter. -- end excerpt --

An appeals court has struck down Texas’ “revenge porn” law, ruling that the statute is overly broad and violates the First Amendment. The 2015 state law targets what author state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, called “a very disturbing internet trend” of posting a previous partner's nude or semi-nude photos to the web without the partner's permission, often with identifying information attached. Inspired in part by the testimony of Hollie Toups, a Southeast woman whose intimate photos were posted online, the law made posting private, intimate photos a misdemeanor, carrying a charge of up to a year in jail as well...

North Lake College was placed on lockdown just before noon Wednesday after reports of a shooter on the Irving campus. The college sent out its first alert at 11:43 a.m., and Irving police later confirmed that shots had been fired at the school in the 5001 N. MacArthur Blvd. Those on campus were urged to go to the nearest room and take shelter. Irving police said people should avoid the area. [-- end excerpt --]

Back in July, we reported on a car show fundraiser to help relocate Medal of Honor recipient USAF Capt. Lance Sijan’s F4 Phantom fighter jet memorial from its location at an abandoned Air Force base to a new site in Sijan’s hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the original story posted here, we included the extraordinary tale of Capt. Sijan’s bravery as a POW in Vietnam, but also as a red-blooded American boy with a love for Corvettes. The story struck a nerve with Hemmings readers who identified with the sacrifice Capt. Sijan and so many other young men made in...

News Update from Canada The flood of Trump-fearing American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week. The Republican presidential campaign is prompting an exodus among left-leaning Americans who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray, pay taxes, and live according to the Constitution. Canadian border residents say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, liberal arts majors, global-warming activists, and "green" energy proponents crossing their fields at night. "I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said southern Manitoba...

The Social Security Administration is relaxing a recent security directive requiring beneficiaries to use two-factor authentication to log into personal accounts after complaints that the new restrictions hindered user access. ...SSA has not come up with a new two-factor verification method. The agency is strongly recommending that users take advantage of the text-message security option, but beneficiaries are able once again to use a simple username and password to access their accounts....

While killing time in Logan airport the other day I happened to come upon a little shop selling Hillary paraphernalia.Among the items was a nutcracker emblazoned with the slogan "No More Nuts In The White House". I've seen pictures of them before but this was my first live sighting.