Free Republic

A scandal involving racist text messages sent between Antioch police officers led to mayhem during a Tuesday city council meeting. At one particularly intense moment, Mayor Lamar Thorpe stormed out of the council chamber following a heated interaction with a member of the community. Thorpe, who is Black, was the subject of at least one of several text messages revealed in a new report showing that officers in the city’s police department routinely used racist slurs when discussing Black people and other minorities. In one exchange referencing the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, an officer reportedly sent a text...

One warm afternoon in May, Dwight Jackson was getting dressed for a visit to his favorite cigar lounge. He slipped his holstered SIG Sauer P320 pistol onto his belt, put on a button-down shirt and leaned across his bed for his wallet. Suddenly, he said, the gun fired, sending a bullet tearing through his right buttock and into his left ankle. "I heard 'bang!'" said Jackson, 47, a locomotive engineer who lives in Locust Grove, Ga. "I looked down and saw blood." His wife heard the shot from down the hall and screamed. She called an ambulance while Jackson hobbled...

A top Florida State University professor whose research focused on race in the criminal justice system abruptly left his post in the wake of years-long allegations of academic fraud. A Fellow of the American Society of Criminology, Eric Stewart has had six research studies retracted, blemishing FSU’s top-ranked criminology department. Stewart was first accused of falsifying data in 2019 by Professor Justin Pickett of the University of Albany, who co-authored a 2011 study with Stewart. The study tested if the public’s prejudicial views impacted their desire for harsher sentences for black and hispanic Americans. The published findings were that as...

The effects of the COVID-related government shutdowns three years ago continue to reverberate. A new report from the Associated Press indicates that many American teens have become disillusioned with college and have opted to skip it in favor of going to trade school or working a job that does not require an undergraduate degree. Between 2019 and 2022, college enrollment in the U.S. fell 8%, and the decline in college enrollment since 2018 has been the steepest on record, the AP claimed. Though enrollment increased slightly from 2021 to 2022 after most schools returned to in-person classes, the numbers have...

Despite the record-breaking scale of the blizzard pummeling Lake Tahoe, it seems some drivers are still a bit confused about the conditions of the area’s roads — or at least that’s the takeaway from some of the increasingly direct messaging coming from area CHP and sheriffs' offices around the Tahoe Basin. Officials in surrounding areas of the Sierra Nevada issued equally direct messages for drivers, including the Mono County Sheriff's Office, which told drivers Tuesday morning: “The roads are closed. All of them. There is no alternate route, back way, or secret route. It's a blizzard, people. You cannot see...

The Berkeley Institute of Government Studies/Los Angeles Times poll, conducted between Feb. 14 and Feb. 20 among 7,512 registered voters, asked respondents the question, "If Joe Biden decides not to run for a second term for President in 2024, how would you feel about Vice President Kamala Harris running for President in 2024?" Just 16% said they'd be "very enthusiastic," while 21% said they'd be "somewhat enthusiastic"; 18% answered "not too enthusiastic," and a clear plurality of 41% said "not enthusiastic at all." Four percent of survey respondents offered no opinion. In sum, just 37% of voters say they have...

Visitors to Yosemite National Park got more than they expected when a rockslide came off the east side of El Capitan on Monday, originating very close to the park’s famous firefall. The tail end of the incident —– which happened at about 11:45 a.m. — was captured on video by photographer James Piper. In the video, the sound of crashing rocks can be heard echoing across the valley as smoke, debris and dust fill the air at the base of the iconic El Capitan. "Holy God," a man in the background can be heard saying. Link to video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1627900010909306882

It’s Valentine’s Day morning, and the height of the breakfast rush at the Pismo Beach Coco’s is overwhelming the small but nimble staff. At the center of the flurry is the ringmaster, the restaurant’s longtime owner and general manager, Larry Puder. Puder, 66, is simultaneously ringing up tabs, handing menus to a large party walking in, gesturing for a server to put a new pot of decaf on and attempting to explain to an anxious customer why there are no more banana cream pies. “Jesus Christ, I’m so glad I’m getting out of this business,” Puder says under his breath...

Jen Angel, a beloved local bakery owner and social justice community activist, died on Thursday from injuries she suffered in a violent robbery, according to her close friends. She was 48. Her friend, Emily Harris, told KRON4, “I’m devastated. Jen has been such a pillar of love and support, a person who brings so many people together in Oakland.” A statement written by her friends on Thursday night stated, “It is with a heavy heart that we announce that Oakland baker, small business owner, social justice activist, and community member Jen Angel has been medically declared to have lost all...

Meta shares popped in extended trading on Wednesday after the company reported fourth-quarter revenue that topped estimates and announced a $40 billion stock buyback. Here are the results. Earnings: $1.76 per share Revenue: $32.17 billion vs $31.53 billion expected, according to Refinitiv Daily Active Users (DAUs): 2 billion vs 1.99 billion expected, according to StreetAccount Monthly Active Users (MAUs): 2.96 billion vs billion expected, according to StreetAccount Average Revenue per User (ARPU): $10.86 vs $10.63 expected, according to StreetAccount

A special grand jury in Loudoun County has indicted former Loudoun County Public Schools superintendent Scott Ziegler on three misdemeanor charges, a week after issuing a scathing report detailing the school district's misdeeds in responding to a sexual assault. The office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, who had impaneled the grand jury, announced Monday that a Loudoun county judge had ordered three misdemeanor indictments against Ziegler to be unsealed. Loudoun County Public Schools Public Information Officer Wayde Byard was also charged with felony perjury. Ziegler was charged with one count of misdemeanor false publication, one count of misdemeanor prohibited...

A physics teacher in Scotland has resigned after students discovered her racy images on OnlyFans – a side hustle she said she needed so she could raise cash for her sick son. Kirsty Buchan, 33, of Coatbridge, quit her job at Bannerman High School this week after her X-rated content was uncovered, but defended her after-hours gig on the adult site. She told the Daily Record that her 11-year-old son is waiting for an operation after he developed a serious stomach ailment. “Some people are saying I must be mad to go from being a physics teacher to selling nude...

Decision Desk HQ projects Republicans have won a majority in the U.S. House with at least 218 seats.

Democrats are adding millions in television spending to boost Sen. Patty Murray, a sign that the party is employing a take-no-chances approach even in solidly blue Washington state. The 30-year veteran of the Senate is facing a challenge from Republican Tiffany Smiley, a political newcomer whose campaign has seized on quality-of-life issues, from urban crime and homelessness to inflation, to tarnish Murray. In recent public polling, Smiley has closed a sizable gap since this summer, when Murray led by 18 percentage points in an 18-candidate, all-party primary. A Seattle Times poll released last week showed Murray slipping slightly, from 51...

The New York state Supreme Court has reinstated all employees who were fired for not being vaccinated, ordering back pay and saying their rights had been violated. The court found Monday that "being vaccinated does not prevent an individual from contracting or transmitting COVID-19." New York City Mayor Eric Adams claimed earlier this year that his administration would not rehire employees who had been fired over their vaccination status. NYC alone fired roughly 1,400 employees for being unvaccinated earlier this year after the city adopted a vaccine mandate under former Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Researchers at Rockefeller University in New York found people who have higher levels of certain acids on their skin are 100 times more attractive to the female Aedes aegypti, the type of mosquito responsible for spreading diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika. The findings, published Tuesday in the journal Cell, could lead to new products that could mask or alter certain human odors, making it harder for mosquitoes to find human blood and potentially curbing the spread of disease. SNIP Experts have found people seem to become more attractive to mosquitoes when they're pregnant or after they've...

The former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper reportedly under investigation for her actions while responding to the Robb Elementary shooting who was hired as a police officer for Uvalde CISD was terminated Thursday. Crimson Elizondo was seen in footage of the May 24 tragedy at Robb Elementary School and was one of the first troopers to arrive at the school in response to the shooting. SNIP Elizondo resigned and landed a police officer position with Uvalde CISD, prompting community outage and heightened criticism of district officials. CNN’s reporting about the controversial hire led to Uvalde CISD firing Elizondo. SNIP...

Ben Sasse is likely to accept a job at the University of Florida and resign his Senate seat in the near future, according to two people familiar with the Nebraska Republican’s plans. The Nebraska governor would then appoint a replacement for Sasse under state law. The second-term Sasse made a name for himself as a consistent Trump critic in Congress as well as a reliable conservative vote.

A Silicon Valley flying car startup that received backing from Google's Larry Page and set out to revolutionize the way people get around is closing locations and laying off employees. Kittyhawk gave pink slips to 100 employees, according to a WARN notice filed with state labor officials on Sept. 22. The WARN notice posted with California's Employment Development Department also indicated that the company is permanently closing three offices, including two in Palo Alto at 821 San Antonio Rd. and 4062 Fabian Way and another in Mountain View at 2639 Terminal Blvd. The layoffs and closures were reported to the...

During Saturday’s weekend morning show, Mester, Romero’s co-anchor, went off script with an emotional speech. He apologized, on behalf of the station, to viewers and said the handling of Romero’s exit “was rude, it was cruel, it was inappropriate and we are so sorry.” Many viewers had applauded Mester’s ad-libbed message, but not long after his defense of Romero, Mester was suspended, drawing even more criticism of how KTLA handled the situation. “Mark was 100% in the right,” tweeted one user. “It’s like you guys are begging to lose all your viewers with this kind of behavior.” However, newsroom employees...