Free Republic

A California teenager is being hailed a hero after he rushed to the defense of a blind classmate and knocked a purported school bully to the ground. Shocking video of the fight, recorded by a bystander, shows the teen tormenter repeatedly beating his blind peer on the head. Another student quickly leaps in, stopping the pounding with a single punch. CALIF. HIGH SCHOOL BULLY WHO HIT BLIND CLASSMATE ARRESTED The hit leaves the bully bleeding on the ground. "You trying to jump a f------ blind kid, bro?" the teen says, hovering over him. "What the f--- is your problem?" Footage...

Authorities in Phoenix are investigating a tip that led bounty hunters searching for a fugitive to the home of the city's police chief. Bounty hunter Brent Farley was arrested after he allegedly refused to leave the home of Phoenix Police Chief Joseph Yahner late Tuesday. The bounty hunters were looking for a 6-foot-3-inch, 310-pound black man who was wanted on drug charges in Oklahoma. Instead, the 11 armed bounty hunters arrived at the home of Yahner, who is white. "We have some -- I don't know if they're bounty hunters or what they are," the police chief's girlfriend told 911...

Allowing a school assembly honoring high-achievers to open with a prayer made one Mississippi school district $7,500 poorer - and a student who sued $2,500 richer. The Rankin, Miss., public school district was hit with the fine after U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves said it defied his prior order barring prayers school events. According to the judge, the prayer violated a 2013 court settlement that ordered the district to stop "proselytizing Christianity." The alleged violation, which came at an assembly last year for students who scored above 22 on their ACT college admissions test, prompted the judge to apply fines...

A Texas college professor claims a coming law that would allowing licensed gun owners to carry firearms on campuses will cause grades to shoot up. In a recent opinion piece published in Newsweek, Jessica Gullion, an assistant professor of sociology at Texas Woman's University, warns that allowing students to pack heat in the classroom could add a scary dimension to those after-class discussions about grades.

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — More than 700 infants may have been exposed to tuberculosis at an El Paso hospital over the past year by an employee recently diagnosed with the illness, health officials said Friday. The employee, who worked in the nursery at Providence Memorial Hospital, tested positive on Aug. 25 and was placed on leave, but she may have exposed infants and about 40 other hospital workers starting in September 2013, said Dr. Hector Ocaranza, the health authority for El Paso County...

Former President Bill Clinton voiced support for the U.S. strategy to defeat ISIS and said only the Iraqi people can win a land war in Iraq.

It’s not uncommon for shopping malls to have rules of conduct. Some places ban saggy pants. Others won’t let you ask people for money. But a mall in Georgia may have one of the most unusual rules -- they won’t let shoppers pray – not even over their meals.

HOUSTON — A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home was cleared in the shootings Monday by a grand jury. Joe Horn, 62, shot the two men in November after he saw them crawling out the windows of a neighbor's house in the Houston suburb of Pasadena. Horn called authorities and told the emergency dispatcher he had a shotgun and was going to kill the men. The dispatcher pleaded with him not to go outside, but Horn confronted the men with a 12-gauge shotgun and shot both in the back. "The message...

Florida Authorities Say Inmate Raped, Murdered Corrections Officer An inmate raped and murdered a female corrections officer at a prison in Daytona Beach, Fla., according to police. Enoch Hall, 39, attacked Officer Donna Fitzgerald, 50, Wednesday night while she was on duty at Tomoka Correctional Institution, the state Department of Corrections reported. "Words cannot express the sorrow I feel over the loss of our correctional officer," Department of Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil told MyFOX Orlando. "The entire department grieves the murder of one of our finest officers, and we pray for the victim’s family during this difficult time." Fitzgerald, of...

LOS ANGELES — Rana Parker tells pudgy police they have the right to remain chubby, but it can and will be used against them on the streets of Los Angeles. The dietitian lays down the law for recruits, veterans and top brass, letting them know that eating right can help them do a better job and could even save their lives.

Around 5 p.m. Thursday, Brandon Robertson, of Tyler, was found hiding out in a heavily wooded area of Cass County and once surrounded, turned a gun on himself. He was wanted for allegedly killing Trooper Scott Burns Tuesday at Lake Of The Pines. Now, in a twist to this story, Robertson's girlfriend, 36 year old Jennifer Petrick, was arrested at the same place Robertson was found. KLTV 7's Courtney Lane just returned from the scene and brings us the latest, as details continue to unfold.

The man who is the subject of a regionwide manhunt after allegedly killing a Texas state trooper was once a peace officer himself. Records with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education show the man wanted for the shooting death of trooper James Scott Burns, 39, of Linden during a high speed chase Tuesday night is a former lawman in Rusk County.

Julianne Hough of "Dancing with the Stars" wants to remain a virgin until marriage, she tells CosmoGirl magazine. In a recent interview, the 19-year-old spoke of her trouble fitting in with the Hollywood crowd, due to the presence of the drugs, sex and alcohol she refrains from. Hough says she wants "to be with that special person ... and [waiting to have sex] will strengthen that relationship. I'm not trying to preach consequences here, but I think when you say no, down the line it will be a better decision." She admits keeping up with her goals can be difficult...

Authorities notified the 17-year-old student's father, who voluntarily surrendered some guns in his house to authorities. Della Fave said that all the weapons were legally registered and that the father has been assisting investigators.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia's Muslim men are suffering sleepless nights and cannot pray properly because their thoughts are distracted by a growing number of women who wear sexy clothes in public, a prominent cleric said. Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, the spiritual leader of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said he wanted to speak about the "emotional abuse" that men face because it is seldom discussed, the party reported on its Web site Wednesday.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A 59-year-old convicted sex offender in Illinois tried to castrate himself using a filet knife after he got the urge to "touch and hurt children," according to the Daily Herald. The man, who was not identified, removed one of his testickes, flushed it down the toilet and severely injured the other one. He called a friend for help and when paramedics and police arrived, they found him bleeding profusely. Read the full report from the Daily Herald. The man's sex offense happened in 1984 and as a result was required to register as a offender