Free Republic

The Tesla driver who served prison time for several road rage attacks in Southern California was attacked in a prison near Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was recently arrested for a similar attack. According to the Hawaii Department of Corrections, 38-year-old Nathaniel Radimak suffered injuries to his face and torso on Monday, May 12, at the Halawa Correctional Facility, KTLA sister station KHON reports. He was later taken to a hospital for treatment.

State Farm General, the largest home insurer in California, has been given the green light to hike its prices across the state, sparking fierce backlash from consumer advocates. The insurance provider has been granted permission by a judge and Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to raise its home insurance prices by an average of 17 percent. Premiums for condo owners and renters will see prices rise an average of 15 percent. But the worst affected group will be rental home owners, who will have to fork out an extra 38 percent on average. The ruling comes after a year-long bitter back...

Gavin Newsom is putting new conditions on a program offering healthcare to illegal migrants as the state continues to face a budget crisis, though he claims its Donald Trump's fault. California is facing a $12 billion deficit thanks in part to the progressive liberal - who may have presidential ambitions - policies, including a state-funded health care program for immigrants living in California without legal status. The deep blue state was among one of the first states to extend free health care benefits to all poor adults regardless of their immigration status last year, an ambitious plan touted by Newsom...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom released his revised state budget proposal for FY 2025–2026 on Wednesday. After having a roughly balanced budget in January, the state must now "close an estimated $12 billion shortfall to balance the budget" because of President Donald Trump's tariffs, which have "driven a downgrade in both the economic and revenue forecasts" and increased spending for the state's Medicaid program. Despite this shortfall, Newsom's budget calls for maintaining or extending expensive government programs, including the state's cap-and-trade program, which was set to expire in 2030. Launched in 2013 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the state,...

role as a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Lincoln Acres Elementary to manipulate her victims, luring them with gifts, special attention and even completing their homework, according to the San Diego County district attorney’s office. When one of her victims was not allowed access to social media or personal electronic devices at home, she went so far as to set up an unsanctioned after-school program and directed him to message her through a school chat application, prosecutors said. The 36-year-old teacher pleaded guilty in February to two counts of forcible lewd acts on a child, one count of a lewd...

A 79-year-old Army veteran was brutally murdered on Monday during a carjacking in Southern California. James Norman was at a gas station in Norco, California, cleaning his Chevy Trailblazer with the engine running when 29-year-old Ryan Hewitt jumped in the driver’s seat and drove off. Norman was hanging out the back door and was dragged and then thrown from the vehicle. His family said he was just too frail to get out in time. Hewitt was charged with felony carjacking and second-degree murder. He is being held on $1 million bail. ... James Norman is survived by his beloved wife,...

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered cities across the Golden state to start cleaning up its homeless encampments, stating that the "time for inaction is over" and that the state has a lot of federal funding to help with the efforts. California has become known for having the highest homeless rate in the country with 187,000 homeless people as of 2024, who largely occupy cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Los Angeles has the second highest homeless population in the country, behind New York City. Newsom laid out a plan to eliminate the homeless population from his...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the City of Turlock are continuing their funding fight over the Turlock-based homeless shelter, We Care. On Friday, Newsom wrote a letter to the city and expressed disappointment with their decision to reject allocating a single dollar. "It is imperative that the City reconsider its priorities and demonstrate the kind of collaborative, accountable, and solution-oriented leadership this crisis demands. Enough. Do your job," wrote Newsom. But Turlock Mayor Amy Bublak said she decided against approving the letter and dollar until the shelter took accountability. "This isn't about $1," Bublak said. "This is about ACCOUNTABILITY, and...

On May 9, 2025 Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk visited the University of California Riverside as part of his nationwide American Comeback Tour and was enthusiastically greeted by students, faculty, staff and visitors. His presentation began with a hat toss as dozens of iconic Make America Great Again (MAGA) baseball caps were thrown into the audience.

California voters have sharply differing views over two of the state’s most prominent Democrats, according to a new poll. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to decide by the end of the summer whether she runs for California governor in 2026, has near universal name recognition among California voters, and 50% view her favorably, according to a survey by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies that was co-sponsored by The Times. ***Harris, despite losing the presidential election to Donald Trump in 2024, is faring better than Bass among California voters as she weighs a gubernatorial bid next year...

Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom is under new federal scrutiny as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) opens an investigation into whether the state improperly funneled taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal aliens. The DHS probe, led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Los Angeles, focuses on the state’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) — a 100 percent state-funded program designed to provide monthly benefits to non-citizens ineligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) due to their immigration status. According to a Title 8 subpoena issued by HSI Los Angeles, federal officials are demanding records from the Los...

California Democrats are currently pushing a bill that could ban law-abiding citizens from buying Glock handguns in an attempt to stop criminals from using “Glock switches.” “Glock switches” are federally prohibited plastic pieces that can be affixed to the rear of a Glock slide to make the pistol shoot full auto. It has become in vogue for leftists to target Glock over the illegal use of the switches. For example, on March 19, 2024, Breitbart News noted that Chicago filed a lawsuit against Glock over the switches, although many of the switches in the U.S. originated in China. On February...

Sheriff's Office in Press Release 5/11/2025, Two teenagers from Tehama County were arrested after allegedly plotting an attack on Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, authorities said. The investigation began on May 9, 2025, when a Tennessee resident contacted the Tehama County Sheriff's Office. The individual reported concerns after engaging in online gaming with one of the teens, who discussed school violence and shared a manifesto and plans targeting the school.... The suspect also sent photographs of himself and an accomplice posing in attire similar to the Columbine school shooters, according to the sheriff's office. Allegedly, the attack was initially planned...

California and 16 other states are suing the Trump administration for halting federal money slated to build more electric vehicle chargers. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta accused the Trump administration of unlawfully withholding funding approved by Congress in the lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program had dedicated $5 billion to expand clean car charging across the country, including more than $300 million for projects in California.

A 64-year-old grandmother in the U.S. without documentation is facing deportation after she mistakenly took the wrong exit on her way home from work. Ana Camero’s family says she’s currently being held at Otay Mesa Detention Center more than a month after she made the unexpected detour and ended up at the entrance to a U.S. Marines facility in San Diego. Camero was driving home from her job as a dishwasher at a La Jolla restaurant on April 7 when she stopped to get gas. She then drove into the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego by mistake. There,...

After a lull in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity on California’s Central Coast, a rash of raids has reportedly swept through San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties over the past week. One notable arrest over the weekend left two children unattended after a man was taken from a gas station by what appeared to be a group of ICE agents. 805 UndocuFund, a collaborative nonprofit group that brings together immigrant-serving Central Coast organizations, reported what appeared to be a planned ICE arrest at the Sinclair gas station at 1050 South Ventura Road in Oxnard. Juan Conches, a...

The horrors of Islamic war rage in Syria. A young Alawite girl, Mira, was kidnapped and married to an Afghan jihadi fighter. Her father was threatened with death if he did not keep quiet and the government forces protected the Afghan man who raped the Alawite girl. The government forces also fabricated a false story to justify this marriage and that the girl had run away with this Afghan man. ... The young woman Mira Jalal Thabat (20 years old), the only child of her parents from the village of Al-Makhtabiyah in Talkalakh, went missing inside the Teacher Training Institute...

This summer, a CCP agent impersonated a Stanford student. Under the alias Charles Chen, he approached several students through social media. Anna*, a Stanford student conducting sensitive research on China, began receiving unexpected messages from Charles Chen. At first, Charles's outreach seemed benign: he asked about networking opportunities. But soon, his messages took a strange turn. Charles inquired whether Anna spoke Mandarin, then grew increasingly persistent and personal. He sent videos of Americans who had gained fame in China, encouraged Anna to visit Beijing, and offered to cover her travel expenses. He would send screenshots of a bank account balance...

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s hostility to the oil industry could lead to the closure of local refineries — which, in turn, could push gas prices past $6 per gallon, or even $9 per gallon, a local analyst has warned. Local ABC affiliate KABC-7 reported: The Phillips 66 Refinery in Los Angeles could close by the end of this year, which would send prices skyrocketing above $6, according to USC Professor Michael Mische. Mische added that if the Valero Refinery in the Bay Area closes by the end of next year, that could send gas prices soaring close to $9 a...

San Francisco came to a standstill Friday after the BART train system was suspended due to a network failure. BART service was halted around 5am PT, stranding thousands of commuters on their way to work. 'Due to a computer networking problem BART service is suspended system wide until further notice,' BART Alert shared on X. BART added that crews are on hand, troubleshooting a 'computer networking problem.' The rail systems spokesperson Alicia Trost told NBC Bay Area that the control center was unable to power up the system after its daily overnight shutdown. An image of the Embarcadero BART station...