Free Republic

An estimated 40,000 people in Orange County, California, have been ordered to evacuate the area over fears that a tank containing a toxic chemical may explode, officials said Friday. Authorities in Orange County said they’re unable to control the valves on a tank at an aerospace manufacturing facility in Garden Grove. “It fails or it blows up,” said Craig Covey, the Orange County Fire Authority incident commander at the scene. Initial evacuation orders were issued Thursday after a “vapor release” at the manufacturing site in Garden Grove. The situation seemed to be stable, but on Friday, the valve on a...

Los Angeles residents and business owners are fuming over claims that the sister-in-law of lefty late-night host Jimmy Kimmel bullied a longtime grocer for selling pro-Spencer Pratt cookies. Carly Kimmel, Jimmy’s sister-in-law, was accused in a viral social media post of complaining about the Pratt-themed sweets sold at Vicente Foods, a 78-year-old grocery store in Brentwood. The popular LA fashion and lifestyle boutique Kitson — which counts stars Paris Hilton, Kate Beckinsale, Angelina Jolie and Janet Jackson among its clientele — said that it “spoke to a reliable source” who confirmed the complaint came from Carly. It also posted photos...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is in a spat with a major oil company over who is to blame for the state’s high gas prices, with the Democratic governor’s office urging drivers not to fill up at Chevron stations over Memorial Day weekend. “Pro tip: unbranded gas comes from the same refineries, storage tanks, and pipelines, and it meets the same state standards to keep your engine running clean,” Newsom’s office posted Thursday on X. “Big Oil is already making billions off Trump’s Iran War; don’t let them rip you off even more by overpaying for the brand name.” Newsom’s office...

A Newport Beach family is living in fear after the man who murdered their grandmother 30 years ago may be considered for parole. Shannon Wadsworth, the victim's granddaughter, is speaking out, pleading for Gov. Gavin Newsom to block the release. "I'm terrified. My entire family is terrified," Wadsworth said. "He should not be on the streets; he's not safe. He even said in his parole hearing that he has the possibility to commit this crime again, a crime of sexual nature, and that says it all." In the 1990's, teenager James Dennis Lynch made headlines after pleading guilty to the...

Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings appears to be back to scrolling on candidates in the California governor’s race. A newly filed report for the committee “California Back to Basics Supporting Matt Mahan for Governor 2026” shows Hastings contributed $1 million to the pro-Mahan independent expenditure committee on May 15 — only to then have the money returned five days later on Wednesday. Only the two finalists in the June 2 primary election will advance to the November runoff. A source close to the pro-Mahan committee told The Post that Hastings was part of a broader fundraising round to meet a goal,...

Oakland director and hometown hero Boots Riley’s new film, “I Love Boosters,” pays homage to a complicated folk hero: the booster, a neighborhood figure who sells shoplifted goods at a steep discount. The topic feels particularly poignant in the Bay Area, where high-profile smash-and-grabs make headlines and drugstores put toothpaste behind lock and key.

A man known around Escondido for covering his home with Trump flags and MAGA memorabilia was reportedly left fighting for his life Wednesday after a brutal attack erupted outside the infamous “Trump House.” Locals have complained about the Buchanan Street property in the past with commentary online going back years — describing bizarre displays, confrontational behavior and over-the-top MAGA decor — all long before an alleged attack left a man in serious condition. Video obtained by The California Post shows the aftermath of a confrontation outside the property with police tape blocking off the street. Officers reportedly arrived to find...

A bitter GOP civil war is erupting in California’s governor race with Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco torching Republican rival Steve Hilton’s campaign as a “full-blown lie” and claiming he’s been “bought and paid for” by Democrats. In a blistering video message Tuesday, Bianco flatly demanded Hilton quit the race as the two Republicans battle to survive California’s jungle primary system and snag a spot in November’s general election. “Hey Steve, it’s Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, your next governor. Steve, it is time for you to drop out. Your campaign has already failed,” Bianco said. “It failed in January....

The 7th Congressional District race is shaping up to be a classic duel between two Democrats, the veteran Doris Matsui and the upstart from Sacramento City Council, Mai Vang. So why is this campaign becoming so much about two Republicans? Vang is pitching the similarities between Matsui and the Republican everybody knows about, President Donald Trump. And now Matsui is doing her best to elevate a Republican few know about, Sacramento State student Zachariah Wooden, who is an also-ran in this race and apparently hasn’t raised a penny in support from his party or anyone. Vang and Matsui have been...

The once Golden State has a jungle primary, meaning the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party. As in the 2024 Senate race, Democrat party leaders are determined to repeat their primary strategy to set up a general election between a Democrat and a Republican. In the 2024 senatorial primary, then-Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff and Katie Porter held the one-two spot for a long time. But the last thing Democrats wanted was for Schiff and Porter to win the jungle primary and advance to the general election, where the two Democrats would spend months and dollars...

The mother of controversial transgender high school track athlete AB Hernandez publicly shared a post slamming California school officials for allowing biological female athletes to receive duplicate podium placements and medals at state track competitions. The post, from the trans active group Rainbow Families Action, included the letter from the California Interscholastic Federation allowing the change ahead of Hernandez’s domination of the long jump, high jump and triple jump at Saturday’s California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section championship final. ”All these big, tough ex-athletes at CIF, and the most courage they could muster was to hand this to coaches at AB’s...

California’s aggressive push for a $20 fast-food minimum wage was sold as a moral victory for workers, a bold stand against corporate greed that would lift families without consequence. Yet the reality unfolding at Carl’s Jr. locations across the state tells a different story—one of shuttered opportunities, fleeing staff, and franchise operators driven to bankruptcy. What began as political virtue-signaling has delivered economic pain that no amount of union rhetoric can disguise. Friendly Franchisees Corporation, a major operator running dozens of Carl’s Jr. restaurants, filed for Chapter 11 protection last month, citing the wage mandate as a primary driver of...

Former Biden Cabinet member Xavier Becerra remains the top Democrat in the California governor’s race despite being targeted by a barrage of negative political ads and enduring sharp attacks from his rival candidates during recent debates, according to a new poll released Tuesday by the state Democratic Party. Billionaire Tom Steyer, a Democrat who is shattering self-funding records for statewide office, has been flooding the television airwaves, internet and social media with ads ripping Becerra’s long record in public office, as well as for accepting campaign donations from oil giant Chevron. But, thus far, that has not been enough for...

The San Diego mosque shooters were “radicalized online,” cops say — as it’s revealed they wore Nazi symbols and etched racist statements on their gear as they opened fire outside an Islamic Center, killing three people in the process. The two teens “did not discriminate on who they hated,” law enforcement officials said in a press conference Tuesday, adding they had recovered over 30 guns and a crossbow in connection to the suspects. A livestream video of the horrific attack, currently being probed by the FBI, shows Cain Clark with a Black Sun symbol, which is associated with Nazi Germany,...

California's largest wildfire of the year was started by a sailor stuck on an isolated island who fired a flare gun to attract attention. The 67-year-old was trapped on Santa Rosa Island in California's Channel Islands National Park. The wildfire burned more than a quarter of the island, threatening rare Torrey pine trees found in only two locations in the United States. According to the United States Coast Guard, the man became stranded after his sailboat struck rocks near Santa Rosa Island on Friday. He remained on the island overnight before rescue crews reached him the following morning. 'The sailor...

Iconic burger chain Carl’s Jr. is under increasing financial pressure from both California’s cost of doing business, $20 minimum wage rules and public safety issues that employees allege are spilling into the workplace. Carl’s Jr. has 588 stores in California as of 2025, but that number declined by 25 from 2023, when it had 613 stores in the state, according to internal franchise documents. Last month, a major franchisee filed for bankruptcy, affecting 11% of operations across the state. The doomed franchisee, Friendly Franchisees Corporation, last month explicitly blamed the state’s relatively new $20 minimum fast-food wage touted by the...

Is Big Tech, once again, playing politics with the truth? In a move sparking widespread outrage and accusations of election-year manipulation, Google Maps has reportedly scrubbed satellite imagery of the devastating 2025 Palisades and Eaton wildfires, reverting affected Los Angeles neighborhoods to their pre-fire appearance. The timing, just weeks before key local elections, has California voices questioning whether Big Tech is once again playing politics with the truth. As reported by The New York Post, users searching streets like Homepark Avenue in Altadena, Iliff Street, and Radcliffe Avenue in Pacific Palisades now see lush, untouched landscapes instead of the charred...

Former LA mayor and state Assembly speaker Antonio Villaraigosa hasn’t run the most electrifying campaign for governor. But he has been doing an admirable job in recent weeks of highlighting the most important reality in this campaign: California can’t blame Donald Trump for its problems. “We can’t put everything on Donald Trump,” he said last weekend in an interview with MS NOW (once known as MSNBC, still as far-left as ever). “We have the highest homelessness in the United States of America, the highest gas prices, the highest utilities, the highest home prices. People can’t afford rent. And those happened...

Disgraced former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman, who rose to infamy for derailing the O.J. Simpson murder prosecution after it was revealed he had used the *-****, has died at age 74. A close friend told TMZ — which first reported the news — that Fuhrman died of an “aggressive form of cancer” May 12. Fuhrman found the infamous bloody glove purportedly linking Simpson to the gruesome 1994 killings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman outside her LA home.

Police say two suspects attacked a San Diego, California, area mosque Monday, killing three people before they apparently committed suicide. Local police responded to the scene of a reported active shooter at the Islamic Center of San Diego in Clairemont, Fox 5 San Diego reported. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria confirmed the threat was neutralized in a post on X, thanking police, fire and “law enforcement partners” who responded to the incident. The threat at the Islamic center has been neutralized. Media staging has been established as the Northwest Corner of Lindbergh Park. (4141 Ashford Street, SD, Ca, 92111)#SDPDPIO —...