Free Republic

The former mayor of Arcadia resigned after admitting to acting as an illegal foreign agent of China in a federal plea deal unsealed on Monday. Eileen Wang agreed with prosecutors that she worked with the People’s Republic of China to boost propaganda with a fake news website on US soil between 2020 and 2022. She was elected to Arcadia City Council in November 2022. The city is within LA County. Wang pled guilty to the federal charge at her arraignment in downtown Los Angeles on Monday afternoon. She faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. LA’s top federal prosecutor...

The mayor of Arcadia, California, has been charged in federal court with acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Justice Department announced today. Eileen Wang, 58, of Arcadia, is charged via information with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. In a related filing, Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony count, which comes with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. She is expected to make her initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Wang is...

..... Bangor City Councilor Wayne Mallar, 81, discussed a proposed budget increase for multilingual services in schools at a Board of Ethics meeting on March 31. 'The school department's asking for a 10 percent increase. As far as I'm concerned, they get no increase,' he said - seemingly unaware his comments were being picked up by a microphone. A Maine city councilor will face an ethics board review after he was heard complaining about 'illegals' in his community. Bangor City Councilor Wayne Mallar, 81, discussed a proposed budget increase for multilingual services in schools at a Board of Ethics meeting...

The video covers the case of Felipe Bename (also referred to with variations like Philip Bianame or Phipe Benemy), the former mayor of North Miami, who has been exposed for a long-running immigration fraud scheme and is now facing deportation and revocation of his U.S. citizenship under the Trump administration. Key Details from the Case Entry into the U.S. (1997): He allegedly arrived from Haiti at Miami International Airport using a fake passport under the name Jean Phipe Jeanvier. In 2000, an immigration judge ordered his deportation after he lost an appeal, but he ignored the order and stayed in...

A Danville, Virginia, City Councilman Lee Vogler was doused in gasoline and set on fire in his office on Tuesday. According to reports, the attacker threw five gallons of gasoline on Vogler before setting him on fire. Showcase Magazine’s Andrew Brooks said the attacker forced his way in the magazine’s office as Vogler was visiting and poured a five-gallon container of gas on him. “Lee attempted to flee, ran to the front of the building,” Showcase Magazine owner Andrew Brooks said in a Facebook video. “The individual followed him and set him on fire.”

The left-wing Denver city council voted unanimously to shutter its anti-theft auto license plate tracking system because ICE could use the data to deport illegals. In May, the council voted against renewing the $666,000 contract with Flock that was launched about a year ago. The camera system monitors the area around 70 Denver intersections and was set up to screen for car theft. The system, which reportedly scans 2 million cars per month, has already resulted in the recovery of 170 stolen cars and 300 arrests. The camera data has also helped the Denver Police Department (DPD) to investigate hit-and-runs...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he is working to bypass the New York City Council to change the city’s sanctuary city law ahead of a meeting with the incoming Trump administration’s border czar.CBS News host Marcia Kramer asked Adams, a Democrat, about his pending meeting with President-elect Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, over illegal immigration in the city.Adams stated that he wants criminal illegal aliens deported first, adding that he may try to bypass the City Council-passed sanctuary law, which in part bars the city’s police department from telling federal immigration officials about criminals’ immigration status.“The City...

A leaked survey revealed a plan to explore 16 new tax and fee hikes on Chicago families. The Chicago City Council is diving into the plan on June 26. The prospective hikes proposed to the city council by and Chairman of the City Council Subcommittee on Revenue Ald. Will Hall, 6th ward, could end up costing Chicagoans more on most expenses from standard services to property taxes. Hall is an ally in city hall to Chicago Mayor. The 16 revenue proposals: Sales tax on services Property tax tied to Consumer Price Index Monthly/wireless plan tax Increase in Local Government Distributive...

An anti-Israel activist in California sobbed in court Friday after she was slapped with 18 felony counts for allegedly threatening to murder members of the Bakersfield City Council. Riddhi Patel, 28, pleaded not guilty to the charges she faces after making incendiary comments to officials during the public comment portion of a city council meeting last Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times. Patel, who served as economic development coordinator for the nonprofit Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment in Bakersfield, railed against the city council and Republican Mayor Karen Goh for not backing a Gaza ceasefire resolution against...

A city council meeting in Seattle became so unruly with far-left activists that councilmembers had to take several recesses and a handful of people wound up in handcuffs. On Tuesday, hundreds of activists, many of them wearing face masks, marched outside Seattle City Hall and flooded the chamber inside, demanding that local leaders allocate more resources toward immigrant housing rather than fund "racist" police equipment. The protestors included members of far-left groups such as Stop the Sweeps Seattle and Comunidad Sin Fronteras. "We need housing now!" they chanted in unison before one ringleader, believed to be Rosario Lopez Hernandez, rattled...

New Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson is floating the idea of pay raises for police and tax breaks for businesses and said there is a coalition now at city hall willing to approve it. In her first lengthy discussion since being elected council president, Nelson laid out her vision, which she said aligns with the Mayor Bruce Harrell, City Attorney Ann Davison, and five new council members. “The council is on the same team rowing in the same direction on behalf of the people of Seattle. This is the council that I want to lead,” said Nelson, who was...

The Oakland City Council unanimously passed a resolution on Monday night calling for a permanent cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, after listening to hours of intense and sometimes violently anti-Israel comments. “It was the most antisemitic room I have ever been in,” Tye Gregory, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, told J. on Tuesday. The city council met for six hours in a special meeting devoted to the resolution and took public comment from more than 250 people. The resolution focused on a permanent cease-fire, which many Israel supporters oppose on the grounds that it would benefit...

Ultra-liberal residents of the Californian city of Oakland booed their Jewish neighbors and denied the Hamas October 7 attack at a shocking town meeting on Monday night. The city council was voting on a permanent ceasefire resolution demanding peace in the Middle East and residents spent six hours sharing their thoughts, starting with a moment of silence for civilian victims. At the end of the meeting, the resolution was passed unanimously. Local Jewish groups say it was a futile exercise that will have no bearing on the conflict and will only serve to spread anti-Semitism in the US. Among those...

It’s the second largest city in England and it just effectively declared bankruptcy. There are multiple problems that have contributed to this situation but one near the top of the list is a settlement over equal pay.Birmingham City Council, which provides services for more than one million people, filed a Section 114 notice on Tuesday, halting all spending except on essential services.The deficit arose due to difficulties paying between £650 million (around $816 million) and £760 million (around $954 million) in equal pay claims, the notice report says.What will this actually mean for residents? No one is quite sure yet...

A Michigan city with an all-Muslim government has banned LGBTQ+ flags from public areas after a bizarre hourslong meeting that saw displays of passion from both sides. A woman wearing a clown nose made a speech at the meeting - which was so well attended people were listening from the hallways - mocking the council and its majority-Muslim population during the public comment portion of the Hamtramck City Council before kissing a woman standing next to her Tuesday night. 'Sure, many Hamtramck residents have fled countries where being gay is a death sentence, but nothing says we have to make...

-----(SNIP)----- Russell D. Heller, a councilman in Milford, a small borough in Hunterdon County, was fatally shot outside the PSE&G Somerset Central Division Headquarters in Franklin on Wednesday morning, officials said. Heller, 51, a senior distribution supervisor for the energy company, was pronounced dead on the scene of the Weston Canal Road headquarters, authorities said. -----(SNIP)----- U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-7th Dist., shared his condolences for the councilman in social media posts Wednesday evening. “I am shocked and saddened by the tragic murder of Milford Councilman Russell Heller,” Kean wrote. “Russell was an outstanding public servant who proudly represented...

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday unanimously approved a ban on oil and gas drilling within the city limits, finalizing steps toward a ban that were first made at the beginning of the year. Council members approved 12-0 a resolution enacting an immediate ban on all new oil and drilling. The city will also decommission existing oil wells and operations within 20 years, according to a fact sheet. Before the vote, City Council President Paul Krekorian called the city’s forthcoming ban a “watershed moment” for climate action. “Part of [the city’s] economic growth was because of the oil and...

The Uvalde City Council meeting will be streamed in the video player above. Uvalde City Council members are slated to vote Tuesday night on “granting a leave of absence from future council meetings to Councilman Pete Arredondo,” according to a meeting agenda.

CHICAGO — The Chicago City Council narrowly approved Wednesday Mayor Lightfoot’s plan to handout prepaid gas and mass transit cards to Chicago residents. The vote was 26 to 23.

Republican Nick Howland flipped a Jacksonville, Florida, city council seat in a heavy Democrat district that swung for President Biden in 2020. Duval County election results from Tuesday night showed that Howland defeated Democrat Trayce Polson with a sizeable majority of 68,599 votes versus her 64,113 votes – 51.69 percent versus 48.31 percent.