Free Republic

Cook County has erased nearly $665 million in medical debt for local residents since launching the effort in 2022, according to new figures released Thursday. County leaders are celebrating the latest milestone of the program, which has so far helped almost 557,000 people have some of their debt abolished. The effort has relieved the most debt for people on Chicago’s South and West sides and in the south and west suburbs.The amount erased ranges from around $600 to $4,000 on average per person depending on where they live.

Massive brush fires that raged across Long Island over the weekend may have been caused by someone trying to cook s’mores for breakfast. Residents in Center Moriches/Manorville tried to start a fire in their backyard around 9 a.m. Saturday to cook up the treat despite heavy winds, officials told ABC 7. The cardboard ignited and the flames spread to the backyard – and although the blaze was extinguished, embers sparked three other fires near Sunrise Highway, the outlet reported. The fires tore through the area through Sunday before they were knocked down by emergency responders from more than 90 fire...

"Democrat Coalition Propels Dustin Burrows to Speaker of the Texas House." Burrows is very much in favor of the practice of awarding State House committee chairmanships to Democrats...as was his sleazy predecessor Dade Phelan. "Burrows won despite the fact that Republicans control 88 of the chamber’s 150 seats." Last month, Cook won the Republican nomination for speaker. However, Burrows and a minority faction of Republican members immediately sought to build a coalition with Democrats to secure his victory. “Today, the RINO (anti-MAGA) Establishment laughed in the faces of our Republican grassroots. They chose Democrat chairs and Lobbyist buddies over their...

Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a personal contribution of $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. Cook, who Trump famously nicknamed “Tim Apple,” is the latest in a long line of tech lords bending the knee to Trump in hopes of currying favor with the new administration. Axios reports that as the United States prepares for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, tech giants are making efforts to ensure they are noticed by the new administration. The latest to do so is Apple CEO Tim Cook, who has personally donated $1 million to the...

Gov. Greg Abbott has now made it explicitly clear he wants the next House speaker to have been chosen by members of the Texas House Republican Caucus. Sydnie Henry reports the governor was forced yesterday to issue two statements related to the rump candidacy of Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock). Burrows has been seeking support from Democrats and a small faction of Republicans to secure the gavel in January after losing the House Republican caucus nomination vote last Saturday to State Rep. David Cook (R–Mansfield). Notably, of the Republicans who opposed Abbott’s school choice push in the 2023 regular and special sessions,...

More polling from the Keystone State suggests Donald Trump may avenge his bitter loss four years ago. And the “Trump strength” is even greater than what his numbers show, Trafalgar Group pollster Robert Cahaly tells The Post — possibly enough to flip a Democratic Senate seat. Against Kamala Harris in the main event, the former president and recent McDonald’s shift worker is cooking up a victory in Pennsylvania just as he fried up a satchel of potato strips Sunday in Feasterville-Trevose. Trump is up 46% to 43% over the Democratic quasi-incumbent, indicating arches aren’t the only things that are golden...

Air fryers are certified miracle workers when it comes to getting dinner out on the table quickly. How do they work, though? They cook your meals using bursts of hot convection heat. The result is a series of savory, crispy foods that you'd never guess were cooked in an air fryer. And they're great for anything from chicken thighs to a filet of salmon. But while there are plenty of things that you can cook in an air fryer, there are only a few that you should.

The election handicapper Cook Political Report shifted its ratings for Arizona, Georgia and Nevada toward Vice President Harris as she continues to close the polling gap with former President Trump. All three states had been considered “lean Republican” in early July, while President Biden was still in the race and falling further behind Trump both on the national level and in the key battleground states. But with polls showing Harris getting back within the margin of error of Trump, or in some cases slightly ahead, the three swing states have been moved to be a “Toss Up.” “For the first...

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Amid charges that Elon Musk's social media app "X" has become a dangerous breeding ground for speech Communists don't like, Apple CEO Tim Cook has elected to pull all Apple advertising from the platform. "I refuse to allow my morally pristine corporation to be associated with disreputable characters like Elon Musk," said Cook while shaking the hand of murderous communist dictator Xi Jinping at this week's APEC Dinner. "Plus, the ADL, ACLU, and WEF told me I had to pull my ads or they'd break the story about what I did on Epstein Island. We can't...

Apple is set to host specialized entrepreneur training camps that bars applicants based on their race and sex. To participate, organizations must have “black, Hispanic/Latinx, or Indigenous” members in both leadership and on staff. The program will include two cohorts in October and November, the “underrepresented founders” and “female founders” groups. The camps, which offer valuable resources such as “one-on-one code-level guidance from Apple engineers,” list eligibility requirements that exclude would-be participants on the basis of their race and sex. In order to participate in the underrepresented founders program, an organization must have “a black, Hispanic/Latinx, or Indigenous founder, cofounder,...

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report announced Thursday it was shifting its rating of Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-Colo.) competitive House district race from “lean Republican” to “toss up.” Cook Political Report editor David Wasserman said the change in the rating comes after recent campaign finance disclosures revealed Boebert’s challenger raised more than three times what Boebert raised in the second quarter. Boebert, a conservative firebrand, faces what was already sure to be a high-stakes rematch with former Aspen City Councilman Adam Frisch, a Democrat who lost to Boebert in 2022 by a mere 546 votes. The close race triggered an automatic...

The smell of charcoal burning and meats cooking defines the summer for many people. As soon as the barbecue comes out, many will tuck into a juicy burger alongside fresh salads, delicious buns and veggie skewers. But now a Michelin starred chef has revealed you should never cook your burgers on the barbecue - describing it as a 'horrible' way to cook meat. David Chang, whose flagship restaurant Momofuku in New York has two Michelin stars, said a barbecue is just a 'marketing lie'. Speaking on his podcast, The David Chang Show, the chef, 45, explained: 'Grills suck for burgers....

CUPERTINO, CA — Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed this morning that he's prepared to remove the Twitter app from the App Store but that he's waiting for orders from CCP President Xi before he makes a move. "I never make a business decision without first consulting the great and magnificent President Xi, blessings on his name," said Cook in a statement. "My company lives to serve the People's Republic of China and The Chinese Communist Party, and I will resign myself to his divine will." "If he gives the order, Twitter will be gone from the App Store." Cook emphasized,...

With China's communist oligarchs tightening their grip on power as anti-COVID lockdown protests erupt across that country, who should step in to help the detested regime but wokester Apple, one of the most virtue-signally of all companies in the Silicon Valley. According to a report in Quartz, via Yahoo! Finance:Anti-government protests flared in several Chinese cities and on college campuses over the weekend. But the country’s most widespread show of public dissent in decades will have to manage without a crucial communication tool, because Apple restricted its use in China earlier this month.AirDrop, the file-sharing feature on iPhones and other...

One of the country’s leading election handicappers says the House is “easily” within the reach of Republicans, who are heading into Tuesday’s midterm elections with the highest expectations that they’ll have control of the chamber next year. In their final analysis heading into the polls, election experts at the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan group based in Washington, acknowledged the lingering uncertainty surrounding this year’s outcome. But with the political winds shifting decisively to the GOP’s advantage in recent weeks, Republicans are all but guaranteed to flip the lower chamber, Cook said.

The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report on Friday shifted its forecast of control for the Senate toward Republicans just four days out from the November midterms. Jessica Taylor, the Senate and governors editor for the Cook Political Report, said in her analysis that they were shifting their forecast of the race away from Democrats because the national environment as of late has been seen as more favorable toward Republicans and that issues like the economy and inflation are resonating more with voters now than abortion.

Nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report shifted its ratings toward the GOP in 10 House races, all of which lie in districts President Biden carried by at least 8 points in 2020. The announcement marks the latest warning sign for Democrats that their support is declining in critical blue-state districts, including in Long Island, N.Y., suburban Portland and California.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted the Oregon gubernatorial race toward Republicans on Friday, moving it from “lean Democrat” to “toss up.” Three candidates are vying for the seat of Gov. Kate Brown (D), who is term-limited: former state House Speaker Tina Kotek (D), former state House Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R) and former state Sen. Betsy Johnson (I). Cook Political Report attributed its ratings change to the fact that Johnson could act as a disruptor in the race given her fundraising advantage and her TV ad spending, leading to tied polling between Kotek and Drazan. “There’s a clear trend...

In Cook County, 89.2 percent of black third grade students failed the 2021 state English exam. This means 89.2 percent of black third graders are not proficient in English, which is considered a core skill for later success in life. These students struggle with understanding what they’ve read, recounting stories, and learning from illustrations like pictures of maps, according to the standards set by the state. Numerous counties saw all black third grade students fail to reach an acceptable proficiency level in English. Counties include: Alexander, Marion, McDonough, Pulaski, Jefferson, Henry, and Randolph County. Illinois report card data showed there...

The CEO of one of the largest Big Tech companies in the world appeared on Communist Chinese state-affiliated media to praise China for its “inspiring” and “innovative” app development scene.