Free Republic

Efforts to bring power back to a notoriously-scary town in Indiana were halted after crews were shot at overnight following devastating storms. After violent weather left thousands without power for around two weeks, efforts to restore electricity to Gary were briefly paused thanks to a shooting on August 15. Utility workers with NIPSCO were scouting on Rutledge Street when gunfire erupted just after midnight, hitting their Jeep. 'I heard something like a big explosion, boom! Then I heard two more, boom, boom,' resident Kenneth Lewis told CBS News. While neither of the two employees were injured, the company vehicle was...

In the wake of accused plagiarist and serial fabulist Jason Arday’s death, an influential band of activists within Great Britain’s largest academic union is demanding action—not to change the policies at Cambridge that led the school to hire and defend Arday, but to “shield other black academics from scrutiny from what they view as a racist, right-wing conspiracy,” the investigative journalist Ben Ryan writes for the Free Beacon. An activist caucus within the University and College Union held a virtual organizing meeting Tuesday night to discuss Arday’s death. “The Free Beacon obtained a recording of the raw and emotional gathering...

Nathan Cofnas, the U.S. academic who raised plagiarism concerns over the late Cambridge professor Jason Arday, said on Thursday he had been suspended by Belgium’s Ghent University and was under investigation for discrimination. Arday, once hailed as Cambridge’s youngest Black professor, was found dead, aged 41, in London last Friday, days after resigning from his post. Arday had denied the allegation of plagiarism but acknowledged making mistakes. “I was just suspended by Ghent University. They will almost certainly fire me,” Cofnas wrote on his X account. In a post a few hours earlier he said he was “under investigation by...

An academic who made plagiarism allegations against Professor Jason Arday before his death has been suspended by a university. Professor Arday resigned from his role at the University of Cambridge this month after he faced intense scrutiny over accusations of plagiarism initially made by fellow academic Nathan Cofnas. Mr Cofnas, who has advocated for 'race realism', is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University's department of philosophy and moral sciences, according to his website. In a post on X on Thursday, he said: 'I am under investigation by my university for discriminating against Arday.' In a separate post, Mr Cofnas...

The Fever came away with the win, but the on-field action has not really been the main topic of discussion in the days since. Instead, a lot of it has centred around Sophie Cunningham being the only player to put her hand on her heart as the national anthem was playing. In the clip which has been shared by multiple accounts on X/Twitter, Cunningham is standing slightly away from the rest of her teammates, none of whom have their hands raised. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Dream squad are not believed to have taken to the court while the anthem was ongoing.

Daniel Huff, a former White House lawyer, noted in a recent analysis that the drive toward diversity and inclusion in the airline industry has put passengers at risk. In an article for the New York Post, Huff wrote that President Donald Trump was right to rescind diversity efforts at the Federal Aviation Administration. That's because female and minority pilots -- many of whom entered the industry amid a drive toward diversity among pilots -- were responsible for half of pilot-error crashes. Despite making up 10 percent of pilots, they were responsible for four out of eight such crashes since 2000....

The high-flying academic at the centre of a Cambridge University plagiarism row has been found dead. Professor Jason Arday was found unresponsive at a London address shortly after 3pm on Friday. It comes after a tumultuous few weeks in which fellow dons had questioned if the 41-year-old academic’s work was original. It had also prompted an examination of his previous academic posts. As questions mounted from academics, journalists and broadcasters, Arday resigned his prestigious role. He had been Cambridge University’s youngest ever black professor, having been appointed a professor of sociology of education in March 2023. But after a succession...

Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor, has been found dead. Mr Arday was found “unresponsive” at an address in Battersea, south London, on Friday afternoon. He was later pronounced dead at the scene. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said officers were called by the London Ambulance Service at 3.12pm on Friday. He said: “Sadly, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by officers. “At this time his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious. The case is being investigated by...

Ashley Callingbull, the Miss Universe Canada 2024 titleholder, stopped this year’s competition to call out two contestants for their costumes, which featured clothing elements traditionally worn by Indigenous peoples. The contestants have since apologized for their outfits. Callingbull, a Plains Cree woman from the Enoch Cree Nation who was the first First Nations Miss Universe Canada, interrupted the final portion of the pageant’s competition that she was hosting on Aug. 8, addressing the room before the top 20 contestants were announced, according to the CBC Indigenous.

A Texas high school teacher was reduced to tears and broke down in front of his class when he realized the seniors he was teaching couldn’t complete a writing exercise. Darius Williams, a teacher for Houston Independent School District’s Wheatley High School, said he couldn’t get through the first class of the second day of school before his students’ poor literacy skills were too much for him. “I just finished a three-hour class, and I literally broke down in the middle of class,” Williams said in an Instagram video during his lunch break on Tuesday. Williams, a New Education System...

California is a house on fire, and its political class is arguing over the color of the curtains. The state is hemorrhaging residents, drowning in homelessness, and staring down an affordability crisis that’s crushing working families. With Gavin Newsom finally on his way out, you’d think the crowded field vying to replace him would be focused on convincing voters they’re the one to fix things. You’d think wrong. The governor’s race features eight Democrats and two Republicans — a field so bloated that the state Democrat Party chair recently begged lower-polling candidates to drop out before they accidentally split the...