Free Republic

Employees at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago are unionizing over their working conditions, claiming their benefits have been cut and workloads are increasing just four months after the center opened in June. Workers circulated a letter to staff Wednesday announcing their intent to unionize, complaining about “increasing” workloads “vague responses” from administrators to a list of complaints they’d raised, the Chicago Sun Times reported. Some of the complaints suggested that the $900 million presidential center could already be facing financial trouble. Such complaints have led to a “high turnover rate,” with exiting employees “taking with them their institutional knowledge...

Here's your reminder that the judges are out of control: Post The Vigilant Fox 🦊 @VigilantFox A 19-year-old charged with stabbing a man in Pittsburgh so badly his intestines were hanging out was released the SAME DAY without posting a dime. Eight days later, he’s the prime suspect in ANOTHER stabbing. District Judge Dan Butler let Delvin Dobbins walk on a non-monetary bond. Just a promise to show up to court. Pittsburgh Police Chief Jason Lando couldn’t believe he was out. “How can that be? I mean, he just stabbed someone in the stomach a week ago.” And it’s happened...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), under President Joe Biden and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, knowingly allowed millions of illegal aliens who overstayed their visas to remain in the United States, classifying them as “non-priority” aliens. A report from DHS Inspector General (IG) Joseph Cuffari details a clear lack of immigration enforcement embedded within the Biden administration — particularly regarding visa overstays. From 2021 to 2024, for instance, ICE received more than 3.1 million leads on visa overstays, about 104,000 of whom were classified as potential national security or public safety threats. Fewer than 500 of...

In the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes, then-Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration steered some $100 million in disaster funding toward affordable housing projects — despite hundreds of storm victims stuck in temporary homes, according to an analysis. Under Cooper’s watch, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) sent $100 million for affordable housing as the $1 billion agency was suffering from a gaping budget shortfall, an analysis by the John Locke Foundation, a free-market think tank in the state, found. One of the affordable housing projects, Starway Village, was a $9 million 278-unit complex that opened...

Even in a city filled with homeless encampments, this was a unique sight. A KTLA viewer shared a photo of a homeless encampment that was set up on top of a bus stop shelter in Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood. The photo was taken near the busy intersection of S Barrington Ave. and Wilshire Blvd. at a Metro bus stop. In the photo, a man is seen laying on top of the structure next to a shopping cart and other personal items. An estimated 187,000 people are currently experiencing homelessness in the state of California, while the latest point-in-time count found...

There was a time when California built big things efficiently. In the 1930s, for example, the state simultaneously constructed the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge — both marvels of engineering — in about a four-year span. Both on time. Both on budget. Those days are gone. Today, examples abound of California construction projects gone (way) awry. One of those is the long-awaited People Mover at LAX. The project’s contractor, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, disclosed this month that the train — intended to whisk people around LA’s famously sprawling airport — will not open in October as most recently...

Under Assembly Bill 435, California is revising its regulations for child passenger safety. Currently, most children transition out of booster seats by age 8. But starting in 2027, kids aged 8 to 16 must. If they do not meet all five criteria, they’ll need to stay in a car seat that offers better protection, and families who don’t comply could face fines of up to $490.

Gavin Newsom finally admits closing beaches during COVID was “insane,” and Bill Maher says he should have figured that out WHEN IT MATTERED! He adds Newsom's COVID rules were the exact OPPOSITE of what should have been done. Closing beaches was just the start: • Banned singing at church • Banned indoor church services until the Supreme Court stepped in • Shut down Bible studies in private homes until the Supreme Court blocked it • Rammed through the country's first COVID vaccine mandates for kids • Told diners to keep their masks on “in between bites” • Signed a law...

Nick Shirley takes his viral Minnesota fraud investigation directly to Congress, describing daycares with blacked-out windows, public funding and no children visible during his visits. He says federal action followed his reporting, including a freeze on $185 million in child-care funding.

Less than 40% of electric school buses purchased under a multibillion-dollar Biden-era program have been delivered, new statistics released by the EPA Thursday reveal. The slow pace of deliveries, coupled with concerns over the reliability of the EV buses, have prompted many school districts to pull out of the $5 billion “Clean School Bus Program,” for which some $2.7 billion in taxpayer funds has already been doled out — and almost exclusively on electric buses versus other alternative fuel vehicles. “Instead of following Congress’ directives to effectively provide safe and reliable transportation for American school kids, the Biden-Harris administration rushed...

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District announced last year Sacramento electricity ratepayers would be under a new rate system that charges residential users higher rates between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. — just in time for everyone to arrive home after work and begin evening family rituals: homework on computers, dinner, television, stereo, baths, laundry, and dishwasher after dinner.”

Minnesota Senate candidate Michele Tafoya dragged her Democratic opponent, Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan, over alleged welfare fraud in the state under her watch — as new polls predict an incredibly close match-up. Tafoya, a former NFL reporter who won a crowded Republican primary last month, urged voters to “not give [Flanagan] a promotion” to the vacant Senate seat as the lt. governor leads Tafoya by 1.8 points, according to the latest Real Clear Politics poll. “She really needs a pink slip,” Tafoya said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.

WOAH 🚨 An addiction recovery center in Minnesota accused of stealing millions with fake Medicaid billing has just been exposed to have another account with $25 MILLION They’ve used our stolen tax money to buy: - 3 Minnesota homes - $10.4 million in charges - $3.5 million on leather goods and luggage - $380k jewelry and watches - $150k clothing and shoes - One month of LV charges alone was $440,000 June 2024 spending alone included - $35k at Fendi - $57k at LV - $13k at Hermès - $64k private jet - $41k Airbnb And now a $25 million...

A 21-year-old man barely survived after he was shot three times during an encounter with a ‘street takeover’ in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood last weekend. Matthew Lanske and his friends had just finished dinner in Belltown when they were confronted by a group of armed thugs participating in a ‘street takeover.’ Lanske was shot twice in the stomach and a third time in the pelvis during an attempted robbery as he heroically tried to protect his friend, who tragically died. After being shot three times, Lanske walked two blocks looking for help. Bystanders filmed him rather than calling 911 for help....

Image for article: Thousands of Michigan residents receive licenses with random dude's photo Imagine if there was a random guy in the corner of your new driver's license and you had zero explanation for it. Well, that happened to 8,000 Michiganders! A whole batch of IDs was printed with the face, along with the birthdate Jan. 12, 1967, and the actual words "last name," "first name," and "middle" printed on the back of the card. Michigan resident Lenita Nelson was one of the people who received a driver's license containing the error, but she didn't notice it at first, telling...

SEATTLE - Seattle small business owners say they are exhausted and running on empty as they struggle to stay afloat in an increasingly expensive city. While local entrepreneurs grapple with thin profit margins and mounting tax pressures, city leaders are attempting to offer a path forward.Business owners seek reliefWhat's next: For neighborhood shop owners, daily operations require making tough calls just to survive."I can't even keep track of all the taxes, but it's crippling," Thompson said.

Last December, Chief Nathan Ogbatue arrived in a motorcade outside the grand entrance of a newly built palace in Abatete, Nigeria. A videographer shouted praises in Igbo, calling him “half man, half god” and commending him for building the palace “free of charge” for the Abatete community. Ogbatue is hailed on social media as a philanthropist who has built roads and housing, sponsors annual medical clinics, and provides food for the needy in Abatete. He is also, it turns out, CEO of California Home Health Agency (CHHA), a lucrative taxpayer-funded company that provides in-home medical care and a range of...

BROOKLYN, NY – Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, Zakia Kahn was sentenced by United States District Judge Natasha C. Merle to 76 months in prison in connection with her leadership role in carrying out a $64 million Medicaid fraud and illegal kickback scheme at her two social adult daycare centers and a home health care company. In August 2025, Khan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay health care kickbacks. As part of her sentence, Kahn was also ordered to pay over $56 million in restitution and...

As students across California head back to school, it’s a good time to highlight an all-too-common contributor to asthma attacks in children: exhaust pollution from diesel-powered school buses. Thankfully, there’s a solution that’s ready and available for school districts. Electric school buses provide a zero-emission ride to and from school for kids, which means zero time spent inhaling toxic fumes from their own bus.

Elected officials in Washington state are sounding the alarm about an increase in uncounted ballots, especially in rural areas. Their warnings come as President Donald Trump ramps up his fight against vote-by-mail states.Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, teamed up Wednesday to announce that significantly more mail-in ballots were disqualified as “late” in the August primary election than in prior elections. That uptick, they said, was a result of changes to U.S. Postal Service postmarking protocols the agency implemented last December.Across the state, the rate of ballots that were rejected for late postmarks...