Free Republic

Justice Department reports show that 576 public officials in California have been convicted on federal corruption charges over the last 10 years. According to an exclusive report from The New York Times, a real estate boom was behind driving the corruption specifically in the city of Los Angeles. The Times report cited Jose Huizar as an example. Huizar, a graduate of Berkeley, Princeton and UCLA law school was on the school board and City Council. He was eventually arrested after FBI agents found out he received about $1.8 million worth of casino chips and other favors from Chinese developers which...

"..........................Shoji, of the 2000 block of West Hutchinson and employed at a Quizno’s sandwich shop, had an outsanding warrant for his arrest for violating his probation for a 2010 weapons conviction. When he was arrested, he allegedly told police, “That’s my weed and I’m a convicted felon with a warrant.” “He was in the f–– closet holding on to that little-ass plant as if he was holding on his life,” Archimides Morales said, exasperated. Shoji was charged with murder and misdemeanor cannabis production. Shoji can’t “control himself,” Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. said before ordering him held without bond Thursday....

PEORIA -- Caterpillar Inc. will not be building its new North American plant anywhere in the state of Illinois, officials with the company told local leaders Tuesday, with part of the reason being continued concerns about the business climate in the state. The company will instead focus on a location closer to its division headquarters in Cary, N.C., Peoria County officials were told in an email sent to them shortly after the close of business and later obtained by the Journal Star. The plant stood to bring with it from Japan roughly 1,000 jobs manufacturing track-type tractors and mini hydraulic...