Free Republic

A judge in the United Kingdom has ordered President Trump to pay more than $820,000 in legal fees to the company representing former British spy Christopher Steele after he unsuccessfully sued over a dossier. In 2022, Trump filed a claim against Orbis Business Intelligence, a firm founded by Steele, a former MI6 agent who published a 35-page dossier that featured claims about Trump ahead of the 2016 election. Trump argued the company violated British data protection laws and that he suffered a personal and reputational damage because of the claims. However, in 2024, London Judge Karen Steyn tossed out the...

A Los Angeles County teenager was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday after admitting to making more than 375 "swatting calls" in which he made false reports of bomb and mass shooting threats at locations around the U.S. Alan W. Filion, an 18-year-old Lancaster resident, admitted in a plea agreement to carrying out calls targeting places such as high schools, colleges and universities, religious institutions and people such as government officials, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal prosecutors said he intended for the calls to result in major emergency responses by law enforcement. This led to some...

The State Department said Wednesday that U.S. government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without being charged fees. "The government of Panama has agreed to no longer charge fees for U.S. government vessels to transit the Panama Canal," the department said in a post on X, adding the agreement will save the U.S. government millions of dollars a year. The Panama Canal Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gov. Kathy Hochul will unveil her most costly budget proposal ever Tuesday, with the $252 billion plan set to continue jacking up spending to fund new handouts. Hochul’s executive proposal is $19 billion, or 8.3%, larger than last year’s proposal and $36 billion, or 16% higher, than her first plan in 2022. The 2024-25 state budget is expected to cost $240 billion as of the end of the third quarter of last year. New handouts and tax cuts paired with continued boosts in school aid and Medicaid are driving the ballooning budget. “The big two would be Medicaid and school...

The U.S. government will issue refunds to tens of thousands of unauthorized immigrants married to American citizens who applied for a Biden administration program that was struck down in federal court, according to internal government documents obtained by CBS News. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, plans to refund the $580 application fee that roughly 94,000 people... The program would have allowed eligible applicants to apply for a green card without having to leave the country, by granting them an immigration classification known as parole that effectively cancels out an illegal entry and provides temporary work permits.

Chicago is on the verge of adding $233.9 million in new tax hikes as part of the city’s $17.3 billion budget for 2025, if aldermen pass Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposals.Johnson’s tax increases include hikes in property taxes, personal property leases, the city shopping bag tax and the tax on streaming services. Hikes are hitting vehicles with more speed cameras, parking taxes and rideshare fees.These have already passed the City Council Finance Committee, meaning it could pass the full council by the end of the week. The bulk of the tax hikes will come from:$68.5 million: Property tax hike, down from...

The Sunshine State’s housing market is caught in a perfect storm that could soon drive condo owners to flee in droves. Experts are predicting that the skyrocketing costs of condo ownership — driven by massive increases in homeowner association (HOA) fees and a slew of new safety regulations — are poised to spark a fire sale that could send shockwaves through Florida. Steven Kupchan, a real estate agent with One Sotheby’s International Realty, paints a grim picture.

As Colorado lawmakers debate over how to confront rapidly increasing housing costs, more than a dozen city and town councils on the Western Slope have voted to support allowing local taxes on vacant homes and short-term rentals. The concepts, pitched by the Colorado Association of Ski Towns, or CAST, would have to be passed by the Colorado legislature and approved by local voters before they could take effect anywhere. “The lack of available and attainable housing for employees in Colorado mountain resort communities has reached a crisis level,” CAST wrote in the legislative policy statement approved by the towns. “The...

(NewsNation) — If you need money from an ATM, and it’s not a machine run by your bank, you’ll be paying more than ever before, according to an annual survey from Bankrate. The national average combined out-of-network ATM fee is now $4.77, up from $4.72 last year. The combined fee is the sum of the charge by an out-of-network bank, $3.19, plus the average charge of $1.58 levied by your own bank for using an out-of-network ATM. “Confine cash withdrawals to in-network ATMs or get cash back when using a debit card,” advises Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst. “See...

Chase Bank customers could see some additional charges in the not too distant future. The country’s biggest retail bank is warning that it might begin charging customers for their accounts. That would impact some 86 million customers. The potential charges, says Marianne Lake, CEO of consumer and community banking at JPMorgan, are a result of new regulatory rules that cap overdraft and late fees. Lake says Chase will be passing along those increased expenses to customers, which would put an end to now-free services such as checking accounts and wealth management tools. And she says she expects other banks will...

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...

The recently launched satellite will provide a global view of methane emanating hot spots, and make its data open to the public. Earlier this week, a new satellite launched to track methane as it emanates from oil and gas fields across the world, hoping to expose major producers of the greenhouse pollutant and hold them accountable... “Data from this satellite will help us to better measure methane emissions and target their sources, bringing more transparency to the problem, giving companies and investors the information they need to take action, and empowering the public to hold people accountable,” Michael Bloomberg, United...

The top 20 global airlines hauled in more than $33 billion in revenue from bag fees last year, .. That accounted for about 4.1% of global airline revenue in 2023. It was also an increase of 15% from the $29 billion the companies collected in 2022... Baggage fees, according to the report, are seen as a "significant component of ancillary revenue" ... It comes from checked baggage in the aircraft hold, added fees for heavy and extra-large bags and, in some instances, the price charged for larger carry-on bags. It started "as an economic necessity" as airlines sought relief from...

The rent’s too damn high in New York — but the broker fees are really murder. City dwellers wanting to score a place to live at a reasonable price are finding that out the hard way — as they are being socked with outrageous fees of up to $20,000 just to be able to rent an apartment. One home shopper claims he almost lost it when a broker tried to soak him for a $15,000 fee for a $1,100, rent-controlled apartment in a run-down brick building in Flushing recently. “I never replied because not in a million years would I...

Embattled former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says the Trump 2020 campaign and the Republican National Committee still owe him $2 million in legal fees for challenging the former president’s election loss. Giuliani, 79, said during a bankruptcy court hearing Wednesday that the former president asked him to spearhead legal matters for the campaign in November 2020 — the same month Trump lost to President Biden. “Once I took over, it was my understanding that I would be paid by the campaign for my legal work and my expenses to be paid,” he told the Manhattan federal bankruptcy trustee...

In a conversation with City Council candidate Chris Moore, Florez expressed his frustration, stating, “It is literally the definition of kicking someone when they are down.” The police arrived an hour after the robbery, only to secure the premises with a piece of wood and duct tape. The subsequent invoice for their response added insult to injury, with Florez highlighting the financial strain of the incident and the impracticality of expecting more funds for the police intervention.

Washington State Democrats are defining the 2024 legislative session as an all-out war on gun rights. They are not only trying to impose licenses on gun ownership and a per-bullet tax. Now, far-left lawmakers are trying to put gun shops out of business with insurmountable, frivolous costs under the lie that it’s about public safety. What they’re asking for is not possible, and that’s the point. Federal Firearms Licensed (FFL) shops are subject to intense regulation, requiring significant investments in security under penalty of loss of license, business-ending financial punishments, and jail time. HB 2118 would completely upend the high...

Junk fees plague industries like hotels and airlines and end up costing consumers billions every year in add ons, “administrative fees” and other overpriced nonsense. The fees really come out of the woodwork at car dealerships, it seems. While it was enough of a problem for the federal government to take notice, things have changed in favor of dealers. First spotted by Motor1, the Federal Trade Commission paused a ban on dealer junk fees that were originally set to take effect this summer. The ban comes after the National Automobile Dealers Association protested the move by filing a petition. The...

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is pushing to reduce the overdraft fees Americans are charged at banks and credit unions when they don’t have enough money in their accounts to cover spending, which could save customers $3.5 billion a year, the latest in a string of crackdowns on fees by the Biden Administration. Key Facts Under a new proposed rule, large financial institutions could either charge a flat fee for overdraft payments that aligns with the service’s cost, or provide the same disclosures and protections for overdraft services that are required for credit cards and other loans. If banks choose...

Have you heard of the Corporate Transparency Act? Most of the estimated 32 million small business owners, including sole proprietors, whom the new law affects have not. It was just recently put on my radar by a handful of people — quite a shock for a measure that takes effect at the start of the new year! A new reporting rule under the law means that businesses will need to file information with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (a bureau within the U.S. Department of Treasury), including personal information about the people who are associated with the business, or risk...