Free Republic

The recent election of Republican Dean Tran of Fitchburg to the Massachusetts state Senate was an embarrassing rebuke to the state’s top Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Despite their opposition, Tran defeated Democrat Susan Chalifoux Zephir, a Leominster city councilor who had the support of the state’s Democrat Party hierarchy, as well as Charlene DiCalogero of Berlin an unenrolled candidate Claire Freda.

A middle school in Massachusetts is under fire for requiring children to complete a graphic sex survey -- without parental knowledge or consent -- that included questions about sexual partners and oral sex. The Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties organization, filed a complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Education against the Fitchburg School Committee. They are representing the two middle school-aged daughters of Arlene Tessitore. Tessitore said her daughters, both students at Memorial Middle School, were told they had to complete a Youth Risk Behavior Study. “Kids were actually told to sit down and take them,” said John Whitehead, president...

MADISON, Wis. -- An Iraq war veteran on trial in a 2009 homicide took the stand Thursday in his own defense. Perry Lucas, 29, is accused of killing Detarius Martin, 23, after a fight at a Fitchburg apartment in June 2009. Lucas is charged with first-degree intentional homicide. Even before taking the stand Thursday, emotions overwhelmed Lucas as he wept in the courtroom. "I wish this never happened," Lucas said. Eventually, he told his version of what happened in June 2009. He said he was acting in self-defense. "Basically, I was trying to scare them because I was scared," said...