Free Republic

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida veteran who served in the U.S. Marines during the Persian Gulf War has lost his federal court case in his decade-long fight for U.S. citizenship — and now faces deportation to a country that may no longer claim him. Paul Canton, a retired U.S. Marine who lives in Ocala, was denied legal status by a federal judge, officially ending his years-long legal battle to become an American citizen. "I feel lost. I relied on the legal system so that they could go ahead and clarify the law and see what we saw,” Canton said. Canton...

RAIFORD, Fla. — Billy Leon Kearse, the Fort Pierce man convicted of shooting and killing a police sergeant 35 years ago, was declared dead at 6:24 p.m. He declined his last meal in the hours before his scheduled execution at Florida State Prison. The Florida Supreme Court officially denied his final appeal earlier the same day. Kearse was sentenced to death for the 1991 shooting death of 29-year-old Fort Pierce Police Sgt. Danny Parrish. WPTV has covered this case for decades, tracking it from sentencing to this moment. ... In his final words, Kearse asked the Parrish family for forgiveness,...

School officials in Lee County, Florida have taken sweeping disciplinary action against students who abandoned classrooms to participate in coordinated anti-ICE walkout protests earlier this month. According to district officials, 2,480 students were identified for engaging in disruptive conduct during demonstrations that took place between February 4 and February 6, part of a broader protest movement that involved more than 3,600 students across 14 schools in the county. And now, discipline is coming down. School officials confirmed that dozens of Lee County Public School students have already been suspended for their involvement in the demonstrations, with the district warning that...

The Florida Legislature is close to reforming the requirements for voluntary armed security in churches. The bill exempts voluntary church security members who have concealed carry permits from the requirements of Florida statutes that regulate the members of private security services. Private investigative, security, and repossession services are regulated under Chapter 493 of the Florida Statutes. Section 6102 spells out who the provisions of the chapter shall not apply to. HB 95 has cleared its House committees and was added to the House Second Reading Calendar on Feb. 10, 2026. SB 52 passed the Senate 39–0 on Feb. 11, 2026,...

The crazed gunman who was shot dead after trying to enter Mar-a-Lago with a shotgun and a gas can has been identified as a North Carolina artist who was reported missing by his mom. Austin Tucker Martin, 21, of Cameron, North Carolina, was killed by law enforcement in the early hours of Sunday morning, law enforcement sources told The Post. He was reported missing by his family to authorities on Saturday.

The Department of Justice said it is looking to strip a former mayor of North Miami of his U.S. citizenship after he allegedly misrepresented his identity and immigration history during his naturalization process. Federal attorneys filed a denaturalization case against Philippe Bien-Aime in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday, court records show. Bien-Aime, who is originally from Haiti and was naturalized in 2006, was elected mayor of North Miami in 2019. He resigned in 2022 to run for a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission, but lost the election. In a civil complaint reviewed...

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — Tragic and shocking is what Lt. Paul Bloom of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office called the abuse that claimed the life of a 3-year-old girl in Marion County this week. He was briefing reporters on what he described as cruel and deadly abuse of Paisley Brown inside the home where she lived in Citra, north east of Ocala. “What we learned was, this child was punished,” Bloom said. Jeroen Jarrel Coombs, 32, who was described in arrest records as the “primary caretaker” of children in the home, is now charged with aggravated child abuse, but is...

An illegal immigrant is behind bars after police say he ambushed a woman on a popular Florida beach and attempted to drown her before leaving her for dead in a late-night attack. Said Alexander Hernandez Gonzalez, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national, was arrested on Sunday for his alleged role in the "unprovoked" attack at Tiger Shores Beach in Stuart, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. "This is an extremely alarming case," Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek told WEPC. "Random acts of violence like this are some of the most difficult crimes to solve — and that’s exactly what this was."...

The Florida House of Representatives approved a joint resolution on Thursday to put in motion a possible constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would completely end non-school property taxes for homesteaded properties beginning on Jan. 1, 2027. The final vote was 80-30, with all Republicans supporting the proposal and all Democrats opposing it. The chances of Floridians actually voting on the amendment are long, however. The Florida Senate has yet to propose any bill during this legislative session addressing property taxes. Joint resolutions can only be placed on the ballot if they are approved by a three-fifths majority in...

A minor believed to be participating in a protest against ICE was hit by a car on Monday afternoon. According to the West Palm Beach Police Department, at about 12:30 p.m., officers responded to a pedestrian vs. vehicle crash near the South Wind Plaza on N. Military Trail. Video shows the minor lying on the ground with police and fire personnel surrounding him and rendering aid. Police say the minor was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver remained at the scene of the crash. The minor being struck by a vehicle comes as hundreds of students from...

During an interview on “The Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart asked Beshear which governor he believed was the worst. “Who’s the one where, like, you guys are at the governor’s conference and the elevator opens, and he’s about to walk in, and you just go – or she – and you just go, oh ****,” Stewart asked. After a brief pause, Beshear responded: “Ron DeSantis.” On Wednesday, DeSantis testified during a hearing in the Kentucky House to drum up support for resolution to call on Congress to submit a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution for states to ratify....

Palantir announced Tuesday it has moved its headquarters from Denver to Miami – joining a slew of tech firms fleeing to South Florida as a growing number of industry leaders deem it the new Silicon Valley. Tech giants have been increasingly flocking to Florida from business hubs like New York and California in pursuit of lower taxes, warm weather and safer neighborhoods. “We have moved our headquarters to Miami, Florida,” Palantir wrote in a brief post on X Tuesday morning. The company did not immediately respond to inquiries about its reason for the move. Palantir was founded in Palo Alto,...

Kentucky’s governor appeared twice on television screens across the nation on Monday. After calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's firing on ABC’s “The View,” Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) joined late-night host Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show.” During his nearly 20-minute interview with Stewart, Beshear faced questions about his political future as he has been considered a potential contender for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination in 2028. Beshear has previously said the next president should be a governor, so Stewart asked directly which governor would be the best. As Beshear threw his hands up to look at the audience,...

Kayleigh Bush, the 2024 winner of the Miss North Florida beauty contest, has revealed that she was stripped of her Miss America title because she reused to sign a contract that would have forced her to accept transgenderism. Bush was stripped of her title in November of 2024 despite winning her contest and signing a contract to confirm her position. The beauty queen, though, claims that she was asked to sign a replacement contract several months after she won. Bush says the contract contained new language affirming transgenderism. And it was something she refused to sign. “It was heartbreaking. It...

A former Army Colonel from Florida was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for trying to woo a woman he met online by sending her secret classified battle plans. Retired combat vet Kevin Charles Luke, 62, was working as a high-level civilian contractor with “top secret” clearance at US military headquarters in Tampa in October 2024, when he texted a photo of plans for a Middle East attack to his new fling, according to court documents. “Sent to my boss earlier,” he wrote in the text, which included a photo of an email on his work computer at Central...

During the pandemic, Florida became a haven for those looking to escape lockdowns. Miami was a “Zoom town,” a place where rich mobile professionals moved to enjoy the beaches and freedom, while continuing their remote jobs. Some $36 billion in extra income tax registered with the IRS in 2022. That great influx of people has now come to an abrupt end. New US Census Bureau figures show that net migration to the Sunshine State has fallen 92 percent since 2022, its lowest level for more than 15 years. The number of people moving to Florida has collapsed, while existing Floridians...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg just purchased a mansion located in South Florida’s most exclusive neighborhood, signaling that the multi-billionaire may be permanently moving out of California as the state weighs implementing a one-time 5% “billionaire tax.” Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan purchased an estate located in Indian Creek, on an island off of Miami. Indian Creek is home to about 41 homes owned by the top elite such as Jeff Bezos, Tom Brady, Carl Icahn, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. The two acre property located along Biscayne Bay, which includes several private properties, is estimated to have sold for...

The House this week is set to take up the SAVE America Act (the SAVE Act 2.0), an election-integrity measure that some Senate Republicans can’t seem to get behind even though the vast majority of Americans already have. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office confirms the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register and photo identification to vote in federal elections, will hit the floor on Tuesday. While Democrats will spend hours making a mockery of truth and reality in opposing it, the legislation is expected to pass mostly along party lines — as the...

BREAKING: Two former FL teacher’s union leaders sentenced after pleading guilty to a fraud scheme where they stole millions of dollars from teachers Union President Teresa Brady was sentenced to 27 months in prison while VP Ruby George received 1 year ABOLISH TEACHERS UNIONS

It’s all backstage now. This fraught moment, the power centers locked in the coldest cold of the year, the Spanish language lessons of Bad Bunny behind us, all the real action in the battle to save the country is out of sight, moiling and churning in the deep background. Everybody’s on edge waiting for shoes to drop, praying they don’t drop on their heads. You should have seen Senator Mark Warner (D-VA; Vice-chair of the Senate Intel Committee) on Face the Nation Sunday, frothing at the mouth over Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence (DNI). He cannot believe she turned...