Free Republic

Seven years ago, Business Insider published, “14 reasons why Denver is the best place to live in America.” They recommended everyone consider Denver as “your next hometown” citing a strong job market, low unemployment, great restaurants, and practical perks such as a low crime rate and good schools. That was then. How is Denver doing now as “trendy and desirable”? In answering that question, the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle published, “Denver becoming America’s crime capital.” That’s quite the turnaround in less than a decade, especially when we think of New York City, Baltimore, or Philadelphia as America’s crime capitals. In...

Law enforcement is sounding the alarm over new rainbow fentanyl pills, which according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, are marketed for your kids. They have popped up in 21 states now, including a big seizure in Michigan of purple and rainbow fentanyl pills. "They're marketing strategy by traffickers to creating addiction in children and young adults," said Special Agent in Charge Orville Greene, DEA, Detroit Field Office. "They look like prescription drugs."

It looks like Colorado is on track for the second year in a row to claim the dubious title of No. 1 state for auto theft. That’s among the startling findings of the latest crime study released Thursday by Colorado’s Common Sense Institute. Alarming, galling, embarrassing and depressing are among the words that should come to mind for most Coloradans. And it’s even worse than that. It’s also deeply troubling because — as law officers long have pointed out, and the new data form Common Sense makes clear — auto theft is tied to other serious crimes. Motor vehicles sometimes...

Residents in Portland, Oregon are resorting to selling their homes to escape the worsening homeless crisis, as more encampments pop up in residential neighborhoods. Homeless encampments have grown severely in certain neighborhoods in North Portland, particularly along the Peninsula Crossing Trail. The trail was once a popular bike route but has become home to a large population of homeless people including some who suffer from mental illness and some who use drugs. One realtor in the area said that she's seen a surge of residents moving to the suburbs over the past two years. 'Most people don’t want to have...

Crime has surged in Denver, despite the city council increasing the budget to a record high of $265 million in 2022. The last weekend in July was a violent one in and around Denver, Colo. Early Saturday, a 31-year-old man was shot and killed in Northglenn, a northern suburb of the city, the first of at least six area shootings that sent at least four others to the hospital that weekend. Around 3 p.m., a man was stabbed to death on Denver’s north side. ... The weekend concluded with the late-Sunday killing of Kevin Piaskowski, who was driving home from...

Police are searching for suspect Trent William Millsap in connection to the fatal stabbing of NASCAR's Bobby East NASCAR star Bobby East was fatally stabbed at a gas station in California last week, and police are still searching for the suspect in his killing. East, a three-time United States Auto Club (USAC) National Champion driver in USAC Silver Crown and Midgets, died Wednesday after being stabbed in the chest at a 76 gas station on Westminster Blvd. in Westminster, California, according to the USAC and police. "East was phenomenal in USAC National Sprint Cars as well, most notably on pavement...

A shocking video shows San Francisco school children having to pick their way through a filthy, open-air drug den of homeless addicts after getting off a school bus at the end of the day. The video, posed by Ricci Wynne, shows the elementary school kids filing off the 14 transit line in the Golden Gate City at 8th Street and Mission by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company building past dozens of sickly users nodding out on the sidewalk. 'This is no back ally,' he says in the tweet. 'This is the main artery of the city that has been...

Legalizing pot does not appear to encourage teen use and might actually discourage it, a study published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics suggests. Researchers analyzed data from more than 1.4 million high school students between 1993 and 2017, collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its Youth Risk Behavior survey. The results show teen pot use both before and after medical marijuana laws were adopted in 27 states, seven of which also legalized recreational marijuana during the survey period. Teen marijuana use didn’t change much after medical marijuana was legalized, they found. In states that legalized recreational use,...

This week marks the fifth anniversary of Colorado's legalization of the commercial marijuana trade, and the reviews aren't good. An editorial in the Colorado Springs Gazette reports, "Five years of retail pot coincide with five years of a homelessness growth rate that ranks among the highest rates in the country. Directors of homeless shelters, and people who live on the streets, tell us homeless substance abusers migrate here for easy access to pot." The paper says, "Five years of Big Marijuana ushered in a doubling in the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana, based...

States across the land have legalized marijuana for medical – and, in some cases, recreational – use, but conflicts with strict federal anti-drug laws have left patients, other users, doctors, marijuana businesses and the banks and landlords with commercial relationships to those businesses vulnerable to federal raids and prosecution. A new bill introduced by Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., would solve this problem by simply respecting states’ rights. Medical marijuana has been legalized in 23 states and the District of Columbia, but that has not stopped federal agencies from aggressively – and inconsistently –...