Free Republic

The U.S. Secret Service, alongside local law enforcement and state agency partners, conducted an Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud and payment card skimming outreach operation in Baltimore and the surrounding area on Oct. 22-23. Personnel visited 493 businesses and removed 22 illegal skimming devices, preventing an estimated potential loss of nearly $22.9 million. More than 3,000 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs were inspected. Teams also distributed educational materials about Electronic Benefit Transfer fraud and skimming to businesses to help them better identify the warning signs of illegal skimming devices in their point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs. This outreach operation...

Maryland Governor Wes Moore strongly hinted today that he is ready to call a special session of the General Assembly to redraw the state congressional districts. That move would flip Maryland’s lone Republican seat in Congress, currently held by Representative Andy Harris, to a Democrat. At an appearance at a food pantry in Bowie today, 7News pushed the governor for an answer to redistricting. Yesterday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called for redistricting in a series of social media posts. “I hate gerrymandering. I hate it as a concept. I hate that it happens. But also you know what I hate?...

As Republicans across the country pursue new congressional maps to boost their party ahead of next year's midterm elections, Democrats are ramping up pressure on states where they can respond. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has held discussions with members of the Maryland delegation and Democratic Gov. Wes Moore in recent weeks about possible mid-decade redistricting efforts, according to a source with knowledge of the conversations. The source also said Jeffries spoke with members of the Illinois delegation about drawing new district lines, as Politico first reported. Maryland has just one Republican, Rep. Andy Harris, in its eight-member House...

Baltimore residents in Federal Hill say Mayor Brandon Scott owes them answers after revelations that his new city-issued SUV cost taxpayers $163,495 – including nearly $65,000 in upgrades including police lights, sirens and a security microphone. “Not the taxpayers’ money! If he wants it for himself, yeah. But not with our money,” said Christian Heath as she was celebrating her birthday with friends in Federal Hill Park. She didn’t know about the mayor’s luxury Jeep Grand Wagoneer until speaking with Spotlight on Maryland. “Our money should be for the city, the schools, the kids. Just to ride around? We don’t...

Conservative activist Cam Higby was attacked outside Washington’s Union Station this week while attempting to engage in peaceful political discussions. The incident comes as Higby launches his “Fearless Tour,” an effort he says that is inspired by the late Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated while engaging in similar dialogue. In the viral clip, a woman is first seen kneeling beside Higby, reaching for his MAGA hat. As Higby repeats, “Stop, stop, stop,” the woman, identified as Taylor Forte, grew more aggressive, standing up and trying to rip the hat from his head before knocking him over in his chair. Higby...

An immigration judge on Wednesday denied a motion filed by Kilmar Abrego Garcia's attorneys to reopen his immigration case, according to a copy of the decision obtained by ABC News. In the emergency motion filed in August to reopen the case, attorneys for the wrongly deported Abrego Garcia argued that because he was deported to El Salvador and then brought back to the United States, he is now eligible to apply for asylum within one year of his last entry into the U.S. But in the order filed on Wednesday, Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge Philip Taylor said that Abrego...

The Senate Democrats’ campaign arm is planning a two-day getaway at a five-star resort in the heart of California’s wine country in early October — at the same time the country may be in the midst of a government shutdown — according to an invitation obtained by Politico’s “Playbook.” The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is hosting its Napa Retreat from Oct. 13-14 at Hotel Yountville in Napa County, Politico reported Saturday. Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has chaired the DSCC since January, circulated an invitation to the event which lists her, Democratic Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and...

Ian Andre Roberts is currently registered to vote in Maryland. When he registered in 2017, he reportedly had been working in St. Louis for years. There’s no indication from his resumes that he’s lived in Baltimore since he registered to vote there.

he DOJ order was sent to U.S. attorney's offices in at least seven states. Multiple top federal prosecutors at U.S. attorney's offices around the country received a directive Monday to prepare to launch investigations into the Open Society Foundations, a group funded by the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, multiple sources confirmed to ABC News. The order from Aakash Singh, a senior official in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's office, was sent to U.S. attorney's offices in at least seven states, the sources confirmed, including California, New York, Illinois, Michigan and Maryland. The letter lists potential charges prosecutors could take...

BOSTON — Monica Cannon-Grant, the founder of the nonprofit Violence in Boston, plans to plead guilty to federal charges of defrauding people who donated to her organization. In a one-page document filed in federal court in Boston on Friday, Canon-Grant requested a change of plea hearing. Cannon-Grant faces a 27-count indictment on charges including wire fraud, mail fraud, making false statements, and filing false tax returns, among other offenses. Federal investigators have alleged that Cannon-Grant, and her husband, Clark Grant, “solicited and received over $1 million in donations and grants from individuals, charitable institutions and other entities.” The indictment alleged...

The U.S. Naval Academy is on lockdown after a midshipman who had been kicked out of the school returned to campus armed with a weapon, multiple sources inside the U.S. Naval Academy tell Fox News. Gunshots were heard inside Bancroft Hall, which houses the midshipmen. One victim was transported via medevac and multiple other victims were being assessed. One official on campus said, "The shooter is knocking on doors pretending to be a military policeman." "Naval Support Activity Annapolis, in coordination with local law enforcement, is currently responding to reports of threats made to the Naval Academy," NSAA PAO, LT...

NAVAL ACADEMY, Md. — The U.S. Naval Academy is currently on lockdown, according to a spokesperson for Annapolis police. "We cannot confirm an active threat, but are searching the area out of an abundance of caution," said Kortlan Jackson, a spokesperson for the police department.

35-year-old Hugo Hernandez-Mendez, an illegal alien from Guatemala, brutally murdered a Maryland teen and threw her body off a bridge last month. 19-year-old Dacara Thompson went missing two weeks ago after she left her father’s house to put gas in her car. Surveillance video from the gas station shows Dacara Thompson approaching Hernandez-Mendez’s vehicle. After speaking to him for about a minute, she gets into the passenger side. Police said they drove to the suspect’s home, where he may have sexually assaulted Thompson before killing her in his bedroom. Hernandez-Mendez threw Thompson’s body off a highway bridge in the Annapolis...

After failing to report the names of the men who murdered Republican intern Eric Tarpinian Jachym since June, we now get to see who they are. They targeted the killing of the 21-year-old, but he wasn’t the intended victim. Shots were fired at a 16-year-old male and an adult female as well as Tarpinion-Jachym. The two youths who committed the crime are Kelvin Thomas Jr and Jailen Lucas, both 17.

It looks like another Democrat darling has tripped over his own carefully crafted narrative. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) just had a public meltdown when confronted about a glaring and long-running falsehood: his claim to having received a Bronze Star. For years, Moore casually let the military honor bolster his public image, political resume, and book sales — but now, under scrutiny, he’s suddenly claiming it "wasn't something I even thought about.” That’s a hard pill to swallow, considering the Bronze Star is not just some casual decoration. It’s one of the U.S. military’s most prestigious awards, given for heroic...

In a stunning and rare show of bipartisan cooperation—or perhaps just an overdue reality check-- Democrat Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) publicly stated his openness to federal support from President Donald Trump to help address the long-standing issues plaguing Baltimore and surrounding areas.You read that right: after years of partisan bickering, finger-pointing, and failed local leadership, even a blue-state Democrat is now asking Trump for help.Moore, a staunch anti-Trumper who has largely aligned himself with progressive urban policies, appears to have had enough. In a recent press briefing, he didn’t mince words: “I would absolutely welcome federal support,” he said, when...

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) has apologized for incorrectly stating on a White House application more than a decade ago that he was a Bronze Star recipient. Moore, a rising star in the Democratic Party, served in the Army Reserve between 1996 and 2014. He was deployed to Afghanistan in August 2005 through March 2006. Though he has won multiple awards for his service, including the National Defense Service Medal, he stated on a 2006 application for the White House Fellowship that his service won him the award of a Bronze Star. “For my work, the 82nd Airborne Division have...

🚨 INSANE: Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin says he opposes President Trump cracking down on crime because "crime has always been part of our history."

Gal Luft, a Dual U.S.-Israeli Citizen, Allegedly Evaded FARA Registration While Working to Advance the Interests of China in the United States and Sought to Broker the Illicit Sales of Chinese-Manufactured Weapons and Iranian Oil to China... U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen and co-head of a Maryland think tank, engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes. He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. Government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian...

The president in recent days is leaning even further into using the National Guard as a glorified police force, visiting the troops and allowing them to be armed. He’s suggested he’s eyeing Chicago and New York next for their next deployment. On Sunday, he needled Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for Baltimore’s notorious crime statistics, hinting he could send troops there as well. It's a sign that despite polling showing how unpopular Trump’s moves are in Washington, the president is playing to a national audience — and betting this is a battle he and the GOP can win. If his recent...