Free Republic

A top Missouri prosecutor was found dead inside a county courthouse — reportedly killing himself inside the building months after saying the job brought him “considerable pain.” Eric Zahnd, 53 — the longest-serving prosecutor in Platte County history — was found dead inside Platte County Courthouse at around 2:15 p.m. Thursday, the local sheriff’s office confirmed, according to FOX 4. The courthouse was immediately closed, and remained sealed Friday. Officials have not released details about his death but sources told the local station KCMO that Zahnd took his own life inside the courthouse. Zahnd, who has served as the county’s...

The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected Missouri congressional maps backed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the pivotal midterm elections. The decision appears to clear the way for the state to use a map passed in 2022, as the state's highest court ordered. It's part of a pitched legal battle that has created confusion for voters and others shortly before ballots begin going out for the November elections. The Trump administration had urged the court to keep the president's preferred maps, which were aimed at gaining one additional...

A federal judge in St. Louis on Tuesday ordered Missouri to use the gerrymandered congressional map drawn during a 2025 special session, giving a direction to Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and other election officials in conflict with a Missouri Supreme Court order.

The Supreme Court today rejected a last-ditch effort by Missouri Republicans to use a newly drawn congressional map, which was designed to maximize their political power, for this year’s midterm elections. In a brief order issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court left in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling from last week that said the map could not be used while a ballot initiative moves forward that could lead to the redrawn map being tossed out by voters. Kavanaugh handles emergency requests that arise from Missouri. The 2025 Republican redistricting plan, part of a wave prompted by Trump, was...

ST. LOUIS – A former general manager of Lombardo’s Restaurant in St. Louis has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, saying he was fired after sharing thoughts about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year in a Facebook post. Michael Mormino, an Edwardsville, Illinois resident, formally filed the lawsuit on Monday. He says he worked for Lombardo’s for 15 years and had been promoted to general manager of company’s airport location. According to the lawsuit, on Sept. 10, 2025, the same day that Kirk was fatally shot in Utah, Mormino shared the following remarks on his personal Facebook page:...

A former Planned Parenthood executive says the abortion group fired her after she reported an illegal abortion at about 28 weeks of pregnancy. Jacqueline C. Colyer filed a 26-page complaint against Planned Parenthood Great Rivers on Aug. 21. She filed the case in a Missouri federal court. Colyer was the group’s vice president of human resources. She says Planned Parenthood fired her after she voiced concerns about an abortion at its clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois, which is about 15 miles from St. Louis. The abortion happened on a Sunday night in early 2022, the lawsuit says. It occurred before...

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has donated $1.25 million to a campaign working to defeat a November pro-life ballot measure that would restore Missouri’s protections for unborn babies and reinstate limits on abortion. The contribution went to Stop the Ban, the PAC opposing Amendment 3. The group reported the donation Wednesday to the Missouri Ethics Commission and has now raised more than $6.5 million. Bloomberg previously gave $1 million in 2024 to Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, which successfully pushed the amendment that overturned the state’s laws protecting babies. Amendment 3, placed on the November 3 ballot by state...

Missouri voters rejected a ballot measure in Tuesday’s primary election that would’ve abolished state income taxes. While nine states have phased out individual income taxes, Missouri voters apparently feared an increase in other forms of taxation to make up for the revenue loss. The measure, Amendment No. 5, was rejected by an 84%-16% vote, with about a fifth of the ballots tallied. Missouri GOP Gov. Mike Kehoe backed eliminating the income tax. Opponents of the change claimed that the state’s highest earners would’ve benefitted the most, while public areas like schools, prisons and social services would’ve been directly impacted. Concerns...

In the midst of navigating a turbulent divorce last year, Claire learned she was pregnant. “It wasn’t the right time for me to have a child,” said Claire, who lives in Kansas City and agreed to speak on the condition that she be identified by her first name, citing concerns for her privacy and the charged political climate around abortion in Missouri. “But I knew at that point that I did want to have children in the future.” Claire is among about 3,220 Missourians who obtained medication abortions through telehealth from out-of-state clinicians in 2025 — up from roughly 880...

A newly-uncovered Biden White House memo from the administration's final days revealed plans that could have expanded Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to more than 3 million noncitizens while acknowledging that previous court challenges had blocked many of President Donald Trump's efforts to end the protections. TPS is meant for foreign populations experiencing crises like political unrest or natural disasters, and while Trump has tried to end the "temporary" provisions for Haitians, Nepalese, Salvadorans and Sudanese people, lawsuits from pro-migrant advocates have halted most attempts. "My investigation uncovered that the Lame Duck Biden White House tried to keep millions of illegal...

Turkey still does not meet the legal requirements to rejoin the F-35 fighter jet program, the US State Department said in a letter to Congress obtained by The Jerusalem Post. The July 22 letter, sent by the State Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs on behalf of US President Donald Trump in response to a letter from Rep. Wesley Bell (D-Missouri), reiterated that Washington’s policy toward Turkey’s participation in the F-35 program remains unchanged and is fully consistent with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and Section 1245 of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. According to...

There has been plenty of discussion surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs' decision with their new, upcoming stadium. Scheduled to open in 2031, "New Chiefs Stadium" will be located in Kansas City, Kansas instead of Kansas City, Missouri. That in itself has been controversial. There's also the question of whether there's actually a need for a brand new stadium. Arrowhead Stadium has been renovated and even expanded several times over the past 35 years. And it just played a major role during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where it was considered one of the best venues for the tournament. Regardless, it's...

WASHINGTON — A powerful House panel subpoenaed three far-left nonprofits Wednesday as part of a sweeping review of Shanghai-based Marxist millionaire Neville Roy Singham’s network of subversive groups in the US. The House Ways and Means Committee is probing the path of $39 million disbursed from Singham to the People’s Forum, lefty media outlet BreakThrough News, and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Fox News Digital first reported on the subpoenas. Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) ripped the three groups for failing to cough up a “single responsive document” in response to the committee’s prior requests for information. Smith’s team is concerned...

Pro-Israel research group Canary Mission said Monday that a video shows several Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-aligned politicians joined an online rally where a speaker lamented that neutralizing Iran would strip Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis of their funding. The group shared the clip in an “exclusive” thread on X. It came from a March fundraiser called “Choose Your Fighter,” hosted by Progressive Victory to rally support for progressives opposed to the Iran conflict. The speaker was left-wing podcaster Kyle Kulinski. Kulinski argued the United States and Israel were building a “fourth Reich” before turning to Tehran’s regional proxies. “If...

A 23-year-old Airman assigned to Vandenberg Space Force Base died after the heavy equipment he was operating rolled down an embankment on base, military officials announced Friday. Airman 1st Class Cedric Eneluna was operating the equipment when the accident occurred Thursday, according to Vandenberg officials. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and no one else was injured. The Santa Barbara County Coroner’s Office has not yet determined his official cause of death. The circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation by a Department of the Air Force Safety Investigation Board, and base officials said additional details will be withheld...

A top Missouri prosecutor was booted for having an affair with an illegal migrant her office was probing for sex assault — and because she slept with two other men in glaring conflicts of interest, too, court papers allege. Disgraced Ray County Prosecutor Camille Johnston was yanked from her position Thursday when a judge signed off on Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s petition laying out a slew of misconduct allegations against her during her three and a half years in office, Hanaway announced. Johnston — an elected official who took office Jan. 1, 2023 — compromised the integrity of her...

Missouri Prosecutor Camille Johnston is in MAJOR trouble. Allegedly: • Had an intimate relationship with an undocumented immigrant whose sexual assault case her office was prosecuting. • Helped him evade arrest by driving him to Mississippi in 2023, gave him her car + title, and vacationed with him in Florida. • Never disclosed the relationship, never recused herself, and allegedly slow-walked the charges. PLUS: • Accused of a relationship with a criminal defense attorney whose clients she was prosecuting. • Accused of a relationship with a married domestic violence suspect (C.W.) — and firing an employee who confronted her about...

Former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., is campaigning to return to Congress alongside a self-described Maoist activist and political organizer whose online videos and social media rhetoric has included urging leftists not to disavow Hamas or Hezbollah, has included calls to "unmake" America, applauded burning the American flag and endorsed political violence. The activist, Christopher Winston, has built an online presence across numerous platforms under the pseudonym "BlackRedGuard," posting and appearing in videos about "Maoist organizing in DSA," attacking leftists who say they do not support "Hezbollah/Hamas" and using rhetoric that appeared to condone political violence. In one video reviewed by...

A Missouri man has been rescued after becoming trapped in a porta-potty waste tank, forcing disgusted firefighters cut him free. The Kansas City Fire Department was called to the scene in central Kansas City at around 11.20am on Tuesday, according to an alert from the Citizen app. Backup including an ambulance were summoned when the severity of the situation became clear. A video of the rescue, which was recorded by a man named Eddie Bejarano, has garnered millions of views on social media. Bejarano made a follow-up video explaining that he had gone to pick up eight porta-potty units when...

Dived into a mountain of doo all for a Mountain Dew. The whacko who had to be cut out of a porta-potty toilet bowl by Kansas City firefighters in a viral video had been trapped inside the john for eight hours after crawling into the waste holding tank to retrieve his fallen soda bottle. The man said he had gone fishing in the portable toilet for his fallen Mountain Dew when he somehow ended up fully inside the facility’s raw sewage tank, according to a representative for Patriot Portable Restrooms, which provided the porta-johns for a World Cup event. Patriot...