Free Republic

HOUSTON — Half a million Texans are expected to suffer through sweltering heat with no electricity into early next week after Hurricane Beryl knocked out power throughout the Houston area Monday, generating anger at the region’s large utility for failing to defend the grid from a predictable summer storm. Food is spoiling in dormant refrigerators days after the Category 1 hurricane tore through power lines and utility poles. Hospitals are swarming with patients struggling with heat stroke. Businesses can’t function as residents are ordered to stay home, and many residents faced at least three or four more days of continued...

When she discovered she was pregnant, the 22-year-old aspiring veterinarian started calling abortion clinics in her home state of Oklahoma. It was a short list – there are only two, and neither could get her an appointment quickly. Unemployed, no car, and still living with her parents, Pearl thought about trying Texas, but knew the state had also recently tightened restrictions on clinics. ...

Arizona has some of the weakest gun control laws in the nation. To gun owners, those laws — which allow them to carry guns in their cars, in restaurants and other public places — are their last defense against unexpected evil. Gun control activists say the state's laws put weapons into the hands of the mentally unstable, and demand that federal officials impose tougher background checks and reinstate a ban on assault weapons. Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik said the state's gun laws contributed to the shooting. He singled out the law passed last year that allows those 21...