Free Republic

WASHINGTON — New Jersey Rep. Tom Kean Jr. has mysteriously been missing from Capitol Hill for nearly two months — and his team is blaming unspecified “health issues.” Kean (R-NJ), who is the most vulnerable Republicans in the Garden State’s congressional delegation, last voted on March 5 and has skipped more than four dozen votes since then. On Wednesday, Kean posted on social media about how two of his bills advanced past committee. Yet he wasn’t actually on Capitol Hill that day for votes. The Post contacted his office for comment. Kean’s team told Politico that he is “facing unspecified...

A quiet western Massachusetts town is being torn apart by a proposed 50% property tax hike — with neighbors stealing yard signs from one another and some residents warning they could be forced to sell their homes. Residents of South Hadley, Mass., head to the polls Tuesday to vote on proposals to close the local budget gap. One would raise $11 million for the town and hike average property tax bills by about $1,700 per year, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The more modest proposal would generate a cool $9 million, increasing average property tax bills by roughly $1,400....

“I drive about 30, 40 miles a day, so I’m looking at $92, almost $100 in gas prices,” Mr. Harvey said. “So I’m like, maybe I should trade in my car and get something electric for the time being.” several brands have reported an uptick in electric vehicle sales in the opening months of 2026. Tesla has reported a modest year-over-year increase in sales, and Hyundai and General Motors’ Cadillac division have also seen electric car sales increase. You didn’t have to go far from the auto show on Saturday to see why drivers are showing a renewed interest in...

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said the military conflict in Iran will be looked at as one of the greatest “presidential blunders of our time.” Host Kristen Welker said, “The U.S. has reportedly sent Iran a 15-point plan addressing its ballistic and nuclear weapons program, and some analysts have already drawn some comparisons to the talks under the Obama administration. The deal that was struck during the Obama era. Do you support the Trump administration’s efforts to try to negotiate a deal with Iran to bring this war to an end?” Booker said, “I don’t...

A former middle school teacher in New Jersey was arrested on Thursday following allegations she had had a sexual relationship with a student. Ashley Fisler, 36, of Washington Township in Gloucester County, was charged with six counts of first-degree sexual assault of a minor, one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and one count of second-degree official misconduct, according to Fox 29. Each first-degree charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, and each second-degree charge carries a maximum of 10 years.

Energy affordability is on the ballot this year. Unfortunately, extremists in Trenton are once again pushing a bill in the New Jersey State House that will hurt consumers wallets with no tangible benefit—except to line their own pockets. New Jerseyans must see through the smokescreen and realize this burdensome and disruptive legislative policy will chase companies out of the state and cost New Jersey families high-paying jobs, tax revenues and an affordable and reliable energy supply.

Democratic senators say Republicans controlling both houses and presidency voted down multiple resolutions to fund TSA, Coast Guard and FEMA Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., deflected blame when pressed whether their party should vote to end the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown on Sunday, which has left workers without paychecks for weeks. "We saw terror attacks in West Bloomfield, Michigan, in Norfolk, Virginia. This morning, the CEOs of the nation's major airlines and cargo carriers have written a letter to Congress calling for them to end the shutdown, talking about the importance of American security in...

You may have read about numerous prominent large corporations headed for the exits in blue states like California and heading for more welcoming climates in business-friendly states like Texas and Florida. Why? They’re sick of getting constantly hammered with taxes, regulations, and hostility from state governments.Now it’s the Exxon Mobil Corporation, which announced Tuesday that 144 years after it incorporated in the state, its Board of Directors unanimously recommended that shareholders change the company’s legal domicile from New Jersey to Texas.They passed over former President Joe Biden’s home state:This is a big one. ExxonMobil to move its state of incorporation...

Governor Mikie Sherrill made a historic appointment to the New Jersey State Police force. Sherrill announced Jeanne Hengemuhle to take over as the department's superintendent, serving as the first woman and openly gay person to head the department. Hengemuhle served 26 years in the state police and retired in 2024 as a lieutenant colonel. She will take over as acting superintendent Thursday while she awaits Senate confirmation.

Federal immigration officers arrived at the Woodland Village Apartment Complex in Lindenwold on Monday morning, causing fear among fourth and fifth grade students waiting at their school bus stop, according to the Lindenwold School District. What we know: Ring camera video posted on a community Facebook page shows children running away from the bus stop and yelling "ICE, ICE" as multiple enforcement vehicles arrived at the apartment complex, according to the Lindenwold School District. Officials said the presence of federal officers led to confusion and fear, causing students to flee the area.

Four Massachusetts residents are accused of using more than 100 stolen identities to get over $1 million in food stamps and pandemic-era unemployment benefits in a multi-state fraud scheme, federal prosecutors say. U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said stolen identities from Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico were used to obtain $440,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The defendants also allegedly submitted fraudulent documents in order to receive more than $700,000 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance from Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington and Nevada. --snip-- Three defendants charged...

Man charged with hate crime after ramming Chabad headquarters in New York. 36-year-old charged with hate crimes after ramming his car five times into Chabad headquarters in Brooklyn. Dan Sohail, 36, is the man suspected of driving a car into the doors to a synagogue at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, five times on Wednesday evening, Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives at the New York City Police Department, said at a press conference on Thursday. The suspect, of Carteret, N.J., "had recently connected with the Lubavitch community," and removed blockades from the same site the prior day, Kenny said,...

It is no secret that Governor Murphy has a grotesque obsession with abortion. Through both his words and his actions, he made it abundantly clear during his eight years as Governor of New Jersey that he harbors a depraved fixation on the killing of innocent children. To Murphy, there is no abortion too gruesome and no gestational limit that goes too far, and by his most recent action, that moral indifference now extends even to children who have already been born. So, it should surprise no one that, in one of his final acts before leaving office, the former Governor...

There is a cynical reason why Democrat leaders keep illegal aliens in the country. It is not for humanitarian reasons. The net effect of increases in both legal and illegal immigration in the 2020 Census shifted 17 House seats and 17 Electoral College votes. It resulted in a net gain of 14 seats in blue states. Ten seats shifted from red states and four from battleground states. It’s partly due to districts with high percentages of noncitizens who lean heavily Democrat. “Of the 24 districts where one in five adults is not an American citizen, twenty were won by a...

A lawsuit filed by a group of towns which challenges the state’s 2024 affordable-housing law was dismissed Tuesday by a federal court judge. United States District Judge Zahid Quraishi dismissed the suit because he said the towns were not allowed to bring this type of constitutional challenge to federal court.

Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill Thursday to ban cell phones in schools throughout New Jersey. The State Senate originally passed Bill S3695 last month, which calls for guidelines to restrict and/or ban the use of cell phone or cell phone adjacent devices during school hours. The law makes it mandatory for all school districts in New Jersey to adopt strict cell phone guidelines for students. But the restrictions would have different rules for different grades. Regardless of the restrictions, it would still prohibit the non-academic use of a cell phones or social media during class time. "The guidelines shall,...

A federal judge on Monday declined to dismiss a final assault charge against New Jersey Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver that was tied to a visit she made to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement migrant detention facility last year. McIver last month appealed an earlier failed attempt to get two of the charges dismissed, which came after she was involved in a scuffle with a federal agent when she visited Delaney Hall in Newark last May. The New Jersey Democrat has attempted to argue that her actions were protected by the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause, which protects lawmakers from prosecution...

New Jersey drivers are about to get hit with a nearly 9% hike in the state’s gas tax — leaving them once again grappling with one of the highest rates in the country. Thanks to legislation signed into law in 2024, the state — the only one in the nation to not allow self-service pumps — is raising its gas tax by 4.2 cents to 49.1 cents for gasoline and 56.1 cents for diesel Jan. 1. The jump would average out to about $27 more per year per driver, for a total cost of $320 just for the state gas...

As he enters the final chapter of his time in office, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy chose to mark Christmas Eve, one of the holiest and most sacred nights in the Christian faith, commemorating the anticipation of the birth of Christ, by publicly advancing his administration’s abortion agenda. Rather than acknowledging the profound spiritual significance of the evening for millions of Christians, Governor Murphy instead announced a $22 million funding commitment to “protect and grow” access to abortion through what his administration calls the Reproductive Health Access Fund, an abortion slush fund designed to funnel taxpayer dollars to abortion providers....

The family of the man who died earlier this month while in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement custody at Newark's Delaney Hall says it wants answers about how he died one day after he was taken into custody. In an exclusive interview with NBC New York, Jean Wilson Brutus' cousin says Brutus didn't have any medical concerns before being taken into custody. "We haven’t had some kind of closure surrounding his death," Evans Belony told News 4's Axel Turcios. It's something Belony says he and his family are still trying to process. "He was like a loved one, that we all...