Free Republic

An ABC News joint investigation with its owned television stations sheds new light on the likely flow of the coronavirus from global hotspots into the U.S. and provides a glimpse the toll the virus has taken on some of the first Americans to interact with international travelers: airport workers. From December 2019 through March 2020, as severe outbreaks cropped up in China and then Italy and Spain, among others, thousands of flights from the hard-hit nations poured into U.S. cities, according to an ABC News analysis of more than 20 million flight records obtained from the tracking service Flightradar-24. While...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was booed multiple times at the 2025 Ryder Cup on Long Island Wednesday – and even a joke from talk show host Carson Daly couldn’t quell the jeers. Golf fans attending the opening ceremony ahead of the US’s matchup against Europe unleashed on the Democratic leader as she walked on stage at the Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, according to social media footage. “You’re the worst,” one attendee shouted. Daly, who brought Hochul out, tried to quiet the crowd by joking she isn’t NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, but it didn’t help much, according to the...

A once-crumbling factory in Seneca Falls just won one of New York’s top preservation honors — after being saved from the wrecking ball and transformed into a home for dozens of families and veterans. Huntington Apartments has received a 2025 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award from the Preservation League of New York State, the organization announced Monday. The building at 201 Fall Street was originally home to the National Yeast Company in the late 1800s. By the 2010s, it was deteriorating fast. A gas station proposal nearly sealed its fate — until local advocates stepped in. The Seneca Falls Historical...

Country singer Bryan Martin was “forcibly” yanked from the stage after causing a ruckus during a concert in upstate New York. The crooner, 37, was mid-performance at the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds, about 30 minutes from Albany, when he began to display “signs of intoxication and erratic behavior,” according to the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office (RCSO). “Deputies and event staff attempted to assist Mr. Martin offstage, but due to his impaired state, he became resistant and had to be forcibly escorted out,” read the statement, which was posted on Facebook Saturday. In a Facebook video of the ordeal, the “Wolves Cry” singer...

Shoppers at New York state’s largest mall were thrown into panic on Thursday after a man carrying an umbrella sparked fears of an active shooter, police said. The scare began around 3:20 p.m. when 911 calls flooded in about a man carrying what appeared to be an AR-15-style rifle inside the Destiny USA shopping and entertainment complex in Syracuse. A second caller said the suspect slung the “weapon” on his shoulder and appeared to cock it. Within minutes, officers swarmed the area, backed by drones and a sheriff’s helicopter on standby.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was seriously injured in a freak car accident in New Hampshire on Saturday night, a rep said. Giuliani, 81, was hospitalized with a fractured vertebrae and multiple cuts and bruises, including injuries specifically to his left arm and lower leg, after his rent-a-car was hit from behind, spokesman Michael Ragusa said Sunday. “Mayor Giuliani was flagged down by a woman who was a victim of domestic violence prior to the accident. He rendered assistance and contacted 911, remaining on scene until responding officers arrived to ensure her safety,” said Ragusa, Giuliani’s head of...

A high school senior who claims she was banned from painting biblical messages on her student parking spot is fighting back. Sabrina Steffens, a senior at Grand Island High School near Buffalo, New York, told CBN News that seniors at her school are allowed to personalize their paid parking spots. But when she attempted to have verses and Christian art painted on hers, the school reportedly refused.

Hochul pardoned an illegal migrant who was convicted of manslaughter as a teenager, according to a report from The New York Times. The Homeland Security Department criticized New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul for pardoning an illegal migrant to keep him from being deported. "@GovKathyHochul, your shameful secret is out," the DHS wrote in a social media post on X. "Rather than putting New Yorkers first, you’re protecting a criminal illegal alien KILLER with a rap sheet including convictions for manslaughter and criminal possession of a firearm."Hochul pardoned an illegal migrant who was convicted of manslaughter as a teenager,...

The graffiti appeared hours after The New York Times issued an editor’s note amending its July 24 article, “Gazans are dying of starvation.” Five days after publication, the Times acknowledged that its story referenced a Gazan boy, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, suffering from severe malnutrition, but later learned from his doctor and medical records that the child also had pre-existing health conditions. The editor’s note underscored that the article had been updated to reflect these new details.

ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) — A redistricting showdown in Texas is now spilling into New York State and other states, with a group of Texas Democrats fleeing to Albany in an effort to block what they call a dangerous and partisan power grab. More than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers walked out of the legislative session in Austin this week, effectively denying a quorum needed to pass a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting plan.

New York will soon require most new buildings to be fully electric, following a vote by the state Building Code Council, according to the Times Union. Beginning January 2026, gas and oil systems will be banned in newly constructed homes and low-rise buildings, with broader mandates kicking in by 2029. Supporters say the move helps cut emissions and long-term costs, but critics argue it burdens residents and stresses an already strained power grid. The law includes exceptions for buildings with permits filed before year’s end and does not apply to renovations. New York’s building sector is the state’s largest emissions...

On Friday’s broadcast of Fox 5 New York’s “Good Day New York,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) discussed the federal lawsuit filed over the city’s sanctuary policy and said that the law should be adjusted to allow for greater coordination with the federal government when it comes to violent criminals, but for people “who are going about following their next step on the American Dream that are undocumented. We should not be harming them at all” by denying them taxpayer benefits because they “are innocent people who are just trying to pursue the American Dream.” Adams said that...

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) threatened he would “move to Florida” if socialist New York City (NYC) mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the election. During a Hamptons breakfast on Saturday, Cuomo, who is running as an independent in NYC’s mayoral race, expressed that it was “all or nothing” in the NYC mayoral race, according to the New York Post. The breakfast was hosted at 75 Main, in Southampton. “It’s all or nothing,” Cuomo stated. “We either win or even I will move to Florida. God forbid!” During the event, Cuomo “took plenty of shots at Mamdani’s pie-in-the-sky proposals...

A violent suspect who was arrested trying to shut down a pro-Daniel Penny rally in Manhattan was out on bond for a leftist domestic terrorism case in Atlanta. Teresa Yue Shen, 31, of Brooklyn, was one of several far-left militants charged with domestic terrorism in January in Atlanta, following a deadly shooting incident at an Antifa-linked autonomous zone occupation at the heart of the “Stop Cop City” movement. Shen’s $20,000 bond was fronted by far-left activist Daniel Hanley. The Atlanta Solidarity Fund, a project of 501(c)(3) nonprofit Network For Strong Communities, has been raising cash for Antifa and domestic terrorism...

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced late last week that her office had convicted 36 members of an organized retail crime ring, including its leader, Roni Rubinov. James’ office said Rubinov and the ring he oversaw stole, then resold, millions of dollars’ worth of goods in the New York City area between 2017 and 2022. During an investigation, the attorney general’s office’s Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) retrieved over $3.8 million worth of stolen goods, more than $300,000 and over 550 stolen gift cards from Rubinov. James said the ring negatively...

It is imperative that anyone wanting to be up on the War On Terror should go out of his way to learn as much about the players involved as possible. The AP/Yahoo! reports on an Egyptian character called Mustafa Abu al-Yazid who has been named as a contact of suspected Denver-based Muslim Najibullah Zazi.

The Saudi man arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force yesterday in Idaho has ties to close associates of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and to four Arab men charged at the same time with channeling funds to Iraq. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen – a University of Idaho doctoral candidate supported by the Saudi government – was a terrorist bagman, according to a federal criminal justice source quoted by a Seattle newspaper. Saudi student Sami Omar al-Hussayen "He's in touch with people who could pick up the phone, call [bin Laden], and he would take the call," the source told the...

New York Gov. Hochul and hubby have between $2.2 million and $4.3 million in the bank– less than they’ve declared in the past, newly released state financial disclosures show. William Hochul Jr. took a job defending white-collar criminals for Manhattan law firm Davis Polk in January 2024, making between $850,000 and $950,000 last year, according to the 2024 filings, which do not include exact income figures but a range. It’s a significant pay cut from the $1.45 to $1.55 million he made the year before as counsel for gaming giant Delaware North, a gig he left in August 2023 amid...

South Asian socialist identitarian mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani identified as "Black or African American" as well as "Asian" on his college applications, The New York Times has learned via a hack of Columbia University's application data. Millions of records were leaked. Mamdani, who was born to parents of Indian descent in Uganda, said he checked the box because the identity boxes on the application weren't enough to show the breadth and scope of his ethnic and racial composition. He admitted to the Times that as a high school senior in 2009, he filled out all his forms the same way,...

After Tuesday's primary, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is that much closer to serving as New York City's next Democratic mayor, especially after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded. That Mamdani is a far-left socialist who has concerning views on a whole host of issues puts his fellow Democrats in a tricky place. Many still offered words of praise, though, including fellow New York Democrats like Gov. Kathy Hochul and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. As it turns out, though, Hochul doesn't look to be ready to back Mamdani after all, though. "Today, voters made their voices heard, demanding a more affordable, more...