Free Republic

Michele Weiss has made history as the first female Orthodox Jewish mayor in the United States, winning decisively as a Republican in a heavily Democratic Cleveland suburb after building a reputation for fiscal responsibility and bipartisan cooperation over 15 years on the city council. Weiss, a mother and grandmother who has lived in University Heights for 28 years, will take office in January after rising from volunteer work with the League of Women Voters to vice mayor, championing environmental sustainability and municipal infrastructure along the way.

An elderly former Ohio State University professor allegedly murdered his wife — and then tried to kill himself and his dog — after a woman he met on a dating app threatened to release nude photos of him in a $15,000 sextortion sting, according to police. James Hill, 76, of Upper Arlington, told cops he felt he had no other way out after the unidentified woman threatened to release the embarrassing pics unless he paid her $15,000 in Apple gift cards, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Hill stabbed his wife, Mary Kathleen Hill, 64, in the chest with a kitchen...

The Ohio governor race has started to come into focus as voters look ahead to the 2026 election contests, and a recent poll has shown Democrat hopeful Amy Acton ahead of Republican frontrunner Vivek Ramaswamy—if only by a slim margin. The poll, conducted on behalf of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, shows Acton with a higher favorability among Ohio likely voters—including a potentially key 21-point advantage among independent voters—but Ramaswamy's campaign has disputed these results. Ohio will face an open election for governor after incumbent Mike DeWine serves out his term-limited time in office. Ohio has elected only 1 Democrat...

CLEVELAND, Ohio — In an effort to stem its ballooning charity care costs, MetroHealth on Thursday launched a new financial assistance policy that eliminates 100% free charity care for some uninsured and underinsured Cuyahoga County residents, the health system said Thursday. MetroHealth is also encouraging such patients to enroll in health insurance during fall open enrollment periods. Under MetroHealth’s new financial assistance policy, now called its Healthcare Access and Assistance Plan, patients get higher discounts on their medical bills if they also seek counseling from MetroHealth’s financial counselors. Hardest hit by the changes are Cuyahoga County residents earning between 251%...

Republicans in Columbus had one job: draw a congressional map that reflects the voters who elected them. When President Trump called on GOP-led states to fight as hard as Democrats do in redistricting, Ohio was supposed to be part of that charge. Instead, it answered his call with surrender, handing Democrats a "compromise" map they didn't even have to ask for.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan's already battered state budget stands to lose more than $1.5 million in annual fees because of changes being made by Comerica Inc. Comerica officials announced earlier this year that the company, founded in 1849 as Detroit Savings Fund Institute, plans to move its headquarters from Detroit to Dallas by fall. The company also has applied for a national charter, meaning bank regulators in Michigan no longer would oversee Comerica even if it kept its headquarters in Detroit. That change alone means the state may be unable to collect supervisory fees charged annually by the Michigan...

We first were introduced to Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge, back at the end of July. Jazz Festival weekend was marred by the most horrific videos of black revelers attacking small groups of white festival goers in the city's downtown in the early morning hours and seriously injuring some of them. Above is only one of the incidents, and it turned out the fellow throwing the punches already had multiple felony charges pending. He shouldn't have been out partying to begin with. Another victim was a young woman who stepped in to try to break the fight up, only to...

1 of 3 suspects arrested after Northeast Ohio Amish family assaulted, robbed

History is not indoctrination — or is it? How many people know that the scriptures were cited by our founders more than Locke, Montesquieu, and Blackstone combined? Students learn that James Madison is the father of the Constitution, but do they know that he would likely have failed unless he had promised a bill of rights to Pastor John Leland? Does today’s generation realized that the pilgrims were literally a church plant and that the Mayflower Compact was modeled after a church covenant? It's more likely they believe that America was formed under secular influences with just a tiny tip...

MARION, OH (MARION COUNTY NOW)—A Marion County Grand Jury has indicted Xiaoping Peng, a 53-year-old resident of Chicago, Illinois, on multiple serious charges linked to a prostitution enterprise operating out of the Chinese Spa located at 1288 Delaware Avenue in Marion. The indictment includes charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, two counts of trafficking in persons for involuntary servitude, and two counts of promoting prostitution. Peng was arraigned today in front of Judge Todd Anderson, who set his bond at a staggering $1,000,000. A Chinese national, Peng allegedly entered the United States illegally during the Biden administration...

Fake News CNN cut off House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday as he attacked the Democrats for shutting down the government over healthcare funding for illegal aliens. Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance made it clear that Democrats are refusing to keep the government open because they are prioritizing illegal aliens. “Democrats want a $1.5 trillion spending package that funded free health care for illegals. We told them that was absurd, and now they’re willing to shut down the government over it. It’s unacceptable,” Vance said earlier this week after a meeting with top Democrats Schumer and Jeffries.

A 24-year-old Venezuelan man, Anthony Emmanuel Labrador-Sierra, posed as a 16-year-old and enrolled at Perrysburg High School in Ohio, using fraudulent documents, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio. Labrador-Sierra submitted false birth dates on applications for Temporary Protective Status and Employment Authorization Documents in 2024 and 2025. He also used false information to purchase a Taurus G3C 9mm semiautomatic pistol, which he was not legally allowed to possess due to his immigration status. Labrador-Sierra first entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2019 and was supposed to return to Venezuela later that year...

JUST IN: The University of Cincinnati has just REMOVED Turning Point from their campus with NO EXPLANATION, per an email obtained by @oliviakrolczyk_

ASHLAND, Ohio (WJW) – Ashland County Sheriff Kurt Schneider said an investigation is underway after buttons that contained comments about President Trump, such as “Is he dead yet” and “One day, we will wake up to his obituary” were on display at the “Ashland County Democrats” booth at the Ashland County Fair on Thursday. “I will be contacting the U.S. Secret Service tomorrow,” Sheriff Schneider told the WJW I-Team. “Violence shouldn’t be tolerated in any way, in any venue in any jurisdiction in the United States and it certainly won’t be tolerated here in Ashland County.”

A radical leftist student at Oberlin College casually called for political assassinations to continue in the wake of the targeted killing of political activist Charlie Kirk last week, according to an online post she made. “We need to bring back political assassinations,” said Julia Xu in a social media post, where her handle is @bringbacktheguillotine. “I don’t feel bad and I don’t think that everyone deserves the right to free speech. Some people should be afraid to express their opinion in public.” Xu, who grew up in Connecticut, is a second year student at Oberlin College in Ohio majoring in...

ASHLAND, Ohio (WJW) – Ashland County Sheriff Kurt Schneider said an investigation is underway after buttons that contained comments about President Trump, such as “Is he dead yet” and “One day, we will wake up to his obituary” were on display at the “Ashland County Democrats” booth at the Ashland County Fair on Thursday. “I will be contacting the U.S. Secret Service tomorrow,” Sheriff Schneider told the FOX 8 I-Team. “Violence shouldn’t be tolerated in any way, in any venue in any jurisdiction in the United States and it certainly won’t be tolerated here in Ashland County.” According to an...

State Representative Adam Mathews has called for the immediate resignation of Judge Ted Berry following controversial social media comments regarding the death of Charlie Kirk. According to Mathews, the statements, which included racially charged and politically divisive language, have been deemed a serious breach of ethical standards for judges in Ohio. Some of the comments Judge Berry allegedly made included "Rest in Hatred & Division," "How's he feel about gun violence & gun control in Hell now," as well as a remark celebrating the race of the killer, saying, "So, a white guy killed him! Color it KARMA!" Mathews described...

Sayfullo Saipov’s neighbors and acquaintances have been coming forward to paint a portrait of the suspected New York City terrorist. One Tampa neighbor casually dropped a remarkable detail deep in a Washington Post story on Wednesday: a group of “about 30 men, young and old, gathered at Saipov’s house to pray” on “most weekends.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for a man charged with killing eight people when he drove his truck onto a New York City bike path say the death penalty should be ruled out because President Donald Trump was “uninformed and full or rage” when he called for it. The lawyers filed papers Tuesday in federal court on behalf of Sayfullo Saipov (sy-foo-LOH’ sah-YEE’-pawf).

...all of the photos I'm [Dan Cadman, the author] seeing of Saipov are copies of the same mugshot [see Comment #1]...What was he arrested for?...if Saipov had been arrested in New York City, the site of the attack and a notorious sanctuary jurisdiction, the city itself would have released him back to the street so that he could go on to commit the attack.