Free Republic

Most wildfires in Canada are impossible to fight. As smoke from forest fires in Canada have darkened skies south of the border, lawmakers in Michigan, Ohio and other U.S. states have accused the Canadian authorities of inaction and poor forest management. But most wildfires in Canada spread in such remote, vast areas that they cannot be fought effectively — and are often left to burn. Half of Canada’s wildfires, like the ones now burning in northern Ontario, burn in such areas — either unpopulated or dotted with small Indigenous communities, said Michael Flannigan, an expert on fire management at Thompson...

Cincinnati — For Avondale resident Christopher Adams, going to the grocery store was a twice a week trip. After the store closed, that task may become a lot harder. The neighborhood of Avondale’s only sizable grocery store, The Country Meat Co. Marketplace, announced that it’s shutting its doors on Facebook in early July. It opened in February 2025, and when it closed the “now open” banner still hung above the door. Before the store opened, Avondale was considered a “food desert.” Many of its residents lived more than a mile away from a grocery store that could provide nutritious, fresh...

The city of Columbus, Ohio, home to one of the largest Somali populations in the United States, is facing backlash on social media over a now-deleted post celebrating the raising of the Somali flag. "Happy Somali Independence Day!" The Columbus Recreation and Parks Department posted on X on Wednesday. "As we celebrate the unification of the Trust Territory of Somaliland and the State of Somaliland into the Somali Republic in 1960, City Hall will be raising the flag of Somalia. " The post was quickly picked up by conservatives on social media, with many wondering why the city of Columbus...

The Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding tells Iran that Hezbollah survives and Israel leaves. The Trilateral Framework says that Hezbollah disarms and that, until it does, Israel stays in Lebanon. The negotiations with Iran were led by Vice President JD Vance, who never wanted this war and made no secret of his wish to end it cheaply. He produced the Islamabad MOU, the paper Iran's regime wanted to hear. The Trilateral Framework was created by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has spent his career treating Iran's proxy network as a threat to be dismantled rather than soothed. Iran negotiated the...

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) shared that he would reintroduce former Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-NV) “exact bill” that would not only eliminate birthright citizenship for the children of illegal migrants, but also clarify who can receive birthright citizenship. In a post on X, Moreno responded to another post from Fox News’s Bill Melugin, who shared that in 1993, Reid had introduced the Immigration Stabilization Act of 1993. Moreno stated that they would “see how today’s DC Democrats will vote when offered the ideas of the Democrat party that used to love” the U.S. “I will reintroduce this exact bill when I...

What began with a concerned mother calling police on her son ended in the thwarting of a terror plot involving drones and snipers aimed at members of U.S. Congress attending Sunday's UFC event at the White House, the government alleges in a criminal complaint filed against one of the plot's admitted leaders, an Ohio teen. Tycen Proper, 19, of Danville, Ohio, told federal investigators on June 11 he intended to "jump-start" a revolution in the U.S. with an attack on June 14 that would begin with drone bombings over the north side of the arena. Co-conspirators, the charging documents allege,...

Federal investigators executed search warrants at the headquarters of a Soros-aligned voter mobilization organization in Ohio as part of what sources described as an ongoing fraud investigation. FBI agents searched the offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative on June 11 and conducted interviews with members of the organization across the state, according to reports. Some agents reportedly served subpoenas or sought to seize electronic devices during the operation. Multiple sources familiar with the matter later told CBS News that the federal action was tied to a fraud-related investigation. The Department of Justice declined to discuss the specifics of the case....

A mass shooting that left 12 people wounded Saturday afternoon at a summer festival in Ohio stemmed from “a dispute involving two rival groups,” according to police. Shots rang out from two gunmen, one from each group, just after 5:30 p.m. near the Old West End Festival in Toledo. A dozen people were hurt, with the oldest victim being 61 and the youngest 14, police Lt. Dan Gerken said Saturday, noting most were in their early 20s. Toledo Police Chief Michael Troendle said Tuesday that a dispute between rival groups led to “a foot chase” and a physical altercation in...

Ohio voters could decide in November whether they want to enshrine its photo ID law into the state constitution. A new poll suggests the voter verification protection is very popular in the Buckeye State — as it is throughout the country. Last week, Ohio’s Republican-controlled state Senate easily passed (22-9) a joint resolution that would send a constitutional amendment ballot question to voters. Every Democrat voted against the measure. The resolution now moves to the GOP-led House, where it must pass with a three-fifths majority. Republicans have the votes, but some conservatives want to see photo ID for absentee ballots...

A summer festival in Toledo, Ohio, turned into a scene of chaos Saturday evening after gunfire erupted near the city’s Old West End Festival, leaving 12 people wounded and sending families and festivalgoers scrambling for cover. The shooting happened around 5:37 p.m. near the annual neighborhood event, a popular two-day celebration known for live music, food vendors, shopping, and tours of historic homes. Police said officers arrived to find multiple victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Two of the victims were listed in critical condition. Authorities said the wounded ranged in age from 14 to 61, with many of the victims...

Multiple people have been shot near the Old West End Festival in Toledo, Ohio, authorities say “Many victims” have been transported to nearby hospitals for treatment, Toledo police said on Facebook. No information was available on how many people were wounded or what their conditions were

SANDUSKY, OH -- An 18-year-old Ohio man is facing multiple charges after he police said he pulled down the skirt and underwear of a transgender woman at Cedar Point amusement park last week. According to WTOL-11, Marquez Williams was arrested on May 26 shortly after fleeing from the park and leading police on a chase through the parking lot. The incident took place around 8:30 p.m., shortly after the woman and her friends finished riding the Top Thrill Dragster 2 ride. April Dempster, a friend of the victim, told Cleveland-19 News that the group was walking down the midway toward...

A U.S. citizen was found not guilty Tuesday of illegally voting in the 2018 election when she was a lawful permanent resident of the United States. A guilty verdict would have led to up to 18 months in prison for Maria Dearaujo, 63. But Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Chris Brown sided with the defense’s argument of entrapment. This generally entails a government actor leading a person into committing a crime they wouldn’t have otherwise committed. Brown, a Democrat, said Dearaujo’s trial testimony lines up with the documentary evidence. She admitted to “inconvenient” facts like having voted when she knew...

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A woman who ran homes for at-risk youth is accused of funneling drug money to buy a multi-million dollar home, a luxury car and more. Kristen Draper of Alpharetta owns Reflections Group Home, LLC in Dayton, Ohio. Reflections runs three group homes in Dayton with space for 15 children. Draper reported she earned nearly $1 million from those 15 beds in 2024, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia. An investigation found Draper worked with her boyfriend, Antwaun Brown, to mix in money from his drug deals with income from Reflections to hide the...

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Thursday he will resign and take a private-sector job with nonproft law firm Alliance Defending Freedom. The “surprise move” was first reported by the Columbus Dispatch. Earlier Thursday, Yost’s spokesperson did not confirm or deny the report when contacted, but half a dozen statehouse sources who wished to remain anonymous said Yost is expected to leave his job ahead of the November election....

Democratic senator Sherrod Brown and Republican senator Jon Husted won their party’s nominations in Ohio’s primary elections on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press – teeing them up for what is expected to be a high-profile and expensive Senate race in November’s midterm elections. Husted ran unopposed, while Brown had a single opponent whom he handily outraised. The veteran politicians are standing in a special election to be decided in the 3 November midterms that will determine who serves the remainder of the six-year term JD Vance won in 2022, before becoming vice-president last year. Husted was appointed by Mike...

LAS VEGAS — Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo is trying to run a reelection campaign befitting the neon-drenched, sagebrush-pocked desert he has for five decades called home. President Donald Trump is making that hard. The Republican governor started the year with a sevenfold fundraising advantage, double-digit net favorability ratings and the tailwinds of a swing state the GOP presidential candidate carried for the first time in two decades. Five months later, he finds himself in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Aaron Ford, the state’s attorney general, yoked to a highly unpopular president, a wobbling economy and a Middle Eastern war that...

In January, the Franklin County Board of Elections in Ohio received a surprising call. The man on the line said he was an agent at the Department of Homeland Security – and he needed immediate access to voter records. Franklin County has a large population of Democrats and has long been a focal point of Republican skepticism about urban voting centers in Ohio. In the weeks that followed, the requests multiplied. According to emails reviewed by Reuters, the agent asked for voter registration forms and voting histories for dozens of voters – records that include driver's license numbers and other...

More than three quarters of Ohio workers are estimated to not have access to paid leave. They could get up to 14 weeks of state-funded paid leave to help them deal with newborns, medical emergencies, or elderly or ill family members, under a bipartisan bill in the Ohio Senate and a similar Republican-sponsored bill in the House. When her twins were born at just 28 weeks, Madison Greenspan of the Cleveland area said she and her husband struggled to keep their jobs and spend time with their babies in neonatal intensive care. She went back to work three weeks after...

A Cincinnati man was arrested after standing outside a Franklin Township home with a knife, threatening to kill a man “in the name of Allah,” according to the Warren County Sheriff’s Office. Anthony Tyrone Jessie Long, 23, was taken into custody and charged with aggravated menacing and aggravated trespassing after deputies were called to a home just before 1:30 a.m. Sunday, April 5, on reports of a suspicious person, records from the sheriff’s office state. A woman told dispatchers that a man was walking around the front of the property and knocking on the door while holding a knife and...