Free Republic

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local neighborhood is wondering how this decades-old military weapon ended up in someone’s backyard. Mathew Sims says when he picked up the military munition, he quickly realized what it was that he was holding in his hands and slowly put it back where it was. Homeowner Mathew Sims said, “Okay is this live? You panic, then you drop.” That’s what was going through Sims’s mind when he found this, an unexploded military weapon in his backyard Wednesday located at 15th Street E. Sims told us he didn’t want to be on camera but says he was...

Uber and Lyft are pulling their services out of Minneapolis after the city council passed an ordinance that will increase drivers’ pay. Both companies say they will no longer offer ridesharing services in the city when the ordinance goes into effect on May 1st. The ordinance, which guarantees drivers a minimum rate of $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute while carrying a rider, was first passed last week but later vetoed by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. The City Council voted 10–3 to override the veto on Thursday. Lyft spokesperson CJ Macklin calls the ordinance “deeply flawed,” as the...

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A controversial new ordinance came into force on Saturday in San Diego requiring landlords to compensate renters when their lease is terminated through no fault of their own. “This is a good step in the right direction,” said Rafael Bautista, director of the San Diego Tenants Union. The ordinance, which was brought forward by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and Council President Sean Elo-Rivera gives tenants new protections that start on the first day of their lease.

A Philadelphia ordinance that requires gun owners to tell police when a firearm has been lost or stolen was ruled illegal Monday by a state court, with one of the judges who voted to throw out the law lamenting that their ruling would put people’s lives at risk. A three-judge Commonwealth Court panel ruled unanimously against the city law and issued a permanent injunction, saying the state Uniform Firearms Act preempts it. Philadelphia Police had sought a $2,000 fine against a man charged with violating the lost-and-stolen reporting mandate. The mayor's spokesperson said the city will appeal. The defendant had...

The mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, Stephen Benjamin, declared a state of emergency in the state capital on Wednesday, triggered by Prisma Health Children’s Hospital in Columbia reporting that it is reaching a “strained capacity” of children being diagnosed with COVID-19. The Columbia City Council in South Carolina subsequently ratified the state of emergency during an emergency meeting on Thursday, mandating masks for all faculty, staff, visitors, and children in public and private schools, and daycares that instruct children from ages 2 to 14. The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office issued a press release later that day stating that it...

Starting Monday, Austin restaurants and food businesses have to come up with alternatives to tossing extra food in the trash. The city hopes businesses donate the extra food to those in need, but they could also give it to local farms or compost it. It's part of the Universal Recycling Ordinance, which the city hopes will help reach its Zero Waste by 2040 goal.

A lawsuit in Seattle pits some fundamental rights against each other — it’s civil rights that ban discrimination, and property rights that allow owners to decide what to do with their homes and land. The issue is with a new law that requires landlords to rent to tenants on a “first come, first served” basis. The goal is to make sure all renters are treated equally. But the landlords who are suing say the program is a bureaucratic nightmare and unconstitutional. Critics say it’s all about the survival of the fastest, but supporters say it levels the playing field for...

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell Tuesday introduced an ordinance that would require firearms dealers to videotape all gun and ammunition sales and share ammunition sales data with police. The ordinance would require gun stores to keep all videos made of gun and ammunition sales for at least a year, and all records of ammunition sales for up to five years, according to Farrell.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Members of the Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved an ordinance that will raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next five years. Officials explained the minimum wage will go from $9 per hour to $10.50 an hour beginning in 2016. The rate will then jump to $12 in 2017; $13.25 in 2018; $14.25 in 2019; and $15 by 2020. “We are already seeing the fruits of our labor as our own state and other cities nationwide begin exploring policies to increase their local minimum wage,” said L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson.

IRVINE – The City Council late Tuesday voted 4-1 to repeal the city’s living wage ordinance, which requires some contractors that do business with Irvine to pay its employees a slightly higher rate than the state’s $9 per hour minimum. The ordinance has been in place since 2007 when a 3-2 vote signed into law the requirement that companies that have contracts with the city worth at least $100,000 in a 12-month period pay more per hour.

Our paschal lamb The Passover 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep...

Ben Sasse, the Nebraska Republican gunning for a U.S. Senate seat, may have a bit of a liberal streak when it comes to issues such as immigration, according to a new Inquisitr op-ed, which accuses the candidate of creating a "facade to cover up glaring shortcomings." As of last week, polls showed the 42-year-old president of Midland University leading in the race for the Senate seat left vacant by Republican incumbent Mike Johanns. But with the primary less than a week away, some feel that Sasse may be secretly harboring liberal stances.

FAIRFAX, Va. – A plan to ban “frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes” is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts.Officials will get an idea Wednesday when public-comment hearings begin in Virginia’s most populous county.“I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a constitution challenge by interfering with peoples’ right to assemble,” Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement.The proposed zoning ordinance limits “group assembly” at residences to 49 people a day. Such gatherings “shall not occur more frequently than three times in any 40-day period.”County officials say they have received complaints about group meetings...

The mayor’s timeline envisions presentation of the draft ordinance to public stakeholders and City Council committee on April 30, 2014 and placement on the council agenda for May 7, 2014. Although the exact language is still being finalized, the ordinance will prohibit discrimination in city employment and contracting, housing and public accommodations. This would include bars, restaurants, retail stores and businesses that provide services to the public. Complaints about violations of the ordinance would be reviewed by the City’s Office of Inspector General and a new seven member board known as the Human Rights Commission. “A young African American should...

A puppy blew up his owners’ house after he chewed through a can of deodorant. Greyhound cross Zeus was left alone for just ten minutes before he sparked an explosion so powerful it shattered double-glazed windows, blew through floorboards and set a sofa on fire. The six-month-old pup had chewed through a can of Lynx deodorant and, as it contents sprayed out, they were ignited by the heat from a lamp. The blast caused £2,000 of damage but Zeus, along with five other pets in the house, escaped uninjured. Owner Kerry Leech said: ‘He’s just a pup and at the...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Few things in life are as benign as a home vegetable garden. But for the residents of Miami Shores, Fla., growing veggies can land you a fine — the type you eventually can’t afford. That’s what happened to Hermine Ricketts and her husband, Tom Carroll. For the past 17 years they’ve grown a garden in the front yard of their modest South Florida home. The backyard, they say, doesn’t get enough sunlight. But in May, the city put the couple’s garden, and any others like it, in their legal crosshairs. A new zoning ordinance designed to “protect...

The city clerk’s office has informed KRQE-TV that there’s been a record number for early voting on a proposed ordinance. What has caused over 23,000 people to vote as of this morning? The city of Albuquerque’s “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance,” which would ban abortions after 20 weeks, the juncture by which science shows the unborn child can experience pain. Early voting ends November 15th and Election Day is November 19th. (There is also a run-off election in one city council district that will give the city a new councilor.) There are four known late abortion centers in the...

German authorities safely defused a huge bomb left over from World War II after evacuating large parts of the western city of Dortmund on Sunday. More than 20,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Dortmund as authorities prepared to take action following the bomb's discovery.

BALDWIN, Pa. – A 24-foot illuminated cross on a western Pennsylvania man's front lawn is in violation of a local ordinance, but the structure isn't going anywhere, he told FoxNews.com. Carl Behr, 45, of Baldwin, Pa., said he was told during a borough council meeting late Tuesday that he needed a permit to build the structure. He plans to apply for such a permit Wednesday or Thursday, he said, but won't be disassembling his cross anytime soon.

Lt. Gen. George Flynn, who heads the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, told reporters at a Washington, D.C. breakfast that the service plans to finish outfitting five battalions with the new M-27 Infantry Automatic Rifle next month and then will observe how those Marines use it on deployment before changing the organization, training, and tactics of infantry units around the new weapon. But Flynn pushed back at critics of the M-27, saying the improved accuracy of the Heckler and Koch-made automatic rifle makes up for a lower rate of fire compared to the M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon it's...