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On Los Angeles streets, tents aren’t just signs of homelessness — they’re where gangs openly deal drugs and collecting rent. Whether its RV rows choking Compton Boulevard, Skid Row’s packed tent maze or the once-quiet pockets of the Westside, encampments have morphed into open-air drug markets. This isn’t chaos — it’s control. Gangs blend into the population, hiding in plain sight, running street commerce behind tarps and inside RVs while City Hall looks the other way. Nowhere is it clearer than Compton Boulevard, where more than 100 RVs sit bumper-to-bumper, windows blacked out. Outreach workers and residents say many are...

Critics, including us, have been warning that New Yorkers’ energy costs are about to soar even higher, thanks to the state’s insane 2019 climate law. Now, a state agency itself is confirming those warnings — and has even put a price tag on the pain: a whopping $4,100 a year extra per household by 2031. That’s just for electricity, reports the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency; the bill for gas for home heating, as well as gasoline costs, are also set to shoot up. At the pump a gallon of gas is expected to go up an...

WASHINGTON -- The Commanders have agreed to pay $1 million to the District of Columbia to settle a lawsuit from 2022 that alleged the NFL team under previous ownership colluded to deceive fans by lying about an inquiry into sexual misconduct and a persistently hostile work environment. D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb announced the settlement Monday. The lawsuit initially began in fall 2021 with an investigation by predecessor Karl Racine, who based it on consumer protection law, arguing the team mislead residents. Dan Snyder owned the team at the time of the lawsuit, before selling to Josh Harris' group...

Dear Fellow Freepers - Just need a room for 30 days - ideally ANYWHERE in Pinellas County, Florida - I'm flexible. I've been with FR since before (Lurked during Clinton years to be safe) Nov 17, 2000. I'm 71, male and a smoker - ONLY outside. $1500 for March 2026. Obviously desperate. Quiet, neat, I do have a cane and a walker so ground floor is good but I can get anywhere except three flights of stairs. ;-) Safe. Please message me for details. I tip well! ;-)

A family of foreigners visiting California were kicked out of the famed La Jolla Cove in San Diego after they were caught allegedly harassing the sea lions. Visitors and tourists to the cove are warned to avoid the sea lions, but unruly behavior has led some activists to call on the state to shut down access to human beings in order to protect the animals. The video shows the mother interacting in broken English with the ranger. "Where are you guys from?" the ranger asks. "China," the mother says. "China? In China, do you guys throw dirt at the animals...

The speeding Texas driver who killed the Dixie Chicks founding member Laura Lynch has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after he made a plea deal with prosecutors over the deadly 2023 crash. Domenick Chavez, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was handed the reduced jail stint after he admitted to recklessly driving over 100 mph when he struck Lynch, 65, in the head-on smash just days before Christmas, according to KFOX. Chavez, who was driving despite having a suspended license because of two previous DWI convictions, attempted to swerve around four cars on the highway just before 6...

A Somali wrong-way truck driver caught barreling a “80-ton truck” down a Missouri highway wasn’t able to read road signs and allegedly failed an English proficiency test after being pulled over, authorities said. The trucker was filmed driving in the northbound lanes on Highway 61 near Troy, about 55 miles outside of St. Louis, at 8 a.m. on Wednesday before finally crossing over and heading the right way, terrifying video shared by US Transportation Security Sean Duffy on X shows. “We have learned that a truck driver with a Minnesota CDL who couldn’t read basic road signs spent MILES driving...

Two young children and a woman suffered burns after multiple manhole covers exploded in lower Manhattan Thursday afternoon, cops and sources said. The sudden blast occurred just before 4 p.m. at the intersection of Warren and Church Streets in Tribeca, injuring a 2-year-old girl, a 4-year-old boy, and a 57-year-old woman, according to police and sources.

A proposed Department of Housing and Urban Development rule would crack down on illegal immigrants or unqualified people living in public housing, closing a loophole established amid major departmental reforms under President Bill Clinton in 1996. Current HUD rules allow "mixed-status" households to use public housing under what is called the "do not contend" provision, in which a person living among a public housing family can declare they "do not contend" their HUD eligibility under their immigration status, and the family instead receives prorated housing assistance. The HUD-ineligible family member or members may remain in public housing so long as...

Cuba’s coast guard shot dead four people and wounded six others aboard a U.S.-registered speedboat in an exchange of gunfire off the communist island’s coast, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. In a statement, the ministry said a Cuban patrol vessel had approached the Florida-registered boat to identify those on board when shots were fired from the boat, wounding the captain of the Cuban craft. According to Havana’s statement, the boat was detected within Cuban territorial waters Wednesday morning on the northeast side of the El Pino channel near Cayo Falcones in Villa Clara province. Cuban border troops moved in to...

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — With spring break on the horizon, Mexico’s resort cities have long been a top destination for college students and vacationers looking to get away for the holiday. However, on the heels of last week’s cartel violence, some travelers are canceling or considering a different destination. “Cancellations for those areas, definitely,” Renee Pilley, Senior Travel Advisor with AAA in Amherst, said in response to some of Mexico’s resort cities. “People are just … they don’t want to take a chance.” Violence broke out in reaction to the Mexican government’s operation that killed one of their most notorious...

The furious NYPD on Tuesday released photos of a pair of miscreants it says are wanted for pounding two on-duty cops with snow and ice as the officers responded to a snowball-slinging mob in a Manhattan park. The department is investigating whether there are more suspects in Washington Square Park attack, as well, law-enforcement sources said. One of the suspects in the photos released Tuesday is shown hauling a massive snowball the size of a boulder over his head. The other alleged cop-attacker can be seen packing a smaller handful of snow while standing face-to-face with a uniformed officer. The...

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Millions of acres of farmland across the country are privately owned, but a small share of it is foreign-owned land sitting idle in many areas. That’s according to new U.S. Department of Agriculture data which shows just how much of the nation’s agricultural land is owned by other countries. The USDA‘s online portal reveals that more than 45 million acres of land are owned by foreign countries, with an original purchase value of over $38 billion. Our neighbor to the north, Canada, has the most agricultural acreage in the United States, at 15.35 million acres. John Hewlett, a farm and...

Russian authorities say divers have recovered the bodies of seven Chinese tourists and a Russian driver who died after their mini-bus plunged under the ice to the bottom of Lake Baikal in Siberia. Irkutsk regional Governor Igor Kobzev offered his "deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims". He earlier said one Chinese tourist had managed to escape. The depth at the site of Friday's accident was 18m (59ft), and the divers had to use underwater cameras to search for the bodies. Baikal - the world's deepest lake with a maximum depth of 1,642m (5,387ft) - is a...

ABBEVILLE COUNTY, South Carolina (WYFF) -- A farmer in Abbeville County is feeling immense gratitude towards first responders who helped rescue one of her farm animals, Jake the donkey. Traditionally, Jake is able to roam across more than 20 acres of land. Because of the rain, he got caught in mud on Sunday and slipped down a ravine, nowhere to be found. Not knowing what to do to help find Jake, his owner, Kaye Acton, called the Abbeville County Fire Department, requesting that drones be used to help find her farm animal. The fire department then answered the call to...

Indiana police said a chase involving a "non-traditional" four-legged suspect ended with some "straight-up hog wrasslin'." The Richmond Police Department said on social media that a pair of officers were dispatched to assist animal control with a "non-traditional suspect," a "potbelly pig on the run." 0:03 "Officer Santiago arrived to help corral our four-legged fugitive, but this little guy wasn't going down without a fight. Smarter than he looked and quicker than expected," the post said. "Then Officer Tyree pulled up. No negotiations. No snacks. Just straight-up hog wrasslin'," police wrote. The pig was secured and taken to be examined...

Rescuers are currently weighing the idea of setting off explosives in order to trigger additional avalanches on the mountain where at least eight skiers were killed. The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office has been unable to recover the bodies of the dead skiers since the horrific avalanche Tuesday. In order to make conditions safer for rescuers, officials will now take to the air to decide whether or not they can manually trigger avalanches with explosives. “The objective of the aerial surveys is to visually assess the conditions of the avalanche scene and snowpack as well as to make determinations if controlled...

An Austrian climber has been found guilty of gross negligent manslaughter after his girlfriend froze to death on Austria's highest mountain last year. The man, named only as Thomas P in line with Austrian privacy laws, has been given a five-month suspended sentence and fined €9,600 (£8,400). His girlfriend, Kerstin G, died of hypothermia during a climbing trip on the Grossglockner mountain in January 2025. In a statement sent to the BBC, the court said it considered Thomas P's previous clean record and the loss of a person close to him "to be mitigating factors". ... The court also heard...