Free Republic

Rafael’s housing situation is an exercise in tolerance and creative space management. He lives with four other people in an overstuffed apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens, that measures less than 500 square feet. He shares a bedroom with his mother. Two men sublet a second, smaller bedroom that Rafael created by subdividing the living room with drywall. His brother sleeps in the kitchen on a mat that he rolls up every morning and wedges in the corner, opening a path to the front door.

It’s no surprise that people are not evenly spread out across the Earth. But seeing the population concentrations mapped out visually can be quite striking.

Workers in Johnson County could have hundreds of additional dollars taken out of their paychecks annually to help pay for roadwork in the county and an expansion of the county jail — work expected to cost more than $130 million in the next five years. The Johnson County Council unveiled an income tax increase proposal to fund $110 million in road, bridges and infrastructure improvements across the county, mainly due to the construction of Interstate 69, and an estimated $20 million jail expansion project that would address a frequently overcrowded jail that the state has ordered the county to fix....

Most public school teachers say mass immigration has a “mixed” or a “negative” impact on American schoolkids. The Education Week Research Center survey reveals that 52 percent of public schoolteachers share mixed feelings about admitting more than one million legal immigrants a year into the U.S. — not including those who enter the country illegally every year — or said that immigration is generally “bad” for the education system. Only 38 percent said the impact was good. Ten percent declined to say. Concerning Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegals: “If I’m standing in line to get a cup of...

U.S. airlines have received some well-deserved criticism lately for their routine mistreatment of customers. But maybe it’s time air travelers also look in the mirror to see why so many jetliners have become venues for Mile High cage fights. Those folks might see a reflection of the Ugly American. The whiny American. The entitled American. Just this week, we’ve been treated to a fight night on a plane at Burbank Bob Hope Airport in California that ended with a Southwest Airlines flight attendant buried somewhere in the scrum. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, passengers started duking it out...

Authorities say a drunken driver injured two women in a head-on collision in Metairie on Saturday, then fled the scene. Deputies later arrested Jesus Guzman-Gomez, 22, of Metairie, an arrest report said. . . Guzman-Gomez was headed westbound in a maroon Jeep Cherokee when he veered inexplicably into the eastbound lanes, an arrest report said. Guzman-Gomez's vehicle crashed head-on into a red Jeep Cherokee being driven by an unidentified 49-year-old woman, Fortunato said. He then drove off without stopping or identifying himself, the report said. The driver of the red Jeep Cherokee suffered head, neck and back injuries, the...

One of the most influential evangelical leaders in the United States says Christians should go to jail rather than comply with the Obama administration’s mandate to provide all contraception, including abortion-inducing drugs, in their health care plans. Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), told LifeSiteNews.com “we will not comply” with the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ mandate requiring religious institutions to cover abortifacient products such as Plan B, Ella, and the IUD. “We want the law changed, or else we’re going to write our letters from the Nashville jail, just...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday endorsed a court order requiring California to cut its prison population by thousands of inmates to improve health care for those who remain behind bars. The court said in a 5-4 decision that the reduction is "required by the Constitution" to correct longstanding violations of inmates' rights. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a California native, wrote the majority opinion, in which he included photos of severe overcrowding. The court's four Democratic appointees joined with Kennedy.

Justice: A 5-4 majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has just ordered California to empty its prisons of nearly a third of its prisoners because of overcrowding. The state's law-abiding citizens should be afraid — very afraid. As is often the case these days on the supposedly conservative court — it's not — the Brown v. Plata decision was made by four liberal justices, and one "conservative" swing vote, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the opinion. In it, Kennedy asserted that the overcrowding has caused "needless suffering and death," upholding a decision by the notoriously wacky Ninth Circuit Court of...

California will have to release over 30,000 inmates from its prison system to comply with a Supreme Court ruling earlier today. The court cited chronic violations of inmates’ rights in its 5-4 decision. The reductions will improve the delivery of health care services to the remaining inmates, claims the majority: The Supreme Court on Monday endorsed a court order requiring California to cut its prison population by tens of thousands of inmates to improve health care for those who remain behind bars.The court said in a 5-4 decision that the reduction is “required by the Constitution” to correct longstanding violations...

A 5-4 liberal majority orders the release of tens of thousands of prisoners.

A week after increased revenue estimates looked to frustrate Gov. Jerry Brown's case for higher taxes, a Supreme Court ruling requiring California to reduce its prison population may help. Brown said in a prepared statement that shifting certain offenders from state prisons to county facilities, as Brown proposes in his budget, is "key" to implementing the court's order today that California reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates. "We must now secure full and constitutionally guaranteed funding to put into effect all the realignment provisions," he said, a reference to his bid for a ballot measure extending higher...

The United States may soon see its prison population drop for the first time in almost four decades, a milestone in a nation that locks up more people than any other. The inmate population has risen steadily since the early 1970s as states adopted get-tough policies that sent more people to prison and kept them there longer. But tight budgets now have states rethinking these policies and the costs that come with them. "It's a reversal of a trend that's been going on for more than a generation," said David Greenberg, a sociology professor at New York University. "In some...

Caller: Thank you for taking my call. I'm pondering the unemployment numbers and this healthcare bill with the mandate. I'm wondering if this will exacerbate the prison overpopulation problem? Tom Ashbrook: What do you mean? Caller: If there's over 10 percent unemployment, I don't think American prisons handle that many people can they? Host: Will people have to steal to pay their healthcare? What are you saying? Caller: If they fail to meet the mandate they get thrown in prison. Host: He's only half facetious, I think. This will be a real requirement. What happens if people can't or don't...

Federal judges on Monday tentatively ordered California to release tens of thousands of inmates, up to a third of all prisoners, in the next three years to stop dangerous overcrowding. As many as 57,000 could be let go if the current population were cut by the maximum percentage considered by a three-judge panel. Judges said the move could be done without threatening public safety -- and might improve a public safety hazard. The state immediately said it would appeal the final ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trend-setting California, the Golden State, has an immense prison system responsible for nearly...

The City of Long Beach is advertising for planning consultants to carry out their plans. Will they be hired if there is some danger that the consultant will say "We have studied the situation carefully and we believe the city should not impose zoning restrictions on property owners and their uses of the land. Nor do we believe that eminent domain is justified." Would such a consultant be considered or hired?...

While cities across the nation pass ordinances to seek relief from the devastating toll of illegal immigration, the nation's public school districts will continue suffering from the influx thanks to a federal law that says they must provide a free education to all children regardless of immigration status. There are an estimated 1.5 million school-aged illegal immigrants in the United States and the government spends an estimated $12 BILLION annually to educate them. The biggest chunks are spent by California ($7.7 billion) and Texas ($3.9 billion), where the situation has become a public education crisis with no end in sight....

Waller County officials are calling for the Texas Department of Transportation to hold another public meeting in their county on a proposed “superhighway,” after a Jan. 22 meeting was so packed that some people couldn’t squeeze into the meeting hall. TxDOT held a public meeting in Hempstead to gather public input on the Trans Texas Corridor’s proposed I-69 leg which could bring it through Waller and Austin counties, and small portion of Washington County. More than 800 people surged into the Knights of Columbus Hall in Hempstead. Officials said the hall is located on a narrow, dead end road that...

More than 400 people from Walker County and surrounding counties attended the Texas Department of Transportation town hall meeting Wednesday night at the Walker Education Center. According to Bob Colwell, TxDOT public information officer for the Bryan District, the Huntsville meeting was one of 11 town hall meetings scheduled throughout the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor study area. Colwell said 25 TxDOT representatives attended to answer questions. “Tonight is the opportunity for people to ask any questions that they want,” Colwell said. “In the past, TxDOT has gotten knocked for not having open discussions, so that’s what we’re here for.” After the town...

LOS ANGELES - Nicole Richie was released from jail Thursday after serving 82 minutes of a four-day sentence for driving under the influence of drugs.