Free Republic

The FBI has now released its eighth tranche of files on Thomas Matthew Crooks — the 20-year-old who came within an inch of killing Donald Trump in Butler, Penn. Like the earlier drops, this one is 181 pages of interview summaries, invoices, evidence logs, and internal communications from FBI Pittsburgh. It’s heavily redacted, and 95 pages are withheld outright. In June I went through the fifth tranche, and found that the redactions said more than the visible text. What survives the redactors is still stranger than most of what you’ve heard about this case on television. Here’s what stood out...

A Pennsylvania man planned to carry out an ISIS-inspired "mass casualty attack" before an FBI investigation thwarted him, according to federal law enforcement officials. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, federal officials said Jonathan Kramer, 21, of Valencia, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Syria. He was arrested Saturday outside of a hotel in Cranberry Township, around 25 miles north of Pittsburgh, with a rifle, ammunition and dozens of knives in his possession. Suspect shared "radical ideology" Richard Evanchec, special agent in charge for the FBI's Pittsburgh field office, called the planned attack an "imminent threat of violence...

Three traditional midwives and an Amish family are suing several Pennsylvania state agencies, alleging that state officials effectively blocked traditional midwives from obtaining the certifications required to practice legally — and that lawmakers then repealed the nearly century-old law governing the profession after the lawsuit was filed. The midwives sued anonymously for fear of retaliation. The lawsuit centers on a striking sequence of events. The petitioners say Pennsylvania failed to comply with a 1929 law that required certification of traditional midwives. After they filed suit on July 2, 2026, ten days later the legislature passed the annual budget that included...

A high school football game in McKeesport, Penn. was halted Friday night when a gunshot rang out just before 11 p.m., and a 17-year-old suspect was quickly apprehended. Liberty Borough police anticipate filing charges of receiving stolen property, possession of a firearm by a minor, possession of a weapon on school property, reckless endangerment and carrying a firearm without a license alleged to have fired, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. The gun was reported stolen. The game between South Allegheny and Elizabeth Forward high schools was late in the fourth quarter when the incident occurred. The unidentified suspect is...

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is quietly trying to erase women and mothers from his state’s health code. The Democrat’s administration has removed female terminology and replaced it with transgender-inclusive language in a proposed overhaul to Pennsylvania’s health code. The terms “pregnant woman” and “mother of a newborn” have been replaced with “pregnant or postpartum individual” throughout the 502-page proposal, which was announced on August 8. Women who have given birth to a stillborn baby are no longer called a “mother” but are instead referred to as a “postpartum individual” in the proposed regulation changes. Shapiro is pushing to give Pennsylvania’s...

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is pushing to radically rewrite his state’s health code to give his administration authoritarian police powers as he seeks re-election. The Democrat’s proposed change would give Pennsylvania’s Department of Health centralized police powers under the guise of “disease control measures,” including the ability to enter homes and schools without a warrant, access confidential medical records, and impose statewide school mask mandates for disease prevention. The Department of Health reports to the governor’s office, meaning this change would give Shapiro — and his successors — the ability to single-handedly implement draconian policies across the state. “The administration’s...

HEADLINES: Fauci and Rutabaga releases cause firestorm; Durable goods and other product orders up; Rs recover big in PA The News of Today is the History of Tomorrow

A non-citizen who was registered to vote in Lancaster County did vote and has been referred to law enforcement for investigation, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Above: Pennsylvania's voter registration process explained. "The four improper registrations about which the Department notified Lancaster County were a result of human error. In one instance, an individual filled out a paper application with the County and identified that they were a non-citizen, but the registration was approved anyway. That individual voted and has been referred to law enforcement for investigation," Department of State Communications Director Matt Heckel told WGAL News 8...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHP) — A new Pennsylvania law will eliminate felony charges for prostitutes who knowingly had HIV at the time. Rep. Ben Waxman (D-Philadelphia), who co-sponsored the legislation to change the law, described it as "outdated" and "inhumane." "Today, HIV is a manageable condition that can be treated and controlled with medication," Waxman said in a release. "With a regimen of antiretroviral therapy, people with HIV can live long, productive and healthy lives and reduce transmission. We cannot criminalize anyone for their health status; it’s simply inhumane." The old law was able to elevate a misdemeanor prostitution charge to...

Editor's note: This is one of six stories being published this week that are part of an investigation into the Pennsylvania Legislature's spending. After one of the biggest corruption scandals in Pennsylvania broke out in the late 2000s, a grand jury interviewed more than 100 Capitol staffers and lawmakers. Then it released a scathing report. The most damning observation? The Pennsylvania General Assembly will "meddle with, obfuscate, ignore or kill every recommendation," and if the Legislature were "left to its own devices, is utterly incapable of reforming itself."

Below is my column in Fox.com on the recent decision of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to join the ranks of Democrats calling for packing the Supreme Court. It is a disappointing moment for many of us who hoped that Shapiro could offer a moderate voice in the upcoming elections, resisting the rise of socialists and communists in his party. Instead, he proved to be just another politician thinking of the next election rather than the next generation. Here is the column: Gov. Josh Shapiro (D. Pa.) has finally reached his Terry Malloy moment. In the classic movie, On the Waterfront,...

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Pennsylvania will not participate in President Donald Trump’s 250th celebration of the nation’s birthday on the National Mall, Gov. Josh Shapiro confirmed in a new interview. “This president routinely makes patriotism partisan and personal, and it shouldn’t be that way,” Shapiro told The New Republic, which noted that Trump has described his Great American State Fair as “the most spectacular Trump rally of them all.”

YORK, Pa. — The York Revolution announced it has canceled its scheduled Thursday game against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs after several players refused to wear the team's planned Pride Night jerseys. In a statement issued late Wednesday, the club said the decision was made with “great disappointment” and that tickets for the June 18 game will be treated as a rainout and may be redeemed for any future 2026 regular-season home game, subject to availability. "Unfortunately, several of our players have refused to wear the scheduled Pride Night jersey and the club decided that hosting the event is more...

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A man was shot and killed at a Royal Farms convenience store in Frankford Sunday night. Philadelphia police said the shooting may have been an act of self-defense. It happened around 7:50 p.m. at the store on Church Street, off Aramingo Avenue, not far from the I-95 exit. Officials said the 22-year-old victim walked into the store and approached the shooter. Surveillance footage shows them getting into a face-to-face altercation. Then, the 22-year-old pulls out a gun and points it at the man. “This other individual, who we now know to be a 21-year-old Hispanic male,...

Prepare to VOTE!

In an announcement on Monday afternoon, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht said that he is changing his party affiliation from Democrat to Independent. Wecht, who was retained by the voters of the Commonwealth last November for a 10-year term, stated that his “jurisprudence and adjudication have always been independent, and they always will be. Now, my voting registration reflects that independence as well.” Pennsylvania’s highest court saw Democrats with a 5-2 majority with Wecht joining fellow Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, Daniel McCaffrey and Chief Justice Debra Todd. Sallie Updyke Mundy and Brobson are the Republican-elected justices on the...

FETTERMAN DARES HIS OWN PARTY Senator Fetterman just threw down the gauntlet and challenged Democrats to purge moderates like him in a full-on witch hunt. FETTERMAN: “And now, as the only single Democrat that’s flipped seats and now I’ve also made it mathematically impossible to even to reclaim the majority in the United States Senate.” “So if they want the Democratic Party to turn it into, witch burning and to go after the one Democrat that’s done the thing that these people haven’t been able to do, so they’re entitled to do it.” “But I’m proud to represent Pennsylvania.” “And...

The UNC Sheps Center, which tracks rural hospital infrastructure in the United States, has documented 195 rural hospitals that have closed or converted to outpatient facilities since January 2005. Six are in Pennsylvania. Closures have far outpaced the opening of new rural hospitals during this period. As a physician who has trained in rural communities and a researcher who studies community well-being and public health, we see that every rural hospital closure exerts a domino effect on surrounding communities and residents. This can be difficult to quantify but manifests as lost jobs and economic decline, poorer health and a pervasive...

Jaheim Alford told his passengers, “I am going to kill everyone in the car” as he shifted his car into sport mode and accelerated through a red light into a York city intersection the night of Sept. 8, 2024, according to police. He smashed his red Hyundai sedan into a blue Honda Odyssey carrying two people — one of whom was pregnant, and later lost the child, police said. He was smoking marijuana before he got behind the wheel, police said. Alford, 24, of Latta, South Carolina, was originally arrested on 16 charges, led by three counts of attempted homicide....