Free Republic

No one could have seen this coming. Hassan Bennett was arrested in a 2006 shooting where one person was killed and around was wounded. The wounded man accused Bennett of being one of the shooters. Four trials followed. By the fourth trial in 2019, some of the witnesses recanted, blamed the cops, and Bennett became the poster boy for police misconduct. He protested against the police in Philly and became a darling of pro-crime activists. Hundreds of Philadelphia police officers are facing backlash after they were accused of controversial posts on Facebook. Protesters called for action Friday at a “Rally...

In a closely-watched Harrisburg-area Congressional race that is increasingly contentious, one of the candidates is now slinging an unsubstantiated allegation of public nudity at his opponent. Republican Congressman Scott Perry has begun airing an attack ad against his Democratic opponent, Janelle Stelson, featuring a claim that police were called to investigate Stelson for “exposing herself totally naked to a neighborhood child.” The accusation is uncorroborated, PennLive found, and relies on an alleged photo of Stelson in the nude that Perry’s campaign does not have — and which the neighbor who claims to have taken it won’t share. “This false accusation...

Pennsylvania congressional candidate and state Rep. Chris Rabb said this week that while he's against incarceration, he's in favor of locking up "lawless MAGA thugs." "I’m a decarceration person," Rabb said on left-wing podcaster Wajahat Ali's show. "I believe the country that represents 5% of the world population but 25% of the people put in cages is morally wrong. "It’s also bad policy, but I will make an exception for all of those f---ers who are lawless MAGA thugs, who have destroyed lives and communities. Lock all of those f---ers up. I know that seems a little hypocritical of me...

Cracks may be starting to appear in Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2028 White House bid, a lawsuit provided to On The Money shows. **SNIP** Yet if any of the allegations in the whistleblower lawsuit I just reviewed are even partly true — and yes they are just allegations — there are questions whether Shapiro is ready for the primetime political proctology exam he will experience if he does run in 2028. The suit doesn’t name Shapiro as a defendant but he looms large in the litigation that takes aim at the state and agencies where the alleged whistleblower worked. Filed...

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman cast the deciding vote for a resolution that would've directed President Donald Trump to withdraw armed forces from Iran. Fetterman was the only Democrat to vote against the War Powers Resolution on Thursday. The resolution was rejected by a 49-50 vote. Republican Sen. Dave McCormick also voted against the resolution Thursday. Fetterman has publicly supported the war in Iran from the get-go, but an increasing number of Republicans have opposed it. On Thursday, three Senate Republicans voted in support of the resolution. If the resolution passed, it would require Trump to receive congressional approval before continuing...

Several female Pennsylvania college students were brutally assaulted by a mob of agitators who had invaded their off-campus house during an apparent illegal street takeover. The unidentified coeds, who attend York College of Pennsylvania, were dragged by the hair, punched, kicked, maced and beaten unconscious in the attack as they were sitting on the front porch of their rental home Saturday morning, according to Fox 43. “After the first punch was given, all these girls started to rush us, and that’s where it kind of gets blurry because I think people were coming at me… I turn and see my...

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...