Free Republic

A special agent with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is dead after being accidentally shot by another IRS agent during a training exercise Thursday at a federal gun range in Phoenix, officials confirmed. A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirms that an incident occurred Thursday at their gun range, which multiple federal agencies were utilizing at the time through an interagency agreement. The spokesperson said no Federal Bureau of Prisons employees were injured in the incident. Charlotte M. Dennis with the Phoenix Field Office of the IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) division replied to Arizona’s Family on Thursday afternoon,...

A special agent for the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) was indicted in Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday by a federal grand jury on one count of Involuntary Manslaughter of an Officer of the United States. Larry Edward Brown, Jr., 42, of Peoria, is the agent who was charged, according to a press release from the U.S. States Attorney's Office, District of Arizona. It is based on an incident that allegedly occurred on August 17, 2023, at a firearm range at the Federal Correctional Institution – Phoenix that is used for standard pistol qualifications and classroom training. Brown, a special agent...

The Arizona House voted 46-13 to expel State Rep. Liz Harris (R-Chandler) on Wednesday after conducting an investigation into her bringing a witness to testify to the Senate Elections Committee, who accused legislators and other public officials of committing crimes. Jacqueline Breger told the committee that Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, State House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) and others executed fraudulent deeds as part of a bribery scheme involving the Sinaloa drug cartel, along with other accusations. Various legislators say that Harris was not truthful when she said she did not know what Breger was going to say. But Harris told...

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Some Peoria community leaders are fighting what they call a “spiritual war.” Saturday, Nov. 13, various Peoria clergy, school and community leaders held a panel at Peoria’s Greater City of Refuge Worship Center to address black-on-black crime in the city. Some called the recent uptick of violence in the city a “black genocide.” “Now with a record-setting number of homicides, we thought that it’s time to revisit this event with the war of black genocide in the black community,” said Agbara Bryson with the Annie Malone Center for Development and organizer of the panel. The purpose...

Anyone remember the Obama Administration’s lugubrious “Life of Julia” slide show video, promoting their cradle-to-grave socialist vision for a single American woman? It seems to have been scrubbed from the internet, but my favorite part was the segment where Julia “decided to have a child,” with no mention then or after of a thing called a “father.” It seemed to be spontaneous procreation! Well now the Biden Administration has come out with the “Life of Linda,” showing us how great Linda’s life will be if we pass the Build Back Better plan. You have to see it, not to believe...

At least one of the group of intruders received some ballistic dissuasion when they entered the store. Thanks to the shop’s camera system, store management and cops have nice quality video of the incident, along with an image of the license plate of the getaway ride. The car’s driver dropped his bleeding buddy at the local hospital’s ER entrance before speeding back to Peoria. The guy they’d left at the hospital is now in the morgue. Meanwhile, cops found the driver/car owner not long after. It wasn’t exactly tough detective work since the (alleged) perp used his own car. Perhaps...

An Illinois community is rallying behind two 13-year-old boys after their lemonade stand was robbed at gunpoint. Jude and Tristan were selling lemonade in Peoria on August 7 when they were approached by two men, one who was holding a gun, said Officer Amy Dotson of the Peoria Police Department. CNN is identifying the boys by their first names to protect their privacy. The men stole their cash box, which contained around $30, and fled on foot. The incident is still under investigation and no arrests have been made, according to police. "The boys were just shocked, they couldn't process...

An average of 26,300 vehicles per day drive across the small bridge on Main Street in East Peoria that crosses over Farm Creek. Those six lanes of traffic cross one of 166 bridges in the Tri-County Area that are “structurally deficient,” according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. A bridge is considered structurally deficient if one of its main components is in poor condition and repairs are needed. Components include the deck, the part of the bridge people drive on; the superstructure, which supports the deck; or the substructure, the foundation of the bridge. Even if a bridge is classified...

An Arizona man who fired at police officers after allegedly stealing a bottle of milk from a Walmart store was fatally shot when officers returned fire, authorities said. An employee of the Walmart in Peoria, near Phoenix, had called police around 6 p.m. Monday to report the stolen milk, according to FOX 10 of Phoenix. The suspect was later identified as Michael John Stout, 20, of Peoria. Responding officers said they saw a man matching the employee’s description of Stout standing outside the store’s garden center, the Arizona Republic reported. After parking the vehicle, one officer got out. Police said Stout...

Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) said on Tuesday it would move its global headquarters to the Chicago area from Peoria, Illinois later this year to move closer to a global transportation hub and make it easier to recruit executives. A limited number of senior executives and some relocated from Peoria will be based at the new headquarters, and about 300 will be based there once the facility is fully operational, the company said in a statement. The company did not specify the exact location of its new headquarters.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Supreme Court refused to weigh in Friday on whether US presidents have the authority to indefinitely detain a terrorist suspect in the United States without charges. But it sent the issue back for a new hearing before the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, which ruled in July that former president George W. Bush had that power in the case of Ali al-Marri, an alleged Al-Qaeda sleeper agent. The high court's action effectively delayed resolution of an issue that, while different, could have implications for the estimated 245 "enemy combatants" still being held by the...

<p>A Qatar native held on charges of lying to the FBI in an investigation into the September 11 attacks was designated yesterday as an "enemy combatant" and could be tried before a military tribunal for helping al Qaeda operatives relocate in the United States. Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, 37, in Justice Department custody since late 2001, was given the new designation by President Bush and handed over to the Defense Department.</p>

Problematic, in a very big way even if the offer was made.Qatar’s ties to Al Qaeda and ISIS aren’t news. They’ve effectively served as intermediaries in everything from ransom exchanges for hostages to Taliban negotiations. But actually trying to secure terrorist swaps for prisoners on their own behalf would have been a new frontier. Before he was released from a U.S. maximum-security prison last week, a confessed al Qaeda sleeper agent was offered up in a potential prisoner swap that would have freed two Americans held abroad.According to two individuals with direct knowledge of the case, the proposition was...

Police are now investigating reports of a bomb found in a package carried by an unidentified woman entering the Peoria International Airport Thursday morning. The bomb was discovered while the woman was trying to check the package at the American Airlines counter, prompting the airport to partially evacuate the premises and enter lock-down. The package contained dynamite, a timer and bottles of fluid, which were found during a routine scan by TSA officials . . .

In December 2001, as the investigation into the U.S. anthrax attacks was gathering steam, coalition soldiers in Afghanistan uncovered what appeared to be an important clue: a trail of documents chronicling an attempt by al-Qaeda to create its own anthrax weapon. The documents told of a singular mission by a scientist named Abdur Rauf, an obscure, middle-aged Pakistani with alleged al-Qaeda sympathies and an advanced degree in microbiology. Using his membership in a prestigious scientific organization to gain access, Rauf traveled through Europe on a quest, officials say, to obtain both anthrax spores and the equipment needed to turn them...

Peoria, AZ — When a Peoria resident pulled out her cellphone to record police raiding a neighbor’s home, she never expected to what would happen next. The woman filming, who wishes to remain anonymous out of fear of police retaliating against her, said she pulled out her phone after she heard police say, “I know you’re in there, come out with your hands up.” What she saw next was animal abuse. The K-9 handler lets the dog run to the door and then, for an unknown reason, walks up and whips the dog with his leash. As if the leash...

Ben Wattenberg died this week at the age of 81. He gave me my first job in Washington, as his research assistant at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. (I returned to AEI as a fellow a few years ago, my office just a few doors down from where Ben used to work.) Ben was one of the last star pundits of what might be called the Old Order, before cable news and the Internet transformed the landscape. When everyone was rushing to CNN to shout at each other on "Crossfire," he launched a PBS show called "Think...

Jessey Eagan is a Christian and a mother of two, who works as a children's director at Imago Dei Church in Peoria, Illinois. This year during Lent, she decided to wear a hijab. She kept a diary of her experience in a blog called #40DaysOfHijab, which is sparkling a debate both in the Christian and Muslim community.

Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock is resigning his seat in Congress. The 33-year-old Republican has been dogged by questions about his spending of taxpayer and campaign dollars. On Monday afternoon, POLITICO posed a lengthy set of questions about charging the government and his campaign tens of thousands of dollars in questionable mileage reimbursements. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/aaron-schock-resigns-116153.html#ixzz3UfUrBF40

A popular Illinois congressman once considered a rising star in the Republican party is in deep trouble for reportedly using taxpayer money to fund an extravagant lifestyle that includes stays at luxurious hotels, world travel, expensive cars and private jet rides to concerts and pro sporting events. The lawmaker’s name is Aaron Schock and he’s only 33, but he’s a seasoned politician who should have known better than to use public funds as a personal piggy bank. For six years he’s represented a working-class district in Peoria, Illinois in the U.S. House. One national media report says he had a...