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...

---SNIP--- Officials said Destino Jean-Louis was arrested Friday morning in North Philadelphia by U.S. Marshals on an alleged visa overstay. The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office subsequently charged Jean-Louis with murder and other offenses while he was in federal custody, authorities stated. Officials said the operation was carried out rapidly to take Jean-Louis into custody before he had an opportunity to leave the country

Join me on a journey through historic Philadelphia as I visit the final resting places of seven signers of the Declaration of Independence -- the men who put their names on one of the most important documents in American history. Along the way, I'll explore the lives, sacrifices, and stories behind these remarkable Founding Fathers and the places where they were laid to rest. I'll also visit the grave of Betsy Ross, whose story has become deeply intertwined with the American Revolution, as well as the graves of two other signers of the U.S. Constitution. From churchyards tucked away in...

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A Center City woman was arrested after allegedly refusing to move out of the path of a delivery robot. The confrontation was captured on video and has since drawn online attention. Philadelphia police said officers responded to the 1200 block of Filbert Street after witnesses reported a disturbance involving Carolyn Marvin and an Uber delivery robot near Reading Terminal Market. According to police, Marvin repeatedly blocked the robot's path and ignored multiple commands from officers to move. She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Marvin tells Action News she was protesting the use of delivery robots...

Only in Philadelphia does a political rally weeks ahead of the midterm election feature the former president, the governor, the mayor, and the Eagles’ head of security. That was the lineup Monday night at the Democratic City Committee’s annual fall fundraiser at Live! Hotel & Casino in South Philly, where hundreds of party members and elected officials mingled and speakers celebrated former U.S. Rep. Bob Brady as he marked 40 years leading the party. It was one of former President Joe Biden’s only recent appearances to rally his party ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm election, when Democrats are hoping...

Eric Lewis, the man charged with killing Philadelphia Officer Shane Seiber and wounding his partner in an ambush attack on Saturday, told investigators he opened fire because the officers were white.

In a stunning move, a federal judge on Tuesday referred Soros-backed Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for federal criminal investigation to determine whether he should be charged with conspiracy or obstruction of justice in his efforts to overturn a murder conviction. U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond, a George W. Bush appointee, said testimony from the DA's staffers described conduct by Larry Krasner and his top deputy, Matthew Stiegler, as "troubling." Larry Krasner and his attorneys are now being accused of committing crimes, such as suborning perjury, after they received a court petition to overturn a 2009 second-degree murder conviction. Dennis...

In early September, when the Academy of Natural Sciences announced it would close its natural history museum, the oldest in the country, scientists, teachers, passionate fans and elected officials were shocked and outraged. Leadership cited declining visitor numbers post-pandemic and rising costs. They said they had to close the museum to protect the financial future of the scientific research and collections. Longtime staffers say there’s more to the story. They agree that attendance did drop and that it’s always been expensive to run and maintain its century-old building. However, they also argue that missteps from the museum and Drexel leaders,...

Nine-year-old Olivia Smith had plenty to choose from as she walked through the Academy of Natural Sciences on Friday, surrounded by dinosaurs, wildlife and exhibits that have fascinated generations of children. The fourth grader knew exactly what she liked best. “We have seen a lot of exhibits. My favorites were the pandas. Oh, and the rabbits!” Olivia said as she toured the museum with her teacher, Sandy Debies. But Olivia was among the young visitors getting what could be one of their final looks at the museum before its doors close permanently. The Academy of Natural Sciences, the 200-year-old institution...

A woke activist who branded herself as a black Palestinian crusader has apologized after being exposed as a white Jewish woman. Hannah Gann, 34, a teacher with the Philadelphia School District, rose to prominence as an outspoken Palestinian-American activist who campaigned in the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel. She allegedly used makeup to darken her skin, appeared to alter her accent, and donned keffiyeh scarves at protests as she railed against racism and Zionism in demonstrations across Philadelphia. But Gann has now been revealed to have lied about her identity for years, as she admitted she...

DA Mary Moriarty in Minneapolis and DA Larry Krasner in Philadelphia have Emerging Adult Units. The goal of both pro-crime systems is to treat criminals under 26 years old like children. As the Philly DA’s office puts it, these “young adults aged 18 through 25” will be put through a diversion system that will “resolve lower-level felony” crimes without actual consequences. For these 25-year-old children, “charges may be withdrawn or reduced in order to lessen the social and economic damage that a criminal conviction inflicts.” Never mind the actual victims. In Michigan, the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act allows 25-year-old sex...

A woke “black” and anti-Israel activist has been dubbed the “Palestinian Rachel Dolezal” after she was outed for being a white, Jewish woman who lied about her identity for years. Hannah Gann, a Philadelphia teacher, was forced to confess she was a “white woman of significant privilege and wealth” after fellow lefty activists grew suspicious of her background and confronted her. “I lied about my identity and have been lying for years. I have no Palestinian or Tunisian heritage,” she wrote in a self-aggrandizing apology on Instagram. “I am a white woman of significant privilege and wealth. Anyone who supported...

Five women appear lifeless in the pictures. Two more are still missing. Investigators have already counted 58 alleged victims in the digital wreckage pulled from a rotting twin house on Chew Avenue in Olney. And the man who built that house of horrors died in his bed last year at 82, never answering for any of it. Raymond “R.C.” Horsch was a pornographer who wrote books about serial killers preying on women, filmed sadomasochistic filth, and spent decades fishing vulnerable addicts out of Kensington with cash and narcotics. His son Eugene, 44, is the one sitting in federal custody. The...

A public bus became stuck in fresh cement after the driver chose to drive down a closed road and bus passengers moved the barriers blocking off the wet cement. According to local outlet KYW, a bakery on the street where the incident occurred had been waiting two years for a large pothole outside of the business to be filled. A crew finally showed up and filled the hole with cement, and two minutes later a SEPTA public bus rolled up. Surveillance video provided by the bakery showed two passengers getting off the bus and moving the barriers that were in...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvanians have voted to retain three Democratic state Supreme Court justices, granting them additional terms on the bench after an unusually contentious, multimillion-dollar election. Republicans and their allies had hoped to defeat the justices and put their seats on the 2027 ballot, opening a path to flip the court. The Democratic majority has handed down critical rulings over the past decade, upholding mail voting and throwing out a congressional map that it found unfairly benefited the GOP. Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht were on the ballot Tuesday. They were first elected in 2015 in a...

President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence for longtime Philadelphia union leader John Dougherty. He is set to be released on Friday. Dougherty’s attorney George Bocchetto said the president signed the commutation in “a remarkable show of bipartisanship.” Dougherty was a kingmaker in Democratic city politics, but Bocchetto said his situation — serving time in Lewisburg federal prison, separated from his gravely ill wife Cecilia — cried out for compassion.

Last November, a few days after the election, thousands of people gathered for a rally in New York to protest Donald Trump. The Guardian reported on the scale of the Nov. 12 rally at the time: More than 10,000 people indicated on Facebook that they would attend a noon march from Union Square to Trump Tower, the future president’s home and corporate headquarters.As marchers mustered at East 17th Street and Broadway, organisers estimated the turnout at 2,000. As the march began to move, however, the true figure seemed closer to the promised 10,000.Chanting “Not my president!”, the crowd set...

The suspected masked menace who is accused of terrorizing women around the streets of Philadelphia last week is actively trying to avoid law enforcement, officials said Thursday.

Democrats on Thursday narrowed the list of potential host cities for their 2028 presidential convention to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia as their party looks ahead to a wide-open primary to succeed President Donald Trump. Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement the cities put forward “incredibly strong bids,” and he promised the convention would be an “inspiring celebration of our party’s future nominee.” A final decision is expected to be made later this year by party leaders. Republicans have already chosen Houston for the site of their 2028 convention. The Democratic convention, scheduled for Aug. 7-10, 2028,...

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A man is behind bars in connection with a hit-and-run that killed Temple University student Bryce Wolfe along Kelly Drive last month. The Temple University student was pinned under an SUV and dragged for a mile. Derek Reid, 48, was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals Thursday. The U.S. Marshals Service says 48-year-old Derek Reid was taken into custody in connection with a deadly hit-and-run, as well as a child rape case. Reid has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, among other driving offenses, for the fatal hit-and-run, and will now also face charges in a child rape...