Free Republic

The Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policies have heightened stress among the country’s approximately 14 million immigrants who are living in the U.S. without legal authorization. The sharp rise in dramatic arrests and deportations of immigrants over the past year has received widespread media attention. A less publicized issue is that many young, undocumented immigrants are also finding it harder to apply to and stay in college. As someone who researches teacher training and was a high school teacher in South Carolina, I have researched how restrictive education policies make it harder for immigrant students, particularly undocumented students, to receive a...

Corrections officers at a South Carolina prison intercepted a covert package dropped by a drone containing a selection of indulgent fare and banned substances. Guards unwrapped the package to find steak, marijuana, crab legs, an abundance of cigarettes, and to spice it up, a tin of Old Bay seasoning. The illicit meal was dropped into the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, S.C., by a drone, the South Carolina Department of Corrections said on X on Monday, with the caption, “seems some folks were planning an early holiday Old Bay crab boil and steak dinner along with their marijuana and cigarettes...

The measles outbreak in South Carolina is “accelerating” with no end in sight following Thanksgiving and other large gatherings, state health officials said Wednesday. As of Wednesday, 111 measles cases had been reported in what’s known as upstate South Carolina — an area in the northwest of the state that includes Greenville and Spartanburg. “We are faced with ongoing transmission that we anticipate will go on for many more weeks,” Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist for the South Carolina Department of Public Health, said during a news briefing Wednesday. Twenty-seven of those cases have been reported since Friday. “That is...

Representative Nancy Mace is reportedly planning to discuss retiring early from Congress with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who announced her resignation in late November. New York Times reporter Annie Karni wrote Wednesday that the South Carolina Republican has told those around her she is frustrated with Speaker Mike Johnson and sick of the way he has run the House, primarily with how women have been treated there. News 4 reached out to Mace's team for comment and was directed to the congresswoman's latest post on X, where she said that there is frustration that discharge petitions are "the only way...

Austin McCubbin, a longtime Trump ally who ran Mace’s 2022 House re-election campaign, wrote in a Dec. 1 post on X that he was breaking with the congresswoman “out of loyalty to the President” and encouraged voters to “scratch her name from the list” of GOP contenders. McCubbin pointed to the recent discovery of an alleged tie between Mace and a PAC affiliated with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) McCubbin claimed it became clear she “totally embraced” the funds and that she told him she directed a friend to write a seven-figure check to the PAC. “She distanced herself, and...

A federal judge dismissed the Virginia criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, finding that interim US Attorney Lindsey Halligan was improperly appointed to her position and “had no lawful authority” to secure indictments of either of President Trump’s longtime adversaries. The humiliating defeat for the administration came 11 days after attorneys for both Comey and James had argued that Halligan had to be confirmed by the Senate after Attorney General Pam Bondi used up her allotted 120-day interim appointment on Erik Siebert, who resigned Sept. 19 after Trump publicly...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday afternoon, an article titled, “White House to meet clergy with ties to pro-war Russian Orthodox Church” was published by Laura Kelly of The Hill. This article was written about meetings between Orthodox laypeople, priests, and bishops with members of the Trump administration that are set to take place Tuesday on Capitol Hill. The topic of discussion is the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). In that article, it was reported that Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) had written a draft letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi asking her to investigate “whether the Russian Federation...

Today’s Republican Party is big on manliness and masculine virtues. The MAGA right in particular is forever obsessing over who is the biggest, the strongest, the most fearless among them.This is why, watching President Trump’s fight to keep a lid on the Epstein files, I have been struck, delighted even, that among the vanishingly few Republican lawmakers with the courage to defy him have been three fire-breathing congresswomen: Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Nancy Mace of South Carolina.Love ’em or hate ’em, these House troublemakers bucked their party leadership, stared down their president and made...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina firing squad has executed a man Friday, the third person to die by that method in the state this year. Three prison employees, all with live ammunition, volunteered to carry out the execution of Stephen Bryant, 44, who was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. Bryant killed three people in five days in a rural area of the state in 2004. Bryant chose to die by firing squad instead of lethal injection or the electric chair. He made no final statement and briefly glanced toward the 10 witnesses before the hood was placed on...

Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are prepared to bolt from the Big Apple if socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani wins Tuesday’s mayoral race — potentially setting the stage for the largest population flight in US history, an alarming new poll warned early Monday. Around 765,000 people of the 8.4 million residents who call New York City home are preparing to leave, with about 9% of New Yorkers sharing that they would “definitely” leave the city if Mamdani is elected the 111th mayor, the Daily Mail reported, citing a survey conducted by J.L. Partners. If those residents were to leave, it...

As the measles outbreak in the Upstate has grown to 30 people, including eight new cases this week, South Carolina public health officials addressed disinformation and myths contributing to lower vaccination rates, including that it is better to be infected and get immunity that way than get the shot. And as the measles outbreak in the Palmetto State continues to grow and one in Utah and Arizona takes off, the U.S. is closer to losing its status since 2000 of having eliminated measles from circulating in the country. Even before the first cases were confirmed in South Carolina in July,...

Among political conservatives, there is no hotter potato at the moment than the civil liability protections afforded by Section 230 to online operators. Unless Republicans learn to love it again and reject the censorship lawfare complex favored by Democrats, they risk dooming our tech leaders and everyone who uses their products to the sharks circling our legal system.The twenty-six words tucked into the Communications Decency Act of 1996 shielded publishers from liability so they could host and moderate content and still allow a wide range of speech without fear of lawsuits. Since then, Section 230 has evolved to be one...

The Supreme Court of South Carolina The State, Respondent, v. Stephen Corey Bryant, Appellant Appellate Case No. 2008-103130 The Honorable Thomas A. Russo Richland, Sumter County Trial Court Case No. 2004GS4010096, 2006GS4300696, 2006GS4300699 Execution Notice To the honourable Joel E. Anderson, Interim Director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections: This is to notify you that the sentence of death imposed in the above case from which an appeal has been taken has been affirmed and finally disposed of by the Supreme Court of South Carolina and the remittiur has been sent to the Clark of the Court of General...

PIEDMONT, S.C. — South Carolina's SB 323 could change abortion access, the definition of contraceptives, and criminal charges, among other things. Our crews have been reporting on the bill and its potential impacts. This week, our reporter sat down with Sen. Richard Cash, who wrote the bill. Reporter Peyton Furtado: "So you've made these changes to a law, and it's already in place. You've had some amendments here. Can you tell me a little bit about some of the changes you've made and why you made these changes? Sen. Richard Cash: "Well, the goal is to save more babies early...

A mass shooting at a crowded family-friendly restaurant in South Carolina left four people dead and at least 20 customers injured, according to police. The horror unfolded around 1am Sunday at Willie's Bar and Grill in St. Helena Island, about two hours from Charleston. Deputies with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office were called to the scene after gunshots erupted right before Willie Turral's eyes. Turral, the owner of the restaurant, called the unthinkable scene 'mayhem' after hearing what he said sounded like machine gun fire ring out. When authorities arrived, they witnessed a massive crowd and several people suffering from...

The shooting occurred early Sunday morning at Willie's Bar and Grill. [On MLK Drive] At least four people were killed and 16 injured early Sunday in a shooting at a bar in St. Helena Island, South Carolina, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office. The shooting occurred around 1 a.m. at Willie’s Bar and Grill, 7 Dr. Martin Luther Drive on St. Helena Island, located about an hour north of Savannah, Ga., according to the sheriff's office. When deputies arrived at the scene, there was a large crowd at the bar with several people suffering from gunshot wounds, according to...

ST. HELENA ISLAND, SC. (WTOC) - UPDATE 9:04am : Four people are dead and at least 20 others injured after a shooting at Willie’s Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island early Sunday morning, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies responded to multiple reports of gunshots just before 1 a.m. on Sunday. When they arrived, they found a large crowd and several people suffering from gunshot wounds. Hundreds of people were at the restaurant when the shooting occurred, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Multiple victims and witnesses ran to nearby businesses and properties seeking shelter from...

Investigators have found no evidence suggesting the inferno that ripped through the waterfront home of a South Carolina judge and her ex-senator husband on Saturday was intentionally set, according to authorities. Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein’s Edisto Beach home went up in flames around midday, forcing her husband, former state Sen. Arnold Goodstein (D-Charleston), to jump from the first floor to escape the blaze, the Post and Courier reported.

South Carolina authorities are investigating a possible arson attack on a state judge's house Saturday, which left the million-dollar waterfront mansion burned to the ground, according to authorities and local reports. While authorities did not immediately release the homeowners' names, the Post and Courier identified them as Circuit Court Judge Diane Schafer Goodstein, 69, and her husband, Arnold Goodstein, 81, a former member of both houses of the state legislature. He once served as the commissioner of the South Carolina Department of Transportation and before that was wounded in the Tet offensive in the Vietnam War. He received a Bronze...

“A South Carolina judge's beautiful beachfront home was burned to the ground on Saturday morning, sending three of her family members to hospital. Police have launched an investigation after the home of Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein, 69, roared in flames on Edisto Beach as her family, including her ex-senator husband Arnold Goodstein, was rushed to hospital.”