Free Republic

About a quarter of “CBS Evening News” staffers eligible for buyouts have chosen the option ahead of impending layoffs under editor in chief Bari Weiss, The Post has learned. Eleven staffers opted for buyouts, which were only offered to non-unionized employees, a source with knowledge of the matter said Tuesday. They include at least six producers out of the show’s total of roughly 20, according to another source, who added: “Seems like people are jumping ship.” “It’s a lot of people,” a CBS insider said. The “Evening News” has over 40 non-unionized staffers, a source said. A CBS News rep...

Less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in President Trump's first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News. The official statistics contained in the DHS document, which had not been previously reported publicly, provide the most detailed look yet into who ICE has arrested during the Trump administration's far-reaching deportation operations across the U.S. The internal DHS figures undermine frequent assertions by the Trump administration that its crackdown on illegal immigration is primarily targeting...

The recently appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News has allegedly refused to fire the network's new star 'wellness expert', despite his appearances in the Epstein files. Bari Weiss became the TV station's boss in October, has pushed to increase the outlet's relevance by hiring 19 popular media personalities as contributors. The announcement of those new hires was made exactly one week ago, on January 27, and among them was Peter Attia, the founder of wellness app Outlive and an influencer-podcaster with millions of followers online. On Friday, the Department of Justice released the latest batch of Epstein files, in which Attia...

Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father have been released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, following a court order mandating their release, a lawyer familiar with their case told CBS News on Sunday. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery on Saturday directed government officials to release Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos and his son, who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month in Minnesota, from detention "as soon as practicable."

Jose Huerta Chuma is a man in hiding — and he's also a man in distress. He's been replaying the fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Alex Pretti over and over again in his mind, wondering if he could have done something differently and if there's something that "would have saved that life." The 41-year-old immigrant from Ecuador, who said he has been in the U.S. for over two decades, described witnessing the shooting after hiding inside a local business. The Department of Homeland Security has described Huerta Chuma as a criminal living in the U.S. illegally who was the target...

Recently released federal data shows the rate of improper payment in Minnesota's Medicaid program is far below the national average, the state's Department of Human Services says. According to the data released by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the error rate in Minnesota is slightly over 2.1%, compared to the national average of 6.1%. The human services department says the data was collected before it started implementing measures to cut down on fraud risk. "We're committed to making Minnesota a national model for preventing fraud and catching errors," said Shireen Gandhi, the temporary human services commissioner. "This...

President Trump cited a major winter storm forecast to impact about two-thirds of the United States as evidence to suggest that global warming does not exist, repeating a misleading claim that has been consistently debunked by climate experts. In a Truth Social post on Friday, he said, "Record Cold Wave expected to hit 40 States. Rarely seen anything like it before. Could the Environmental Insurrectionists please explain — WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???" Climate scientists say Mr. Trump's statement conflates short-term weather trends with long-term climate changes. The unusually cold air spilling into the United States is an example of...

Russian police have arrested the chief physician and the acting head of intensive care at a Siberian hospital where nine babies died this month, prosecutors said Wednesday. The case, which has shone a spotlight on chronic staff shortages and funding gaps in the country's medical system, has provoked anger and bewilderment from Russian politicians and online commentators. Prosecutors have charged the pair with negligence and causing death through negligence, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement. The exact causes of the deaths at Novokuznetsk Maternity Hospital No. 1 are not yet known. But regional health authorities said the babies were...

The Justice Department is investigating Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents, an extraordinary escalation in the Trump administration's clash with Democratic leaders there, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. One of the sources, a U.S. official, said the investigation stems from statements that Walz and Frey have made about the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis region in recent weeks. Subpoenas are likely to be issued in the probe, sources familiar with the matter...

The number of detainees in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody has reached a new record high, surpassing 70,000 for the first time in the deportation agency's 23-year history, according to internal Department of Homeland Security data obtained by CBS News. As of Thursday, ICE was holding about 73,000 individuals facing deportation in its custody across the country, the highest level recorded by the agency and an 84% increase from the same time in 2025, when its detention population hovered below 40,000, the internal statistics show. The Trump administration has said it is aiming to be able to detain upwards...

At least six career prosecutors in the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney's office — including Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson — have resigned as the office continues to face pressure to treat the investigation of the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by an ICE officer as an assault on a federal officer case. Thompson also previously served as the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota; he was appointed by President Trump in June and served in the position until October. He resigned from the attorney's office along with Harry Jacobs, Melinda Williams, Thomas Calhoun-Lopez, Ruth Schneider and Tom Hollenhurst. Two sources familiar...

Transcript Summary Catherine Herridge, former CBS News senior investigative correspondent, delivers a personal message on her independent show "Straight to the Point."She explains her departure from CBS News in February 2024 during company-wide layoffs, stating it was unexpected and not related to her performance, which included Emmy-winning work and impactful reporting that expanded benefits for veterans. Herridge details internal obstacles she faced while investigating the Hunter Biden laptop story, assigned by top executives including George Cheeks as a high-priority matter. Despite authenticating documents in 2020 and providing confirmed reporting to executives and anchors, the network did not pursue deeper investigation...

Independent journalist Nick Shirley on Thursday teased a second installment of his investigation into alleged Minnesota fraud, suggesting it will make critics in the mainstream media "go insane." Shirley upended the news cycle last week with a 42-minute video investigating Minnesota daycare centers that appeared inactive despite receiving millions of dollars in government funding. The shocking video that has been viewed over 134 million times on X alone prompted investigations by federal officials, leading the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to freeze all childcare payments in Minnesota. In the wake of his investigation’s success, CNN and other legacy...

CBS News’ chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford criticized the mainstream media’s coverage of the Supreme Court, calling it “dangerous” to claim the high court was “corrupt.” Crawford joined CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday to discuss what the panel considered the most underreported stories of the year. While some panelists cited the blanket use of pardons and cuts to the federal workforce as examples, Crawford instead pointed to a narrative she considered overreported: alleged political corruption in the Supreme Court. “You know, there is a narrative that the Supreme Court is corrupt,” Crawford said. “I mean, we saw that emerge...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who voted with President Trump 98% of the time before her relationship with him fractured, accused the president in a recent interview with 60 Minutes of forsaking his base. The Georgia representative has recently split with the president on a number of issues, including affordability and foreign affairs. She said she believes he's failed to keep domestic policy as his top priority. In her resignation video, Greene said the president has forsaken the MAGA base, specifically pointing to his support of the crypto and pharmaceutical industries. "Those are the areas that are still getting everything they...

Barstool Sports chief Dave Portnoy says that he fully turned against the Democrat Party — especially during the Biden era — because the party decided that white people are evil. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning on Sunday, Portnoy admitted to growing up in a liberal Democrat family, but has become thoroughly disenchanted with the party of the left, Mediaite reported. Portnoy tried to explain why the Democrats are losing young male voters. “People often think I have the answer… My nutshell [answer] is, generally, they were very anti-normal guys, like,” he told CBS reporter Tony Dokoupil. Dokoupil attempted...

‘CBS Evening News’ co-anchor John Dickerson is leaving CBS by the end of the year, according to a source.DIckerson will continue to co-anchor the news with Maurice DuBois until he departs, a CBS News spokesperson confirmed. The news comes as CBS News braces for a steep round of layoffs, which are expected to hit this week.Dickerson, 57, took the co-anchor job earlier this year when then-CBS News president Wendy McMahon decided to shake up the struggling news network and oust then-anchor Norah O’Donnell.Dickerson shared the news on Instagram on Monday morning, writing: “At the end of this year, I will...

CBS reports an eighth operation in which the US military killed at least two civilians The U.S. military campaign against vessels crewed by civilians allegedly involved in drug trafficking continued Tuesday with a new extrajudicial attack, the eighth reported since September. The novelty this time is that the latest strike took place off the Colombian coast, in the Pacific Ocean, and not, as in previous cases, in the Caribbean Sea. The news was reported Wednesday by CBS, citing two anonymous official sources. Confirmation came shortly thereafter from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said that the U.S. military had killed two...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Missouri and Kansas are warning SNAP recipients about potential benefit losses if the government shutdown continues. On Monday, the Missouri Department of Social Services sent out a warning saying it will not be able to fund November SNAP benefits if the government doesn’t reopen. The department said it “encourages” people to stretch their October balance into the next month, “if possible.” Throughout the metro, thousands are preparing for the potential impact. Adolph Pratt, a Kansas City, Kansas resident who relies on SNAP benefits, said the potential loss would force difficult choices. “It’s going to make...

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) dared Democrats on Tuesday to challenge President Trump’s administration move to repurpose previously appropriated funds to pay service members during the government shutdown. “If the Democrats want to go to court and challenge troops being paid, bring it. OK,” Johnson said during a press conference at the Capitol.The Speaker said his understanding was that the administration had “every right” to move funds that had been appropriated by Congress to the Department of Defense, including research and development accounts that had not been spent and that could be used for military pay.Trump over the weekend directed...