Free Republic

Florissa Fuentes went through an admittedly rocky adolescence growing up in the city’s North End, finding herself in loads of trouble before a high school-based city police officer persuaded her to move to North Carolina for a new perspective. Hailing from a heavily military family, Fuentes returned to the city in 2007, a teen hoping for a fresh start. She aimed to join the U.S. Navy, but her brother, Daniel Newsome, was killed in combat in Baghdad, discounting her from enlisting just as she prepared for basic training. Fuentes eventually set her eyes on a corrections career, graduating from the...

Dick Law & Order: SVU is making television history this season with its record-setting 21st season, making it TV’s longest-running primetime live-action series. And Dick Wolf;s venerable crime drama starring Mariska Hargitay is nowhere near done. NBC has given Law & Order: SVU a new three-year renewal for Seasons 22, 23 and 24, expanding the gap over the previous record mark of 20 seasons set by mothership series Law & Order (1990-2010) and Gunsmoke (1955-75). The massive renewal is part of a mega new deal for Wolf has signed with Law & Order: SVU studio Universal Television, that also includes...

Sen. Chuck Schumer refused to answer questions Monday evening about the Twitter scandal that has ensnared Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), his one-time congressional aide. But in a statement, the powerful Democratic senator said he was "deeply pained and saddened" about the married congressman's admission at a New York news conference Monday that he carried on lewd online conversations with at least half a dozen women. "By fully explaining himself, apologizing to all he hurt and taking full responsibility for his wrongful actions, Anthony did the right thing," Schumer said. "He remains a talented and committed public servant, and I pray...

Nothing lasts forever, Lord knows, but multiply that little platitude by a billion and the history of prime-time TV suddenly comes into focus. Shows come. Shows go. Like puffy little clouds drifting on a nice summer day, they all eventually succumb to audience and especially network indifference, then - poof! - no more nice little summer cloud. But come to think of it, there has been this one show that has flirted with immortality. Bound by an ironclad formula that has made it resistant to change, this formula has also made the show resistant to decay. One key actor decides...