Free Republic

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago workers making minimum wage are set to get a raise starting next month. Starting July 1, the city's minimum wage will be $16.60 and the minimum wage for subsidized youth employment programs, the minimum wage will be $16.50. Under the One Fair Wage Ordinance, the wages of tipped workers such as restaurant servers, bartenders, bussers and runners who earn a subminimum wage of $12.62 per hour will increase by eight percent per year until it reaches parity with Chicago's standard hourly minimum wage on July 1, 2028. Other regulations for paid leave, paid sick time and...

The Bismarck Police Department released body camera footage showing a woman striking an officer with her car, leading to a fatal officer-involved shooting, KFYR reported. During an April 22 news conference, police shared video showing the suspect and officer engaging in conversation following a traffic stop on March 7. The officer smelled odors of marijuana and alcohol coming from the vehicle and asked the suspect to step out. The suspect refused, reversed her vehicle and drove towards the officers. After both officers avoided being struck, the suspect again reversed the vehicle, driving it backwards several yards. She then drove at...

Apparently, according to the Gaia worshipers over at TIME magazine, human-caused climate change is threatening to make more bugs go extinct and cause their habitat behaviors to go haywire. TIME reporter Simmone Shah trotted out the eco-agitprop May 20 on how “climate change means that globally summers on average could get less buggy.” Climate change, cried Shah, could mean globally that “an increasing number of insects could be at risk for extinction” and that other pests like ticks and mosquitoes could “broaden their range of habitat or timing when they emerge for the season.” Then came the pathetic scareporn: “While...

Ezekiel Emanuel said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that there are a lot of life-extending treatments available to treat former President Joe Biden’s prostate cancer. Emanuel said, “When you have a lesion that’s in the bone, and therefore it’s metastatic and incurable, the prostate cancer will not go away. He will have it, that doesn’t mean he’s going to die from it because there are a lot of treatments. There’s androgen blockade that’s basically preventing the testosterone from circulating. There’s also androgen receptor signaling inhibitors, a second line of treatment that prevents, when the androgen does bind to the cell...

U.S. President Donald Trump will sit down with newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney in Washington, DC, on Tuesday for the first meeting between the two since the Canadian’s election win. They’ll have a lot to talk about. The 60-year-old Liberal Party leader and former central bank governor pledged during the Canadian election campaign Trump would “never break” Canada, vowing Ottawa would look to forge new trading alliances with its southern neighbor even as he added the “special relationship” with the U.S. is “over.”

A surprising shift is underway at the bottom of the world. After decades of contributing to rising sea levels, Antarctica’s massive ice sheet has started growing again — at least for now. A study published this week in Science China Earth Sciences finds that the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) experienced a record-breaking mass gain between 2021 and 2023, largely due to anomalous increases in precipitation. The rebound is especially significant in East Antarctica, where four major glacier basins had previously shown signs of destabilization.

The U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter despite underlying strength in consumer and business spending. Gross domestic product contracted at an annualized rate of 0.3 percent, the Department of Commerce said on Wednesday. The decline in U.S. gross domestic product marks a sharp reversal from the 2.4 percent growth rate recorded at the end of last year. This was the lowest rate of growth since 2022, when the economy avoided an official recession but contracted for two consecutive quarters. Final sales to private domestic purchasers, a closely watched measure of business and consumer health, expanded at a healthy pace...

Time magazine has released its annual list of the selected “100 Most Influential People,” and on the list is Julie Burkhart, an owner of multiple abortion facilities who was mentored by late-term abortionist George Tiller. In the article, Time presents Burkhart as a brave warrior fighting on behalf of women. “Julie Burkhart has been fighting for decades to provide abortions in some of the most rural and conservative areas of the U.S.,” the write-up by Time correspondent Charlotte Alter began, before noting that one of her facilities is located in Illinois — one of the most pro-abortion states in the...

President Donald Trump defended his use of the power that comes with the presidential office, denying that he is “expanding” it while maintaining that he is “using it properly” in an interview on his first 100 days as the 47th president with TIME. Trump, who will have served 100 days of his second term on April 30, gave the extensive, bombshell interview to the outlet from the White House on Wednesday. The interview started off with a pointed question from TIME senior political correspondent Eric Cortellessa and editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs, who asked, “Why do you think you need more power?”...

Apparently the recently deceased Pope Francis is the patron saint of "Mother Earth." At least that’s what the climate Armageddon-obsessed TIME magazine is trying to argue. TIME senior correspondent and eco-doom prophet Justin Worland’s papal obit read like a cheap comic strip: “The Climate Pope: Francis and His Environmental Legacy,” Worland’s headline read, celebrating the leftist pope for his radical eco crusaderism. According to Worland’s twisted worldview, the first big “environmental move” the pope did upon ascending to the papacy was simply “choosing the papal name Francis after Saint Francis of Assi, known among other things for his appreciation of...

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) said Monday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should be fired or resign after reports that military details were shared in a second Signal group chat. Warner said, “This is a guy that’s in so far over his head that you know, he didn’t say anything there about denying that he did this gross, sloppy misuse of classified information. Sharing now with his family members. We heard about the misuse earlier when this information was shared with other senior members of the of the administration.” He continued, “It is way past time...

Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg said Friday on CNN’s “The Lead” that Democratic strategist James Carville believed in “timid” politics. Host Jake Tapper said, “Let’s talk about what you did this week raising a lot of eyebrows here in Washington, D.J. You announced this week you’re the Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, but you’re raising $20 million to boost primary challengers running in safe Democratic seats against incumbent Democrats.” He added, “Here’s James Carville.” Wednesday on CNN, Carville said, “The most insane thing I ever heard is a Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee is...

AMD has announced that its key processor chips will soon be produced at TSMC’s new facility in Arizona, marking the first time AMD’s products will be manufactured in the United States. The news comes on the heels of AI giant Nvidia announcing it will produce AI chips and supercomputers in Arizona and Texas. Reuters reports that AMD CEO Lisa Su revealed that the company’s fifth-generation EPYC CPUs for data centers will be manufactured at TSMC’s Arizona plant. This decision comes amidst growing concerns over the U.S.-China trade tensions and the potential impact of tariffs on the semiconductor industry. The Trump...

FAFO. But wait, a federal judge "has issued an order" as usual. Watch this space.

President Donald Trump and European leaders cautiously welcomed Russia’s President Vladimir Putin saying he accepted the basic precepts of a ceasefire, but Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warns Moscow demanding concessions is a “predictable” bid to derail talks altogether. On Thursday, a delegation of American negotiators had talks in Moscow, Russia, in hope of agreeing step one of President Trump’s Ukraine peace plan, a 30-day ceasefire. President Putin said Russia supports the notion in general terms, but said “there are issues that we need to discuss, and I think that we need to discuss it with our American colleagues and partners”...

flow of military intelligence to Ukraine this week has aided the Russian advance along a critical part of the front, weakening the negotiating position of President Volodymyr Zelensky and killing many Ukrainian soldiers in recent days, according to five senior Western and Ukrainian officials and military officers familiar with the situation.

There is a sense that President Donald Trump will face less resistance during his second term, that activists are tired, that the country is complacent. I cannot speak for others, but I can say for myself and those around me: we are bracing ourselves with eyes wide open, measured, strategic, and ready to fight. As a transgender person doing transgender advocacy work, I see no other way.

In a provocative move that could be aimed at stoking President Donald Trump’s ire, Time magazine’s latest print cover features Elon Musk behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. The storied biweekly publication, known for its historically significant covers, comes as Trump has given Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency extraordinary power to gut the federal workforce — power that has been stymied, at least to a degree, over the past few days by some lawsuits. The simple cover, which shows Musk, coffee in hand, sandwiched between the presidential desk and the American and presidential flags, is plainly...

I just realized that the entire first week of the Trump Presidency is over! There's only 1,453 days of winning left to go! Can we make it? Is it time to panic?

Ahead of Inauguration Day, Time Magazine published a mental health guide for liberals struggling to cope with the reality of President Donald Trump retaking the White House. A group cry session and "forest bathing" were among the recommended coping techniques. The tutorial—titled "11 Things to Do on Inauguration Day That Are Great for Your Mental Health"—extensively lists ways sensitive snowflakes can manage their feelings of impending doom. Here are healthy ways to spend Inauguration Day, if you happen to be dreading ithttps://t.co/xoZnuXQnTu — TIME (@TIME) January 17, 2025 For those "dreading" four more years of Trump, Time Magazine consulted a...