Free Republic

The federal government's ban on carrying firearms in U.S. post offices may soon be over, now that the Dept. of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel has issued an advisory opinion stating the ban does not comply with federal law. … The OLC opinion argues that in order to legally carry, both the entry into the federal facility and the carrying of the firearm must be for a lawful purpose. … Carrying arms for self-defense when entering a building held open to the public is a paradigmatic lawful purpose. The Supreme Court recognized as much in District of Columbia v. Heller,...

The United States Postal Service (USPS) could close thousands of post offices, reduce service levels and raise prices if Congress does not approve legislation to address the agency's financial problems, Postmaster General David Steiner recently warned. In remarks delivered to the USPS Board of Governors on Friday, Steiner said Congress faces an either-or choice: provide the Postal Service with legislative changes and federal funding to support its public-service obligations or leave USPS to pursue more aggressive measures to reach financial break-even on its own. "We have peak season coming up, so we would not take any action until after the...

The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to fully implement an executive order signed by President Trump that seeks to impose additional restrictions on mail-in voting. U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer called an order by a federal judge in Massachusetts that paused portions of the order in 23 states and the District of Columbia “extraordinary,” and he argued that it “flouts settled” doctrines governing when courts can weigh in on a dispute. Sauer also asked the court to issue an immediate administrative stay–an order that temporarily puts the lower court’s order on hold while the...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a stay on Friday, temporarily lifting a lower court’s block on USPS’s mail-in ballot proposal, in a major win for President Donald Trump. On March 31, Trump issued an executive order, “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” which directs federal agencies to develop state-specific lists of voters who are confirmed U.S. citizens. A provision calls on USPS not to handle mail-in or absentee ballots from individuals, unless they appear on the state-specific, federally approved citizenship lists. Ahead of the midterm elections, Trump has been feverishly calling...

Hi Friend — This has been a hard week for those of us who care about election integrity, particularly as it relates to mail-in ballots. But there's an opportunity to have our voices heard — a United States Postal Service call for public comment that ends this Thursday, July 2. Quick background: First, in the courts. Two rulings landed in the past week, and neither went our way. On June 25, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled in a case brought by 23 states and the District of Columbia. She struck down the President's March 2026 executive order on mail-in...

The explosive expansion of mail-in voting — turbocharged during COVID and conveniently never rolled back in many blue states — punched a massive hole in American election security. Conservatives raised the alarm for years. They were dismissed as paranoid. The media shrugged. Meanwhile, ballots kept flying through the postal system with zero meaningful verification that the person on the envelope was, you know, an actual eligible voter. But something just shifted. The federal government has stumbled onto a devastatingly simple enforcement mechanism, and the states with the dirtiest voter rolls are already lawyering up. Funny how that works. From The...

The U.S. Postal Service reached a multiyear deal with DHL eCommerce for last-mile parcel delivery services in the United States expected to be worth more than $10 billion. He said DHL either had "to invest a ton of capital to build out an end-to-end network, or they need to partner with someone that has that last mile capability" like USPS. The deal is critical to the financially strapped USPS. Amazon.com said it had reached a new agreement with the U.S. Postal Service on package deliveries

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Postal Service on Friday reported a net quarterly ​loss of $2 billion as it faces a growing financial crisis and has ‌warned it could run out of cash as soon as February. USPS said mail volumes fell another 6.3% in the three months ending March 31 as operating revenue rose 2.3% to $20.2 billion ​over the same quarter last year. USPS last month said it would temporarily ​suspend employer payments for a federal pension program to conserve cash ⁠and plans to raise the price of first-class mail stamps to 82 cents ​from 78...

It's a list no one wants to be on, and it's growing in a North Texas city. Authorities believe more than 80 people since February have had their mail, which included checks, stolen from a post office in Plano. The vast majority of the thefts have happened at one postal location, and both victims and authorities are concerned that the crime could be an inside job involving postal employees. The U.S. Post Office on W. Parker Road is a place Jim Frankenfield no longer feels comfortable even approaching. "I stopped using it, don't even go near it," he said. Patty...

Trump’s order directs the postmaster general, who acts as the Postal Service’s CEO, to set out rules that would require states to notify the Postal Service if they intend to send ballots through the mail during federal elections. States that want to use the mail would be required to provide lists of mail voters to the Postal Service, which would be prohibited from delivering ballots to individuals not on a list. “Election integrity has always been a top priority for President Trump, and the American people sent him back to the White House because they overwhelmingly supported his commonsense election...

The United States Postal Service is suspending employer pension contributions for workers beginning Friday, citing a looming cash shortfall, the agency announced Thursday. The move, which affects the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), comes just weeks after the Postal Service warned Congress it could run out of cash in under a year without significant reforms, including changes to pension funding and stamp prices. USPS emphasized that the pause will have no immediate impact on current or future retirees. "There will not be any immediate detrimental impact to our current or future retirees if normal FERS cost payments are temporarily withheld,"...

The Postal Service has informed the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of its intention to temporarily suspend its employer’s contributions for the defined benefit portion of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to conserve cash and preserve liquidity due to its ongoing, severe financial crisis. “There will not be any immediate detrimental impact to our current or future retirees if normal FERS cost payments are temporarily withheld,” said Postal Service Chief Financial Officer Luke Grossmann. “The risk to the Postal Service and the

A MACHINE gun mailed with the United States Postal Service has been missing for weeks – and the sender fears it could be used in a shooting.Firearms dealer Steve Thompson opted for top security mail service when he sent the Israeli nine millimeter Uzi sub-machine gun in February, but it still disappeared just days later.He shipped it from Portage, Ohio, where his business Adco Firearms is based to a buyer in Florida on February 4.USPS tracking information shows it was moved to Pontiac, Michigan before arriving at a facility in Detroit on February 6, NBC affiliate WDIV reported.There, the package...

The Postal Service™ is temporarily suspending international mail acceptance for certain destinations due to inadequate transportation options or service disruptions within the country. Customers: please refrain from mailing items addressed to the countries listed here, until further notice. Israel 3-3-26 Temporary Service Disruption The Postal Service™ has temporarily suspended acceptance of items destined to Israel due to logistics impacts resulting from the conflict in the Middle East.

The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday said it is seeking to impose a temporary 8% fuel surcharge for package and express mail deliveries to deal with rising transportation costs, which include higher oil prices as a result of the Iran war. If approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission, the surcharge would take effect April 26 and remain in place until Jan. 17, 2027, the Postal Service said in a notice on its website. The 8% surcharge would apply to postage on Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, USPS Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select products. First-class stamps and other mail services would...

Following months of investigation, a married San Jose couple faces a long-list of charges after Mountain View police said multiple search warrants in the Bay Area led them to discover more than 1,500 pieces of stolen mail. Mountain View police said the case started with a mail theft case in the 500 block of W. Middlefield Road. “During the investigation, Crime Suppression Unit (CSU) detectives worked in coordination with patrol officers to develop actionable leads,” said police in a statement to KRON4. “Subsequent follow-up by CSU detectives resulted in the identification of two suspects.” The suspected duo, identified as Terri...

is out thousands of dollars after they wrote two checks, not even close to that amount. They said they're victims of a check washing scheme, and believe it is taking place at their local post office. Therese Scarlati collected during her own investigation, collecting every sheet of paper, starting with those two checks. Therese sent a $165 check to her insurance company. Her husband wrote this $64 check for the water bill — both mailed on the same day, yet somehow the amounts were both changed. Her husband's was cashed for $5,700 in storage fees, while Therese's check was cashed...

Louisiana sues California, New York governors to extradite doctors who mailed abortion pills Louisiana AG Liz Murrill plans to take California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to court to compel their cooperation.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will be tightening its licensing requirements for drivers as pressure mounts to boot poorly vetted migrants from the trucking industry. The major federal agency is working with its contracted trucking providers to “phase out” the use of non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) operators who have not been thoroughly screened by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, according to a statement released late Monday. USPS says the move is in line with the Department of Transportation’s efforts to tighten regulations over non-domiciled CDLs. “The safety of our employees, our customers, and the American public is of the...

A leaked photo reportedly from an internal U.S. Postal Service (USPS) update reveals that the agency will continue to use “non-domiciled” drivers. The leaked image purports to show that USPS, which operates independently of the president, will accept or hire non-citizen commercial drivers as of 2026. The leak comes in the weeks following the Trump administration’s announcement of increased scrutiny and English proficiency requirements for CDL issuance to migrants. Sen. Rick Scott released a statement last week urging the Trump administration to crack down on USPS CDL hiring practices. “It is deeply concerning that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) reportedly...