Free Republic

Americans are again voting with their feet, which means the deep blue states of Illinois, California, and New York posted the top three population losses in 2023, while the red states of Texas, Florida, and North Carolina were the top three population gainers. Yes, yes, I am well aware my current home state of North Carolina has a Democrat governor. However, Republicans control the State Senate and House. In fact, Republicans have a veto-proof supermajority in the House. Here in The NC, we are governed by the GOP. When you compare 2022 state populations to 2023 state populations, New York...

Winter storm warnings are in effect for eight states, with a massive storm set to bring heavy rain, wind and snow to the eastern United States. The storm warnings are currently in effect for parts of Alaska, Idaho, New Hampshire, Viginia, New York, West Virginia, Vermont and Washington. In its latest forecast, the National Weather Service (NWS) said that a low-pressure system "will continue dumping heavy rain onto the Washington and Oregon coasts" on Sunday while spreading snow across the northern Cascades and northern Rockies.

America’s Founders fought a bloody revolution in order to escape the “absolute despotism” to which they had been reduced under the hereditary monarchy of the British government, a system that Thomas Paine said “laid the world in blood and ashes.” After that revolution was won, the Founders’ singular focus was to create a republic that would safeguard individual freedom and state sovereignty by vesting only limited, specifically enumerated powers in a federal government. The Constitution’s first ten amendments (the Bill of Rights), Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, as well as the Ninth and Tenth Amendments establish clear limitations...

Citing the need for equity, lawmakers in several Democrat-controlled states have passed measures recently that make it harder to discipline students who act up in the classroom.Schools in California, Illinois, Minnesota, Maryland, and other states have adopted student discipline systems based on "restorative justice" instead of suspending students for bad behavior.That means, instead of giving students penalties for misbehavior, schools use "empathetic communication" to explain to students why their misbehavior is harmful.But at least one state has struck out in a different direction in the hopes of improving student success.In Oklahoma, Ryan Walters, the state superintendent of public instruction, has...

The “Golden State,” has long been a symbol of opportunity, innovation, and natural beauty. With its stunning landscapes, booming tech industry, and cultural diversity, it’s no wonder that millions of people have called it home for decades. However, California is experiencing what I like to call the “California Exodus.” Where are these Californians flocking to? This article will explore some states that have become popular destinations for those leaving the Golden State.

Several blue states across the United States are automatically registering hundreds of thousands of residents to vote each year whenever they interact with state agencies, including welfare offices, a report from journalist John Fund details. The report, issued by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, documents the Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) policy now imposed by 23 states and the District of Columbia. All but three of these states are blue states controlled by Democrats. Fund authored the 2021 book Our Broken Elections: How the Left Changed the Way You Vote with The Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky.

CLAIM: President Joe Biden claimed Thursday he is not losing to former President Donald Trump in several top battleground states. VERDICT: FALSE. Recent polling shows Biden losing to Trump in several battleground states: Trump tops Biden in five of six crucial swing states, a New York Times/Siena College poll found Sunday. Trump tops Biden 49-45 percent nationally, a CNN poll found Tuesday.

A new report reveals that Illinois has the most religious liberty safeguards in place as many states continue to lack adequate protections for religious people. The Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy at First Liberty Institute released its second annual Religious Liberty in the States report last week. The report ranked all 50 states by the number of safeguards in place for religious liberty. While Mississippi scored highest last year, Illinois received the highest score this year. Illinois’ 85% score marks an increase from the 81% it received last year. Mississippi, which received a score of 82% last year, now...

While 78% of Americans speak only English at home, between 350 and 430 languages can be found in the United States.Spanish is the second most common language, spoken in 62% of non-English-speaking households.In this graphic, Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti and WordFinderX used Census data to uncover the most spoken languages (aside from English and Spanish) in American neighborhoods.German is the Most Spoken Language in 13 StatesDuring the mid-18th century, German immigrants played a significant role in early American society. They constituted one-third of the population of American colonies, ranking second in numbers only to the English.As a consequence, German now...

The Biden administration took action Wednesday for a historic agreement among Western states to conserve vital water supplies. The Department of the Interior (DOI), which has for months worked with state leaders on developing water conservation plans, issued a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) laying out two potential options: a no-action alternative and the proposed action to substantially restrict supplies in coming years. The proposal is designed to protect the Colorado River System and two key dams in response to falling water levels. "Today, the Biden-Harris administration is taking another key action to bolster water resilience in the Basin...

Former President Donald Trump holds an advantage over President Joe Biden in a number of swing states — which largely decided the last two presidential elections — in a hypothetical head-to-head 2024 general election match-up, according to a comprehensive Morning Consult-Bloomberg News poll. Trump leads with registered voters in five of the seven swing states in the poll, released Thursday, including Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Biden and Trump are deadlocked in Michigan, and Biden leads in Nevada.

In the past few days, Democrats have secured majority control of the Pennsylvania House and moved within one seat of ending Republican control of the New Hampshire House. Those wins are not aberrations. They are the latest measures of a nationwide blue wave that has seen Democrats outperform expectations in 24 of 30 special elections for open state legislative seats this year. Legislative contests that were once considered local or regional races are being nationalized, as concerns about abortion rights and voting rights—two issues that are up for grabs in statehouses—are putting Republican candidates in a perilous position. SNIP The...

New mask mandates have been imposed in health care facilities and other places in at least three states in recent days. COVID-19 hospitalizations have been rising since late summer, as new variants circulate. According to the latest data from the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were 20,538 hospital admissions in the week ending September 9, up 7.7 percent from the previous week. In an effort to help avert another "tripledemic" like last year when hospitals were overwhelmed with flu, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and coronavirus cases, the U.S. this month approved updated COVID-19 vaccines. The...

Former President Donald Trump is leading President Biden across key battleground states, a Reuters/Ipsos survey found. Nationally, the survey found both 2024 contenders tied with 39 percent support each in a head-to-head matchup. However, Trump holds an advantage over Biden in key battleground states, which includes Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and North Carolina. Trump leads in the swing states with 41 percent to Biden’s 35 percent — a six percent advantage. That lead is well outside of the survey’s +/- 2 percent margin of error.

(NEXSTAR) – 2022 was a rough year for many Americans, newly released U.S. Census Bureau data indicates. While the median household income climbed in five states, far more saw that metric drop last year. Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin all saw household income take a dip in 2022.

Abortions have risen by up to 220 percent in states that border those with bans since Roe v Wade was overturned in June 2022, a study shows. The data, from the pro-abortion research group Guttmacher Institute, suggests many women have been forced to cross state lines to end pregnancies. New Mexico, which borders Oklahoma, and Wyoming, which borders three other states, saw the biggest percentage increases, with more than three times as many abortions provided in the first half of 2023 compared to 2020. Kansas and South Carolina also saw their number of abortions double in that time. Illinois, which...

Maine has the most vacant housing out of all 50 states, according to new research from real estate website LAHomes. The Pine Tree State had an average home vacancy rate of 23.9 between 2011 and 2021, the research shows. The state’s home vacancy rate peaked at 23.3 percent in 2013 and fell to its lowest—22.5 percent—in 2020. Alaska and Vermont have the second and third-highest vacant home rates, respectively. The Last Frontier state has an average home vacancy rate of 21.4 percent during that same time, LAHomes also found. Home vacancy rates reached their highest in Alaska in 2012 and...

In the United States, there were about 75 workers available for every 100 job openings as of July 2023. This means there is a significant gap between labor and jobs available, but also many opportunities present in some states for potential job seekers.In the map below, using data from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Visual Capitalist's Avery Koop and Bhabna Banerjee showcase the number of available workers per 100 job openings in each U.S. state.Note: Available workers are unemployed workers who are in the labor force but do not have a job, have looked for one in the previous four...

UPS employees are edging closer to a major work stoppage that could be the biggest the United States has seen since the 1950s. The approximately 330,000 UPS drivers, loaders and handlers who are represented by the Teamsters Union on Wednesday rejected a final offer by the company as "unacceptable" in early July, CBS reports. Talks are now being presumed as the group's labor contract runs out at the end of the month.Strikes and work stoppages have returned as a mainstay of U.S. news among recent high profile walkouts, for example at the Writers Guild of America, among newly unionized Starbucks...

If only the Biden administration fought illegal migration half as hard as it’s fighting Texas. Thus far, the open borders regime is investigating efforts by Texas to prevent illegal border crossings after the state stepped in once the Biden administration had turned CBP into coyotes enabling illegal migration. It’s also suing Texas for putting up floating barriers on the Rio Grande to prevent illegal invaders from swimming across. "The Justice Department warned officials in Texas on Thursday that the federal government will sue the state unless it removes border barriers it recently set up in the middle of the Rio...