Free Republic

An area police officer has received a commendation for meritorious duty after he saved the life of a Belle Vernon woman last month. Southwest Regional police Chief John D. Hartman said Lt. John Loughner received the commendation for saving a 50-year-old Belle Vernon woman at her Main Street residence. According to Hartman, Loughner responded to a call shortly after 8 p.m. July 10 to check on the well being of the woman at her Main Street home. When he arrived, Hartman said Loughner heard moaning and gurgling sounds coming from inside her residence but the door was locked. Fearing for...

Manteo, N.C. — The Outer Banks are no stranger to a Category 1 hurricane like Irene, which hit Saturday with 85 mph winds and heavy rain. But Irene's eye tracked just west of the Pamlico, Croatan and Albermarle sounds, then crossed the Currituck Sound to go back out to sea. That drew water from the sounds, as well the ocean, west. The water piled up in bays, inlets and rivers on the western side of the sounds. Once the hurricane passed, that water rushed east back, smashing into the barrier islands. "The soundside flooding last night was epic as far...

If Election Day was right now, President Obama would defeat the former Alaska governor 50% to 33%, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. This marks the first time that the president has risen out of the 40s in hypothetical matchups with any of the major GOP presidential hopefuls. Fifteen percent (15%) prefer some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are undecided.

Just moments before he was fatally wounded in an unprovoked attack, a San Diego police officer performed one last act of kindness; he bought a child food while buying his own dinner.

COPLEY, Ohio (AP) — A former police officer credited with helping stop a gunman who police say killed seven people described feeling terrified but said he reacted the way he was trained.

COPLEY, Ohio — A gunman who killed seven people during a weekend rampage in his Ohio neighborhood cornered one of his victims, his girlfriend's 11-year-old nephew, in the basement of a house, ordered out the family sheltering the boy and then shot him, police said Monday. Michael Hance's cold-blooded killing of such a young victim after stalking seven other people on a tidy suburban Akron street named Goodenough Avenue was, neighbors said, the culmination of a dispute over a home that once belonged to his girlfriend's parents.

Carthage, N.C. — The police officer credited with ending a shooting rampage at a Carthage nursing home that left eight people dead and three others injured two years ago testified Wednesday that he stopped the gunman with one shot.

The new airport screening measures involving millimeter wave technology and backscatter technology — together with the opt-out of a pat-down — have received a great deal of public attention. Back when the new measures were first widely introduced, I blogged about why a Fourth Amendment challenge to the new practices was an uphill battle. Today, the DC Circuit handed down an opinion in EPIC v. Department of Homeland Security holding that the new practices comply with the Fourth Amendment. I believe this is the first clear court ruling on the question, and it’s certainly the first from a federal court...

Raleigh, N.C. — The North Carolina State Highway Patrol on Friday released its findings that clears a state trooper of wrongdoing following a Raleigh woman's claims that she was harassed and intimidated during a traffic stop in Wilmington last month.

A 6-month-old boy who was visiting with relatives in Chesterfield County died Wednesday afternoon after being bit by the family's longtime pet dog. Police and paramedics were called about 1:40 p.m. to a home in the 4600 block of Overridge Drive for a report of an infant male being bitten by a dog, police said. The child, who police said is related to the dog's owner, was taken to VCU Medical Center in Richmond, where he died. The dog, a Dogo Argentino, was signed over to Chesterfield Animal Control. Lt. Randy Horowitz said the animal had no history of being...

NEW YORK, June 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Supporters of pro-life pregnancy centers have filed motions to block a new ordinance in New York City that would undermine the centers’ ability to help women find alternatives to abortion. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) have asked for a preliminary injunction against implementation of the NYC Pregnancy Services Center Local Law 17 on behalf of three local crisis pregnancy center operators. The New York City Council passed the measure in March to force all of the city’s approximately two dozen pro-life pregnancy centers to...

RALEIGH, June 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Just after midnight Monday night, House members of North Carolina’s General Assembly overrode a veto of a state budget that barred funding for Planned Parenthood, making the state poised to join several others that have cut off funding for America’s largest abortion provider. The Greensboro News & Record reported that the Senate may vote as early as today, although it could postpone consideration until Thursday. North Carolina Democrat Governor Bev Purdue vetoed the legislation that had been sent to her earlier this month by the General Assembly, which is dominated by Republicans. “We think...

The five SWAT officers who shot and killed 26-year-old Jose Guerena while serving a search warrant May 5 have been cleared of any wrongdoing. The Pima County Regional SWAT team members -from four law enforcement agencies in the county - were justified in using deadly force against Guerena, according to an investigation by the Pima County Attorney's Office.

A California man who initially claimed to a local television station that he was roughed up by "SWAT team" members who allegedly battered down his front door to execute a search warrant related to his estranged wife's unpaid student loans was targeted due to an ongoing probe into alleged financial aid fraud. Local law enforcement officials have thus far not commented on the Stockton man's claim to ABC News 10/KXTV that he was grabbed by the neck and placed in handcuffs in back of a patrol car for six hours as his three children looked on during execution of the...

The Monroe County District Attorney has determined four Tomah police officers acted appropriately last month when they killed a man who shot at them during a traffic stop. District Attorney Dan Cary said Tuesday the officers acted with “tremendous courage in the face of life-threatening gunfire” April 22 when they fatally shot 28-year-old Seth M. McCloskey of Ohio.

(Reuters) - French special forces have detained Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo and handed him to leaders of the rebel opposition, after French tanks forced their way into his residence, a Gbagbo adviser in France said.

As Sgt. James Keleman rests at home following surgery, Conroe Police today released the video of the incident. Saturday afternoon Sgt. James Keleman responded to the Discount Bakery in the #00 block of North Loop 336. As he pulls in the driveway he sees the man with the gun. Several times he tells him to put the gun down. “Put the gun down and we will talk,” Kelleman told the gunman. The gunman moves around the red car several times taking a bead on the officer, then he fires, you see the puff of smoke and then the officer yells...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 30, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - House Speaker John Boehner has told White House officials that GOP lawmakers in the lower chamber will not agree to remove a series of GOP-sponsored budget cuts, including one stripping federal funds for Planned Parenthood, from the budget bill, according to a Politico report Wednesday. Capitol Hill appears headed for another stiff battle over abortion funding, which may even become the make-or-break issue in the budget battle, as it did in the long fight over the federal health care reform bill. After weeks of pressure from both the pro-life and pro-abortion lobby, and...

The Audacious Epigone has a post up, Republicans are more scientifically literate than Democrats or independents are, where he reviews pro vs. anti-science attitude by party in the General Social Survey. He concludes that in fact Republicans are more scientifically literate across the issues than Democrats. Jason Malloy saw this trend four years ago in the GSS, and to some extent so have I. One point to keep in mind is that a few specific politicized scientific issues are very much the outliers in exhibiting tight partisan valences in opinion.

Because of George Stephanopoulos' terrible interview with Pastor Rob Bell this morning on GMA, I present to you a real interview.