Free Republic

WESTVILLE — Dr. Deborah Birx stressed the need for cooperation, a sense of community and continued research and learning in addressing this pandemic and future ones. Birx, who served as White House coronavirus response coordinator, gave an overview of the pandemic from her insider’s perspective Sunday as part of the Purdue Northwest Sinai Forum speakers series. Birx’s lecture, and the question-and-answer period afterward, showed she is still concerned about learning lessons from the response to the pandemic, both during the Trump administration and now in the Biden administration. “I think I can read between the lines and realize how totally...

A former Democrat politician who voted to fund the nation’s largest abortion chain is slated to become President Joe Biden’s new United States ambassador to the Vatican. Breitbart reports Biden recently nominated former U.S. Sen. Joseph Donnelly to the role. Donnelly, who is Catholic, represented Indiana in the U.S. Senate from 2013 to 2019 and the U.S. House from 2007 to 2013. Donnelly’s nomination likely will be confirmed in the U.S. Senate in the coming weeks without controversy. Previously, Callista Gingrich, a pro-life Catholic appointed by President Donald Trump, served in the role. Though Donnelly says he is pro-life, he...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - All students at the University of Notre Dame will be required to get a flu shot this fall. According to the Observer, students received an email about the decision on Wednesday, saying it’s an effort to reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses on campus. To help students get the flu vaccine, the campus will hold two flu blitzes next month. If students get the shot off campus, they will have to provide proof to the University by November 1 or face a hold on their class registration for the next semester. The school says religious...

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday afternoon announced that a grand jury indicted Tonya Robinson, the former executive director of the South Bend Housing Authority, and four others in a scheme that defrauded the U.S. government of millions of dollars. The indictment says payments to the contractors totaled $5.8 million "over the course of the scheme." The money went to the "personal use and benefit" of the defendants, according to the indictment, including "spending the proceeds at local casinos." Robinson, 58, who ran the authority from 2014 until she was fired in September 2019, made cash deposits into her personal bank accounts...

REO Speedwagon presented LaTonya Floyd, George Floyd’s sister, with a platinum plaque Friday for the Floyds’ favorite song, “Keep On Loving You.” LaTonya, 52, said the last time she spoke with George, the two sang REO Speedwagon’s 1980 No. 1 hit to each other, People magazine reported. The band heard the story, and lead singer Kevin Cronin joined a vigil for George in Houston on Friday, according to People. Cronin and LaTonya sang “Keep On Loving You” together. Afterward, Cronin gave LaTonya the song’s platinum plaque for selling more than 1 million copies.

Mike Pence’s political career is over. That at least is the opinion of the Republican-controlled Indiana Senate, which unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday congratulating the former vice president and Indiana governor on his “retirement.” Senate Resolution 33 declares the Senate honors Pence “upon his retirement" and "thanks him for his many years of service to the state of Indiana and the United States of America.”

President Joe Biden ordered flags at the White House to be lowered in remembrance of the eight victims killed in shootings in the Atlanta area. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to the area Friday, the White House announced. A planned political event has been postponed, and they will instead meet with Asian-American and other local leaders.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Notre Dame Student Bar Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee sent a newsletter celebrating Women’s History month by ignoring arguably the most esteemed attorney the school has ever produced, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett (who happens to be a woman). The publication pictures every other female Supreme Court Justice in the history of the country. There is no mention of Barrett, who not only graduated summa cum lade from the Notre Dame Law School, she also taught at the school for nearly two decades and was named the “distinguished professor of the year” on 3...

Corey Barsky was more than a little miffed Tuesday night when he saw a giant Biden-Harris logo projected on the façade of the towering Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh’s Oakland campus. Barsky, who is vice chair of the Pitt College Republicans, said the projection that included the United Steelworkers logo and a line urging viewers to “Plan to Vote” was visible for nearly two hours. He said the display seemed out of line with policies the university invoked this month when it denied his group’s request to plant small American flags around the Cathedral lawn to mark...

MACKINAC BRIDGE, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) — The Coast Guard and Michigan State Police are asking the public for any information to help identify a private aircraft that flew underneath the Mackinac Bridge during a busy travel weekend. Specifically, detectives are looking for clear photos, video, or other information that might help them identify the aircraft. "This was extremely reckless behavior on the part of the pilot, and it imperiled the safety of everyone on the bridge that day,” State Police Detective Sgt. Gary Demers said. “We hope that someone can come forward with information to help us make sure it doesn't...

MISHAWAKA, Ind. (WNDU) - A 48-year-old is being charged for allegedly driving into a group of protesters on the Fourth of July. It happened on the Main Street Bridge in Mishawaka. The St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office is charging Glenn Wheet with felony criminal recklessness. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. Police say they used videos the public provided to file charges against Wheet. If he is convicted of the crime, he could spend up to two-and-a-half years behind bars.

A viral clip from comedian Jimmy Kimmel was edited to remove some important context. On his Thursday night show, late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel used a clip of Pence at the nursing home to suggest there was nothing inside the boxes. "Since it was going so well and also because he didn't realize he had a mic on, Magic Mike decided to keep it going," said Kimmel. "Listen in closely here." Kimmel then cut to video showing the vice president inquiring about the last boxes in the van before being told they were empty. "Well, can I carry the empty ones?...

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has issued a sweeping curfew order on all liquor sales across Chicago, banning sales after 9 p.m. in the city’s latest attempt to curb the coronavirus pandemic. “This is not punitive. It’s protective," Lightfoot said. Earlier in the week, Lightfoot first floated the idea of enacting new rules to stop Chicagoans from congregating outside of liquor stores. Lightfoot’s liquor store curfew is the latest step taken by the city to stem COVID-19. On March 26, she closed Chicago’s lakefront, The 606 elevated trail and the Riverwalk after widespread flouting of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order. At...

HOBART — Felony charges have been filed against a Hobart couple accused of driving twin boys off the road because they had pro-Trump flags attached to their bicycles, authorities said. Snapchat videos helped officers secure charges against Kyren Gregory Perry-Jones, 23, and Cailyn Marie Smith, 18, in connection with a July 22 incident, police said. "Y'all scared, just like your president ... America is not great, (expletive)," Smith could allegedly be heard saying on a Snapchat video obtained by police during the incident. At one point, Perry-Jones asked one of the boys if he was a Trump fan, and he...

The grandfather of tragic Chloe Wiegand was 'unquestionably' aware that he was dangling the toddler out of an open window before she plunged to her death from the 11th deck of a cruise ship, a new court filing alleges. Royal Caribbean says Salvatore Anello would only have had to use his 'basic senses' to appreciate the danger this posed to 18-month-old Chloe, who died instantly when she landed on a concrete dock in San Juan, Puerto Rico on July 7. 'There was no 'hidden danger - Mr Anello knew the window was open,' the cruise operator boldly states in documents...

Even if you hate the snow, it could benefit Busch Beer drinkers in Michigan. Busch Beer said Wednesday that for every inch of snow that falls throughout the season, Michiganders will get $1 off of Busch products. They are basing the totals off a specific city for each state. For Michigan, that city is Grand Rapids. Other cities include Green Bay, Wisconsin; Des Moines, Iowa; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Buffalo, New York. There are seven cities in the United States where Busch is tracking snowfall totals. Check out the running totals per state at busch.com/snow-day.html. The snowfall totals go back to...

SOUTH BEND — African-American leaders gathered Wednesday night to counter what they said was a national media narrative that Mayor Pete Buttigieg has little support from black city residents. They talked about Buttigieg programs aimed at helping neighborhoods, and they relayed stories of their positive experiences with his administration during his two terms as mayor. But it didn’t take long for lingering divisions in the city to surface. Protesters from Black Lives Matter South Bend frequently interrupted the event as they stood in the back of a room at the Charles Martin Youth Center, holding signs and yelling things to...

Robservations on the media beat: Courtney Gousman Is this a racist image? The depiction of a noose over an automobile’s gas tank cover prompted a reporter for Tribune Broadcasting WGN-Channel 9 to say it made her “sick to my stomach.” “Saw this on the way home from work and it made me furious, afraid, and sick to my stomach,” Courtney Gousman wrote on Twitter and Facebook Sunday. “Given the history of the noose and how it was used to murder black Americans, this image speaks volumes — no matter how it’s explained away because it’s plastered on a gas tank....

Eight Chicago restaurants have come together to respond to a recent surge in anti-abortion legislation in states including Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and Ohio with an eight-week event to raise funds for charities that support reproductive rights. Eight Weeks for Access runs from June 15 through August 3, and participants are Red and White Wines, Café Marie-Jeanne, Lula Café, Cellar Door Provisions, Middle Brow Bungalow, Four Letter Word Coffee, Whiner Beer, and Letherbee Distillers. Each participant is offering a menu item that benefits a range of organizations, including Alabama’s Yellowhammer Fund, Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund, the New Orleans Abortion Fund, and...

Insensitive, hard-nosed male legislators, in a score of state legislatures, are involved in passing bans with draconian punishment of doctors on the abortion of fetuses with a heartbeat. They hope that these extreme laws will impel the Supreme Court to take up and possibly overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision. I am a 93-year-old retired Catholic priest with terminal cancer. I believe that I must speak the truth in love to the above male leaders and their followers. ... I have been very angry at both the extreme pro-choice advocates who say that, until birth, the fetus is...