Free Republic

More people are moving out of New Jersey than are moving in. The same is true for Illinois and New York. Those three states top the "outbound" list compiled by United Van Lines, the big St. Louis-based moving company that has put together an annual survey of where Americans are moving for the last 37 years. The company analyzed a total of 125,000 moves across the 48 continental states and the District of Columbia in 2013 and came up with a picture of migration patterns across the U.S. According to Professor Michael Stoll, chair of the Department of Public Policy...

MIAMI — The donations kept pouring in: hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to President Obama and more than a dozen members of Congress, carefully routed through the families of two wealthy brothers in Florida. They had good reason to be generous. The two men, Roberto and William Isaias, are fugitives from Ecuador, which has angrily pressed Washington to turn them over, to no avail. A year after their relatives gave $90,000 to help re-elect Mr. Obama, the administration rejected Ecuador’s extradition request for the men, fueling accusations that such donations were helping to keep the brothers and...

PORTLAND, Ore. — A crazed cat is behind bars after it attacked a baby and held an Oregon family hostage in a bedroom, forcing them to call 911. According to KPTV, the ferocious feline — a 22-pound Himalayan named Lux — “went over the edge” Sunday evening after it was punished for scratching a couple’s 7-month-old baby. The baby was not injured. When the peeved pet began charging at its owners, the family and their dog hid in a bedroom, where they called 911. "He's got kind of a history of violence," the caller said, adding that the cat continued...

The Health and Human Services inspector general (IG) will launch an investigation into the failed ObamaCare exchange in Maryland, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) announced Monday. “Maryland officials ignored early warning signs and chose to waste and abuse federal taxpayer money by opening up what they knew was a flawed exchange to the public,” he wrote in a statement. “I have confidence that the nonpartisan and independent HHS Inspector General will thoroughly investigate and bring to light how hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted on one of the worst exchange roll outs in the country,” he added. An official with...

Carlos Salamanca fled Venezuela's growing political turmoil in January with his wife, two teenage children and $7,000. Two months into their journey to the United States, he and his wife are sleeping most nights in an old, worn Nissan. Salamanca had no family or business contacts in the U.S. No property he'd purchased on a previous trip. No idea where the children might attend school. "Once we started getting threats, we couldn't take it anymore," he said of the family's last days in Venezuela. Early waves of Venezuelan immigrants who fled after the late President Hugo Chavez and his socialist...

“Give me a bite of your burrito,” Mahamed Abdi, 24, allegedly demanded of a stranger noshing Saturday afternoon outside a Seattle restaurant. When the burrito owner declined Abdi’s request (and remarked “That is rude”), Abdi pushed him and again demanded a bite of the Mexican food favorite. As the diner then arose from his seat, Abdi allegedly punched him in the forehead and fled on foot, according to a Seattle Police Department report. Witnesses described the attacker as a black male in his 20s wearing “a gray ‘beanie’ and white fur coat.” Cops subsequently caught up to Abdi as he...

Bad news for burrito lovers: Chipotle warned in its latest annual report that climate change might lead it to leave guacamole out of its burritos and bowls. The chain blames the possible change on higher prices. “In the event of cost increases with respect to one or more of our raw ingredients we may choose to temporarily suspend serving menu items, such as guacamole or one or more of our salsas, rather than paying the increased cost for the ingredients.” The company acknowledged such a move would be a massive disappointment to some of its customers. But, as ThinkProgress points...

PITTSBURGH--An estimated 300 workers and bused-in labor activists tied up Pittsburgh traffic when they marched downtown to rally outside the corporate offices of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Monday's rally follows demonstrations outside the same building last week when police cited nine demonstrators for trespassing. The activists from the Service Employees International Union, which is trying to organize some of the hospital network's workers, and others were also pressing for higher wages for cooks, custodians and other blue-collar health workers.

PITTSBURGH —A female bald eagle defended her nest and the three eggs inside it from an intruding raccoon late Wednesday night. PixController, which is providing a live-stream camera of the nest, captured the close call near the Monongahela River in Hays. (Mobile users: Click here to watch the video) The video showed the eagle being startled by the raccoon before she sprung up and spread her wings. After only a few seconds, the raccoon fled the nest and the mother settled back down. It's not believed any of the three eggs inside were harmed. The 5 1/2-year-old female laid the...

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh former police chief Nathan Harper was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison for conspiring to create an unauthorized slush fund from which he spent more than $30,000 on himself. U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon handed down the sentence Tuesday morning. She also ordered 61-year-old Harper on Tuesday to repay $31,986 from the fund that he spent on himself. Target 11 investigator Rick Earle was in the courtroom for the sentencing hearing. Earle reported that Harper made an emotional apology moments before the judge handed down his sentence. “I am a broken man,” Harper said. “I...

SUGARCREEK, Pa. —An act of charity may end badly for one donor to a Pennsylvania Salvation Army outlet. Sugarcreek Borough police say they were called when workers found a large plastic bag of marijuana among some donated clothes. Police Chief Matt Carlson tells the (Oil City) Derrick (http://bit.ly/1gnLZm2 ) he suspects the owner of the drugs has noticed them missing by now, if only because the bag contained a "substantial quantity" of pot. Police were working with store employees to determine who donated the clothes and when. Police say the drugs were found earlier this week.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A group of community leaders expressed their support today, for a teacher evaluation system within the Pittsburgh Schools. The evaluation system is being funded by a $40 million grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But the money is in jeopardy because of opposition by the teachers union. Gathering in the cold, community leaders and parents called on the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers to adopt high standards of evaluation — saying lower standards hurt teachers, parents. “And most especially, lowering the bar isn’t good for our children who deserve the highest quality education we can provide...

A Hollywood actor was spared the real-life role of victim in a fatal shooting because he failed to show up for a Midtown meeting that turned into a hit on a drug-dealing associate, The Post has learned. Quran Pender, 35, and his alleged partner, Brandon Woodard, 31, along with a third unidentified accomplice, were invited to the Big Apple in December 2012 by their Queens associates to discuss their coast-to-coast cocaine operation, law-enforcement sources said. But Woodard, a law student, made the trip to New York alone and was murdered execution-style by a gunman in broad daylight on busy West...

300 students have signed a petition to have the creepy, yet lifelike statue removed. In part, the petition reads; "This highly realistic sculpture has, within just a few hours of its outdoor installation, become a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for many members of our campus community. While it may appear humorous, or thought-provoking to some, it has already become a source of undue stress for many Wellesley College students, the majority of whom live, study, and work in this space." The Boston Globe reports the piece is called "Sleepwalker," it was put up to...

Many workers may opt to work less to retain their eligibility for Medicaid or federal subsidies under Obamacare, a new report has found. The Affordable Care Act could reduce the labor force by the equivalent of 2.5 million workers in 2024, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office's annual outlook. That doesn't mean employers will start swinging the ax or even that that many jobs will be lost, CBO says. Rather, more people will likely opt to reduce their hours, or leave the workforce entirely, so they stay under the income caps for Medicaid and federal subsidies.

LONDON — Fashion icon Kate Middleton won’t be having anymore wardrobe malfunctions if Queen Elizabeth has her way. According to The Mail on Sunday, the queen has ordered the Duchess of Cambridge to wear lower hemlines during a 3½-week trip to Australia this spring. The royal makeover won’t just focus on toning down Kate’s leggy style. The duchess also will wear more tiaras and statement jewelry “favored by the Queen and Queen Mother,” the Mail reported.

President Barack Obama said that he is “in a lot of ways” less liberal than former Republican President Richard Nixon and said Fox News Channel's Bill O’Reilly has been “absolutely” unfair to him throughout his presidency in an interview that aired Monday night. “In a lot of ways Richard Nixon was more liberal than I was,” Obama said. “He started the EPA, started a whole lot of the regulatory state that has helped keep our air and water clean.” Obama's comments came in response to O'Reilly asking him if he was “the most liberal president of all time.” Obama also...

EAST LIBERTY, Pa. — A 26-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday after police said undercover agents purchased heroin from the woman while she was working at the East Liberty McDonald’s. According to Mike Manko, a spokesperson for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala, authorities received information that heroin was being sold by an employee at the McDonald’s Restaurant on Penn Avenue in the Bakery Square section of East Liberty. Manko said several law enforcement officers set up a controlled buy at the restaurant Wednesday. Investigators said the customer looking for heroin was instructed to go through the drive-through lane and say,...

More African-Americans are being squeezed out of the housing market. Not only are they less likely to apply for a mortgage than any other ethnic group, but African-Americans are also 2.4 times more likely to get denied a mortgage than Whites, a recent study conducted by Zillow and the National Urban League found.

Officials said President Barack Obama will visit a western Pennsylvania steel plant after delivering this week's State of the Union address. A White House spokesman said Sunday that the president will travel to U.S. Steel's Irvin plant in West Mifflin on Wednesday to deliver remarks on the economy. The company said the Irvin plant produces sheet metal products from the steel slabs produced at the Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock. Obama will also be visiting the Washington suburbs of Prince George's County, Md. on Wednesday and will go to Milwaukee and Nashville on Thursday.