Free Republic

When it comes to Christmas, Gov. Deval Patrick is a “happy holidays” kind of guy.I mean, if the bar exam had had a political correctness section on it, it wouldn’t have taken Deval three tries to pass it. As you know, it’s important never, ever to mention the name of a Christian holiday, because you might offend somebody.

Yet another student has landed in trouble for having something that represents a weapon, but isn’t actually anything like a real weapon. This time it’s an autistic middle school student in South Carolina who was suspended until further notice after he brought a cartoonish drawing of a bomb he drew to school, reports local NBC affiliate WYFF. The student, 13-year-old Rhett Parham, showed his drawing to some older students at Hill Crest Middle School in Greenville. They reported it to school officials. They boy said he got the idea to draw the bomb from a video game called Bomberman Hero....

Bacon might be the least “ninja” ingredient out there. Aside from being bright-ass red, its scent alone has the power to send every fat kid (or fat kid at heart) running from within at least a three mile radius. Still, we wouldn’t want our ninja burgers made any other way. Starting October 25, Burger King Japan is rolling out a black-bunned hamburger called the “Black Ninja.” Like most of the country’s other chromatically-challenged eats, the BN gets its hue from the bamboo charcoal used to make it, which in this case, also happens to impart a nice smoky smell. But...

It started off as a normal morning at Great Clips in San Jose, with employees snipping away and customers enjoying a trim. Then, just before 10 a.m., a customer with a pale purple Saturn - and a San Jose Sharks license plate frame - slammed into the hair salon at 2980 East Capitol Expressway, according to police Sgt. Heather Randol. The driver was pulled out of the car, but Randol said neither he nor anyone inside the salon was hurt. His name or age hasn't been released. Hairdresser Teresa Phuouc was in the salon at the time. "I don't know...

Police are trying to figure out how the hell they lost track of a 20-year-old female prisoner who wiggled her way out of her handcuffs and casually walked out of the Police Department over the weekend. The bizarre incident happened at about 5:40 p.m. on Sunday when the suspect was brought into the Northern Police Station for questioning about a car burglary. However, the suspect, later identified as Sonya Espinoza, lied to the cops about her identity and then declined to be interviewed. After the cops learned her real name, they also learned she had a no-bail warrant and was...

Mountain View police bust a nationwide drug ring and they did it with the help of a three year old lab named ZuesWhen it comes to sniffing-out illegal drugs, no nose may be better than the nose of a dog named Zeus. Zeus has only been a member of Mountain View's police force for 18 months, but in that time he's compiled quite the resume helping get mounds of drugs off the streets. "He has his own badge and probably the most popular person inside the station," said Police Chief Scott Vermeer. While that may be tough for the police...

A Florida woman posed as a teen to seduce a 14-year-old boy into a seedy sexual relationship before choking him when he tried to leave her home, police said. Naomi Dixon, 31, allegedly pretended she was just 17 after meeting the boy at a party near her home in Deltona.

On the 13th floor of a haunted house in Arizona, one woman was given a much bigger surprise than zombies or skeletons: a ring.

WINTER HAVEN — For more than a year, Rebecca Ann Sedwick's bullies tormented the girl by calling her ugly and urging her drink bleach to die. The harassment didn't stop — even after Rebecca's parents moved the 12-year-old Lakeland girl to a different middle school. The bullies reached her on her smartphone. Rebecca brought it all to an end by jumping to her death from a silo at an abandoned concrete factory Sept. 10. But even after her suicide, the cruelty didn't cease, family members and investigators say. 15 girls identified after cyber-bullied girl jumps to her death in Lakeland...

A German couple's marriage got off to a rocky start when the groom forgot his bride at a highway gas station on the way home from their honeymoon, only noticing she was missing after hours had passed.

The victim was slashed after refusing to give the man more than $1A Long Island panhandler was arrested Sunday after allegedly slashing a man who had just given him money, tossing a brick through a store window and showing up at the same hospital where his victim was being treated. The suspect approached the man on Meacham Avenue near the Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont about 3 a.m. and asked the man repeatedly for money, Nassau County police say. The victim gave the suspect $1, but the panhandler asked for more when he saw extra cash in the victim’s wallet. When...

School “zero tolerance” policies claimed another victim as Massachusetts high school student Erin Cox was suspended from her volleyball team after giving an intoxicated friend a ride home from a party. Police determined that Cox had not consumed alcohol, and agreed that the honors student had only come to a party featuring underage drinking in order to make sure a friend got home safely. But Andover High School decided to punish Cox anyway, determining that she had violated the school district’s zero tolerance policy against drug and alcohol use. Cox was demoted from her position as captain of the volleyball...

MECCA (CBSLA.com) — A 34-year-old Riverside County woman was behind bars Tuesday on charges that she killed her newborn child. Esmeralda Gonzalez Martinez, of Thermal, was arrested Monday for voluntary manslaughter and willful harm to a child. On Monday morning, Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a home in the 65200 block of Cahuilla Street in Mecca regarding a deceased baby. “The investigation found that it appears the baby was born and died at the location,” Sgt. Jeff Buompensiero said. Martinez was transported to a local hospital for treatment and later arrested. The cause of the child’s death was under...

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - An off-duty Richland County sheriff's deputy is in hot water after allegedly assaulting a woman, handcuffing her and slamming her head into a table at a Columbia restaurant on Monday. Columbia police arrested 49-year-old Deputy Paul Allen Derrick at Buffalo Wild Wings on Devine Street and charged him with assault. The incident happened just after 11 p.m. According to a Columbia Police Department incident report, Derrick approached a female soldier from Fort Jackson who appeared to be upset. The report states the 23-year-old showed no interest in Derrick and the two started arguing. Police say Derrick,...

THE dog had been living on the streets of Los Angeles for so long, she featured on a pavement in Google Street View. The golden retriever was a pitiful sight, with matted hair, a pronounced limp and forced to live on rubbish and scraps left by neighbours. Local Patrick Pettinger, had named her Sonya and had begun to feed her. But it was only when he pulled up Google Street View to show his girlfriend, Jennifer Velesquez, where he worked, that Sonya's presence on the Google Maps street footpath spurred him into action. Mr Pettinger had spoken about Sonya to...

Last Wednesday, the weather was sunny and warm at Bob Fortune's cattle ranch in Belvidere, S.D. On Thursday, it started raining. By Friday night, the rain had turned to snow. By the weekend, the snow turned to a blizzard with 60 mile an hour winds. By the weekend, Fortune says, "the cattle just couldn't stand the cold anymore, and they just started dying." Only a year after sweeping drought left ranchers across South Dakota desperate for feed, this week they're just beginning to reckon with a freak early snowstorm, dubbed Winter Storm Atlas, that wiped out an estimated 10 percent...

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Vermont has the highest rate of illicit drug use in the country with 15% of people saying they've used within the past month (compared to 4.2% in Utah, where illicit drug use is the lowest), according to 2010-2011 surveys from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Northeastern state ranked high for almost every type of drug, from marijuana to cocaine. This trend is a consequence of factors including weather, politics, and proximity to big cities, according to Barbara Cimaglio, the Vermont Department of Health's deputy commissioner for alcohol and drug abuse programs. "You have everything from the...

As reported by WWLTV, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Associated Press, among other outlets, two referees who were working the St. Paul's School (Covington, La.) against Mandeville High (Mandeville, La.) football game were arrested on intimidation charges related to threats they allegedly made against a Covington police officer during the course of the game. The officer in question then reported the threat and shortly thereafter, both officials were escorted off the field by a group of three other police officers. The delay occurred in the middle of the third quarter of what eventually became a 20-3 St. Paul's victory....

HOUSTON - The six law enforcement officers accused of taking part in an illegal horse racing and gambling operation in Crosby appeared in court Monday morning. The six officers involved are from four different agencies and include: Carlos Garza, a reserve deputy for the Maverick County Sheriff's Office Edward Scott, a reserve for the Fort Bend County Deputy Precinct 2 Constable's Office David Green, a reserve for the Fort Bend County Deputy Precinct 2 Constable's Office Richard Rene Rivera, a DPS State Trooper Joel Garcia, a deputy for the Harris County Constable's Office Secar Guadelupe Rangel, a deputy for the...

A San Francisco man who was feared dead after going missing in Mendocino National Forest for nearly three weeks survived alone in the wilderness on a diet of squirrels, lizards, frogs and snakes, his family said. Gene Penaflor, 72, was found alive by a group of hunters Saturday morning at the bottom of a canyon about three miles from where he first disappeared while hunting. "Basically, he ate whatever he needed to survive," his son, Jeremey Penaflor, 31, said of the 18-day disappearance. The elderly hunter was reported missing on Sept. 24 when he didn't show up for a planned...

Philip Franchine of The Green Valley News notes that property on and near downtown's Fourth Avenue is getting snatched up by a religious group with UFO tenets—and that has been accused of being a cult: Why all this activity in Tucson? “We fully intend to take this message to the entire world,” Lilly said. “While Tumacacori is great for agriculture, Tucson has a large student population and they need a society like we have — that is drug-free, alcohol-free and environmentally conscious.” Global Community has attracted young people from around the world who seek to learn sustainable farming and ranching...

More than 1,000 old concrete buildings in Los Angeles and hundreds more throughout the county may be at risk of collapsing in a major earthquake, according to a Times analysis. By the most conservative estimate, as many as 50 of these buildings in the city alone would be destroyed, exposing thousands to injury or death. A cross-section of the city lives and works in them: seamstresses in downtown factories, white-collar workers in Ventura Boulevard high-rises and condo dwellers on Millionaires' Mile in Westwood. Despite their sturdy appearance, many older concrete buildings are vulnerable to the sideways movement of a major...

Restaurant owner posts racially-charged sign Sign quickly changed after several complaints UPDATED 7:44 PM CDT Oct 12, 2013 ROGERS, Ark. —A sign with a political message at a restaurant in Rogers had some community members up in arms. The sign at Smokin’ Joe’s Ribhouse has been changed. It says “Why cook? Get some carry out.” But that was not the message on the sign Friday night. A viewer supplied 40/29 News with a photo of the sign before it was changed. It said "Obamacare America's Punishment for Slavery Years." “I apologize for the sign. It’s offending people, as it...

A Sarnia man refuted his alcohol breath readings in court, claiming the readings woud have been elevated after he put alcohol in his ears to test a Jesus theory.Robert D. Bourque, 55, was convicted following his trial in Sarnia court of driving while his blood-alcohol level exceeded the legal limit. He was fined $1,000.On Nov. 10, 2012, at 8 p.m. an OPP officer stopped Bourque's vehicle was because the taillights were out.Breath tests showed Bourque's blood-alcohol level was one and a quarter times the legal limit.Bourque, who represented himself, testified he had put alcohol in his ears as part of...

An argument between a 43-year-old Pawleys Island man and his 41-year-old wife turned violent Sept. 28. The man told deputies he and his wife were at a wedding reception in DeBordieu when he saw his wife “grinding up on another guy while dancing.” The man said he got upset and told his wife they were leaving. In her statement, the woman admitted she was dancing “seductively” with another man. She said her husband grabbed her by the arm and “escorted her” out of the building. The man said he did not hit his wife but she claims he hit her...

A suspected drunk driver lost control of his car early Sunday, slamming into a newly purchased Hayward home that may now have to be red-tagged, authorities said. The incident took place shortly before 2:30 a.m. in the 700 block of West Tennyson. “One of our officers was responding to another call,” said Hayward Police Lt. Jeff Lutzinger. “He was driving down Tennyson when he saw a group of citizens standing in the street. He stopped to talk with them. They pointed to the house and said a car had just crashed into it.” Hayward police said the car was going...

On a sweltering New York City day in July, 1991, a highway worker made a horrible discovery. He had noticed a putrid odor just off the Henry Hudson Parkway in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan and traced it to a dirty cooler. Among empty beer cans and debris, Baby Hope’s tortured body was found. The child had been found naked, sexually abused, starved, and asphyxiated.

Meet the newest mascot at Fukushima Industries! This cute, winged egg is the perfect face for a company that manufactures the kind of industrial refrigerators, blast chillers, freezers and refrigerated showcases that you might find in a restaurant or a supermarket. The name they chose for this little egghead, though, probably needed a bit more work…

Two people have been transported to a local hospital following a house explosion in Moon. Moon police confirmed that the pair was injured in an explosion... The victims' conditions or the cause of the explosion were not immediately available.

A Pennsylvania man called cops last night to report that his Strawberry-flavored Jell-O snack was stolen from the break room refrigerator at his workplace.

A woman is suing a police officer and the town of Skokie, Illinois, after she was seriously injured when a cop threw her into a jail cell face-first following a drunk driving arrest. Cassandra Feuerstein, 47, claims in a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday, that excessive force was used in the incident and that she needed reconstructive surgery to 'replace the bones that had been shattered' after being pushed into the cell on March 10. The video of the incident clearly shows the 47-year-old being roughly shoved into the cell by an officer, who was later identified as Michael Hart....

COVINGTON, La. -- Two referees arrested during last night's St. Paul's vs. Mandeville game in Covington have now bonded out of the St. Tammany Parish Jail. 55-year-old Christopher Gambino of River Ridge and 54-year-old James Radcliffe of Metairie are both charged with one count of Public Intimidation for their involvement in an argument with Covington Police Officers during the third quarter of the game. Both Radcliffe and Gambino are free today, after posting $5,000 signature bonds late last night.According to police and witnesses, the incident began when the Chain Crew, the volunteers holding the yard markers at the game, got...

Cobb County police have arrested and charged a suspect in the fatal shooting of a college student following a road rage incident in Kennesaw early Friday morning. Police identified the suspect as Sparkles Lindsey, 22, of Austell. Cobb jail records, however, identify her as Lindsey Sparkles Lashayla. She has been charged with murder and aggravated assault and is being held in the Cobb jail. Police say Lashayla fatally shot Kim Kilgore, 21, with a handgun in the parking lot at the Shiloh Green Apartments off Shiloh Road. Kilgore was transported to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, where she later died. The incident...

Robert Eric Fredrickson, 50, had arrived at Washington's Cowlitz County Hall of Justice to face an indecent exposure charge when he spotted a stranger's birthday cake.Mmm, birthday cake. Officers at a courthouse in Washington state arrested a man who twice lunged at a stranger’s birthday cake, covering police and the suspect with frosting. Robert Eric Fredrickson, 50, was due to appear at the Cowlitz County Hall of Justice on an indecent exposure charge, but became distracted at the sight of a child’s birthday cake as he passed through security. Michelle Flavin, who had never met Fredrickson, had bought the cake...

When London videographer Anthony Aurelius sent newlyweds Stan and Claudia Gocman unedited footage from their wedding, he didn’t realize that the video was littered with his anti-Semitic remarks. The Jewish couple haven’t accepted his sniveling, handwritten apology.A wedding videographer revealed just how vile he could be when a Jewish couple caught him making anti-Semitic remarks on their wedding video. The racist camerman, Anthony Aurelius, didn’t realize he’d kept the tape rolling while chatting with his assistant during a central London wedding shoot last year. “Mental, Israeli dancing, isn’t it? There’s a real feeling of like, they’re better than everybody else....

Join us on October 23, 2013 as we celebrate the Pritzker Military Library’s 10th Anniversary and honor our many supportive members. The celebration will begin with a reception and recognition those who have been members of the Library for five or more consecutive years. The unveiling of James Dietz’s new painting, The Crossing: The 132nd Infantry Regiment at Guadalcanal, will also take place during the celebration. Commissioned by Col (IL) J.N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired) in 2010, Dietz’s painting documents the role of the Illinois National Guard in the pivotal Battle of Guadalcanal. Dietz worked closely with the Library staff...

Security cameras planted in the Western Saudi town of Makkah appears to have caught what could be a jinn (ghost), clad in white but without a face. A Saudi newspaper said the creature was filmed by all security cameras planted inside the secretariat building in Islam’s holiest shrine. “The person was totally clad in white and was standing near one of the building’s doors but his face did not appear…it was round 3am,” Almadina Arabic language daily said, quoting sources at Makkah secretariat. The paper, which published the picture, said the creature could be a jinn but did not make...

A man who disappeared decades ago is finding out there's no easy way to come back from the dead. Donald Miller Jr. went to court this week to ask a county judge to reverse a 1994 ruling that declared him legally dead after he had vanished from his home eight years earlier. But the judge turned down his request, citing a three-year time limit for changing a death ruling. Hancock County Probate Court Judge Allan Davis called it a "strange, strange situation."

A New York State Supreme Court judge on Tuesday voided Nissan’s contract with New York Citys’ Taxi and Limousine Commission that would have forced taxicab operators to buy and use taxis based on the Nissan NV200 van. Judge Shlomo Hagler said that the commission “exceeded its authority” by awarding Nissan the exclusive ten year contract to supply New York City’s taxis. The ruling was the outcome of a lawsuit filed against the commission by the Greater New York Taxi Association. Nissan beat out Ford and a Turkish company in a 2011 competition to win the contract, part of NYC Mayor...

KERSHAW COUNTY — A teenager faces a number of charges after a Kershaw County woman said she was handcuffed and almost strip-searched by someone calling himself a sheriff’s deputy. The resident reported to the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office on Oct. 2 that a man came to her house, identified himself as a deputy and demanded that she open the door, according to a press release. Once inside, the male handcuffed the victim and told her he was there to strip-search her. The victim was able to get away by teling the suspect he would have to remove the handcuffs. When...

LEXINGTON COUNTY (SC)— A 28-year-old woman is sought by Lexington County Sheriff’s deputies following the theft of six firearms and a half-gallon of vodka. Tabitha Ann Bryant, 28, is charged with first-degree burglary. Deputies say she broke into a home on Shirway Road near Lexington on Aug. 20 and stole one .357-magnum Smith & Wesson handgun, one .22-caliber Stevens rifle, one 12-gauge shotgun, one Remington pump-action, .22-caliber rifle, one 7-mm magnum Remington rifle, with a scope, and one 30-30 rifle, with a scope. Bryant is 5-foot-5 and weighs 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She has flowers tattoos...

WHEELING -- The ex-police officer who opened fire on a federal courthouse in West Virginia was a trained shooter who knew how to kill, yet federal officials said Thursday that he waved people away moments before he started spraying bullets into the glass facade and was later shot dead by law enforcement. Neither the FBI nor federal prosecutors would discuss the motive for 55-year-old Thomas J. Piccard's assault. But two possible theories emerged as investigators gathered evidence and neighbors revealed that Piccard had recently told them he was dying of cancer. U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld said the building being the...

Police say a teen girl set her ex-boyfriend up to be robbed and kidnapped by a group that included her new beau — a 17-year-old who made headlines last year after allegedly shooting at his estranged father during a chance reunion with him. Artavious Malone, released from jail June 25 after a jury found him not guilty of attempted murder in the 2012 shooting, is now locked up again. Also nabbed in connection with the Riviera Beach robbery and kidnapping was 23-year-old Timothy Kyles of Wellington, the teenage girl and her friend. Both 17 at the time of the crime,...

San Jose State University students were on lockdown Thursday morning at Sweeney Hall after someone called in a report about seeing a man with a gun. SJSU spokeswoman Pat Harris said only Sweeney Hall was on lockdown after a "credible" report with a white man wearing all black clothes, possibly armed with a handgun was seen walking near the hall. Student Jonathan Aguayo told NBC Bay Area that he saw the man, and it looked like he was carrying a rifle. About 10:30 a.m., an NBC Bay Area photographer witnessed an undercover femal police officer detaining a man - wearing...

And here we thought we'd never feel better than the time we witnessed a tow truck get a parking ticket. Until now. We came across this gem of a Twitter pic today that shows what twitter user @HurlyMcDingus says is in fact a parking ticket on a police patrol car illegally parked in Bernal Heights. Look: We had no idea that cops could get tickets of any kind, so we emailed the SFPD media team to give them a heads up about the apparent defector within the Department of Parking and Traffic. It's certainly not the first time a cop...

A 19-year-old St. Paul man is charged after a woman had her iPhone stolen and was then held down and urinated on. According to the criminal complaint, the woman was approached by a silver-colored vehicle with four black men wearing wigs around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. She was standing in the 500 block of Farrington Street talking on her phone. They pretended to ask for directions, and when the woman came closer they pulled her toward the car and took her iPhone. Three other men got out of the vehicle and one of them pulled her by the hair to the...

If you thought the Shutdown Follies couldn’t get any more absurd and spiteful, you were quite mistaken. It was announced today that an annual sandcastle contest on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach has been cancelled out of sheer malice by the Obama administration, despite the fact that the beach on which it is held — part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area — normally has no lifeguards, no rangers, is permanently open to the public, and requires no funds for day-to-day operations:

Investigators, even scientists, have never seen anything like it. The new synthetic drug called Crazy Clown is now linked to deaths across the country.

HOPKINTON — A safe full of fireworks and an acetylene torch caused an explosion that took the lives of two men who police said were attempting an early morning burglary at a landscaping company. Lucas Burke, 21, of Allenstown and Ethan Keeler, 20, of Epsom died in a blast at New Yard Landscaping at 67 Farrington Corner Road. According to the state fire marshal’s office, “the two males were attempting to gain entry into a closed metal container which contained consumer fireworks using an oxy-acetylene cutting torch when the blast occurred. The investigation has revealed that the two victims did...