Free Republic

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

Republicans gathered in St. Joseph Saturday night regarded differences within their party not as fractiousness but a sign of good health leading to this year’s elections. Gathered at the annual Buchanan County Lincoln-Reagan Dinner at the St. Joseph Country Club, GOP officeholders and office-seekers called the party energized statewide and nationally. The fact that so many races have produced hard-fought primaries only means a broader base of support for the general elections against Democrats, they said. Missouri U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt said primaries prove a testing ground for candidates at all levels. “I think we’ll see that in the (U.S.)...

Santorum Delivers a GOP Stunner Former Senator Wins in Minnesota, Missouri; Romney Campaign Plays Down Nonbinding Contests By NEIL KING JR. And DANNY YADRON DENVER—Rick Santorum jolted the Republican presidential race Tuesday by winning nominating contests in Missouri and Minnesota, puncturing Mitt Romney's claim to be the unstoppable front-runner. Mr. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, was running neck and neck with Mr. Romney in preliminary returns from Colorado, a state Mr. Romney won by a wide margin in 2008. With about 70% of the Colorado vote counted, Mr. Santorum had 38%, to 36% for Mr. Romney. Four years ago, Mr....

WASHINGTON — Rick Santorum faced an important opportunity Tuesday to become the chief conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, as he was poised for possibly strong showings in Republican presidential contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, was expected to remain the front-runner for the GOP nomination whatever happened Tuesday, thanks to his huge advantages in campaign cash and organization and his impressive earlier wins in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada. But late polls showed Santorum surging, although polls are notoriously weak at forecasting caucus results, because caucus turnout tends to be low and to require unusually...

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman is charged with extortion in an alleged plot to get Discovery Communications Inc. to cancel the TLC show "19 Kids and Counting" or pay her $10,000 in exchange for not revealing compromising photos of a cast member, according to federal court documents. Teresa Hunt, of Bettendorf, is accused of threatening to release photos of a cast member in "apparently intimate situations" to a magazine. Hunt was arrested Feb. 1 after she apparently sent television executives typed and handwritten letters demanding the show be canceled, along with a business card for "Perfect Pictures." The...

Alyssa Bustamante A Missouri teenager who told authorities she wanted to know what it felt like to kill pleaded guilty Tuesday to murder, telling a judge that she strangled a 9-year-old neighbor with her hands, stabbed her in the chest and cut her throat with a knife. Alyssa Bustamante pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Oct. 21, 2009, killing of Elizabeth Olten in St. Martins, a rural town just west of Jefferson City. -Snip- Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce then asked Bustamante to describe what she did. “I strangled her and stabbed her in...

A central Missouri teenager who confessed to strangling, cutting and stabbing a 9-year-old girl because she wanted to know how it felt to kill someone was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Bustamante was 15 years old when she confessed to strangling Elizabeth, repeatedly stabbing her in the chest and slicing the girl's throat. She led police to the shallow grave where she had concealed Elizabeth's body under a blanket of leaves in the woods behind their neighborhood. "I know words," she said, pausing to take a deep breath and struggling to compose herself, "can...

Did Tuesday’s results matter? Nowhere near as much as the results from Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida mattered. But primary campaigns rarely reach stasis; momentum shifts, ebbs, and flows, and the trio of contests yesterday offered a few hints that the storyline will change once again.Rick Santorum is on the verge of overtaking Newt Gingrich as the anti-Romney alternative.Santorum began this contest as the man of the hour, the little engine that could in a sweater-vest who challenged and beat the much-better-funded Mitt Romney . . . and yet he has, at the moment, an entire three...

His candidacy all but dismissed just days ago, Rick Santorum won the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses and a nonbinding primary in Missouri on Tuesday, an unexpected trifecta that raised fresh questions about Mitt Romney’s ability to corral conservative support. With his triumphs, Mr. Santorum was also suddenly presenting new competition to Newt Gingrich as the chief alternative to Mr. Romney, the front-runner. Where Mr. Gingrich has won one state, South Carolina, Mr. Santorum has now won four, including Iowa...

DENVER — Rick Santorum had a breakthrough night on Tuesday by winning the Missouri primary and the Minnesota caucuses, breathing life into his struggling campaign and slowing Mitt Romney’s march to the Republican presidential nomination. Early returns had Santorum running two-to-one over Romney in Missouri, and the Associated Press projected he would win the state’s “beauty contest” primary, which awards no delegates but provides fresh momentum to the former Pennsylvania senator’s campaign. Romney was hoping to extend his winning streak as he tried to strengthen his claim to the mantle of the presumptive nominee, but he was bracing for a...

By MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN And NEIL KING JR. Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum handily won Missouri's primary election Tuesday night and was showing signs of strength in Minnesota's caucuses, threatening to deal national front-runner Mitt Romney a setback in two Midwestern states. With results from Colorado just trickling in, the returns from the other two states holding nominating contests Tuesday looked to give a jolt of momentum to Mr. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator.

CNN projects Rick Santorum will win the nonbinding Missouri primary. Missouri is one of three states holding contests tonight in the race for the GOP

Open for discussion.

One of the largest companies that provided home foreclosure services to lenders across the nation, DocX, has been indicted on forgery charges by a Missouri grand jury — one of the few criminal actions to follow reports of widespread improprieties against homeowners. A grand jury in Boone County, Mo., handed up an indictment Friday accusing DocX of 136 counts of forgery in the preparation of documents used to evict financially strained borrowers from their homes. Lorraine O. Brown, the company’s founder and former president, was indicted on the same charges. Employees of DocX, a unit of Lender Processing Services of...

LAS VEGAS — Newt Gingrich is wooing NASCAR voters. As he charts a possible course to the Republican nomination, aides say Gingrich will paint frontrunner Mitt Romney as the candidate of the PGA golf tour while the former House speaker pursues the blue collar mantle of Dale Earnhardt. It’s a strategy that exploits the class warfare Gingrich professes to oppose. Still, it could pay dividends once the GOP race again swings South. Gingrich sees delegate-rich Texas as a firewall in April. But he must slog through more than 30 contests before that....

Raleigh, N.C. – It looks like Mitt Romney is headed for a decisive victory in the Florida primary tonight, but beyond the Sunshine State, he has more work to do to wrap things up. Newt Gingrich still looks pretty strong in Missouri and Ohio, but the candidate with the greatest potential to challenge Romney, in the Midwest at least, is Rick Santorum. Santorum is by far the best liked of the four remaining candidates in these two states. And not only does he do well in the horseraces, but if the race is winnowed to him and Romney, he would...

With all the focus on the bruising battle between ex-house Speaker Newt Gingrich and the front-runner, Mitt Romney, very little attention is being paid to the only other contender to have won a state. That's the former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Unfortunately his victory in Iowa was hardly noticed because on the night itself it was Romney who was ahead by eight votes. The process of certifying the result shifted the total so that two and a half weeks later Santorum was officially declared the winner by a margin of 34 – but by that time the narrative had moved...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Greene County sheriff's deputies and Springfield police officers recently picked up five suspected burglars at two homes within four days. Cops said the arrests were thanks in part to alert citizens. In both instances, regular people tracked down the burglars and held them at gunpoint until officers arrived. Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson warns citizens, however, that although they might feel emboldened by a law that lets them defend themselves against intruders on their property, the law doesn't give them blanket permission to shoot an intruder. "I was fortunate that it turned out like it did....

If former House Speaker Newt Gingrich continues in the Republican primaries, not only is he doing more good than harm, he may be the only candidate left who can save the Republican Party. The Republican establishment is bound and determined that it is going to impose a Mitt Romney on us. Conservatives do not want former Gov. Mitt Romney. You see, we have danced this dance before. We had Sen. John McCain shoved down our throats in 2008. How did that work out for us? We have George W. Bush, who barely won his races, and before that we had...

Updated Full Primary/Caucus Calendar Jan 3 Iowa (caucus) 28 Delegates 28 Unbound - Allocation at State Convention Jan 10 New Hampshire (primary) 12 Delegates 12 Bound - Proportional with 10% threshold Jan 21 South Carolina (primary) 25 Delegates 25 Bound - Winner-take-all per statewide vote Jan 31 Florida (primary) 50 Delegates 50 Bound - winner-take-all per statewide vote Feb 4 Nevada (caucus) 28 Delegates 28 Bound - Allocated on results of primary Feb 4-11 Maine (caucus) 24 Delegates 24 Unbound - Convention elects delegates Feb 7 Colorado (caucus) 36 Delegates 36 Unbound - Allocated at State Convention Minnesota (caucus) 40...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. --A retired school librarian and his brother-in-law held three burglars at gunpoint until police could get to a property on West Kearney Street near West Bypass on Monday morning. The three arrested men could face burglary charges. "It was way out of character for me," said Ken Richardson, the retired librarian. Richardson said, when he saw an unfamiliar vehicle parked in his family's driveway, he knew he had to do something. The home belongs to the grandmother of Richardson's brother-in-law. "Gary grabbed his gun and said, 'Let's get in the truck and go,'" said Richardson. Richardson said the...

Former Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich lead the way in states with upcoming primaries, according to The State Column. In Ohio, Gingrich leads with 26 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 25 percent. Santorum is not far behind, with 22 percent, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul has 11 percent. Ohio’s primary election will be held on Super Tuesday, March 6. Gingrich’s name is not on the ballot in Missouri, where Santorum leads with 45 percent, followed by Romney with 34 percent...

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Mitt Romney might want to relish his likely victory in Florida because he has trouble ahead of him in Missouri and Ohio. According to a new Public Policy Polling poll, Romney is trailing Newt Gingrich 30-24 among likely Missouri caucus voters. Sandwiched in between Romney and Gingrich is Rick Santorum who polled at 28 percent in Missouri’s caucus. Missouri is voting in both a caucus and primary this year. The primary election won’t select the candidate the state is giving delegate to because Missouri was going to be penalized for moving its state election up this year....

Updated Jan. 31, 2012: Support for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has remained one of the few constants during the Republican nomination race. But as contenders to Mr. Romney have emerged and then faded, the GOP still seems hesitant to embrace him. The most recent candidate to play the Anyone But Romney role is former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who recently finished first in the party’s South Carolina primary. The National Post’s graphics team takes a look at the ups and downs of the race so far. [great grapics at source]

Tens of Thousands Waving Flags Turn Out in Cold for St. Louis Tribute to Iraq War Vets St. Louis parade on Iraq War's end draws thousands By JIM SALTER, Associated Press January 29, 2012 ST. LOUIS (AP) — Looking around at the tens of thousands of people waving American flags and cheering, Army Maj. Rich Radford was moved that so many braved a cold January wind Saturday in St. Louis to honor people like him: Iraq War veterans. The parade, borne out of a simple conversation between two St. Louis friends a month ago, was the nation's first big welcome-home...

TOPEKA -- Police chiefs from nine Kansas universities and colleges Thursday came out against a measure that would allow concealed handguns in government buildings. “We are absolutely convinced the risk created by firearms on campus exceeds any actual benefit for self-protection,” said Richard Johnson, chief of police at the University of Kansas Medical Center. “It is our professional conviction that firearms do not enhance university security, but will contradict many of the best practices already in place.” Johnson represented a group that included police chiefs from the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Wichita State, Pittsburg State, Johnson County Community...

<p>AFFTON, Mo. (AP) — Police say a small body found near a St. Louis County cemetery is that of a 1-year-old boy reported missing hours earlier from his home.</p>

(CNN) -- Five Missouri state senators, all Democrats, found stickers resembling rifle crosshairs on the doors to their capitol offices Tuesday as the legislature debated health care reform, several senators said. "This is a very open act," said Sen. Maria Chappell-Nadal, who said she was taking it as a serious threat. Police presence in the hallways of the capitol in Jefferson City was stepped up after the discovery, Chappell-Nadal said. Capitol police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol have taken the brass nameplates where the small orange stickers were placed, she said. A police spokesman would not comment to CNN....

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas City woman was able to protect herself and her home from multiple intruders over the weekend. Neighbors said three people forced their way into the woman's home in the 7600 block of Richmond Avenue. The woman is a cat lover and neighbors said the intruders scratched at the woman's door to get her attention. "They know she had a lot of cats, and they tricked her and scratched on her door," said neighbor Regina Porter. "They ambushed her." Police said the intruders were looking for the basement, where multiple firearms were stashed away in...

An increasing number of intruders in St. Louis are being gunned down by homeowners, due in part to a 2007 self-defense law known as the castle doctrine. But now, authorities are changing how they review apparent justifiable homicide cases.

In total, there were seven fatal shootings that involved the castle doctrine or other self-defense laws in St. Louis last year, compared with two in 2010. St. Louis police are changing how they handle apparent justifiable homicide cases in response to the spate of such shootings. In the past, detectives and supervisors in the St. Louis Police Department's homicide unit who thought a homicide was justified would call prosecutors to run it by them, to make sure they agreed. "If the victim was able to articulate that they thought their lives were in jeopardy, along with being supported by physical...

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON FROM 520 PM UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST. ...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION... DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER... THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS. THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF DYERSBURG TENNESSEE TO 25 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF GREENVILLE MISSISSIPPI. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU5). REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND...

A major Latino organization that canceled its planned 2009 convention in Kansas City because of a controversial appointment by former Mayor Mark Funkhouser will likely bring its 10,000-delegate event here in 2015. **SNIP** Convention officials were excited about La Raza’s reconsideration of Kansas City. “After a false start in 2009, I think it’s great to see we’ve attracted the attention of La Raza,” said Rick Hughes, president of the Convention and Visitors Association. “It’s great their giving us a second chance.”

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

Charles H. Price II, Kansas City banker, candy company executive and diplomat before the Court of St. James’s, died Thursday night in California, friends said. He was 80 years old. Price had served as President Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to Belgium and then Great Britain. He was a friend of both the Reagans as well as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He accompanied her to the scene in Scotland of the Lockerbie bombing in December 1988.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. (KMOX) - The woman who shot at an intruder in her Jefferson County home last night, allegedly had a lot of pot in her house. Jefferson County Deputies say they found “several pounds of marijuana packaged for distribution” in Judith Gilbert’s home. The 53-year-old is now in jail, charged with felony drug possession with intent to distribute. Gilbert told police that a man used pepper spray to force his way into her home last night. After she shot at him he fled…and remains at large. It’s not known if he was wounded. OUR PREVIOUS STORY: Sheriff’s investigators...

St. Louis Today reported: When is the line crossed between better health and surveillance? In early 2012, wristwatch-like devices called Polar active monitors will be used by older students in PE classes at all 18 Parkway elementary schools. District officials say the devices should help improve the students’ fitness and academic achievement. Later this school year, the district plans to collect data about activity levels and even sleep patterns for a week at a time. It will have the students wear the devices round the clock. Some parents and legal experts are raising privacy concerns about at least that aspect...

If members of Occupy Kansas City want to march in the streets next week, they’ll need to pay a $4,100 fee for police protection, police commissioners announced Friday. ****snip**** Members of the movement have camped peacefully for months in a city park south of the Liberty Memorial. At a meeting earlier this month, a lawyer representing the group asked the police to waive the cost of having officers shut down traffic near Ninth and Main streets. The lawyer, Gina Chiala, said the march would be called “The death of the social safety net,” would involve about 100 people and would...

....The move has had the most effect in Iowa. For example, it's normal to have the last debate a few days before the caucuses. When Iowa was planning to hold the caucuses on Feb.6, a Monday, a debate was planned for the Thursday before, on Feb.2. Now, with the caucuses on Jan. 3, it's just not possible to hold a debate a few days beforehand, unless Republicans wanted to do it on NewYear'sEve. So the last debate of a debate-packed season was Dec.15 -- nearly three weeks before the caucuses. Because of Florida's move, Iowa voters won't get a last...

ST. LOUIS • The St. Louis Police Department is asking officers to be especially watchful today after graffiti appearing to threaten officers was scrawled on a restaurant associated with the fatal shooting of a suspect Tuesday. Police Chief Dan Isom said officers in the Sixth District are patrolling in pairs instead of alone. That's the district where the department says officers shot and killed a man after witnessing a suspected drug transaction. The incident started at a Church's Chicken on Riverview Boulevard, and that's where graffiti appeared overnight. In addition to memorial messages for the man fatally shot by police,...

EVELY, Mo. (CBS St. Louis) — A Missouri city is fighting back against an adult sex-shop by not turning on the store’s water as the owner takes his case against the town to federal court. The battle over Don Kleinhans’ Pure Pleasure Boutique in Pevely, Mo., began more than a year ago when he applied for a business license but was denied by the town. He decided to open his store last December despite the fact of not having a business license. Pevely city administrator Jason Eisenbeis told CBS St. Louis that Kleinhans was denied a business license because the...

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

Kansas City police today identified a man killed in a botched robbery attempt Friday at a convenience store as William Rees, 33. Police did not have an address for Rees, but online court records listed an address from Ozark, Mo. Rees was paroled from a Missouri prison on Aug. 16 after serving sentences for stealing, drug trafficking and second-degree assault. Investigators said Rees entered the store about 3 p.m. Friday, announced a robbery and indicated he had a gun, according to clerks at the store at 5712 Independence Ave. As Rees reached over the counter for the money, a clerk...

This morning, an article in The Washington Times noted that Newt Gingrich’s campaign was likely to miss the Ohio filing deadline to be on the GOP primary ballot — Wednesday, December 7, 4pm EST. But that’s not the full story: that is an old deadline because the Ohio legislature recently moved its GOP presidential primary from March to June, and with it, the filing deadline. Gingrich is not missing the actual deadline. In Ohio, the deadline for filing to be on the primary ballot is 90 days before the primary, which means that the new deadline for now-scheduled June primary...

Pelosi: GOP tax bill ‘doesn't have a shot’By Mike Lillis - 12/09/11 01:01 PM ET Republican "extremism" is the only thing stopping Congress from finalizing an extension of the payroll tax cut and getting out of town for the holidays, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi charged Friday. The California Democrat hammered the tax package from House Republicans, warning that the addition of "poison pill" riders — particularly language expediting approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline — means the bill is dead on arrival. "Their proposal doesn't have a shot," Pelosi said during a brief press event in the...

Rather than squabbling over the merits of studying cold fusion or jumping to the conclusion that excess heat produced at room temperature is a nuclear reaction, the scientific community needs to back up — all the way to the top of the scientific method.

In Boston, one university has taken steps to help Muslim students maintain an important ritual: bathing before prayer ... Across the country a number of universities, including the University of Michigan in Dearborn and George Washington University in Washington D.C., have installed foot baths. So have two airports, the Indianapolis Airport and KCI Airport in Kansas City, Missouri. In each case the move came with some degree of resistance. ... Some of the foot baths in other states were built using public funds. The American Civil Liberties Union generally objects to public money being used for religious structures.But they don't...

Mohamed Dawod ... is accused of shooting 32-year-old Justin Hall, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, on Sept. 8, when the cross-country bus made a brief stop in Springfield. ... Witnesses told police Dawod and Hall did not interact before the shooting. Police don't think they knew each other and a motive for the shooting has not been established.

*snip* The former House speaker, who is putting a campaign organization together on the fly, failed to qualify for the contest in the Show Me State. According to the Missouri Secretary of State's office, Gingrich did not file the necessary papers as of Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline. That means his name will not be on the Feb. 7 ballot. The filing requirements are not particularly onerous. A $1,000 check and some paperwork are all that's needed.

Rivalries do end, and rarely are the reasons satisfactory to fans. Sometimes it’s because of a change in conference. Other times one school will feel disrespected by the other. With the Border War — the second-most-played series nationally at 119 games — it is a combination. MU left the conference, and KU, hurt that its longtime partner chose to depart, reacted with a “good riddance.” In other words: The hate that kept this rivalry going through two World Wars and plenty of bad football is the very thing that will likely put an end to this unmatched period of border...