Free Republic

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Friday signed “Iryna’s Law,” which increases checks on criminals getting out on bail and prohibits cashless bail for some violent crimes and most repeat offenders following the stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte light-rail train in August. Stein, a Democrat, has said he doesn’t like every part of the bill that was passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature, which also looks to restart executions in North Carolina, but he signed it because it “alerts the judiciary to take a special look at people who may pose unusual risks of violence before...

Two voters lacked standing and, additionally, failed to show how Blacks were weakened by maps for the North Carolina Senate, a federal judge has ruled. “Plaintiffs ignore the progress that North Carolina has made over the past 60 years and seek to use Section 2 to sort voters by race in order to squeeze one more Democratic Senate district into the map,” wrote Judge James Dever of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The ruling in Rodney D. Pierce and Moses Matthews v. The North Carolina State Board of Elections, et al. says racial gerrymandering...

President Trump on Monday night announced tariffs of 10% on softwood timber and lumber alongside a 25% tariff on "certain upholstered wooden products" due to take effect on Oct. 14, according to the White House. This was the latest set of tariffs to be announced impacting the furniture industry, after Trump posted last week about a flurry of tariffs on kitchen cabinets, vanities, and other upholstered products on that will take effect Oct. 1. Trump said the lumber tariffs will help "strengthen supply chains" and "bolster industrial resilience." Yet home builders have warned this could deter investments in new homes...

An active shooter situation has been reported in Southport, North Carolina, according to social media posts. Local residents are being advised to steer clear of the area as law enforcement investigates. Claims on Facebook suggest that multiple individuals have been injured, with one post reporting the sighting of six ambulances and a significant police presence. The city of Southport disclosed on Facebook that there were reports of an active shooter at the Southport Yacht Basin. "There is an unknown number of injuries. Avoid the area and remain in your homes. Please report any suspicious activity immediately to 911," the post...

Republicans in North Carolina and beyond are making a concerted effort to turn the stabbing death of a Ukrainian woman on a Charlotte commuter train into a political liability for Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper in his bid to win a key U.S. Senate race that is still more than a year away. GOP candidate Michael Whatley has said Cooper bears "direct responsibility" for the deadly Aug. 22 attack on Iryna Zarutska because of a commission he created in June 2020 to address racial inequity in the criminal justice system. The panel's unveiling occurred weeks following the death of George...

N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger said Thursday that the legislature might redraw the state's Congressional districts in response to partisan gerrymandering efforts in other states. Berger, posting on the social media site X, pointed to efforts by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to redraw districts there and said "we have drawn four Congressional maps in the last six years in redistricting fights with Democrats because of their sue-until-blue strategy. If we have to draw one more map this year, we will." But Berger denied a rumor posted by a left-leaning group — and a subsequent report from CBS 17, which cited...

44-year-old suspect with lengthy criminal history captured on surveillance video fleeing scene Seattle police have charged a 44-year-old ex-con with the stabbing of another man in the stomach from behind in a "seemingly unprovoked attack" in the city's Chinatown-International District, authorities said, the latest in a string of violent crimes across the U.S. linked to repeat-offender suspects. Surveillance video appears to show a man on a bicycle approach another man and stab him without warning before running off. The victim, who was pulling a cart along the sidewalk at the time, falls to the ground but eventually gets up and...

North Carolina Senate Republicans approved a measure Monday in honor of Iryana Zarutska, the Ukranian refugee stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail last month, that would revive the death penalty. House Bill 307 is called Iryana’s Law. Republicans say it makes several changes to remove roadblocks that have prevented the death penalty from being carried out in North Carolina. Under the proposal, instead of letting death penalty appeals sit indefinitely, they must now be heard within two years of filing, and continuances will not be granted unless the judge finds extenuating circumstances. The bill would establish lethal injection...

Last September, Ryan Wesley Routh waited hours to take a shot at Donald Trump. The man, who reportedly conned his way through Ukraine, stayed with a GoPro and a scoped AK-style rifle for 12 hours at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. This attempt on Trump’s life came weeks after the shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the president dodged a fatal headshot by millimeters. Routh waited in the shrubbery for Trump, and the president got within 300 yards until he was discovered by a Secret Service agent who opened fire, causing Routh to flee....

The man who authorities say sat with a rifle in the trees where Donald Trump was golfing earlier this month in West Palm Beach, Florida, previously wrote a letter stating “this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump,” according to a new filing Monday by federal prosecutors.... One letter, addressed to “The World” said: “... I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.” Prosecutors say Routh was in the area of Trump’s golf course and the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence across multiple days in the month before he was arrested and had a Google search of how to...

Republicans argue that a deadly stabbing in North Carolina that gained national attention is a perfect illustration of why the Trump administration’s tough-on-crime agenda is necessary. But Sen. Thom Tillis doesn’t want Charlotte to be next on the list for a federalized crackdown. “We do have challenges, but there are far more major metropolitan areas that we could focus our attention before you go to Charlotte,” Tillis, the outgoing Republican senator, told reporters Tuesday in response to a question from NOTUS. “I hope that people don’t amplify this into something.” “I haven’t seen any evidence that they’re going to focus...

A Fox News presenter suggested during a live segment that people struggling with homelessness and mental health issues should be executed. Brian Kilmeade made the comments on the network's flagship talk show Fox and Friends on Wednesday alongside co-hosts Lawrence Jones and Ainsley Earhardt. The trio had been discussing the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska who was killed while on a bus when Kilmeade made the now heavily criticized remark. Jones suggested that people not taking up programs to help those battling mental health and homelessness should be locked up, when Kilmeade went nuclear. 'Or involuntary lethal or something,...

North Carolina Republicans are blaming Democrats' "woke" policies and lenient crime enforcement for the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte, North Carolina, light-rail train. Meanwhile, former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, is firing back, accusing Republicans of politicizing a tragedy. Republican leaders in Charlotte held a joint news conference on Wednesday during which they condemned Democratic leaders' "woke" policies and "ongoing failures" that they say contributed to Zarutska's tragic death last month. Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was arrested on Aug. 22 after police say he stabbed Zarutska three times while riding the Lynx Blue Line...

During a phone call recorded by his sister and shared with the Daily Mail, Decarlos Brown explained what was going through his mind when he launched the fatal attack.The knifeman who allegedly killed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska has spoken for the first time from jail in a harrowing phone call recorded by his sister. Decarlos Brown, 34, was seen in surveillance footage lunging at Zarutska, 23, from behind as she sat scrolling on her phone on a train through Charlotte on August 22. The disturbing video has sparked widespread grief, anger, and questions about public safety in the Democrat-led city...

President Trump made a Truth Social post on Wednesday morning, calling for the death penalty for Decarlos Brown Jr., a black man who murdered murdered 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in what was likely a hate crime. The Trump Administration is seeking either life in prison or death for the deranged murderer after federally charging him federally for the murder.“There can be no other option,” but death, Trump said this morning.Trump also addressed the senseless murder from the Oval Office on Tuesday, vowing to make America safe again and calling out radical left judges, politicians, and activists for promoting the...

The deranged homeless man charged with butchering a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte train was free on cashless bail after a magistrate released him with just a “written promise” to show up for court — despite a nearly two-decade history of violence and mental illness. Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was arrested at least 14 times in North Carolina for crimes ranging from assault and firearms possession to felony robbery and larceny dating back to 2007. His own mother told local TV station WSOC that her son was schizophrenic and should never have been allowed to roam the streets. Horrifying...

In the last few days the horrific stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska by oft-arrested offender Decarlos Brown, Jr. on a Charlotte, NC, commuter train finally broke into the national conversation. National media — aside from this newspaper — studiously ignored the heinous Aug. 22 attack, while Wikipedia’s editors did their best to airbrush it. Why? Because they run interference for Democrats, and the story is political nitroglycerine. Not only did this brutal murder of a white woman by a black man turn the Democrats’ racial narrative on its head, it underscored and boosted President Donald Trump’s messaging on urban crime....

Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes is not qualified to practice as a lawyer in the state of North Carolina, according to the state's database of registered lawyers. The revelation comes after it was reported that Stokes released Decarlos Brown on cashless bail after his last brush with the law before he was charged with stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska to death in August. When Stoke's name is entered into the North Carolina State Bar lawyer look-up tool, an error is presented, indicating the judge, although overseeing a magistrate court, does not have the ability to practice law as a lawyer professionally in...

Gruesome video shows a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee getting stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train – a case that has turned into a flashpoint as the Trump administration vows to crack down on crime in large, predominantly Democratic cities. The attack happened shortly before 10 p.m. August 22, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said. A caller said a woman was stabbed in the throat. The victim, Iryna Zarutska, is a refugee who recently fled from war-torn Ukraine, CNN affiliate WBTV reported. Video of the attack shows Zarutska entering a train car and taking a seat directly in front of...

Former North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s record on criminal justice is being scrutinized by Republicans seeking to derail his campaign to claim a Senate seat. Cooper, a popular two-term governor, launched a bid in July to replace outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC). Days later, then-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley announced a campaign challenging the former governor as the GOP fights to keep the Senate seat red. In the wake of a violent crime against a Ukrainian refugee captured on video that has shaken the state, Whatley and other Republicans are seeking to use the gruesome incident to argue...