Free Republic

The Toledo, Ohio-based Capital Care abortion business is challenging an order by the state of Ohio to close down because of health and safety violations. But the Ohio Attorney General’s Office is standing by its opinion that Toledo’s only remaining abortion clinic is not complying with a state law requiring its abortion practitioners to have admitting privileges with a local hospital to admit women injured by botched abortions. If a judge agrees with the state, Toledo may soon be abortion free as the state of Ohio has closed down the second of two abortion facilities that have closed up shop...

They’ve given John Boehner constant headaches during his three years as speaker. Now, Boehner’s friends are trying to make sure that a small pocket of tea-party-aligned Republicans won’t have a chance to derail his speakership next year. And if they try, they could be punished. Continue Reading A group of his closest allies — including fellow Ohio Republicans like Pat Tiberi — are discussing tactics such as trying to change GOP Conference rules to punish members who do not support the party’s nominee during a floor vote. A lawmaker who bucks the Republicans’ choice for speaker could lose committee assignments...

According to recent reports, GM just recalled another 2.4 million vehicles this week, bringing the total number of recalled GM vehicles this year to a record 13.6 million. USA Today got right to the point when it asked, “Are there any GM cars that haven’t been recalled?” ... GM knew about serious problems with the ignition switch for years, going back to at least 2007. At that time, GM had hard data from multiple crashes showing that some of its ignition switches had failed to function properly. The U.S. government officially bailed out the automaker in December of 2008. Throughout...

Here is exhibit A of why we don’t trust current Senate leadership to do the right thing if they were to win back the majority; they refuse to block new spending when in the minority. Last week, House leadership decided to pass the “doc fix” bill (H.R. 4302) by voice vote. This bill reimburses healthcare providers for the scheduled 24 percent cut in payments for services rendered to Medicare patients. The bill extends the payments through next March. It also continues some new programs created under Obamacare. They used a hodgepodge of tenuous offsets spread out mainly over the next...

Former Richmond Heights Schools Superintendent Robert Moore wiped a tear from his eyes May 22 before being sentenced to one year in prison on public corruption charges. “I take full responsibility for my actions,” the 52-year-old Mentor resident told Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold. “I realize I exercised terrible judgment. I deeply regret this incident.” Former Richmond Heights Schools Superintendent Robert J. Moore, right, grimaces as he is sentenced to one year in prison by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold May 22 for bribery and theft in office. His lawyer, John McCaffrey,...

Academia is hell. In the latest higher-education fad, students want "trigger warnings," according to The New York Times. It appears that some students are so fragile that they want university staff to protect them from big bad ideas. Students around the country say they want "explicit alerts that the material they are about to read or see in a classroom might upset them or, as some students assert, cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of rape or in war veterans." An Oberlin College draft -- now "under revision" -- for trigger warnings suggested faculty "be aware of racism,...

Well, it is official. Eric Cantor and John Boehner — particularly Eric Cantor — have decided they don’t need or want conservatives and, more troubling, do not have any intention of trying to win at the polls by forcing Democrat hands on Obamacare. Our leadership is behaving badly. Last week and on Monday I mentioned Rep. Steve King’s effort to repeal Obamacare and start over. He’s filed a discharge petition. If he gets 218 signatures, Nancy Pelosi must hold a vote

SNIP To lead the Republican majority staff, Gowdy selected Philip Kiko, a key aide to Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., when the latter served as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and more recently a registered lobbyist for the Smith-Free Group, a K Street lobbying firm with a diverse roster of clients. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, swiftly welcomed Gowdy’s choice, calling Kiko “a man of unquestioned integrity with a record of distinguished service” in and out of Congress... SNIP However, emails obtained by Fox News show that some conservatives are unhappy with Kiko’s appointment, chiefly because of his recent lobbying...

Former Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) appears to be making good on his vows to "crush" the Tea Party. A longtime ally of Speaker John Boehner, LaTourette is a driving force behind the outside national groups that have spent more than $2 million to help incumbent Republican Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID) stave off Tea Party-backed challenger Bryan Smith in Tuesday's Republican primary in Idaho's 2nd Congressional District. LaTourette parlayed huge contributions from labor unions and at least one Native American tribe (the Chickasaw Nation) to build a powerful political operation intervening in primaries on behalf of GOP Establishment candidates. Reports filed...

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- A Middletown mother's fear and anguish is heard in her 911 call as she and her children were terrorized by teens Tuesday night. "They busted my front door! They're trying to kick my door in!" Jennifer Saylor screamed. Saylor frantically told a dispatcher that a group of teens had broken into her house five times in the past and now they were throwing bricks and trying to kick in the door in the 2000 block of Roosevelt Road. A day after the incident, Saylor told WCPO she feared the teens would kill her and her two kids,...

CINCINNATI (AP) — Potential Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said Friday in a visit to swing state Ohio that the GOP needs to broaden its appeal.The Kentucky senator was the featured speaker Friday evening for the Hamilton County Republican Party's annual Lincoln-Reagan dinner. Paul took part in school choice discussion earlier Friday at a Cincinnati public charter school, and later said that the GOP needs to try harder with every ethnic group."The Republican Party needs to be bigger, bolder and better," Paul told reporters. "I think we can be all of those things. We have to reach out...

House Speaker John Boehner’s staff says he has not made a commitment to the White House to move an overhaul of the immigration laws this year, pushing back against comments made this week by a senior advisor in the Obama administration made this week. Valerie Jarrett told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that she thinks there’s a window “this summer, between now and August, to get something done. “We have a commitment from Speaker Boehner, who’s very frustrated with his caucus,” Jarrett told the newspaper. Michael Steel, a spokesman for the Ohio Republican, said Boehner has not made a commitment to...

Surprise action outside Denver's Brown Palace Hotel this morning, as a press release from a coalition of groups including Together Colorado and the Colorado Immigration Reform Coalition (CIRC) explains: Outside a fundraiser headlined by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) for Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) today, local leaders staged a rally to protest the fact that these three House Republicans are key obstacles standing in the way of immigration reform that would keep Colorado immigrant families together. It has been 322 days since the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill, but Speaker Boehner and House...

A black teenager is facing charges as an adult for what authorities are describing as the revenge arson of the home of a white woman and her two children. And his arrest, and that of a juvenile, may be just the tip of the iceberg, authorities say. Already, Thaddeus Shields, 18, is facing a court hearing this week on the count, and a 17-year-old whose name was not released is facing juvenile court. Authorities, meanwhile, say their investigation continues and more perpetrators may be arrested and charged in the attack in Middletown, Ohio. The alleged black-on-white crime earlier this week...

Sal Russo, co-founder of the Tea Party Express, announced his support for amnesty on Wednesday, reversing his organization’s statement from a year ago that it would not take a position on immigration reform. If you take a look at Russo’s background, this isn’t exactly the revelation that some in the media are making it out to be. What’s interesting, though, is the dichotomy between Russo’s position and the principles of the organization he helped to create. The Tea Party Express bills itself as anti-establishment, but Russo’s immigration proposal is nearly identical to the principles pushed by GOP House Leaders --...

Last May, Kelly was asleep in the passenger seat when his friend was pulled over for drunken driving on Interstate 71 between Cincinnati and Columbus, according to The Columbus Dispatch. When Ohio State Trooper Bryan Cook woke Kelly, he was startled and began flailing his arms, according to the lawsuit. Fayette County Deputy Clinton Sines then drew his Taser, opened the passenger door and shouted for Cook to get out of the truck and show his hands as he grabbed the back of Kelly's sweatshirt and tried to pull him out, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says Sines was apparently...

One Queens-based e-commerce startup is poised to grow aggressively over the next few years, and has found just the place to do it: Ohio. Gwynnie Bee, a subscription service for the lease and sale of plus-size women’s apparel, reportedly plans to add 400 new positions over the next few years at a new 100,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility on the outskirts of Columbus. The company’s executive and marketing operations will remain in New York City, where Gwynnie Bee will still be officially headquartered, but the 42 warehouse and distribution workers at the company’s current Long Island City warehouse will be...

John Boehner won’t say if he will be serving another two years as the House Speaker. “Listen, I’m going to be 65 years old in November,” Boehner stated. “I’d never thought I’d live to be 60. So I’m living on borrowed time.” In addition to his age, Boehner has had to deal with a large number of rebellious House conservative Republicans. How large a number? According to conservatives involved in the deliberations, 40 to 50 new members have already verbally committed to electing a new Speaker. Conservative organizers say that they could force Boehner to step aside as Speaker in...

A bill that reauthorized the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which was criticized on the right as unnecessary interference by the federal government in the free market, passed the House in violation of the so-called “Hastert Rule” Thursday. The bill passed 297-117 overall. 106 Republicans voted “yea” while 116 Republicans voted “nay.” One Democrat, embattled Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), voted no as well, while 191 Democrats voted yes. The Hastert Rule, the operating principle of former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, requires support from a “majority of the majority.” Hastert has criticized Boehner for relying on Democratic votes on...

Rep. Trey Gowdy, the tea party Republican tapped to lead the new committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks, made a telling slip Wednesday morning in describing his mission. Asked by MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough about the possibility that his panel’s work would continue into the 2016 election campaign, Gowdy replied that “if an administration is slow-walking document production, I can’t end a trial simply because the defense won’t cooperate.” A trial? And the Obama administration is the defense? So much for that “serious investigation” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) promised; his new chairman intends to play prosecutor, proving the administration’s guilt...