Free Republic

TOLEDO, Ohio, August 14, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – Judge C. Allen McConnell is a Christian. As such, he said he could not officiate a homosexual "wedding," because it would go against the teachings of his religion. Now, the Ohio Supreme Court advisory board says McConnell's position violates judicial ethics and that all Ohio Christian judges must relinquish their religious freedom and perform same-sex "marriages." When he refused to marry two lesbians last month, the 71-year-old Toledo judge apologized to the women, and they were "married" a few minutes later by another judge. But McConnell also officially asked for the Ohio Supreme Court's...

The latest Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll shows a big jump for Carly Fiorina, who makes to top 5 GOP candidates with 9% of N.H. GOP voters. This poll also shows Donald Trump in the lead at 18%, followed by Jeb Bush 13%, and John Kasich at 12%. ... Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 10%. ... GOP presidential upstart Donald Trump has lost ground in New Hampshire since his tirade against Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly... Businesswoman Carly Fiorina has jumped to fifth place in New Hampshire with nine percent support. ...

DERRY, N.H. – It was the last question at Gov. John R. Kasich’s town-hall-style meeting here on Wednesday, and it also was perhaps the bluntest. “Governor Kasich, how do you feel about amnesty for the illegals?” asked a voter near the back of a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall here. Mr. Kasich, an Ohio Republican, started off sounding like a border hawk, saying he wanted to “finish the wall” along the border with Mexico. But when he answered the question at hand, he sounded a far more pragmatic note. “If they’ve been law-abiding, then I think they should stay,” he...

Ohio Governor and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich stated that he would “prefer” for illegal immigrants in the US “to be legalized once we find out who they are” in an interview broadcast on CNN’s “The Lead” on Wednesday. Kasich said of illegal immigrants already in the US, “I would prefer for them to be legalized once we find out who they are, Because they — I think they contribute a lot to America. They’re hard workers, they’re god-fearing, they’re family-oriented. If they committed a crime, they’ve got to be deported or put in prison. The only reason I say...

With barely a month to go in its contract talks, Ford Motor Co. has thrown a meaty bone to the United Autoworkers Union. And it may also take Ford out of the presidential debate, where it recently became a target of Republican front-runner Donald Trump. Negotiations got off to a slightly testy start last month following news that the second-largest domestic automaker would likely move production of several key small car lines from Michigan to Mexico. Now, however, Ford says it plans to shift a heavy-duty version of its F-Series pickups from Mexico to a plant in Ohio, a move...

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Billionaire real estate magnate Donald Trump is the 2016 GOP frontrunner despite the efforts of the Fox News Channel to target him in the first debate here in the city in which a year from now the Republican National Committee (RNC) will host the 2016 GOP convention.

Ms. Dehabey, resettlement coordinator for US Together in Toledo, is also the primary facilitator for their adjustment to the area. The organization has been quietly and steadily resettling refugees in the Toledo area for a little more than a year, the only agency in the Toledo area doing so. The refugee community is a small but growing regional population, Ms. Dehabey said. She has placed 11 families in the Toledo area, including two before US Together opened its Toledo office in May, 2014. ... Ms. Dehabey opens an average of one case a month, she said, though arrivals can be...

I think we all knew there would be more than a few of these cases reverberating around the country following the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage, and this time it’s popping up in Ohio. Some municipal judges are either refusing to perform the ceremonies for gay couples or stopping performing marriages entirely, citing religious freedom objections. This prompted an inquiry at the state supreme court and their advisory Board of Professional Conduct has come back with an answer. Now if only somebody can figure out exactly what they meant. Amid scattered instances of balking, Ohio judges who perform...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Judges who perform marriages in Ohio can't refuse to marry same-sex couples on personal or moral grounds or because of religious beliefs, according to a state judicial conduct board. In addition, judges who stop performing all marriages to avoid marrying same-sex couples may be interpreted as biased and could be disqualified from any case where sexual orientation is an issue, according to an opinion by the Ohio Supreme Court's Board of Professional Conduct issued Friday and made public Monday. The ruling followed a request for guidance from a Toledo judge who refused to perform a same-sex...

Maybe it’s because he is still feeling his way as a late entrant into the GOP presidential campaign, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich did a fairly dramatic about-face over the weekend on the politically charged issue of climate change. Kasich, a devout Christian, declared during the two-hour debate sponsored by Fox News that climate change is a real problem requiring government and society to protect the “creation that the Lord has given us.” While the vast majority of Republicans on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail are highly skeptical of President Obama’s campaign to curb industrial carbon emissions to prevent...

The West Side Target, located at 3720 Soldano Blvd (in the Consumer Square Shopping Center off West Broad Street), will be closing their doors sometime in November. A part time employee tipped us off in a discussion about West Side redevelopment ideas on our messageboard, noting that the decision to close was made about a week ago. A call to the store this morning confirmed the November closure, though a final date is still unknown at this point. Large retail centers have struggled to attract and retain tenants on the city’s west side over the past several decades, with the...

Three more states—Alabama, Louisiana, and New Hampshire—have cut off state funding to Planned Parenthood (PP) in the wake of recent videos released by the Center for Medical Progress that appear to show PP officials negotiating over the sale of aborted baby organs and tissue. The three are the latest states to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker ended state funding of abortion-performing facilities, including Planned Parenthood, in 2011. According to LifeSiteNews, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, and Texas also prohibit state funds from going to any facility that performs abortions. …

With a record 24 million people watching the GOP debate, you’d think there would have been a lot more time spent on the most important issue of the day: the economy. Look at any poll. Jobs and the economy are always at the top of the list. But there was barely a mention of this on Thursday night. The Republican Party is not going to win this election unless it persuades the electorate that its primary principles of low marginal tax rates, lighter regulation, free trade and a sound dollar are the best path to growth. Call it free-market capitalism....

The coal industry is facing its toughest challenge since The Great Depression of 1929. The collapse in coal prices and a growing weight from new regulations has claimed dozens of firms. In just recent months, three major coal producers have filed for bankruptcy. Alpha Natural Resources operates more than fifty underground and surface mines in five states. It is the nation’s largest producer of the type of coal used in steel production. In 2011, Alpha Natural Resources was worth $11 billion in stock value. The firm is now worth less than $7 million. Peabody Energy Corporation, is the largest private-sector...

Raleigh, N.C. – PPP's newest Iowa poll finds Donald Trump leading the Republican field in the state even after a weekend of controversy. He's at 19% to 12% for Ben Carson and Scott Walker, 11% for Jeb Bush, 10% for Carly Fiorina, 9% for Ted Cruz, and 6% for Mike Huckabee and Marco Rubio. The other 9 candidates are all clustered between 3% and having no support at all (George Pataki)- John Kasich and Rand Paul are at 3%, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum at 2%, Chris Christie at 1%, and Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, and Pataki all...

RUSH: Okay, now, look: This dust-up stuff that happened and continues to happen since the Fox News debate -- I'm sorry, the presidential debate -- on Fox News on Thursday night. A piece of advice that nobody's asked for, for Mr. Trump: Mr. Trump, get back to the issues. That's why you're where you are. Get back to the issues. Get back to immigration. Tell us what you think about whatever the issues are. That's what put you on the map. Even despite the polling data, I would give that advice. This is really all you need to know at...

Following Thursday's Republican debates, an overnight poll shows Donald Trump maintaining his edge over the crowded field of Republican candidates. ... The NBC News online poll conducted by SurveyMonkey over Friday night and Saturday showed possible movement among the candidates following the debates, as well as Republican primary voters declaring Carly Fiorina the overall debate winner. Donald Trump has the support of 23% of Republican primary voters following the debate ... Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina were the candidates with the most gains in support, 7 points and 6 points respectively ... Among Republican and Republican-leaning voters who watched either...

CLEVELAND – Carly Fiorina insisted that she wasn’t worried about not making the main Fox News debate stage on Thursday. But so did everybody else who was stuck in the non-primetime debate that preceded it. An hour or so before the former Hewlett-Packard CEO took the stage here with six other lower-tier Republican presidential candidates and delivered a standout performance, her spokeswoman and I chatted in the bowels of the Quicken Loans Arena about Fiorina’s strategy. I asked Sarah Isgur Flores if she wished the super-PAC supporting Fiorina — Carly for America — had done more in June and July...

Republicans are dead-set on winning back the Buckeye State. Thursday’s raucous GOP debate in Cleveland is the beginning of an aggressive campaign by Republicans to win Ohio’s 18 electoral votes that includes returning to the city’s Quicken Loans Arena for the 2016 Republican National Convention.

GOP Gov.: "Time To Move On" From Same-Sex Marriage Possible Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich believes it's "time to move on" from the same-sex marriage issue in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark ruling. "I do believe in traditional marriage and the court has ruled and it's time to move on," Kasich said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, adding that there's "so many other things now that we have to focus on." Same-sex marriage opponent: conservative beliefs need to be respected Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention told CBS' "Face the Nation" that people...