Free Republic

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Prosecutors won't file charges against an Omaha business owner who shot and killed a suspected burglar over the weekend. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says he believes the shooting was justified. The owner of Bazar Latino who shot the man has not been named. Police say 23-year-old Jesus Franco was found dead Saturday morning. His body was in the snow about 30 feet from a south Omaha business that had reported a burglary. The owner told officers he fired his gun during a confrontation with a suspected burglar, who then fled.

An Omaha woman is mourning the death of her boyfriend, a suspected burglar shot and killed by a business owner over the weekend. She believes that business owner should be charged with a crime. Police say Jesus Franco broke into the business near 24th and I streets around 4:30 a.m. Saturday, struggled with the owner and then ran from the scene after being shot. Police found Franco dead a few blocks away, alone in his car. Click here to find out more! Lynn Pecha is overcome with grief. Franco's girlfriend does not believe the story. “It's not right, he didn't...

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A man is in police custody after opening fire at a northwest Oklahoma City apartment complex near Hefner and Council roads. Police said the man started firing multiple shots in the parking lot of the Tammaron Village apartments around 4 p.m. Thursday. Witnesses said the man initially went into the apartment complex's main office. When employees locked him out, he opened fire in the parking lot. As the man was firing shots, another citizen armed with a gun came around the corner and ordered the gunman to put his weapon down. The gunman dropped his weapon and...

Cushing - Officials have released the 911 tape from this morning's home invasion shooting that left an intruder dead from a shotgun blast. It happened in Cushing, about 50 miles west of Tulsa in Lincoln County. Police say the female homeowner was awakened by her barking dog and called 911. While she was on the phone with dispatchers, police say she warned the intruder that she had a rifle. Authorities say the intruder, identified as Billy Dean Riley, ignored the woman's warning and threw a chair through the window. That's when the woman opened fire. The 911 call details the...

Governor and Administration Secretary Announce Contract Agreement with State Employees Union Two-year contract calls for 3% wage reduction with no automatic yearly wage adjustments or step increases Montpelier, Vt. - Governor Jim Douglas and Secretary of Administration Neale Lunderville today announced that agreement on a new two-year contract has been reached with the Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA). The contract, which was signed by both parties earlier today, includes a 3% wage reduction as well as no automatic yearly wage adjustments or step increases for the duration of the contract. This settlement is very good news for the taxpayers of...

Recently Jim Robinson posted two threads declaring Free Republic’s determination to see Conservatives elected and ousting Rino's from government. Jim and a great many Freepers believe that we need to take back control. But the RNC is not hearing us. Activism is called for NOW. 2010 is nearing and we need Conservative candidates to run. The time is ripe and people are ready for another 1994 type election. But we need to make the RNC hear us loud and clear. This is the Rino Free America Project. Get involved. Make them listen. Write a letter and MAIL it. Republican...

What is on appearances possibly just another right wing publicity stunt is actually something that law enforcement and military commanders need to notice and to put in check. The "Oathkeepers" are a group supposedly dedicated to keeping the "Oath" to protect the Constitution. Fact is, they already took that oath, This new thing is an attempt to rile up disdain for the Obama Administration, masquerading as concern for American freedom. Who are the "Oathkeepers?" Groups of law enforcement and military personnel who swear a new oath of allegiance to ideals put forth by the group, not by consent of the...

There is no such thing as ‘a right to a job’—there is only the right of free trade, that is: a man’s right to take a job if another man chooses to hire him.” —Ayn Rand, “Man’s Rights,” 1963— If you want to understand the most common reason for unemployment in America—the real unemployment rate of which is now well into the double digits—you need only look as far as Washington, D.C., home of the federal government, for the answer: bureaucratic intervention in the economy in the form of minimum wage laws, “public works” projects, “stimulus” programs and the regulation...

TULSA, Oklahoma, AUG. 19, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The bishop of Tulsa explains his decision to celebrate Mass at the diocesan cathedral "ad orientem" -- facing east -- as an effort to recapture a "more authentic" Catholic worship. Bishop Edward Slattery affirmed this in an article featured in the September edition of the Eastern Oklahoma Catholic, titled "Ad Orientem: Revival of Ancient Rite Brings Multiple Advantages, Some Misperceptions." In a discussion about liturgy, the prelate said, it is necessary to grasp this "essential" truth: "At Mass, Christ joins us to himself as he offers himself in sacrifice to the Father for the...

FOND DU LAC, Wis. – Union workers at Mercury Marine put their jobs at risk Sunday when they rejected a package of wage and benefit concessions the boat engine maker said it needed or it would move their work to a nonunion plant in Oklahoma. Union leaders did not immediately release Sunday's tally but said the vote was "overwhelming" to reject what the company called its final offer. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Local 1947, represents 850 workers at Mercury Marine, the largest employer in the eastern Wisconsin city of Fond du Lac and the world's largest...

Amid a national debate on constitutional rights, a national conservative group hosted a banquet in Tulsa to honor Sen. Tom Coburn for his defense of the 2nd Amendment. Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, spoke before a packed banquet hall Friday and praised Coburn for passing the only federal legislation this year to defend the people’s right to bear arms. “The people are becoming confrontational, “ Pratt said in reference to town hall meetings over proposed changes in health care. “Politics is confrontational.” “What is happening around the country and what is happening in Oklahoma gives me...

OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- An Oklahoma judge struck down the state’s abortion law requiring ultrasounds, ruling it violated a requirement that legislation deal with a single subject. Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson ruled the 2008 abortion law was a compilation of five separate bills, but did not address other legal complaints on the law Tuesday, The Oklahoman reported Wednesday. The most controversial aspect of the law was a requirement that a doctor or medical technician performing an abortion give a pregnant woman an ultrasound before the procedure and display the images where the woman could see them,...

Sen. Tom Coburn, who is also a medical doctor, is calling for an outright ban on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products. "What we should be doing is banning tobacco," the Oklahoma Republican declared on the Senate floor during a debate on a tobacco regulation bill. "Nobody up here has the courage to do that. It is a big business. There are millions of Americans who are addicted to nicotine." The battle against tobacco use has been ongoing. Earlier this year Congress passed legislation that included an increase in the federal tax on cigarettes of more than 60...

OKLAHOMA CITY - Authorities have arrested two people, including a 14-year-old boy, in connection with an attempted pharmacy robbery that left another teen dead and a pharmacist facing first-degree murder charges. Oklahoma County Sheriff's deputies arrested the teen at 706 NE 26th Street in Oklahoma City at about 1 p.m. after he was seen standing outside an apartment complex. The teen ran when he noticed the deputies and jumped out a window of an apartment. Police say the teen is the second suspect in the May 19 robbery of the Reliable Pharmacy in south Oklahoma City. During the robbery, pharmacist...

One person is dead in south Oklahoma City where a homeowner says he found an intruder in his house and opened fire. The homeowner shot and killed the man, the wife of the homeowner said. About 11:30 a.m. Scott Henson, a machinist, went home for lunch, 2200 SW 57, his wife Delores Henson said. Her husband has a concealed weapon permit and found the intruder inside. Authorities confirmed one person is dead of a gunshot wound at the scene.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- One burglar may be considering a different profession after nearly losing his life during a break-in, last Wednesday. Heather Fitzgerald says she was checking e-mail in her garage with the garage partially open. Shortly before 3:00 a.m., however, an intruder crawled in. Heather immediately worried for her children, who were sleeping inside the home. She grabbed her 9-milimeter pistol and fired two shots at the man. Police do not believe he was hit because they found no blood at the scene. As he was running away, she says she lined up the gun's laser sight on his...

LOS ANGELES — Six major insurers, including The Hartford Financial, Prudential Financial and Allstate, received preliminary approval Thursday for billions of dollars in aid from a U.S. bailout fund, following a months-long quest by some in the sector for financial assistance. The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. was the first to disclose that it had been notified by the Treasury Department that it was eligible for $3.4 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

I’ve been getting positive feedback from my audio interview with Oklahoma State Senator Randy Brodgon. You can hear that on mp3 by clicking through here. With the increasing footprint or some would say Grip of federal governance, there has come an increase in the assumption of powers not granted. Attending these powers not granted is a attitude of self-protection against the will and authority of the electorate to object. Disparaging remarks of those as extremist is fooling fewer and fewer constituents who are now expressing interest in a very intriguing movement, state secession in order to get out from under...

Although Gov. Brad Henry vetoed similar legislation 10 days earlier, House members Monday again approved a resolution claiming Oklahoma’s sovereignty. Unlike House Joint Resolution 1003, House Concurrent Resolution 1028 does not need the governor’s approval. The House passed the measure 73-22. It now goes to the Senate. "We’re going to get it done one way or the other,” said the resolutions’ author, Rep. Charles Key, R-Oklahoma City. "I think our governor is out of step.” House Democrats objected, saying the issue already had been taken up and had been vetoed, but House Speaker Pro Tempore Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, ruled the...

The Obama administration is "comfortable" with the British government's attempts to engage Hizbullah, a senior British diplomat asserts.

DEL CITY – U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin answered the question most delegates to today’s Oklahoma County Republican Convention wanted to know: She is running for governor in 2010. When introducing Fallin, Pam Pollard, outgoing chairman of the Oklahoma County Republican Party, asked the two-term congresswoman whether she was forgoing a third term to seek the governor’s office. “I’ve had to make some pretty tough decisions on behalf of our nation the last couple of years, but when it comes to making decisions about the future of Oklahoma and the leadership of Oklahoma and the governor of Oklahoma, my answer is...

female speaks for about one minute, then Dr. Coburn

I wonder if she thinks about the fact that the same law she says requires her to wear her headgear would, if followed, not allow her to drive at all. Ironical, as W would say.

NEW YORK – As the Obama administration attempts to push through Congress a nearly $1 trillion deficit spending plan that is weighted heavily toward advancing typically Democratic-supported social welfare programs, a rebellion against the growing dominance of federal control is beginning to spread at the state level. So far, eight states have introduced resolutions declaring state sovereignty under the Ninth and Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, including Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington. Analysts expect that in addition, another 20 states may see similar measures introduced this year, including Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho,...

Modifies bailout to states, eliminates Hollywood bailout, other non-stimulus items : Hollywood(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today began offering amendments to the deeply-flawed Senate stimulus bill in an effort to improve the bill and ensure that taxpayer dollars will go to solutions will stimulate economic growth. “When the American people learn what this bill contains they will reject it. This bill is about spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need. We got into this mess by spending and investing money that didn’t exist. We won’t get out of this mess by doing more...

Letters for the troops Through Dec. 10, the public can send their greeting cards, with adequate postage and a return address, to Holiday Mail for Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, Md. 20791-5456. To speed delivery, mailers should not send care packages, money or any inserts, including glitter.

I was alerted to this very good item on the website of the Diocese of Tulsa.  Bishop Slattery continues to impress.  You will remember his statement after pro-abortion Catholics Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) and VP candidate Sen. Biden (D-DE) made their scandalous gafs about the Church’s teaching on life. You will remember his strong instruction about sacred music. Now there is this spiritual approach to give support to priests of the diocese. Potential Spiritual Mothers Join to Pray, Learn About Roles Sheila Michie, at center, joins in praying the rosary with other women who are discerning whether to become spiritual mothers...

As I have followed recent events, particularly of the past three weeks, I am compelled to share some thoughts about what is going on in banking: Merrill Lynch. Lehman Brothers. Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac. It's a who's who of Wall Street giants - all in trouble. If these giants can't survive the country's economic woes, what chance can the smaller community banks have? The answer is most community banks did not participate in the subprime mess responsible for the upheaval across the country. We are going about business as usual, working hard for our communities and doing fine.

New York - A Saudi student who briefly shared a room with Zacarias Moussaoui in Oklahoma pleaded guilty yesterday to making false statements, including lying to the FBI about their plans to visit New York in August. Hussein al-Attas, 24, entered the plea to seven charges in U.S. District Court as part of a deal that keeps him in the country to testify, if needed, against Moussaoui, the only person charged with conspiring to help the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers. Under the plea agreement, al-Attas faces up to six months in prison.

AUSTIN — The Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday selected San Antonio's Zachry Construction Corp. and a Spanish toll road developer to plan a superhighway from Texarkana to Brownsville. The $5 million contract calls for Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure to create a financial plan for the Interstate 69 segment of the Trans-Texas Corridor. "This team represents the best in the balance of local and global expertise necessary to complete a project of this scope," said David Zachry, chief operating officer of Zachry Construction Corp. The private developers' plan calls for seven new loops around Corpus Christi and other cities...

No Suspects Or Motive In Case; Best Friends, 11 And 13, Shot To Death On Rural Road TULSA, Okla. (CBS) No suspect or motive has been identified in the mysterious killing of two girls who were shot to death along a dirt road in rural Okfuskee County, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. On Sunday, the bodies of 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker and 13-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker were found on an isolated county road near this small town, about 70 miles south of Tulsa. The pair, best friends who lived a few miles apart in an impoverished part of the...

Oklahoma City (AP) - Democratic Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma said Tuesday Barack Obama is "the most liberal senator" in Congress and he has no intention of endorsing him for the White House. ... Boren, the lone Democrat in Oklahoma's congressional delegate, said that while Obama has talked about working with Republicans, "unfortunately, his record does not reflect working in a bipartisan fashion."

There have been many sites crop up recently that claim to predict what will happen in November. My favorite since 2004 - and I think the most accurate - has been Election Projection. They predicted the 2004 race between Bush and Kerry to within 3 EVs of the actual result and got every Senate race right in 2006. Anyone out there agree? Disagree? Discuss...

EDMONTON - TransCanada Corp. alone plans to ship more than one million barrels a day of oilsands production to the United States with an expanded pipeline construction program unveiled today. The Alberta oil and gas delivery mainstay added a second leg to its new Keystone export service that would more than double the system's capacity and extend it to the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico. TransCanada president Hal Kvisle said the added route is a companion instead of competition for projects underway by Enbridge Inc., which is also advancing more than one million barrels daily in new oilsands...

For years, Texas has been planning a privately financed super turnpike from Mexico to the Oklahoma border. But like rush-hour traffic, the plan for a Trans-Texas Corridor is only inching along. "It ran into a firestorm of controversy in Texas,� said Neal McCaleb, a former Oklahoma transportation secretary. Critics have a wide range of concerns about the corridor, which has a key stretch that would parallel Interstate 35. (Another stretch would extend from the Texarkana/Shreveport area to Mexico.) Particularly upset are landowners who may be in the corridor's path. The Texas Transportation Department calls many concerns myths. The department says,...

As the state's population continues to grow in its urban centers, expansion plans for the highway system continue to be the focus for transportation improvements. The Trans Texas Corridor proposal is aimed to alleviate traffic congestion, improve air quality and provide safer traveling for drivers, among other goals. In 2002, Texas Governor Rick Perry released the plan to create the passageway, which spans northeast from Laredo to Oklahoma and is set to total 4,000 miles in the next 50 years. The $140 billion project calls for the incorporation of new toll roads, commuter railways, power lines and gas pipelines, while...

Several Oklahoma legislators are concerned that individuals and organizations are quietly working on plans to create a privately-operated tollway in Oklahoma. Many referred to Spain-based Cintra, which has been involved in the development of a proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. Cintra also took over the operation of the Indiana East-West Toll Road from the Indiana Department of Transportation in 2006. Oklahoma State Sen. Randy Brogdon and state representatives Eric Proctor, Richard Morrisette, Scott Inman and Charles Key all expressed concern that efforts to open up Oklahoma to a privately operated tollway system were being kept out of the view of the general...

Brother Floyd Ferguson’s breath is visible during prayers in the cold, damp crypt at the Clear Creek Monastery near Some people say the world is slipping into a new Dark Age. Some might say the world has been in the Dark Ages for quite a while already. l In morality, in architecture, in craftsmanship and art and literature, the 21st century is a long way from the Renaissance, and many self-described “traditionalists” would suggest that it’s a long way down. l Less than a generation after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, a growing number of Catholics want...

For Peyton Gilbert, the battle over the Trans-Texas Corridor is reminiscent of the moment in 1836 when Lt. Col. William Travis drew a line in the sand at the Alamo and invited those willing to fight thousands of Mexican soldiers to step across. "That line in the sand is the Trans-Texas Corridor, and it's a threat to our sovereignty again, just like at the Alamo," said Gilbert, 14, who is from Whitehouse, near Tyler. Gilbert was among a large crowd of people who marched down Congress Avenue to the Capitol on Saturday afternoon to demonstrate against the proposed highway-rail-utility corridor...

BELTON - There appears to be no easy way to address the challenges that inflation has brought to the Texas Department of Transportation. “We’ve seen 60 percent inflation over the last five years for transportation projects,” said Chris Lippincott, a TxDOT spokesman. To look to the federal government for assistance would appear foolhardy at this point as the Federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to become insolvent by 2009. The fund was created in 1956 to ensure a dependable source of financing for U.S. interstates and highways. “The Federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to go into the red very...

FORT WORTH -- The Trans-Texas Corridor is now so controversial, merely uttering the words in most political circles is taboo. "We're calling it a 'regional loop' because you can't say 'Trans-Texas Corridor' in the state of Texas anymore," said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. "The Trans-Texas Corridor is a lightning rod," he told visiting state representatives this week while explaining how the corridor would connect to regional highways by 2030. Opposition to the proposed construction of a $184 billion network of toll roads during the next 50 years is so strong statewide that...

SH 130 Concession Company LLC finalized the legal details of a financial close with Texas DOT on a $1,360m toll concession to build SH130 segments 5&6 Thursday and Friday last week in bankers' offices in New York City - at Orrick, 666 Fifth Avenue. The actual money flows should occur on Thursday or Friday (Mar 13 or 14) this week, Jose Maria Lopez de Fuentes, president of Cintra North America, told us this morning. Hundreds of documents and over 20 lawyers were involved last week representing TxDOT, private equity people, banks, mostly European, the TIFIA loan group from FHWA, and...

Topeka — Agreements with Mexico and Canada are setting the stage for construction of a huge highway that will gobble up Kansans’ property and jeopardize U.S. security, representatives from a wide range of groups said Monday. “Through incrementalism, apathy and inattention, our national sovereignty is being sacrificed on a cross of greed, socialism and globalism,� said state Rep. Judy Morrison, R-Shawnee. Morrison has introduced House Concurrent Resolution 5033 urging Congress to withdraw from further participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement and Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. At a hearing before the House Federal and State Affairs...

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Rich who? The West Virginia Mountaineers didn't need coach Rich Rodriguez. They had Pat White, and their elusive quarterback led them to a surprising 48-28 romp over Oklahoma (No. 4 BCS, No. 3 AP) in the Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday night. White ran for 150 yards and threw for 176 and two touchdowns for the Mountaineers (No. 9 BCS, No. 11 AP), who rushed for 349 yards, most allowed by Oklahoma in a bowl game. Since arriving in the desert last week, the Mountaineers (11-2) said they had bonded behind interim coach Bill Stewart, who took...

Driving down to Austin lately has become a real trip. I-35 is usually packed for most of the 185 miles, and what used to take three or four hours now can take five or six. Flying down can take almost as long, when you figure in airline security delays, more flight delays, and the time it takes getting into and out of crowded airports. But what if it took 45 minutes to travel from the Metroplex to Austin by train or an hour to make a trip to Houston? Advocates of high-speed rail lines are floating these ideas once again...

AUSTIN - When it comes to road improvement and maintenance, by most accounts, the South Plains and Panhandle are fortunate. Despite a $1.1 billion accounting error, the Texas Department of Transportation recently reported no projects in the region have been canceled or delayed while cities like Dallas, Houston and Laredo had at least a half dozen highway projects delayed. But the $1.1 billion-error, which occurred because TxDOT inadvertently counted some bond money twice and consequently allocated more funding than it had, is just the latest problem plaguing the beleaguered agency. For months, TxDOT executive director Amadeo Saenz and other transportation...

HULBERT -- A vision born 35 years ago on the campus of the University of Kansas and nurtured in a monastery in France moved closer to reality this week, as monks at Our Lady of Clear Creek Monastery moved into their new residence building. The building is the first part of a monastic complex that will include an 80-by-180-foot church with a 110-foot bell tower. "This is a dream come true," said the Rev. Phillip Anderson, the prior, or leader, of the Benedictine community living at the monastery. "All of a sudden, after all these years, it's happening," he said....

The state lawmaker who wrote a new Oklahoma statute on illegal immigration that is considered one of the harshest such laws in the nation has said he plans to follow it up with "son of H.B. 1804" when the Legislature convenes in January. The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, also known as H.B. 1804, took effect Nov. 1. Republican State Rep. Randy Terrill also said Tulsa Bishop Edward J. Slattery's Nov. 26 pastoral letter concerning the law was "noble but misguided." Terrill said Catholic leaders oppose the law because "the fastest-growing parishes in Catholicism are non-English-speaking" and...

Road plans in Texas have conspiracy theorists in an uproar I am driving along a mostly empty road in rural Fayette County, Texas, about an hour east of Austin, looking for the NAFTA superhighway -- the one that Stephen Harper, George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón mocked as a conspiracy theory when they were asked about it at their trilateral meeting in Montebello, Que., in August. Critics, who say that behind the leaders' denials lurks a larger, nefarious plan to unite North America, fear that such a roadway will eventually be a four-football-stadium-wide artery connecting Mexico, the U.S. and Canada,...

TULSA, Okla. - Twenty years ago, televangelist Oral Roberts said he was reading a spy novel when God appeared to him and told him to raise $8 million for Roberts' university, or else he would be "called home." ADVERTISEMENT Now, his son, Oral Roberts University President Richard Roberts, says God is speaking again, telling him to deny lurid allegations in a lawsuit that threatens to engulf this 44-year-old Bible Belt college in scandal.Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet...