Free Republic

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has proposed a three-month transportation bill. Three more months, he says, will give Congress a chance to figure out a long-term solution. The only problem is that Congress had three months three months ago and did nothing. Meanwhile, Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., have proposed to increase gas taxes by 12 cents a gallon. Considering that the gas tax hasn’t been increased in more than 20 inflation-filled years, this would seem to make sense.It doesn’t, however, because a gas tax increase assumes there is a shortage of funds for transportation. Instead, the real...

On Tuesday, police in Philadelphia arrested Milton Mateo Garcia, 28, after he reportedly raped a woman last weekend. Immigrationand Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials have conformed that the Honduran national was deported in June 2013, though the agency has declined to say what criminal activity led to his removal. The victim, a 26-year-old doctor at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, left the Ladder 15 bar on Sansom Street, after spending Friday evening with friends. Garcia grabbed her as she was about to enter her apartment building near Rittenhouse Square, according to police. The illegal alien was captured on surveillance footage following the woman....

PHILADELPHIA, PA – On Thursday, the Kermit Gosnell legal saga finally came to an end as the last two employees of his “house of horrors” abortion facility faced justice. Former Gosnell associates Lynda Williams and Tina Baldwin became the final defendants to be sentenced in the most publicized abortion case in decades. Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner sentenced Williams, 45, to serve five to 10 years in prison for two counts of third-degree murder. Baldwin, 48, received 30 months of probation after pleading guilty to sustaining a corrupt organization, conspiracy, and corrupting a minor. Williams entered a guilty plea...

--snip-- Investigators say 27-year-old Milton Garcia, also known as Milton Garcia-Vazquez, is facing rape and related charges for the assault late Friday night (see related story). Garcia was taken into custody Monday night and was charged sometime overnight. And federal authorities say he is an illegal immigrant who had been kicked out of the US a year ago (see below).

Sharon Doyle forgot to bring her gun to work on Monday. Her decision to go home to retrieve it may have ultimately saved her life. The 46-year-old store owner returned to Stan’s Health Foods in the Mayfair section of the city later that day. As she continued to work alone, police say a 47-year-old man entered the store with a knife in hand, immediately announcing a robbery. The man went behind the counter, grabbed the register and threw it to the ground, forcing it open, according to investigators. After grabbing some cash, he allegedly stood up and put his knife...

Sharon Doyle may be petite but the 46-year-old store owner is anything but defenseless, as one alleged robber learned on Monday. Police say the unidentified 47-year-old man likely believed Doyle was an easy target when he entered the Stan's Health Foods Store on the 7100 block of Frankford Avenue shortly after 5 p.m. But little did he know, there's more to Doyle than meets the eye. "She was a Philadelphia Police officer and she also was in the Secret Service," said Doyle's mother, Rita Perrell. Investigators say Doyle's law enforcement training was put to the test as the man held...

A former Philadelphia police officer shot and killed a knife-wielding man who tried to rob her vitamin store Monday evening, police said. Police did not release the 46-year-old shopkeeper's name, but online business records identified her as Sharon Doyle, who worked as a police officer in Philadelphia as well as Lower Makefield and Warminster Townships. She also served as a Secret Service agent from 2002 to 2004, according to a resumé posted online.

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane's review of the investigation into pedophile Jerry Sandusky was supposed to finally explain why the case took nearly three years to build, and whether it was bogged down by politics. Instead, the 166-page report she released Monday was overshadowed by Kane's own assertion - not included in the document - that two victims alleged they were sexually abused by Sandusky even while he was under investigation.

With the July 8 deadline looming, Delaware Republicans still have no declared candidate for United States Senate in 2014 to run against Democrat Chris Coons. However, a distinct possibility emerging is successful businessman Kevin Wade, who was the 2012 nominee of the Delaware Republican Party (DEGOP). As the country's circumstances worsen and it becomes clear to Republicans that really there is no one else actively considering the task, Kevin Wade is taking a new look at the race. Christine O'Donnell has ruled out a rematch, citing -- genuine and serious -- family reasons. Her father passed away last year from...

A Pennsylvania bill that would legalize AR-15 style semi-automatic rifles for hunting is being criticized by hunters themselves. The bill proposed in 2013 by Republican Rep. Rick Saccone claims that rapid follow-up shots will increase the odds of harvesting game. Saccone says only two states have banned their use and that there is nothing “frightening or extreme in this proposal.” A deer hunter of 54 years who wrote an op-ed for YDR.com says the proposal will make hunting unsafe and unethical. “Marksmanship is the essence of an ethical deer hunt. Spraying 11 shots at a deer (or group of deer)...

PITTSBURGH — Former U.S. Attorney General and former Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh has been hospitalized in Pittsburgh after suffering a mild stroke. His wife, Ginny Thornburgh, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the stroke happened Saturday at their weekend home in Ligonier. She said a doctor told her that 81-year-old Dick Thornburgh "will do well from a recovery point of view." She says he's resting comfortably at UPMC Presbyterian hospital. As governor in 1979, Thornburgh led the state during the Three Mile Island nuclear crisis. The Republican later served as U.S. attorney general under both presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush....

Remember these sixteen names when they run for office again. The sixteen Republicans who voted to proceed were Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Susan Collins (Maine). Bob Corker (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John McCain (Ariz.), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.). List courtesy The Hill.com. As reported by RedState yesterday, this bill would allow doctors to add a person’s name to the national database currently used for background checks, and list them as...

STATE COLLEGE — A spokeswoman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a statement this morning about the raid that took place Thursday at several State College restaurants. “Last week,” spokeswoman Nicole Navas wrote in an email to the Centre Daily Times, “ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents conducted an enforcement action at numerous locations in the State College, Pa. area. During the execution of federal search warrants, HSI special agents encountered and detained 10 individuals from China, Guatemala, Thailand, Mexico and Indonesia, who were identified as being unlawfully in the United States and/or illegally re-entering the country after...

Let’s say you take out a safety deposit box for precious family heirlooms, or create a bank account for your children that you don’t make transactions with regularly. How long would it take you to realize that the government has actually confiscated your property, sometimes without even informing you? That’s what happened to Glenn Beck’s chief of staff, Joe Kerry, and countless other Americans across the United States, many of whom are unaware that the state can legally take hold of your possessions if your account shows no signs of activity for a certain period of time. snip “I guess...

Ted SieferJune 16, 2014 Deer ticks, also known as blacklegged ticks, are the prime carriers of Lyme disease, which is particularly common in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Large numbers of ticks, the parasites that carry Lyme disease, are expected to emerge in New England in the coming weeks, experts said on Friday. Abundant snow over the winter and a wet spring have created ideal conditions for ticks to come out in the warm weather and try to latch onto hosts, they said. "The next three to four weeks is the peak season of risk," said Sam Telford, an infectious disease...

A Republican congressman said in a radio interview today that the House probably has the votes to impeach President Obama, if things got so bad that impeachment became their only recourse. Congressman Lou Barletta told Gary Sutton that the issue of impeachment is an important one to address with Obama “absolutely ignoring the Constitution and ignoring the laws.” A couple of Republicans have floated the idea of impeachment and the House having enough votes for impeachment before, and Barletta’s no different, claiming there’s a good chance impeachment could pass the Republican-led House if they took a vote. “For those that

President Barack Obama on Saturday intervened to end a transit strike in the greater Philadelphia area, establishing an emergency board to force the two sides to negotiate. The move, at the behest of Republican Governor Tom Corbett, came hours after about 440 engineers and electricians who operate trains that connect Philadelphia and its suburbs walked off the job. “That’s it. The strike is over," said Arthur Davidson, spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, one of the two unions on strike.

Presidential hopefuls Sen. Rand Paul, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Sen. Rick Santorum are in Iowa to deliver their prescriptions for how to unite the Republican Party. […] It is Paul’s third trip to Iowa since the 2012 election. The Kentucky senator says the GOP should maintain its core message but make the party more attractive to black and Hispanic voters. …

To the Editor: Is this the kind of country we want to be — where our children are sacrificed so that a small minority of Americans can have any kind of gun they want? Your child or my child could be collateral damage just so a small minority of Americans can have the pleasure of owning a grenade launcher if they want. Pick which child you want to sacrifice. How about your oldest so that the younger ones might still have a chance at life? Or should it be the youngest since you have invested a lot of time and...

The Mount Vernon Assembly – Indianapolis FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Skip Brown skip.brown@iga.in.gov 317-232-9521 The Mount Vernon Assembly to Meet at Indiana Statehouse June 12 and 13 INDIANAPOLIS (June 9, 2014) – More than 100 state legislators representing 33 states will meet at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis on June 12 and 13 to continue establishing the rules and procedures needed for a future state-led convention for proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as authorized by Article V of the Constitution. The meeting is a continuation of efforts that began in December 2013 at George Washington’s historic Mount Vernon estate...