Free Republic

A would-be robbery suspect was beaten up when he found out the hard way that a convenience store clerk on the University of Pittsburgh campus is also a former Golden Gloves boxing champ. The boxer, Eric Sydnor, told KDKA-TV he just did what he had to do when 45-year-old Leverett Johnson walked into the convenience store with a gun Saturday night. "He got slammed," Sydnor told the station. Johnson was still in the hospital Tuesday, recovering from the beating Sydnor administered, police said.

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ mascot Jaxson de Ville was seen on the field Sunday carrying a sign that read ‘Towels Carry Ebola’ in an apparent attempt to make fun of Steelers fans’ use of the Terrible Towel. On Monday, Jaguars team President Mark Lamping apologized for the incident....

Two teachers have taken Pennsylvania’s largest teachers union to court over its attempt to decide which charities may be supported by teachers as an alternative when they decline to join the union on religious grounds. The teachers, Chris Meier from Lancaster County and Jane Ladley from Chester County, are required—as a condition of employment—either to be a member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association or pay a nonmember “fair share” fee of $435. Last spring, PSEA accepted Meier and Ladley’s status as religious objectors. In lieu of paying membership dues, state law instructed the teachers to pay a “fair share”...

PLAINFIELD, Vt. (AP) - A one-time death row inmate now serving a life sentence for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer spoke to students graduating from a Vermont college on Sunday, encouraging them to strive to transform the world. Mumia Abu-Jamal spoke by video to 20 students receiving bachelor degrees from Goddard College in Plainfield. He earned a degree from the college in 1996. "Think about the myriad of problems that beset this land and strive to make it better," Abu-Jamal said in the video. He said his studies at Goddard allowed him to learn about important figures...

Two students at Bryn Mawr College tacked up a Confederate flag in their dormitory hall and taped a "Mason-Dixon line" across the floor - a move they said was merely a display of their Southern pride. But that display sent the small Main Line women's college into an uproar, with cries of protest from the student NAACP group and others, who called the items symbols of white supremacy, slavery, and hate. "I shouldn't have to walk past a Confederate flag on the way to my Black American Sociological Perspectives class, where we literally watch videos and learn about how that...

The 18-year-old sister of a suspect in a deadly police ambush said she thinks her brother, Eric Frein, has fled the Pocono Mountain woods, according to a story in The Morning Call. Tiffany Frein told the Call she believes the intensive manhunt has failed to capture her brother because he is no longer in the deep woods where officers are looking for him.

A patient who was evaluated for Ebola at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., does not have the disease, according to the DC Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Patient had traveled to Nigeria recently. That person was admitted to the hospital in stable condition and was isolated. The hospital continues to treat the patient for other illnesses. In a White House briefing Friday, Sylvia Burwell, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said of the Howard case, "What you see are people taking precautions." There are no confirmed cases of Ebola...

When it snows, Albert Smith dreads having to put on a couple of coats and sit in his car in the parking lot of the West Mifflin Manor apartment complex to smoke a cigarette. But after the Allegheny County Housing Authority banned smoking inside his building this week, he fears that's what he'll have to do. “I'm not on board,” said Smith, 72, a smoker since he was 15 who sat outside the subsidized apartment complex with a pack of Pall Malls in his shirt pocket and a smoke-free sign tacked to the wall behind him. “I pay $400 a...

Patient traveling from Nigeria admitted to Howard Univ Hospital in DC with possible Ebola symptoms. From Howard Univ : "we have activated the appropriate infection control protocols, including isolating the patient" Howard Univ: a patient ​has been admitted in stable condition, following travel to Nigeria w/ symptoms that could be associated with Ebola.

DNA testing was inconclusive on soiled diapers thought to have been left by Pennsylvania police ambush suspect Eric Frein, the FBI said Friday. The diapers had been exposed to the elements, so "you can’t say one way or the other" whether Frein wore them, said Edward Hanko, special agent in charge of the Philadelphia FBI office. State police announced last week they had discovered diapers in the northeastern Pennsylvania woods where Frein is believed to be hiding, and that he might have worn them so he could remain stationary for long periods of time.

UPDATE: Fire damages three buildings at Flight 93 National Memorial Posted: Friday, October 3, 2014 3:21 pm | Updated: 5:07 pm, Fri Oct 3, 2014. Six fire departments were called to a working structure fire at the Flight 93 National Memorial headquarters along Park Headquarters Road in Stonycreek Township. The fire was reported around 3:15 p.m. Friday. “There was a fire up in north headquarters,” said Mike Litterst, spokesman for the National Park Service, which oversees the park. “The headquarters is located about two miles away from the memorial.” Litterst didn't have any knowledge about the extent of the damage....

Six fire departments have been called to a working structure fire at the Flight 93 National Memorial headquarters along Park Headquarters Road in Stonycreek Township, according to scanner reports. The fire was reported around 3:15 p.m. Friday. The Daily American has sent a reporter to the scene and will provide updates as they become available.

A couple weeks ago, I was reading Greg Williams’ blog in which he talked about life after closing the Walk A Crooked Mile Bookstore at the Mount Airy Train Station, which he ran for 18 years. He spoke about seeking “the place where one’s bliss meets the world’s need.” Greg said he had just discovered a group called Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light, “a community of faith-based organizations responding to climate change as a moral issue,” and that he was planning to go with them to the People’s Climate March in Manhattan on Sept. 21. My wife Zipora and I...

Cheltenham High School students took a stand against the administration and held a sit-in Sept. 19 in the first-floor main hallway at the school. What were they protesting? According to a flyer that was circulated prior to the stand-off, students were upset about a series of school rules imposed by administrators. These rules included a four-minute time limit to get to classes, no headphones in the hallways, no eating outside and no walking up and down a particular stairwell in the building. These rules were referred to as “careless,” “unwelcome” and “ineffective” on the flyer. Students and curious online spectators...

Louis Freeh is no longer the head of his law firm. In a press release Thursday, Pepper Hamilton LLP announced that the former FBI director was being succeeded as chairman of the executive committee by Thomas Gallagher. Officials for the firm confirmed that Freeh remains a partner and member of the executive committee, and that he is still chairman of Freeh Group International Solutions. Gallagher is a former federal prosecutor and two-year member of the firm’s executive committee. His focus has been representing those accused of white-collar crimes and corporate investigations. While the move comes on the heels of a...

Two state troopers fell from a tree stand Wednesday night during the search for Eric Frein and were injured, according to a state police official. The troopers entered a wooden tree stand to clear the structure and ensure it was not occupied around 7 p.m. The tree stand was a man-made hunting blind elevated roughly 20 feet off the ground and attached to a tree. While inside the stand, the floor collapsed and both men fell to the ground. They were treated by tactical medics at the scene. At the advice of the medics, both troopers were air-lifted to Lehigh...

BARRETT TOWNSHIP — State officials call it a rare move. By executive order, hunting and trapping are temporarily banned in seven townships in the Poconos as law enforcement continue to comb the woods for suspected killer Eric Frein. Those townships are Price, Barrett, and Paradise in Monroe County and Blooming Grove, Greene, Porter, and Lehman in Pike County. Officials believe it is just too dangerous for hunters to be in those woods with Frein still on the loose. more here

The three Bucks County residents arrested earlier this month for allegedly attacking two gay men in Center City will have a joint preliminary hearing on Dec. 16, a judge ruled Tuesday. Following that hearing, a judge will determine if there is enough evidence to warrant a trial. The defendants - Kathryn Knott, 24, Philip Williams, 24, and Kevin Harrigan, 26 - were excused from having to appear at the status hearing by agreement with the District Attorney's Office. But attorneys for Knott, of Southampton, and Harrigan, of Warrington, said their clients are not gay-bashers. Williams did not utter any homophobic...

BLOOMING GROVE, PA - State police searching for a man accused of killing a state trooper said Tuesday they found two pipe bombs in the Pennsylvania woods during their manhunt. Lt. Col. George Bivens said the bombs were fully functional but not deployed. He says they could have been set off by either a trip wire or fuse, but appear to be among items that were hastily discarded.

BLOOMING GROVE, Pa. – State police searching for a man accused of killing a state trooper say they found two pipe bombs in the Pennsylvania woods during their manhunt. Lt. Col. George Bivens said Tuesday the pipe bombs were fully functional and could have been set off by either a trip wire or fuse, but appear to be among items that were hastily discarded.