Free Republic

A transgender Philadelphia city official got in a scuffle with a Pennsylvania State policeman after her husband was detained and played the race card during a traffic stop on Saturday. As The Daily Mail reported, Celena Morrison, Philadelphia’s executive director of the Office of LGBT Affairs, was arrested on Saturday along with her husband, Darius McLean. Pennsylvania State Police said that the officer initiated a traffic stop on I-76 westbound at roughly 9 AM for Morrison’s gray Infinity sedan, which reportedly had several vehicle code violations. The Mail reported a green Dodge driven by McLean then pulled up behind the...

Hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved over the years when naloxone — commonly known as Narcan — is administered to someone overdosing on opioids. Drugs Illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl can be mixed with xylazine, either to enhance drug effects or increase street value by increasing their weight. sedative/tranquilizer called xylazine to heroin, fentanyl and other opioids. And that’s bad news for addicts because naloxone doesn’t reverse a xylazine overdose. National Center for Biotechnology Information “You overdose on xylazine, and you’re going to die,” said the commander of the Greater Harrison Drug & Violent Crimes...

Horrific footage shows the devastating toll the “tranq” drug epidemic has had on addicts in Philadelphia. The Kensington neighborhood — made infamous by its open-air drug market — is seen completely packed with the slumped-over and passed-out drug users in the video posted to TikTok by urbanvisuals2.0. The harrowing clip comes as the “City of Brother Love” struggles with the rising use of the drug Xylazine, or “tranq,” which is a deadly sedative used to enhance the effects of heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. The drug is so potent the White House recently declared it an “emerging threat.”Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director...

Philadelphia officials voted to impose a last-minute voting rule change that will effectively slow the vote count process. The city’s three-member elections board voted 2-1 in favor of imposing poll book reconciliation – a drawn-out process that aims to prevent double votes, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

But some Republicans are worrying that Mastriano is squandering the opportunity in one of the country’s most consequential races. Would-be allies have remained on the sidelines, having concluded by now that a Mastriano win in November might require a minor miracle. Coincidentally, divine intervention is just what the candidate has in mind this week. On Monday night, Mastriano’s campaign posted on Facebook a photo of two hands under the words “40 days of fasting & prayer” with the dates Sept. 29 through Nov. 8 — Election Day. “Interceding for our elections, our state, and our nation,” it stated, along with...

The Philadelphia protester who torched two police cars in 2020 – and was then tracked down by investigators through the website Etsy – was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for the attack. Lore-Elisabeth Blumenthal, 35, pleaded guilty in March to downgraded charges of obstructing, impeding and interfering with law enforcement officers for firebombing the two cop cars outside Philadelphia City Hall as protests raged in the city. At her sentencing hearing Thursday, Blumenthal said she was high on drugs and in the throes of addiction when she torched the cars, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. “My substance abuse left...

Philadelphia police released shocking video of seven teens beating James Lambert Jr., 73, with a traffic cone, who died from the injuries he sustained The video shows four boys and three girls chasing after the elderly man in the middle of the street as they hurl the makeshift weapon at him Police are offering a $20,000 reward for information on the seven teens It's the latest in a string of violent crimes plaguing the City of Brotherly Love, where two officers were shot and injured on the Fourth of July Overall crime in Philadelphia is up by more than 25...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A brutal and unprovoked attack was caught on camera. Three women were walking along an East Passyunk sidewalk minding their own business when a man comes alongside and begins to punch them. The brutal assault happened Wednesday night on the 1200 block of Morris Street and has left the neighborhood on edge. The attacker didn’t take a thing from his victims, casually walking off when it was over. We do want to warn you that this video is difficult to watch. “I heard screaming,” a neighbor said. Three women were walking down the 1200 block of Morris...

Philadelphia's School District encouraged its staff to attend the largest free transgender wellness conference in the world, where extremely explicit content was shared in the name of breaking down barriers. The annual event was held online, organized by the Mazzoni Center, which under the leadership of Sultan Shakir works to improve health and wellbeing among the LGBTQ community in Philadelphia. The School District, led by Superintendent William Hite, emailed teachers and school staff on their mailing list in July 2021 to invite them to attend, describing it as an opportunity to 'learn more about the issues facing the trans community.'...

In Philadelphia, litter and illegal dumping have become climate issues. Philadelphia Water Department crews spent days cleaning trash out of the city’s nearly 75,000 storm drains, in preparation for remnants of Hurricane Ida. Prodigious levels of trash and litter in the city — the only without a citywide street cleaning program — means storm drains are frequently clogged by debris. “When we have a forecast and we know that we have a storm like this, we go out to areas that we know can be problematic, in terms of being low lying or where there’s a lot of trash or...

Event intended to highlight immigrant chefs apologizes for including Israeli food truck A Philadelphia organization that works to feature immigrant chefs canceled a planned food truck festival over social media criticism that an Israeli vendor would be included. Eat Up the Borders, which operates a recurring food festival featuring immigrant chefs, axed their event after receiving criticism for including Moshava, a food truck and catering company run by an Israeli immigrant. The organizers said it would be wrong to include Moshava without also featuring a Palestinian truck. Moshava's Brandon Ferrio, who cofounded the business with Israeli immigrant Nir Sheynfeld, said...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday summoned Republican members of the Pennsylvania legislature to the White House after a GOP hearing in Gettysburg in which Trump phoned in to reassert his false claim that he “won Pennsylvania by a lot.” But on Thursday, no one wanted to talk about the meeting. The White House did not issue a public statement about the visit, and lawmakers who made the trip to Washington were silent. President-elect Joe Biden won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes by 80,555 votes, according to the results Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar certified Tuesday. The former vice...

Until all the votes are counted and all the allegations of voter fraud are investigated, I think it’s too early to declare a winner in the 2020 race. You keep fighting. For now, the legal challenges are hitting snags in the courts. Still, President Trump should keep fighting to the end. We have dead people voting. We have allegations of ballots being illegally backdated. Everything should be looked at right now.  Was this election stolen? Well, millions feel that way. The turnout numbers are odd in some states, like Wisconsin, which hit 89 percent. Now, is that figure impossible? No....

The Vietnamese Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was a “total loss” after being burned during Black Lives Matter protests and riots on Tuesday night, according to news reports and video footage released Wednesday.

hiladelphia Democratic Mayor James Kenney says his city-wide ban on large events and gatherings through February 2021 does not apply to protests. "The city's office of special events will not accept, review, process or approve applications, issue permits or enter into agreements for special events or public gatherings of 50 people or more on public property through the end of February. The moratorium will apply to special events and public gatherings, including but not limited to festivals, parades, concerts, carnivals, fairs and flea markets," Kenney said during a coronavirus video update on Tuesday. "In addition, permit applications for residential block...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — At least four Philadelphia police officers were shot in Philadelphia’s Nicetown-Tioga section and rushed to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. Another officer suffered a non-shooting injury during the incident. The officers were taken to Temple University Hospital, where dozens of officers have surrounded the hospital. Police tell CBS3 that the injuries the officers sustained are believed to be non-life-threatening. BREAKING: We just arrived to Temple University Hospital where multiple officers were transported after being shot in North Philadelphia. It is a very active scene here and we’re working to determine the condition of the officers. At least...

A Philadelphia man’s freedom from the Westmoreland County Prison on Tuesday was short-lived. Moments after Thomas Lee Williams, 36, was released from the Hempfield jail at about 6:15 p.m., police said he attacked a West Leechburg woman in the parking lot, took her sport-utility vehicle and fled with her 1-year-old grandson in the back seat. Williams crashed 2 miles away in Youngwood about 15 minutes later, ran into a wooded area and was eventually apprehended, according to county Park Police Chief Kirk Nolan. Williams was back behind bars Wednesday on $250,000 bail. Investigators will be examining surveillance video from outside...

Last week, we told you that the Philadelphia Police Department was asking for the public’s help to identify a group of people who allegedly attacked United States Marine Corps reservists in Old City, and now police say they have one suspect in custody: Tom Keenan, who has been associated with Philadelphia’s antifa movement. Investigators say that a group of men and women maced, punched, kicked, and robbed the reservists near Front and Chestnut streets on Saturday, November 17th, around 3:20 p.m., just down the street from the controversial “We the People” rally. The group allegedly called the reservists “Nazis” and “white supremacists.” -snip According to...

Investigators are reviewing surveillance video along North Broad Street after a group of about 300 teenagers crowded the area Sunday night. It’s not clear why the large group descended onto Broad Street at around 7:30 p.m. Police are looking to identify a small fraction of the kids; those who were fighting and damaging property inside a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant near the Liacouras Center and one other business, flipping over tables and chairs. […] Police are reviewing social media to determine if this was a planned meet-up. Police Commissioner Richard Ross says often times investigators can stop social media meet-ups before...

(CNN)Donald Trump's glittering empire of New York skyscrapers and Atlantic City casinos have long had a darker side, allegations that the mob helped build them. Trump's alleged ties to New York and Philadelphia crime families go back decades and have been recounted in a book, newspapers and government records. "The mob connections of Donald are extraordinarily extensive," New York investigative journalist Wayne Barrett told CNN in an interview.