Free Republic

To RTD, the crimes that are happening are a microcosm of a larger, societal challenge that is seeping its way into its buses, trains and stations.. The Lakewood Police Department described a disturbing scene that unfolded on Feb. 13 at a Regional Transportation District light rail station. Two teenage girls allegedly assaulted a man at the Wadsworth Boulevard light rail station, the police said. The teens seemingly attacked the man at random, holding him down, kicking him and calling him racial slurs, the police added. The incident was one of several crimes that occurred in metro Denver's public transportation system...

Police have released bodycam and security footage of the shooting in Lakewood church, showing the chaos and terror of the encounter. On February 11, 2024 Genesse Moreno entered Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church with an AR-15 and opened fire, causing people to flee and take cover. Minutes later, she was dead and two people were injured, including the shooter’s seven-year-old son, who was shot in the head three times and remains in critical condition. As soon as the shooting begins, the off-duty officers instantly start towards the gunfire, with one saying, “We need to approach. Father God, just be with us....

The shooter who entered Lakewood Church on Sunday with a long rifle and child in tow has been identified as Genesse Ivonne Moreno, according to multiple sources. The 36-year-old previously identified as Jeffrey Escalante and had prior arrests for assault, forgery, marijuana possession, theft, evading and unlawful carrying of a weapon, according to KHOU's Jeremy Rogalski. Accoring to a Texas Department of Public Safety records search, her criminal report dates back to 2005. Members of the FBI, Conroe Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, Houston Police Department and Texas Rangers arrived at a Conroe home hours after the Sunday shooting...

A shooter at Houston’s Lakewood Church was reportedly stopped by a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy working security at the church Sunday morning. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez responded to news of the shooting with an X post saying, “It is believed that a possible shooter is down, shot by one of our deputy’s on-scene. I’m enroute to the scene.” Click2Houston reported the shooter allegedly opened fire in the church lobby. The outlet noted that witnesses indicated “the shooter was possibly a female.”

HOUSTON, TX—After contractors discovered hundreds of envelopes full of cash in the walls of Lakewood church, Lakewood's head pastor Joel Osteen has volunteered his services for a much-needed church remodel. "IT'S DEMOOOOOO DAAAAAY!" he sang out as he walked into a nearby restroom and began smashing holes in the walls. "Oh, how I love demo day!!!" He swung his sledgehammer into the tile and drywall, causing piles of money to cascade out of the walls. "I'm claiming God's bountiful financial blessings for my life!" he said between swings. "Weeeeeeeeeeee!" Investigators say hundreds of thousands of dollars were found, possibly linked...

Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen has been questioned by police after 'bags and bags' of cash and checks were found in about 500 envelopes in a bathroom wall at Lakewood Church in Texas. A plumber who worked at the church and only gave his first name, Justin, called into a Houston radio morning 100.3 The Bull show to tell them about his shocking discovery, which comes seven years after about $600,000 in donations was stolen and hasn't been recovered. Justin was called in to America's largest church, Lakewood Church, on November 10 to fix a broken toilet, he said. 'There was...

LAKEWOOD, Wash. — A 54-year-old man is accused of shooting and killing another man who was attempting to steal a catalytic converter from his truck, and then dragging the man's body behind the truck and dumping it into a field in Lakewood. The victim was identified by the medical examiner as Brent Peltomaa, 40. According to court documents, Michael Scott Campbell told police he was sleeping in his Ford F-150 around 3:45 a.m. Saturday when he was woken up by someone attempting to saw the catalytic converter off his truck. Campbell told police he saw two legs sticking out from...

A brush fire in Lakewood the Brick border Sunday afternoon grew into a major forest fire by the evening, damaging 30 homes and buildings and forcing the closure of the Garden State Parkway. The fire’s footprint was less than a quarter of a football field when first reported about 1 p.m. near Airport Road and Cedarbridge Avenue, officials said. It jumped across Airport Road and spread to nearby buildings before crossing the Parkway, Lakewood police Capt. Steve Allaire told The Lakewood Scoop. A neighborhood of homes was temporarily evacuated, and the parkway was eventually closed in both directions from Exit...

Multimillionaire televangelist Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Texas netted $4.4 million in bailouts through the federal COVID-19 relief program, records show. The Houston megachurch, the largest in the nation with 52,000 weekly congregants, received the forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loan in late July, the Houston Business Journal reported Sunday.

Top California lawmakers on Tuesday ordered the removal of a marble sculpture depicting explorer Christopher Columbus and his patron, Queen Isabella, from the Capitol Rotunda. The statue has been in the Capitol for more than a century. Top lawmakers called for its removal a day after a statue showing white settler John Sutter was taken down in front of the Sacramento hospital that bears his name.“Christopher Columbus is a deeply polarizing historical figure given the deadly impact his arrival in this hemisphere had on indigenous populations. The continued presence of this statue in California’s Capitol, where it has been since...

LAKEWOOD, NJ – Friday was the third day of an ongoing FBI investigation in Lakewood Township related to medical equipment, but officials are still not even confirming the existence of the action. It started Wednesday when over one dozen agents showed up at Lakewood Industrial Park warehouse. WEDNESDAY Agents showed up at a warehouse at approximately 4:30 pm located at 1980 Swarthmore Avenue. The warehouse of Deco-Tile was where the agents were entering and exiting, later some were seen bringing out boxes of medical supplies. No visible arrests were made. We contact the FBI Newark office who declined to comment...

LAKEWOOD, NJ – A large presence of FBI agents landed in Lakewood on Wednesday and were seen carrying what appears to be medical supplies out of a warehouse in the Lakewood Industrial Park. A video captured by the First Amendment Activist showed agents standing in a parking lot outside a warehouse on Swarthmore Avenue. Later, photos by the Asbury Park Press showed the agents carrying boxes of supplies into nearby vehicles. Those supplies appeared to be medical supplies. The Lakewood Scoop later reported that it was a misunderstanding and now the FBI is seeking to purchase supplies from legally operating...

LAKEWOOD, N.J. (CBS) — Police in Ocean County have arrested a homeowner for hosting a pop-up wedding with more than 50 people in attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in the week, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy banned gatherings of 50 or more people in an effort to stop the spread of coronavirus. Lakewood police have charged 49-year-old Eliyohu Zaks with maintaining a nuisance for hosting the wedding at a home on Spruce Street. “The Lakewood Police is asking that its citizens be responsible and obey the directives set forth by the State of New Jersey for the safety and...

A large blue swastika and the words “white power” were spray-painted on a Jewish-owned business in Jackson, New Jersey, JTA reported on Wednesday. The business, which police declined to name, is owned by a Jewish family who lives in nearby Lakewood which has a large haredi population. The apparent vandal was captured on surveillance video, which showed a woman getting out of her vehicle and walking behind a trailer located on the property of the business, which was later vandalized, reported the Lakewood Scoop. Police did not say if the incident is being investigated as a hate crime, according to...

Kanye West joined Pastor Joel Osteen on stage at his Lakewood Church on Sunday and said he plans to recruit the best talent in the music industry and release new Christian music every month. “This music is going to come every month. We dropping that heat. We’re in the studio. God is strengthening our hands,” Kanye West said to the over 17,000 in attendance and the millions watching on livestream. “The devil stole all the good producers, the devil stole all the good musicians, all the good artists, all the good designers, all the good businesspeople, and said you’ve got...

Gorgeous choir...

According to West: """The mentality is that Satan is as powerful as God, but this isn't true. The trend is going to change. Jesus has won the victory because now the greatest artist that God ever created is working for him," he added."" ...10....9....8....7....6....5....4.....3.....2....1.... Will not take long....sorry West supporters...."Pride comes before a fall" Will the fall be spiritually fatal? Don't know....but it will come. 100% of the time. More at link:

The cold case murders of a Wisconsin couple on a camping trip 43 years ago has led to the arrest through DNA of an 82-year-old “helpful handyman,” according to a report. Raymond Vannieuwenhoven has been jailed in lieu of bond after being charged with fatally shooting David Schuldes, 25, and Ellen Matheys, 24, in a park 80 miles north of Green Bay on July 9, 1976. He has also been charged with raping Matheys. The arrest in March shocked his neighbors in the tiny town of Lakewood, the Associated Press reported Saturday.“I said, ‘You gotta be kidding me,’” Wayne Sankey recalled. “And then...

Multiple people died and at least 10 others were injured in a fiery crash on a Colorado highway that involved at least 15 cars and semi trucks. Officials did not specify the number of people killed, but said there were "multiple fatalities" in the Thursday crash and subsequent fire on Interstate 70 in Lakewood, Colorado, about 8 miles west of Denver. One firefighter was among the people taken to a local hospital when debris, possibly a tire, exploded. The accident occurred at around 4:30 p.m. when a semitrailer slammed into several stopped cars at a high rate of speed during...

It’s astounding how many defenses of the state’s position in Masterpiece Cakeshop depend on misrepresentation and misconceptions. Last week I wrote about the most common misrepresentation — that Jack Phillips discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation when he refused to design a custom cake for a same-sex-wedding celebration. After all, he served all customers — regardless of race, sex, or sexual orientation. He just consistently refused to design cakes that advanced messages he disagreed with. No person of any identity has the legal authority to compel an artist to use his talents to advance a cause the artist...