Free Republic

Spain’s Socialist government is seeking to erase gender bias in the constitution but the head of the Royal Spanish Academy, the custodian of the language, on Monday said the plan was unworkable. Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo asked the Academy to study updating the 1978 constitution with “inclusive” language. “We have a constitution in the masculine which dates back to 40 years ago,” she said, noting that it referred to “ministers and deputies” with the male form of the noun. The traditional Spanish use of male pronouns and noun forms to refer to both genders collectively has raised...

A Massachusetts police officer, Army veteran and father of two who died this weekend after being shot by his own weapon would have marked his six-year anniversary on the force Monday, authorities said. Weymouth police officer Michael Chesna and a local resident died in the incident Sunday. The alleged gunman, 20-year-old Emanuel "Manny" Lopes, is in police custody but has not appeared in court.

TUCSON, Az. (FOX26 NEWS) — A would-be robber in Arizona was stopped by several restaurant employees and the whole thing was caught on camera. In the video, the crook can be seen standing behind a counter, armed with a knife and demanding money from employees. However, the workers were not amused and one of them decided to take action by throw a chair at the suspect. At least six employees then start attacking the man and subduing him until police arrive.

The ongoing eruption of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano and continued lava flows into the sea has created a tiny new landmass off the Big Island, officials revealed Friday. The U.S. Geological Survey said the tiny island formed off the northernmost part of the ocean entry from Fissure 8, and was oozing lava similar to that of the larger lava flow along the coast. In photos posted by the agency, the "island" is just a few meters off shore, and about 20 to 30 feet in diameter. "It's most likely part of the fissure 8 flow that's entering the ocean—and possibly a...

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the streets of her city are flooded with the excrement of the homeless in an interview Friday. Breed, a Democrat who was inaugurated as the San Francisco’s mayor Wednesday, urged homeless advocacy groups that receive money from the city to teach homeless people to “clean up after themselves.” “There is more feces on the sidewalks than I’ve ever seen growing up here,” Breed told KNTV. “That is a huge problem and we are not just talking about from dogs — we’re talking about from humans.”

WEYMOUTH, Mass. -- A Massachusetts police officer and bystander have died from wounds sustained when a suspect allegedly took the officer's gun and fired following a vehicle crash and a foot chase. Authorities say Weymouth officer Michael Chesna was shot multiple times before 8 a.m. Sunday, and died from the injures at South Shore Hospital. Officials say an unidentified elderly woman also died after being hit by stray bullets in a nearby home. Weymouth Police Chief Richard Grimes identified the shooting suspect as Emmanuel Lopes, and said he was in custody. Police say the suspect crashed a car, fled the...

Tires blown and rutted in an incline ditch, a two-hour joy ride ended on Highway 70 just north of Oroville for two suspects that stole a fire engine Saturday afternoon.

Saturday, family and friends will gather to remember Justine Damond, the woman killed in a high-profile officer-involved shooting in Minneapolis. Sunday will mark one year since Damond's death. At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, a memorial park bench will be dedicated to Damond at Minnehaha Creek. Family members say that's where Damond and her fiance Don first expressed their love for one another. After that, 51st Street near the alley where Damond died will be closed off so people can reflect and remember her. Later in Australia, Damond's family will hold a vigil as the sun rises Sunday morning there. Damond was...

Charles Powell, her most important private secretary, now believes that she would have negotiated a deal quite like David Cameron’s latest, and urged a Remain vote. Norman Tebbit, one of her most senior and like-minded ministers, says the opposite. I shall not break my rule by agreeing or disagreeing with either. But the story of Mrs Thatcher and Europe does reveal something interesting. The whole time she was in office, she never said that Britain should leave. Once she had left office, she said privately – to me and several others – that she thought we should.

Authorities say a 16-year-old male is dead after an officer-involved shooting in Chanhassen Friday morning. The Carver County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 6400 block of Oriole Ave. after a woman called 911 saying her son was suicidal and threatening her with knives and a baseball bat. When authorities arrived, they encountered the boy and deployed a Taser. At one point during the encounter, two sheriff’s deputies fired their weapons, hitting the boy. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities say one sheriff’s deputy was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, treated and released. The BCA is...

BERNVILLE, Pa. (WPVI) --Police say a bulldozer ran over and killed a man who was fleeing officers in Pennsylvania. State police say an employee with the Pennsylvania Game Commission was operating the bulldozer on game lands in Penn Township Monday morning when he saw a car parking in a field.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska >> Alaska’s last two Blockbuster video stores are calling it quits, leaving just one store open in the United States. The stores in Anchorage and Fairbanks will close for rentals after Sunday night and reopen Tuesday for video liquidation sales through the end of August, said Kevin Daymude, general manager of Blockbuster Alaska.

A new abortion clinic opened next door to a children’s day care facility Monday in Columbus, Ohio, sparking outrage in the neighborhood. The new abortion business, Your Choices Healthcare on Karl Road, is operated by the same group that ran Founders Women’s Health Center, an abortion facility on Broad Street, WOSU Radio News reports. Founders closed at the end of June for unknown reasons after 45 years in business. It aborted unborn babies up to 17 weeks of pregnancy. The new abortion facility will abort unborn babies up to 10 weeks for a price of $525 or more. One of...

A mother and daughter from Minnesota were killed by a 600 to 800-pound boulder when the rock fell from a truck in front of their vehicle and crashed into their car. Karen Jean Christiansen, 67, and her daughter Jena Helene Christiansen, 32, died while traveling in Rosemount, Minnesota on Monday around 4:40 p.m. ... According to Rosemount Police, it took more than four firemen to roll the boulder at the scene. ... After the crash, authorities used business security cameras to capture a picture of the truck, which was a commercial vehicle. The driver of the truck was identified as...

Drought in Ireland Leads to Discovery of Neolithic Henge Drone footage captured amid a heatwave close to the 5000-year-old Newgrange neolithic passage tomb in County Meath, Ireland, on July 10 revealed an previously-undiscovered henge, sparking an investigation by the country’s National Monument ServiceThe footage was shot by Ken Williams in Brú na Bóinne, or the Boyne Valley, an area rich in neolithic sites and which was designated a a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.Williams said that were it not for the recent heatwave and drought in the area, the remains of the henge would not have been seen.According to...

Police received a 911 call after a McDonald’s drive-thru customer in Vero Beach complained of a driver behind her repeatedly bumping her car. Indian River County sheriff’s deputies found Stevens still behind the wheel, an open bottle of booze stuffed in a paper bag on the seat next to him, according to the affidavit. Deputies said Stevens smelled of alcohol and told them he was feeling “pretty good.” Stevens, who said he has never had a Florida driver’s license, allegedly told deputies that he’d only sip Jim Beam at “stop signs.” According to the affidavit, “He further explained that he...

Actually, the charges were DROPPED. Entrapment?

There is a lot of speculation right now about what abortion laws would look like if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. And while abortion activists are fear-mongering with images of coat hangers and talk of back alley abortions, legal scholars say abortions will still be legal in most of the United States if Roe is overturned. “We think there are 22 states likely to ban abortion without Roe,” Amy Myrick, an attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the Las Vegas Sun. “The threat level is very high now.” Abortion activists are worried and pro-lifers are...

Within hours of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement last month, Emily Hauser was standing at a drugstore counter asking a pharmacist for two packages of Plan B. At age 53, she didn’t need the emergency contraception pills — in fact, she wasn’t sure who would, or when. But Hauser bought them anyway. A mother of two, she’s worried her teenagers won’t be able to access Plan B if Roe v. Wade, the decision that protects a woman’s right to abortion, gets overturned after Kennedy leaves the Supreme Court. It’s a big fear for Hauser, though she feels a...

Comedian George Lopez was recently seen in a TMZ video emptying a small water bottle onto President Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, acting as though he was urinating. It was unclear when the footage was taken, but the celebrity website posted the video Wednesday.