Free Republic

Republican Utah lawmaker Jon Stanard has unexpectedly resigns from the Legislature. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Republican Utah lawmaker Jon Stanard has unexpectedly resigned from the Legislature. House Speaker Greg Hughes announced Wednesday morning that the representative from St. George resigned Tuesday night "due to personal and family concerns." Hughes did not offer details but said legislators are honoring Stanard's request for privacy and wish him the best. House Chief of Staff Greg Hartley said in a text message that Stanard was not facing any kind of legislative investigation or disciplinary action. Stanard did not respond to a voicemail seeking...

Last month, a local California newspaper left more than 19 million voter records exposed online. Gizmodo confirmed this week that the records were compromised during an apparent ransomware attack. The Sacramento Bee said in a statement that a firewall protecting its database was not restored during routine maintenance last month, leaving the 19,501,258 voter files publicly accessible. Additionally, the names, home addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers of 52,873 Sacramento Bee subscribers were compromised. “We take this incident seriously and have begun efforts to notify each of the individuals on the contact list and to provide them resources to help...

KEIZER, Ore. – A man who worked for a tree trimming service was sentenced to prison time after he pleaded guilty to trying to push his co-worker into a wood chipper, head-first. Officers arrested Scott Iverson on attempted murder and attempted assault charges after the incident back on May 1, 2017. Iverson's co-worker at R&R Tree Service, Austin Crawford, told police they were working at a property on Moneda Avenue N when Iverson put him in a choke hold and tried to push him into the wood chipper machine. Another employee intervened and stopped Iverson. Iverson pleaded guilty to the...

Pennsylvania police were able to issue an arrest warrant for a man identified after a sketch of him circulated, and was mocked among social media users.A witness drew an image of a suspected thief — who police believe to be Hunt Phuoc Nguyen, 44, — and submitted it to Lancaster City Police, which then released the “cartoonish” picture alongside a detailed description on Tuesday.Authorities said the suspect, believed to be Asian or South American, was around 5 feet 4 inches tall, and between 30 to 40 years of age. Police said the suspect had black hair and wide cheekbones.

The state attorney's office will determine if a woman will face hate crime charges for attacking a fellow Lyft customer. Miami Beach police detectives say an angry and drunk Sherry Moody first yelled gay slurs at a fellow passenger and then kicked, slapped and scratched 57-year-old Jose Gonzales during their Jan. 26th ride. Her stiletto heel caused a puncture wound to his face. Gonzalez said Moody became angry that Gonzalez was scheduled to be dropped off first before she attacked him. The Lyft driver kicked her out, and she later turned herself in to face felony battery charges. Lyft released...

A Swampscott elementary school principal recently came out as transgender, according to letters released to the school community on Feb. 6 and, a day later, to the press. “I can now say it: I am transgender,” wrote Shannon Daniels, 52, principal of Swampscott’s Stanley Elementary School and who formerly went by the name Tom, in a letter to the community. “For me that means I identify as both a male and female, and I plan to move toward presenting myself and identifying as female.” Daniels wrote of struggling with her gender identity since she was in elementary school, suppressing the...

The former St. Catherine's University student who reportedly set several fires on the school's campus in St. Paul, Minn. a few weeks ago was indicted in federal court Wednesday for providing support to al-Qa'ida, as well as dual charges for arson and making a false statement to FBI agents, officials said.The terrorism-related charges stem from a Sept. 19 letter Tnuza Jamal Hassan allegedly wrote and sent to fellow students at St. Catherine's asking them to "join the jihad in fighting," and to "[j]oin al-Qaeda, Taliban, or Al Shabaab," according to a release. In an interview with several FBI agents a few days later, officials...

There are an incredible number of Badgers who have competed in the Olympics (by my count, well over 100), and seven current or former UW-Madison athletes will add their names to this prestigious list in Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Olympics from Feb. 8–25. In total, 14 current or former Badgers will either coach or play hockey in the coming games for USA or Canada. Unfortunately, Jim Johannson, who passed away Jan. 21, will be greatly missed by Team USA. The former Badger and Admiral great was serving as Team USA men’s hockey’s general manager before he left. Perhaps it...

WHEATON, Md. (WJLA) - An undocumented immigrant urinating in public used a box cutter to repeatedly stab a man who had merely suggested he pull up his trousers and use a proper restroom, police say. On Nov. 30, around 11 p.m., Montgomery County Police were dispatched to the Wheaton Metro bus turnaround along Georgia Avenue. Upon stepping out of their cruisers, officers saw a man with stab wounds and bloody slashes to his neck, face and stomach. The victim, plus an uninjured eyewitness, pointed officers toward Salvador Gomez-Lopez, 46, who was allegedly drunk and belligerent. The two men explained that...

Drivers stuck in notoriously congested traffic in and around the nation’s capital can take comfort in a new study that shows things could be worse. D.C. area traffic is the 18th most congested in the world, according to the 2017 score card by INRIX transportation analytics.The study combines anonymous GPS data from connected cars and smartphones with other information, including construction and road closures. Not surprisingly, the most congested traffic in our area is during the morning and afternoon/evening commutes, when drivers are in congestion 23 percent of the time, on roads into and out of D.C.Factoring in typically less...

One of three teenage boys charged with trying to steal a retired police officer’s running vehicle Friday evening in the Gold Coast was arrested again Sunday night in connection to another carjacking. One of the teenage boys was arrested again Sunday night — less than 48 hours after being released — with a gun in another stolen car, Guglielmi said. The arrest happened in the South Side Englewood neighborhood.

Two women died digging for clams along the Washington coast Friday in separate incidents that occurred after they were caught in rough surf, officials said. The Pacific County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook the women were reported missing around 9 p.m., roughly four minutes apart, from two beaches in Pacific County, located in the southwest part of the state. "These incidents serve as a tragic reminder that one must always be vigilant of the powerful surf and waves that are often present on our ocean beaches," Sheriff Scott Johnson said. "Always stay close to other clammers, bring a flashlight or...

A mob of cyclists went the wrong way up a Manhattan street to reportedly attack drivers along the way. The cyclists pounded the car of an Uber driver at the very least five times, popping wheelies and cutting off moving cars.

A lone Italian gunman wounded six African immigrants in a two-hour drive-by shooting spree Saturday in a small Italian city where just days earlier a Nigerian man was arrested in the gruesome killing of a teenager, officials said. The shooting suspect was identified as Luca Traini, a 28-year-old Italian with no previous record. Traini had run on a list for the anti-migrant Northern League party in a local election last year in the town of Corridonia, but the party lost. The news agency ANSA quoted friends as saying he had previously been affiliated with Italian extremist parties like the neo-fascist...

YORK, Pa. — The results of Groundhog Day 2018 are in: According to legend, we're in for six more weeks of winter because Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. The Pennsylvania groundhog isn't the only weather-predicting rodent in this quirky American tradition, but he is the most famous. And according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, his opinion is the only one that matters.

The sister of CNN host Don Lemon has died after she fell into a Louisiana pond and drowned while fishing. The Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office say her death is being treated as an accident and they do not suspect foul play. "Our family has suffered the tragic loss of L'Tanya 'Leisa' Lemon Grimes and we are leaning on each other for strength at this time. We appreciate privacy as we grieve the loss of our loved one."

....According to a witness who spoke to TMZ, the late night host made an errant left turn onto Sunset Strip even though there was a ‘right turn only’ sign at the intersection. Video footage captured at the scene shows Kimmel making a telephone call while standing on the sidewalk next to the driver of the other vehicle.

HONG KONG — A van slammed into pedestrians on a sidewalk outside a Starbucks in Shanghai on Friday, injuring at least 18 people, the Chinese state news media reported.

A judge sentenced a 15-year-old Wisconsin girl to 40 years in a mental hospital on Thursday after she, along with another girl, admitted they tried to murder a classmate in order to please a fictional horror character named “Slender Man.” Morgan Geyser, 15, pleaded guilty in October to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in accordance with a plea deal to avoid serving time in prison. In 2014, Geyser and Anissa Weier, who was sentenced in December to 25 years in a mental health facility, lured their classmate Payton Leutner into a wooded park in Waukesha and stabbed her several times with...

A teenager has told how a man smashed a bottle over her head in a nightclub in Malmo, Sweden, after he sexually assaulted her and she pushed him away. Sophie Johansson, 19, told Swedish media that she had never met the man before, and that she suddenly felt his hands on her bottom and between her legs on the dancefloor. She says she hit him in order to get him to stop, to which he responded by punching her in the face and then hitting her with a glass bottle.