Free Republic

Stoodley's Tavern, Portsmouth NH, as it appears today. Here, on 13 December 1774, after a miserable day's ride of 65 miles through a snowstorm, is where Paul Revere delivered the news of British troop movements which led to the seizure by local patriots of the powder and arms at Fort William and Mary. Politico promises us that: "Obama set to unveil curbs on gun sellers: Executive actions expected next week will be part of the president's new year push to make progress on long-stalled problems before the 2016 presidential election heats up."In addition, we are told -- "Coming Soon:...

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A Virginia police officer who shot and killed a man in a Wal-Mart parking lot has been indicted on charges of first-degree murder and using a gun in a felony. Portsmouth Circuit Court records show a grand jury indicted city officer Stephen D. Rankin on Thursday. Eighteen-year-old William Chapman II was shot April 22. Virginia State Police said the shooting occurred when an officer responded to a call from Wal-Mart security about shoplifting, and a struggle ensued. Chapman is black. Rankin is white.

Full title: That's pretty fishy!: School blames ‘poor lighting’ for paltry lunch that meets Michelle Obama's nutritional guidelines That's not a light lunch, it's just bad lighting, say administrators at a Virginia School standing up for their FLOTUS approved school meals. A concerned mother took a photo of her child's lunch consisting of a dull looking fish fillet, a whole wheat bun, and corn and then posted it to social media this week. Virginia’s Portsmouth Public Schools say that their lunches are in compliance with Michelle Obama's federal lunch rules. Scroll down for video

Portsmouth, Va. – Portsmouth Sheriff Bill Watson says he is furious after a group of judges told him to take down an American flag display. Sheriff Watson said his agency got the American flag display as a gift from members of the Portsmouth Fire Department a few weeks ago. It’s made of old fire hoses which a sign beneath it that reads, “A Tribute to Public Safety.” Watson said he requested to have it mounted on the wall in the lobby of the courthouse but was shocked by what he was told. Watson said he was told, “Not only do...

PORTSMOUTH — A verbal altercation Friday night at Portsmouth High School came about because of an idling tour bus belonging to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown. ...Williams (a spokesperson for the Brown campaign) said a man approached the bus, screaming obscenities. He said the man, later identified as New Castle resident Burt Cohen, a longtime Democratic state senator, not only refused to leave when asked, but attempted to board the bus, accosting a campaign volunteer who tried to stop him. Williams alleges that the volunteer campaign worker stood between Cohen and the bus and Cohen "physically assaulted" the campaigner...

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – When a man heard noises in his backyard and heard the back door handle click, he ushered his family upstairs, grabbed his gun and prepared to defend himself. Brandon Watson remembers his wife seeing “guys in all black” approaching the house; when he couldn’t immediately find a phone to call 911, he instead ran back downstairs with his legally purchased gun. Watson recalls warning the intruders, “Who is that? I have a gun,” and immediately finding “two red laser beams” trained on his chest. He then fired a warning shot through a window, and ran across the...

The 89-year-old D-Day veteran who sneaked out of his care home to Normandy has returned to a hero's welcome and declared: 'I would do it again tomorrow.' Hiding his war medals under a raincoat, Bernard Jordan told carers he was going for a walk before boarding a coach to France for the 70th anniversary - sparking a frantic missing person search. The former Royal Navy officer arrived into Portsmouth on a cross-channel ferry this morning, where he said: 'I expect I will be in some trouble with the care home, but it was worth it.'

It’s the most significant archaeological discovery in the Portsmouth area for many years. Buried a few feet under a garden in the centre of Havant, archaeologists stumbled upon a Roman well filled with coins and a bronze ring with a carving of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea. Perhaps most intriguing was the discovery of eight dog skeletons at the bottom of the well. Experts believe the dogs, which were worshipped in some ancient religions, may have been dropped down the ‘sacred well’ as a sacrifice to the gods. The excavation was done at Homewell House, a Georgian property...

An off-duty police officer shot and killed a male attempting to rob a credit union this morning, police said. The incident started about 10:10 a.m., at a Chartway Federal Credit Union in the 5000 block of Ferrell Parkway, near the intersection of Indian Lakes Boulevard. A male wearing a mask and dark clothes entered the credit union and announced the robbery, said Sgt. Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman. The robber appeared to be armed. The off-duty officer was one of the customers in the credit union. He confronted the robber, then fired at least one shot, Bernstein said. The robber...

The day after he officially accepted the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention, President Barack Obama energized a crowd of thousands in New Hampshire with a speech laden with policy and partisan politics. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden spoke outdoors under sunny skies at the Strawbery Banke Museum, with American flags draped over nearby buildings. Their wives, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, joined them onstage at the end of the rally. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is scheduled to hold his own New Hampshire rally in Nashua on Friday evening. Obama, in rolled-up shirtsleeves, spoke for nearly 30...

(Reuters) - A fire that caused an estimated $400 million in damage to a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine docked in Maine may have been caused by a vacuum cleaner, authorities said on Wednesday. The fire in the forward compartment - which includes crew living, command and control spaces and the torpedo room - of the USS Miami on May 23 took about 12 hours to extinguish and injured seven firefighters. "Preliminary findings indicate the fire started in a vacuum cleaner used to clean work sites at end of shift, and stored in an unoccupied space," the shipyard's public affairs office...

The Navy is evaluating whether it's worth spending millions of dollars to repair the USS Miami, the nuclear-powered submarine damaged in a fire in a Maine shipyard. If the submarine is scrapped, the fleet could feel the effects for years. The number of attack submarines like the Miami is projected to drop as they are deactivated faster than they are replaced, and Navy leaders already have been trying to find new ways to keep up with demands from combatant commanders. ... The Miami was in dry dock at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for an overhaul when the fire...

Four people have received medical attention in connection with a fire on a nuclear-powered submarine at a Maine shipyard, but none of the injuries were serious. Fire crews are fighting the blaze on the USS Miami SSN 755 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on an island in Kittery near Portsmouth, N.H. ... The ship's reactor was not operating at the time of the fire, which was reported at 5:41 p.m., the release said. The reactor was not affected by the fire.

A 14 month old girl is recovering after she was attacked by three pitbulls at her grandparents' home in Portsmouth, Ohio. 14 month old Kahtauna Cook was playing in a room at her grandparent's home when three pitbulls owned by her step-grandfather jumped a barricade and attacked her. Kahtauna was bitten several times.

The U.S. Marshals Service has "arrested" a Chinese ship after a crane aboard the vessel damaged a towering new container crane at APM Terminals in Portsmouth. The arrest came after the Virginia Port Authority and its operating affiliate sued the Chinese company that made and delivered two new cranes. The suit in Norfolk's federal court seeks $14.65 million in damages. The court then issued an arrest warrant for the ship. While still berthed at APM Terminals, it's now in federal custody. "From the time that it's under arrest, it belongs to the United States Marshals Service - until the courts...

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (WBZ) ―Two people have been arrested in connection with a daylong bomb scare on a Greyhound bus in Portsmouth, N.H. John Smolens of Lewiston, Maine was tasered and charged with resisting arrest after police say he refused to obey orders from the SWAT team during the evacuation Thursday. Calvin Segar of Brooklyn, New York was charged with two counts of obstruction for lying to authorities. Both will be arraigned in Portsmouth Friday afternoon. The bomb scare began Thursday morning when a passenger overheard a man speaking a foreign language on a cell phone, police said. The passenger then...

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — The passenger at the center of a daylong bomb scare on a Greyhound bus in Portsmouth, N.H., was a foreign national who was too scared to get off the bus, a person with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Friday. The person, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the bomb scare was sparked by another passenger who called 911 believing a non-English-speaking rider had mentioned a bomb. The 911 call around 11:15 a.m. Thursday prompted authorities to evacuate buildings and streets and...

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Portsmouth Bus Incident Several streets in Portsmouth have been blocked off after a report of a suspicious device on a bus. Police said the incident involved a Greyhound bus that was en route from Portland, Maine, to New York. A 911 call was received at about 11:15 a.m. from someone on the bus reporting a possible suspicious device. Police said the area around Hanover, High and Market streets was closed. News 9 reported that 17 passengers were still on the bus, but the bus driver had left the bus. There have been reports of a possible hostage...

Obama amputates our nuclear arms By: Charles Krauthammer ...snippet...Under President Obama’s new policy, however, if the state that has just attacked us with biological or chemical weapons is “in compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” explained Gates, then “the U.S. pledges not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against it.” Imagine the scenario: Hundreds of thousands are lying dead in the streets of Boston after a massive anthrax or nerve gas attack. The president immediately calls in the lawyers to determine whether the attacking state is in compliance with the NPT. If it turns out that the attacker...

A student with learning difficulties has told a court how a taxi driver locked her in his cab and sexually assaulted her. The 19-year-old, from Portsmouth, had been out with friends in Guildhall Walk when she got a taxi home alone. The woman said Muhammed Hasan had asked her to move from the back of the cab to the front seat. She told Portsmouth Crown Court: 'I just kept thinking "don't go in the front because he might have a knife on him". I didn't know what he would do if I didn't.