Free Republic

More than $104 million in Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls went uncollected last year. Now Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee members are proposing a move to more quickly bring toll violators into compliance to help the debt-ridden turnpike. Currently, toll violators are subject to a suspended vehicle registration if they have at least six unpaid tolls, or total unpaid tolls of at least $500, with a three-year statute of limitations. The suspension continues until a violator’s outstanding tolls are fully paid. A new rule would lower the threshold triggering a registration suspension from six violations of unpaid tolls to four violations, or from...

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will travel to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for a meeting with President Trump to discuss economic revival efforts. The governor said during a news conference on Tuesday that he hoped to discuss how infrastructure projects could be leveraged to kickstart the economy, which has cratered due to the coronavirus pandemic. "You want to restart the economy, you want to reopen the economy, let’s do something creative, let’s do it fast, let’s put Americans back to work, and let’s make America better," Cuomo said. "It is common sense." "You have an infrastructure that’s crumbling, you...

A federal judge on Friday issued a ruling blocking the Trump administration from tapping billions of dollars in military funds to construct a wall on the United States's southern border. ... The injunction halts border wall construction at different sites in New Mexico, California, Arizona and Texas, expanding Gilliam's previous ruling. Gilliam, an Obama appointee, made the ruling on the military funds...

He used a remote control to troll the toll, cops allege. A 70-year-old Key Largo man deployed a remote-controlled license plate cover in an attempt to evade the tolls on Florida’s Turnpike in Miami-Dade County, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Unluckily for him, however, he did so in full view of an off-duty FHP trooper. It was just before 3 p.m. on Saturday when Davis was driving south in his Chrysler Pacifica minivan on the Turnpike approaching the Bird Road toll plaza, the arrest report stated. That’s when Lt. Alejandro Camacho, who was off duty and driving his own car,...

A school resource officer in Warren, Ohio, was removed from school premises after issuing a parking ticket for the school principal after she repeatedly parked in a handicap zone, according to multiple media reports. WARREN, Ohio - According to Michael Currington, a representative for the city of Warren's police union, Google Earth shows clearly the reason for what started with a warning and ended with controversy."The resource officer had given a number of verbal warnings over a period of time to the principal of the facility to not park in a handicap designated area," said city law director Greg Hicks.But...

Bath Township, MICHIGAN (WJRT) - (08/21/2018) - The Michigan Department of Transportation tweeted out photos of a motorcycle on I-69 missing its driver. MDOT is using the photos as reminder of the importance of driving safety in work zones as the busy construction season is wrapping up. Their Facebook Post, which has generated thousands of responses and shares, asks if you have lost a motorcycle driving on I-69 in Clinton County Monday. One of the photos, which appears to show tire imprints in wet concrete, serves as a reminder of why it's not a good idea to use closed lanes...

The Pennsylvania legislature is aiming to enforce their strong firearms preemption law. A similar enforcement law was enacted in 2014, but was struck down in 2016. The state Supreme Court ruled that the legislature had violated the state constitutional requirement for "single issue" statutes when the bill was passed. On April 19, 2017, a replacement bill passed the House Judiciary committee by a 20-5 vote. As with most states, Pennsylvania has a strong firearms preemption law. The statute has been on the books for over three decades. The preemption law requires that virtually all firearms law in Pennsylvania be...

Attorney General Roy Cooper, who is challenging Gov. Pat McCrory for governor, spoke out against House Bill 2 Tuesday morning during a press conference. Cooper said his office, "will not defend the constitutionality of the discrimination in House Bill 2." McCrory signed the bill, called the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, last Wednesday after it was passed by the North Carolina Senate. The law was in response to Charlotte's nondiscrimination ordinance that allowed transgender individuals to use public bathrooms of the sex with which they identify.

BATTLE MOUNTAIN, Nev. (AP) — Federal land managers say they won't immediately enforce drought-related grazing restrictions in northern Nevada so as to avoid confrontation with ranchers openly defying the order. Conservationists say it's another example of the government caving in to scofflaw ranchers like Cliven Bundy, who continues to graze his cattle illegally in southern Nevada after the Bureau of Land Management backed down from an armed standoff last year. Ranchers Dan and Eddyann Filippini have been notified they are violating the closure ordered in 2013 in an area covering more than 150 square miles near Battle Mountain about 200...

Touré Neblett, co-host of MSNBC’s The Cycle, owes more than $59,000 in taxes, according to public records reviewed by National Review. In September 2013, New York issued a state tax warrant to Neblett and his wife, Rita Nakouzi, for $46,862.68. Six months later, the state issued an additional warrant to the couple for $12,849.87. In January 2014, Neblett tweeted, “Regressive taxation & tax-avoidance & union crushing & the financial corruption of legislation has fueled inequality more than hard work.” In 2012, he also criticized Republican politicians, saying they were “all afraid to vote for a modest tax increase of people...

Secretary of State John F. Kerry — now Boston’s most prominent shoveling scofflaw — returned home to his Louisburg Square manse last night, his sidewalk newly cleared just in time to avoid an international incident. Kerry is due to host the foreign ministers of Canada and Mexico in Boston today and tomorrow, he announced on his Twitter feed. “Glad to welcome FM @Baird & FS @JoseAM­eadeK up to #Boston on Fri. Hope they don’t mind a little snow. #GoodNeighbors,” 
@JohnKerry tweeted. But in a neighborhood where people were out diligently cleaning their sidewalks, Kerry’s remained untouched two days after the...

In Pennsylvania, second amendment advocates have been fighting for years to reform Pennsylvania preemption law.   State law forbids local governments from passing a maze of local ordinances that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms.   All 50 states have some form of state firearm preemption; if they did not have it, residents would never know if they were breaking the law or not by being on one side of the street or another. The problem in Pennsylvania is that the Legislature did not provide any penalties for local scofflaw governments when they break the law.   This year,...

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel admitted that “the trust has been broken” between the White House and Congress following the Obama administration’s decision to skirt U.S. law and release five top Taliban leaders without first consulting with lawmakers. Hagel admitted to lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday that the administration unilaterally inked a deal with the Taliban to release five top prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp without first notifying Congress, as is legally mandated. The deal was signed “without providing 30 days notice to Congress,” as is required by law, Hagel told lawmakers before attempting to justify...

If you have ever had a conversation with a die-hard liberal about the Second Amendment, chances are you have probably been called “paranoid” a time or two (…or fifty). “What are you talking about? The government is not going to take your guns; I don’t know what you’re so worried about,” I can recall from a particular conversation. “Seriously, you’re just paranoid!” If having the foresight to recognize that gun registration is not only wildly unconstitutional, but also a convenient means by which the government could use to eventually confiscate firearms makes me “paranoid,” then so be it. However, contrary...

Open Letter to the Legislative Tyrants of Connecticut. An Open Letter to the Legislative Tyrants of Connecticut.Sent via email. To the CT State Senators And Representatives who voted Yes on "An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety, also known as Public Law 13-3 or Connecticut Senate Bill No. 1160," 3 April 2013.And, yes, I said tyrants. You bought it, in the form of the woefully misnamed "Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety," you own it, you are certainly -- if you get your way -- going to pay for it like it or not, so...

A measure that would open Lancaster city and other municipalities to lawsuits from gun advocates is moving forward in the state Legislature. Senate Bill 273, first proposed last year as an extension of the "castle doctrine," has been rewritten and reintroduced with language allowing lawsuits against cities, townships and boroughs that attempt to regulate guns. In the cross hairs of the bill are ordinances passed by Lancaster and 29 other municipalities that require gun owners to report if their gun has been lost or stolen. Lancaster City Council passed its ordinance in 2009 in an attempt to address illegal gun...

The state opened a criminal investigation Thursday of three justices on Florida's Supreme Court, responding to a lawmaker's accusation that they violated a law against using on-duty public employees to help their election campaigns, authorities said.... Rep. Scott Plakon, a Longwood Republican, wrote a letter to Gov. Rick Scott alleging that Justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince violated the law by using court employees to notarize their paperwork for this year's vote. Violations are a misdemeanor. Scott forwarded the letter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, saying he lacked the authority to order an investigation. But...

[snip]...Jablonski remained true to his word -- neither he nor Obama showed up for the January 26 hearing. I noted last week that Obama was not scheduled to be anywhere near Atlanta on the date of the hearing, although I had wondered if still, perhaps, Georgia might be on his mind. According to reports in the blogosphere, the president's schedule on the morning of the 26th was open, and according to an unnamed source, Obama watched the live feed of the hearings. Perhaps Obama, as well as the several mainstream media news outlets I spotted at the hearing, were merely...

C’mon, IRS. “Stop coddling the super rich.” Contrive to successfully extract the taxes they already owe.Mr. Buffett, I barely want to waste my breath on your blatant hypocrisy.And, Mainstream Media (by which I mean the NYT, which ran Buffett’s obnoxious op-ed in the first place), WHERE ARE YOU?From NewsMax: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett triggered a major debate over taxes recently when he wrote in The New York Times that he should be paying more to the federal government. He called on Washington lawmakers to up tax rates on the rich.But it turns out that Buffett’s own company, Berkshire Hathaway, has...

LONDON: US President Barack Obama was fined £120 for not paying the London congestion charge during his state visit to Britain. London mayor, Boris Johnson wanted the £10 congestion fee to be paid for the Presidents armor plated limo "The Beast" and all other cars during his visit in May. Johnson is understood to have raised the issue with Obama at a Buckingham Palace