Free Republic

On April 18, 2024, the Supreme Court of Arkansas delivered a significant opinion impacting the restoration of the right to keep and bear arms. In particular, the court reaffirmed the right to bear arms is a fundamental constitutional right. The denial of the right is a harm that confers standing to those denied, and the procedural powers of the state judiciary, as a separate, constitutionally created branch of the state government, do not necessarily extend beyond the courtroom to the courthouse.The issue was whether Arkansas state statute § 5-73-122 – b, as modified in 2017, violated the Arkansas state constitution....

On April 17 and 18, Colorado Parks and Wildlife received reports of livestock depredation by wolves in Grand County. The agency confirmed that four cattle were killed... Four yearling cattle have been killed by a wolf or wolves in Grand County. Colorado Parks and Wildlife believes the depredation occurred between Monday night and Tuesday morning. In an email to Sky-Hi News, Parks and Wildlife officials stated that they responded to a possible livestock depredation incident on Wednesday morning and then again on Thursday morning. Both incidents occurred on the same property. On Wednesday, the agency investigated three yearling cattle that...

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — UPDATE: Two Kroger customers are being charged with battery after a disagreement led to a shooting inside the grocery store on Wednesday evening. According to a report by the Little Rock Police Department, the incident began at 9 p.m when 48-year-old Yusuf Muhammad began harassing 43-year-old Shearee Jones in the checkout aisle. Witnesses stated that Muhammad was visibly aggressive towards Jones and that she asked him to stop. The report says that he continued after this and assaulted her, leaving an abrasion. In response, Jones brandished a firearm and struck Muhammad with multiple rounds. The report...

Bryan Malinowski, who was involved in a shootout with federal agents Tuesday, was also involved in a legal fight with a neighbor over the placement of a mailbox, claiming it was placed illegally on his property. A judge would go on to side with Malinowski’s neighbor, years before the 53-year-old director of Little Rock's Clinton National Airport was involved in the Tuesday shooting with agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In August 2018, Malinowski sued Eric and Victoria Pinter, who lived next to a property he owned. He said the year before they “without consultation or...

SALINE COUNTY, Ark. – Deputies said an armed burglary suspect was shot by a Saline County man returning home Tuesday when he saw the suspect draw a weapon as he left the man’s house. Officials with the Saline County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a call of shots fired at the home in the 10000 block of East Sardis Road. When they arrived, the deputies said they found the homeowner, who told them he had called 911. The man said he saw the suspect coming out of his house pointing a firearm at him. The homeowner then said he...

On February 8th, 2024, my brother had started his morning exercise walk. It was 6:27 am his time when I received the phone call; it was still dark in northern Wisconsin. It wasn’t what I expected.Only 200 yards from his home, on a lonely country lane with dense forest and brush on both sides, he was confronting a pack of wolves, their reflective eyes easily visible in the beam of his headlamp. The pack of six was less than 30 yards away. Wolves are common in the area. Common and protected. The brush was fairly thick; the eyes were relatively...

Colorado completed the transfer of 10 wolves into the state last week after the animals were captured in Oregon. For the people involved, it was framed as a success, a joyful occasion at an invitation-only event. For the rest of the public, the release details were kept secret, and many livestock producers were in the middle of a meeting with state wildlife officials when it was announced that the release of the first five wolves had taken place. Step 1: Ignore History On Monday, Dec. 18, Colorado Governor Jared Polis declared, “Today, history was made in Colorado. For the first...

U.S. Census Data Reveals the Most Miserable Cities In AmericaSeptember 14, 2023 | Jessica Bedewi Share in Facebook Miami Gardens, FloridaWhen you hear Miami, you automatically think of sun, sand, and party vibes. Miami Gardens, however, is a little different. The water in the city is supplied by a plant owned by the City of North Miami Beach, which pushes water prices in Miami Gardens through the roof. Subsequently, the entire cost of living in the city is sky-high. Getty Images Photo by Olga Kaya The city also implemented a stop and frisk policy that led to about 57,000 people...

Two people and their dog were found dead at Banff National Park on Saturday after a grizzly bear attack. A GPS device alerted Parks Canada on Friday night, indicating a bear attack was happening within the Red Deer River Valley region west of Ya Ha Tinda Ranch in Canada’s Banff National Park... Due to poor weather conditions, an emergency team reportedly could not fly to the location via helicopter, so they traveled by ground during the night. When the team arrived at the scene, they reportedly found two individuals who were deceased and ... The victim’s identities have not been...

The state of Arkansas has created a law to protect the ability of medical marijuana users in the state to obtain a concealed carry handgun license. HB1784 was introduced on March 29, 2023. On April 4th, 2023, the House voted for bill HB1784, 82 to 5, with eight not voting and five not present. On April 7, 2023, the Senate voted for the bill HB1784, 26 to 3, with two not voting and two not present. HB1724 was signed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) into law on April 12, 2023. Here are relevant excerpts. From the Arkansas State Legislature:(B)...

The Biden administration announced Thursday that it is moving ahead with prohibitions on the type of equipment hunters are allowed to use on federal refuges, a move strongly opposed by sportsmen groups. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released its 2023-2024 hunting and fishing rule — an annual plan laying out regulations for the upcoming hunting season — banning cost-effective lead ammunition and fishing tackle across eight national wildlife refuges by 2026. Such an action has been supported by eco groups, but opposed by hunters, who argue that it could serve as a backdoor attack on hunting broadly. "This...

BENTONVILLE -- A Colorado man was sentenced to 20 years in prison after admitting he threatened the lives of a judge and probation officer. Theodore Howell, 29, of Denver, pleaded guilty Monday to threatening a judicial officer/juror and terroristic threatening. He was charged as a habitual offender. Nathan Jeffrey, a probation officer, reported to the Benton County Sheriff's Office he received a text message threatening to kill him from Howell, according to a probable cause affidavit. Jeffrey said he knew the phone belonged to Howell because it was the same phone number Howell had for being on probation, and Jeffrey...

Meta researchers first revealed their Codec-Avatars four years ago in 2019. These avatars were futuristic, photorealistic and three-dimensional. In 2022, researchers improved the technology and demonstrated Meta MUGSY, which allowed users to create these lifelike avatars by simply scanning their faces on an iPhone, as opposed to earlier when creating such an avatar requires over 100 cameras. Now, in 2023, the researchers at Meta have taken the Codec avatars another step forwards. They will reportedly soon be able to learn to speak like you and even sounds like you. As per a tweet shared by AI Breakfast, the new tech...

I’d really hate to be Mark Zuckerberg right now. In October 2021 he pivoted to the metaverse, only to pivot to AI in November 2022… and in the brief amount of time he turned his back on the Metaverse, Apple completely stole whatever lead he had in the space by announcing a product so revolutionary, it’s probably going to crush his entire hardware ambitions. Right at the end of their WWDC keynote, Apple announced the Vision Pro, an entirely new revolutionary product category helmed by a Mixed Reality headset that champions what they call “spatial computing” – an upgrade from...

We’ll say it again now that Gov. Jared Polis has inked his purported “relief” for soaring property taxes: His plan is largely an illusion. Ignore the stagecraft of Wednesday’s signing ceremony for Senate Bill 23-303. It was a nice publicity stunt — the governor and assorted lawmakers turning up at the home of a Commerce City resident who supposedly would benefit. It was all sleight of hand. As we noted here only weeks ago, the Polis plan is as if someone offered to help you pay your bills — then reached into your pocket, grabbed your wallet, pulled out some...

In 2013, the Arkansas legislature passed, and a Democrat governor signed a bill that reformed Arkansas’s gun law. That bill created the same conditions as had existed in Vermont for 90 years: Constitutional Carry. In 2023, the Arkansas legislature passed an apparent and clear, in-your-face, straight-up Constitutional Carry bill, given the obvious success of the 2013 law.In 2013, the AR legislature passed HB1700. Democrat Governor Mike Beebe immediately said he had no idea he was signing a Constitutional Carry bill. Part of the reform, which went into effect on August 16, 2013, was a change in the definition of what...

We recently looked at the growing threat posed by the presence of violent drug gangs on pubplic land, such as national parks, and the wisdom of no longer mandating that park visitors be rendered unable to defend themselves from that danger. While the greatest threat of violence is undoubtedly posed by rogue humans, a recent tragedy reminds us that sometimes, lethal danger walks on four legs. we were constantly told that wild places like national parks are "oases of peace in a violent society," and thus having a means of self-defense in such places is unnecessary. Some of our national...

A Steamboat Springs couple recently had a scary encounter with a mountain lion at Mad Creek. Mark Stanford and his wife, Kristen Joaquim, were having a picnic Monday for Joaquim's birthday at the Mad Creek barn, and they started hiking back to the parking area at about 7:45 p.m. "I looked up and saw a set of eyes staring back at me," Stanford said. He said he saw a yellow-green reflection off the eyes, and he tried to size up the animal. "I could see that it was a big cat," Stanford said. "I knew that they had sighting ups...

North Park rancher Greg Sykes said he has tried to do things the right way since wolves migrated across the boarder from Wyoming into the area near Walden. He has kept an eye on the predators as they could be seen in the distance around the ranch he manages and got guardian dogs to watch over his cattle. “I was that one rancher that said, ‘OK, they’re here. Let’s figure out how to get along,'” Sykes said. “That’s what I intended to do.” Early on Monday, March 13, wolves killed one of his cattle dogs named Cisco, according to Colorado...

School leaders in rural northwest Oregon are worried about big budget cuts. The Oregon Department of Forestry is working on a plan to protect habitats for endangered species across 640,000 acres of state forest. The loss of timber revenue will affect local schools. The Jewell School District expects to be the most heavily impacted because it gets almost all of its funding from timber revenue. It could see budget cuts of 40 percent. The Jewell School District has about 150 students and a budget of $5 million. District superintendent Cory Pederson estimates the cuts will bring his annual budget down...