Free Republic

Romney 26, Gingrich 24, Paul 11.

The House passed a two-month renewal of payroll tax cuts for 160 million workers and unemployment benefits for millions of jobless on Friday, giving President Barack Obama a resounding victory over Republicans who control the House. The Senate approved the bill earlier. The measure was passed by voice vote in a virtually empty House chamber despite lingering grumbling from Tea Party Republicans. It buys time for negotiations early next year on how to cover the costs of a yearlong extension of the two percentage point payroll tax cut, the centerpiece of Obama's fall jobs agenda.

UPDATE: A spokesperson for the Kootenai County Medical Center confirms with KHQ that there is one patient at their hospital. They cannot release a name but can tell us that he is a male patient and is in fair condition. This patient was transported to the facility in Coeur d'Alene via Med Star (life flight helicopter). Dr. Panos at Shoshone Medical Center confirms that 6 patients were transported to their facility via ground ambulance. Four of the miners have been released and 2 are still in the hospital for observation overnight. The Lucky Friday is closed as an authorities investigate....

BREAKING: An AMBER Alert has been issued for the state of Idaho. An investigation is in progress for an abducted child. The child is Brandon Xander Bearce; he is a white male, age 4, 2 feet 10 inches and 50 pounds. He has blond or strawberry blond hair and green eyes. Child is wearing red Cars pajamas. The suspect is Stefanie Marie Conteras; she is age 28, 5 feet 7 inches and 160 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes. Suspect has a tattoo of stars across her chest and stars on her right calf. The suspect vehicle is...

Mine Collapse At The Lucky Friday Mine KHQ.COM - There's been a mine collapse at the Lucky Friday Mine. We're working on getting you more details. Check back for updates here on KHQ.Com, KHQ, Facebook and our Twitter news feed. You can also get the very latest on NewsBreak with Dave Cotton LIVE on KHQ.Com at 10am, noon at 2pm Monday through Friday. Watch www.khq.com and KHQ Local News for more information

ZZZZZZZZZZZ OOOK! EEEEEK! AAAAAAAK! ZZZZZZZZZZZ (to self: already promised Bucky last word. Must not respond. What are all those angry chimp noises I hear?) ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ OOOOOH! OOOOOH! EEEEEEEEH! OOOOOH! EEEEEH! (must not read Bucky's last post. If I do, I'll respond and Lord Jim will emerge from a Joseph Conrad novel and start posting editorials in breaking. Must not. Willpower. Do not read. Must not) ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Oh, Bucky! So much is completely beyond you---NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! What? Wha? It was all a dream, wasn't it?

First on CNN: Conservative group to target Romney "If you support the principles of the Republican Party platform, as I do, then it's important that we make sure the GOP nominates someone who has supported and fought for those principles. On almost every single important issue facing America today, Mitt Romney has fought against conservatives and Republicans. He's been a liberal on fiscal issues, a liberal on social issues, and a liberal on national security issues," says Lloyd Marcus, Chairman of Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama, in a statement to CNN. EXCERPTED - Read Full Story HERE And here's the...

After publicly dangling the prospect for months, GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz was set to announce Monday he won’t challenge Sen. Orrin Hatch next year, removing a menacing threat to the six-term senator’s reelection prospects. Chaffetz told POLITICO he decided a costly, high-profile Senate campaign would detract from his policy goals — namely curtailing government spending and helping return the country to a fiscally sustainable path. “I can spend the next 15 months campaigning to do Orrin Hatch’s job, or I can just do my job,” Chaffetz said. “There comes a point and a question: Do you want to spend all...

With the House poised to vote on a debt-ceiling increase tomorrow, the White House has released a threat to veto the bill if it reaches the President’s desk. This statement was just released by e-mail, emphasis in the original: The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 2560, the “Cut, Cap and Balance Act of 2011.” Neither setting arbitrary spending levels nor amending the Constitution is necessary to restore fiscal responsibility. Increasing the Federal debt limit, which is needed to avoid a Federal government default on its obligations and a severe blow to the economy, should not be conditioned on taking these actions....

Remember that story from a few days ago, the one about the Obama administration giving ACORN a $79,819 grant in March despite a federal law that prohibits the government from giving money to ACORN? It turns out that sum is a lowball figure. I discovered Obama’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gave ACORN another $461,086 in January. The funds were earmarked for ACORN Housing Corp. in January under HUD’s Self-help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP), according to the government website USAspending.gov. In order words, the Obama administration gave fraud-ridden ACORN nearly a half million dollars to be used on...

Twitter message only.

"Police are seeking suspect Rodrick Dantzler, 34, traveling in a tan Lincoln Town Car with license plate number BWK 2308".

Texas is set to execute on Thursday Mexican national Humberto Leal Garcia for the rape and murder of a teenage girl, defying pleas by the Mexican government and President Barack Obama to delay it because his consular rights were violated

Siren is up...

Cantor Pulls Out of Biden-Led Budget By JANET HOOK And COREY BOLES WASHINGTON—House Majority Leader Eric Cantor Thursday said he was pulling out of the bipartisan budget talks headed by Vice President Joe Biden for now because the group has reached an impasse over taxes that only President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) could resolve. Mr. Cantor, in an interview after a negotiating session he described as bitterly contentious, said he would not be attending today's scheduled meeting of the bipartisan deficit-reduction leadership group because he believed it was time for the negotiations to move to a...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A stock sell-off gained momentum Wednesday after a report showed a sharp drop in U.S. manufacturing activity and exacerbated growing fears of a slowing economic recovery. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 136 points, or 1.1%, with all but one of the blue chip index's 30 components lagging. Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) were the worst performing stocks on the blue-chip index. The S&P 500 (SPX) shed 14 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) slid 23 points, or 0.8%. Stocks were under...

Travis County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Enriquez Lopez and Leona Wallace after they say the two broke into their neighbor’s trailer to accuse him of stealing Wallace’s underwear. Deputies were called by the victim just before 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. According to court paperwork, the victim told deputies that the suspects forced their way into his home and threatened to kill him. The victim claims that he was sitting inside his home watching TV when the two suspects knocked on his door. After telling the two to leave, the victim said he shut the door and walked away. He claims that...

Pres Obama said that anti-”czar” provision violates the separation of powers and will be deemed “not to abrogate” presidential prerogatives. Link when it comes, just flashed up.

Libya leader Muammar Gaddafi's armed forces are not close to breaking point despite hundreds of allied air strikes, American military chiefs have said. Adm Mike Mullen told a US Congress committee Col Gaddafi's troops still had 10 times the rebels' firepower. At the same hearing, Defence Secretary Robert Gates reiterated the US would put no "boots on the ground" in Libya. Rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces appear to have reached a stalemate in their fight for control of the country. In recent days, rebels have been urging international forces to conduct more air strikes. Adm Mullen told the House of Representatives...

Whereas in 1990 in response to Iraq's war of aggression against and illegal occupation of Kuwait, the United States forged a coalition of nations to liberate Kuwait and its people in order to defend the national security of the United States and enforce United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Iraq; Whereas after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Iraq entered into a United Nations sponsored cease-fire agreement pursuant to which Iraq unequivocally agreed, among other things, to eliminate its nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs and the means to deliver and develop them, and to end its support for...