Free Republic

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich says he won’t follow a new state law that forbids local officials from helping federal agents enforce some immigration laws and said Gov. Jay Inslee, who signed the law last month, should be “arrested for obstruction of justice.” The sponsor of the law, which passed the Legislature on a mostly partisan vote, said Knezovich seems to be misinterpreting the law. Sen. Lisa Wellman, D-Mercer Island, added one recent case he cites as a reason why the law is dangerous has nothing to do with it. In an interview on Fox News law week, Knezovich, one...

The Washington State University chapter of the College Republicans wants to build another mockup of a border wall on the Pullman campus to “own the libs mercilessly” and show support for President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration proposal. The club’s president, Amir Rezamand, is soliciting $2,500 on GoFundMe.com to pay for tools, building materials and “any miscellaneous costs the university tries to throw at us.” The stunt would be a sequel to a demonstration the club held in October 2016, shortly before Trump was elected. Conservative student activists erected an 8-foot plywood wall, featuring the word “TRUMP” in gold spray paint,...

A Spokane gun dealer and four Washington residents who soon will be too young to buy semi-automatic rifles are among those filing a federal challenge to the state’s recently passed gun control measure. Robin Ball, owner of the Sharp Shooting Indoor Range & Gun Shop, is among those joining with the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation in a lawsuit that contends Initiative 1639 violates the U.S. Constitution and portions of federal law. Although the results of the Nov. 6 election won’t be certified until Dec. 6, I-1639 is passing with nearly 60 percent of the vote and...

For the first time, the U.S. government has publicly acknowledged the existence in Washington of what appear to be rogue devices that foreign spies and criminals could be using to track individual cellphones and intercept calls and messages. The use of what are known as cellphone-site simulators by foreign powers has long been a concern, but American intelligence and law enforcement agencies – which use such eavesdropping equipment themselves – have been silent on the issue until now. In a March 26 letter to Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that last year it identified suspected...

An Othello elementary school teacher could face two counts of first-degree child molestation involving a student. Lisa Davis is accused of inappropriate behavior with a 10-year-old student who was reportedly in her reading class. She also took the boy to a movie alone, Othello Police Chief Steve Dunnagan said. Detectives investigated the allegations for more than a month before handing over the file to the Adams County Prosecutor’s Office on Monday for a charging decision, Dunnagan said.

SPOKANE -- A brouhaha is brewing over “I Heart Boobies” bracelets at Riverside High School after the principal suspended 9 students who wore them to school and refused to take them off. The bracelets are sold by a non-profit and are designed to raise awareness and money to fight breast cancer. Unfortunately at Riverside High School they raised a little too much awareness for school administrators. "I think its ridiculous that they would suspend us for wearing something for a good cause that says boobies," Riverside student Dakota Jewell said.

WASHINGTON – Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the president of Afghanistan, gets regular payments from the CIA and has for much of the past eight years, the New York Times reported Tuesday. The newspaper said that according to current and former American officials, the CIA pays Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the CIA’s direction in and around Kandahar. The CIA’s ties to Karzai, who is a suspected player in the country’s illegal opium trade, have created deep divisions within the Obama administration, the Times said. Allegations that...

26/11 accused Kasab pleads guilty in court TIMESOFINDIA.COM 20 July 2009, 01:58pm IST MUMBAI: In a startling move, Mumbai attacks' accused on Monday pleaded guilty to all charges in the court during the trial. ( Watch ) Kasab for the first time narrated to the court the entire plot behind the Mumbai terror attacks. Kasab confessed in court that he came in a boat from Karachi along with nine other terrorists. “Sir, mujhe mera gunah kabul hai (I plead guilty to my crime),” Kasab told the court. Speaking to Times Now, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said that Kasab’s admission...

HELENA – Two Montana Democrats are leading the charge against gun control – and forcing former political foes to recognize that Democrats could be their strongest allies while the party controls Washington, D.C. U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester have been taking the lead on issues that only the most ardent gun rights advocates were talking about. Just last week they joined Republican U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg of Montana to pressure the Defense Department in a move credited with overturning a short-lived brass ban. The brass is important to gun aficionados who reload their own bullets or seek to...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan said Tuesday that India had moved troops toward their shared border, following Islamabad's own redeployment of forces toward the frontier amid tensions over the Mumbai attacks. But India's foreign minister insisted it had done nothing to escalate tensions in the region, while another Indian official denied a separate Pakistani allegation that New Delhi had activated forward air bases. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi made the claims in a televised address that included overtures toward India to resume peace talks between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who have already fought three wars in the past six decades.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A suspected U.S. missile strike killed two people in Pakistan near the Afghan border, officials and a witness said Tuesday, as two U.S. senators visited Islamabad amid flaring tensions over the Mumbai attacks in India. The Monday night strike in Tabi Tolkhel village, in the North Waziristan tribal region, appeared to be the latest in a surge of alleged U.S. missile attacks on militant targets in Pakistan's northwest border region, long bedeviled by al-Qaida and Taliban extremists. More than 30 have been reported since August.

6.1 magnitude earthquake off coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia Updated: Aug 28, 2008 06:34 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia - An earthquake off Canada's west coast has shaken the area around Vancouver Island. The quake Thursday is the latest in a series of coastal tremors since Monday. The latest quake had a magnitude of 6.1 and struck 97 miles west of Port Hardy, off the north coast of Vancouver Island.

DHARMSALA, India - Police blocked hundreds of Tibetan exiles Monday from leaving an area near this northern Indian city at the start of a planned six-month march to Tibet to protest China hosting the Summer Olympics. ADVERTISEMENT The march got under way on the anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule that forced the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, into exile in 1959. Dharmsala is the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. A recommendation by the Indian government led to the order banning the marchers from leaving the area outside Dharmsala where they stopped for...

Srinagar, Aug 11: A militant commander of Pakistan based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, suspected of masterminding an attack on a leading Indian Hindu religious site a couple of years back, was killed in a gunfight with Indian police in Jammu region in the restive state of Jammu and Kashmir. Four persons including a close associate of slain militant commander were arrested after the gunfight. Giving details of the encounter, a senior police officer of Jammu region said that Jammu and Kashmir police and Indian capital Delhi police received specific information that a top militant of Jaish-e-Mohammad was hiding in the Janipur...

Sensitive data dumped at recycling center Indian Consulate tossed visa applications from business, political figures at S.F. facility Thousands of visa applications and other sensitive documents, including paperwork submitted by top executives and political figures, sat for more than a month in the open yard of a San Francisco recycling center after they were dumped there by the city's Indian Consulate. The documents, which security experts say represented a potential treasure trove for identity thieves or terrorists, finally were hauled away Wednesday after The Chronicle inspected the site and questioned officials at the consulate and the recycling facility. Among the...

Six Killed in Historic Downtown Reno Hotel Fire Valerie Moore was arrested early Wednesday morning and booked on first degree felony arson charges and six counts of murder. Firefighters believe the blaze started after Moore apparently placed a mattress up against a door and lit up. Officials say she had been involved in some kind of ongoing dispute with another tenant. Within minutes 20 foot flames sent several residents jumping from second and third story windows. Fire officials say five bodies were found inside the hotel; a sixth victim was pronounced dead late Wednesday night. Another 30 people were hurt....

GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - A bomb exploded inside a temple in India's troubled northeastern state of Manipur on Wednesday, killing 3 people and injuring more than 30 others, police said. The blast occurred during evening prayers to celebrate the birth of the Hindu god Krishna, one of the country's biggest festivals and a national holiday. Police said at least 37 people were injured in the attack at the temple near Imphal, the state capital. One of the militant groups fighting for a separate homeland in the state could be behind the attack, police said but added that no group had...

PLEA DEAL: Former porn star and white supremacist will spend less than 4 years in prison. 07:22 PM PDT on Thursday, April 20, 2006 Erik Loney/KREM 2 News Staff SPOKANE - Tonight a former porn star and white supremacist is facing up to 3 and a half years in prison. Wendy Iwanow cut a deal with prosecutors on charges of kidnapping, assault and forgery. Sobaka.com -- Wendy Iwanow Iwanow was accused of running a fake ID factory last year and retaliating against a man she thought put her in jail. Iwanow performed in more than 100 adult films under the...

Musharraf to Militants: Leave or Die President Gen. Pervez Musharraf Thursday ordered all foreign militants to leave Pakistan or be killed. "All foreign militants should leave Pakistan, otherwise they would be crushed," Musharraf told a rally of some 80,000 people in the eastern city of Lahore. The rally at a public park is to mark the 100-year anniversary of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League.

Potential destruction of evidence allowed by Spokane Police Department 07:20 AM PST on Friday, March 3, 2006 SPOKANE - - Mayor Dennis Hession announced Thursday that an internal affairs investigation has been launched to look at how the Spokane Police Department handled an investigation into an incident at the Indian Trail fire station. The top concern is why a City Police detective allowed a firefighter being invesitaged for involving in sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl to destroy digital photographs depicting the sexual activity. The firefighter told investigators he believed the girl was not a minor. According to Washington State...