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U.S. authorities in Idaho said they have arrested an Uzbekistan Muslim national, Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, on federal terrorism charges involving WMD’s. Huffington Post The Idaho indictment alleges that between August 2012 and May 2013, Kurbanov knowingly conspired with others to provide support and resources, including computer software and money, to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a designated terrorist organization. Federal prosecutors said he was arrested in Boise on Thursday after a grand jury issued a three-count indictment as part of a terrorism investigation. The indictment charges Kurbanov with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist...

U.S. officials charged an Uzbek citizen in Idaho with providing bomb-making knowledge and other support to an Islamist militant group, knowing that it would be used in an attack, authorities said on Thursday. Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, a national of Uzbekistan living legally in Idaho, was arrested in Boise and faces a three-count grand jury indictment in Idaho and a single-count indictment in Utah, prosecutors said. They said Kurbanov provided information and money to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The group supports establishing strict Islamic rule in Uzbekistan. Authorities said...

COEUR d'ALENE - Gary Brown wouldn't tell The Press anything more than he told a Fox News reporter about the genesis of a video in which North Idaho school-age children say that because of their Christian beliefs, they've endured ridicule and had their rights trampled on in public schools. The video titled "The Thaw" features kids who participate in Reach America, a Coeur d'Alene-based Christian ministry and education program run by Brown. The video has been rapidly gaining viral ground on the Internet. By Saturday afternoon, it had been viewed just shy of 84,000 times. Brown told Fox News' Todd...

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Idaho man charged with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama by shooting at the White House practiced with his weapon for six months and may have been upset about the country’s marijuana policy, prosecutors said in a newly filed court document. Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez is currently awaiting trial for the 2011 shooting, which didn’t injure anyone but left more than five bullet marks on the executive mansion. Prosecutors filed a 14-page court document Tuesday that adds additional detail about Ortega-Hernandez, who allegedly shot at the White House the night of Nov. 11 while the president and...

Democrat Former state senator says she thought she earned unemployment benefits Boise — Former Sen. Nicole LeFavour's application for a $155 weekly unemployment check has been denied after the state objected to her claim. Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/04/30/2558137/former-state-senator-says-she.html#storylink=cpy

During a hearing into the constitutionality of voter identification laws enacted across the country, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) tore into claims by the Department of Justice that those laws were racially discriminatory. In the space of five minutes, Gowdy knocked down the claims, one by one, that a voter ID law passed in South Carolina in 2011 discriminated against African-Americans or was dissimilar to laws the Justice Department had cleared in a variety of other states. Gowdy began by noting that, when the Palmetto State’s voter identification law was passed, a third of the state’s congressional delegation were African-American; former...

A transgender woman whose use of a women's restroom in an Idaho grocery store reportedly upset other customers has been cited for trespassing and banned from the store for a year, police said on Friday. A Rosauers supermarket in Lewiston asked police to charge 25-year-old Ally Robledo, who was born male but identifies as female, with the misdemeanor trespass charge on Monday, Lewiston Police Captain Roger Lanier said. "The store security officer said he had been dealing with a problem over a couple days with the person going into the women's restroom and urinating while standing up," Lanier said. He...

A plan to drop a recognizable logo in this part of the country — the Forest Service’s iconic shield — generated so much outrage among the agency’s retirees that the idea has been dropped. In early January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly introduced a policy to phase out all of its sub-agencies’ logos, including the Forest Service’s, and replace them with the USDA symbol. But that policy was kept so under wraps that not even Pacific Northwest forest supervisors were told. Some of them only heard about it in retrospect late last week — after the USDA had decided,...

WASHINGTON – An international framework for controlling the global arms trade appears to be headed for a brick wall on Capitol Hill, and Idaho’s junior senator is among the chief bricklayers. “Save your ink. It’s not going anywhere,” U.S. Sen. Jim Risch said this week. The United Nations arms trade treaty, approved by an overwhelming majority of countries Tuesday, seeks to regulate an industry that topped $85 billion in 2011, according to the Congressional Research Service. But the Senate will have the final say on whether the United States joins the pact. Risch and other senators on both sides of the...

Mandatory registration coming to state’s largest wilderness area . Visitors to the Weminuche Wilderness are going to be required to register before entering the almost 500,000 acres that stretch from Silverton to Wolf Creek Pass. Use and abuse of the pristine mountains, valleys and waterways through the years now require switching from voluntary to mandatory registration at trailheads, the San Juan National Forest said in a news release. “During the first two to three years of the new requirement, we’re going to educate the public on the reasons,” Forest Service spokeswoman Ann Bond said Saturday. “After that, rangers can issue...

SALT LAKE CITY — Mormon Democrats announced a new national organization Thursday with chapters in eight states joining the Utah State Democratic Party's year-old LDS Dems Caucus. The Florida-based head of LDS Democrats of America, Robert Taber, said the organization is intended to counter the perception that "there's only one way to be involved in political life as a good Mormon and that's as a Republican." The LDS Church itself has a long-standing policy of political neutrality. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is neutral in matters of party politics,” church spokesman Scott Trotter said. Taber, who also...

More than 200 people crowded into the Monticello High School auditorium on February 7 for a public hearing on the proposed designation of endangered species status for the small population of Gunnision Sage Grouse in San Juan County. Representatives from the US Fish and Wildlife Service faced a mostly hostile but mostly respectful crowd. They were there to explain the rationale behind the proposed designation and how it may affect the area. Two rules are proposed: one would designate the bird as an endangered species and the other would designation large swaths of land as critical habitat. San Juan County...

Sun Valley, Idaho ( KMVT-TV / KTWT-TV ) Sun Valley is known to be a getaway for celebrities and the First Family is no different. In an exclusive photo obtained by Idaho's First News, you can see the First Daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama skiing at River Run Thursday. The Sun Valley Ski Patrol confirms the girls were enjoying the wonders of the mountain. We also received unconfirmed reports the daughters were staying at Thunder Spring in Sun Valley.

A local news affiliate in Idaho reported that the first daughters, Sasha and Malia Obama, are on a Spring Break ski trip in Sun Valley, Idaho. The story quickly spread across the Internet when picked up by the highly trafficked Drudge Report website.

Here's the link.

DIETRICH, Idaho - A Dietrich science teacher is being investigated by the state’s professional standards commission after a complaint from parents over his teaching methods. Tim McDaniel is being investigated after a complaint was filed by a handful of parents who objected to how McDaniel taught the reproductive system, Dietrich Superintendent Neil Hollingshead said. “It is highly unlikely it would end with his dismissal,” Hollingshead said. “Maybe a letter of reprimand from the school board.” According to McDaniel, four parents were offended that he explained the biology of an orgasm and included the word “vagina” during his lesson on the...

Sally Jewell on Thursday breezed through a committee vote to lead the Interior Department but the agency’s proposal to list the sage grouse as an endangered species threatens to block her nomination from reaching the full Senate. ... some Republican lawmakers were not satisfied with Jewell’s responses to written and oral questions about her past association with the National Park Association’s lawsuits against the government and future plans to list the sage grouse as an endangered species. Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) threatened to put a hold on Jewell’s nomination before it goes to a floor vote unless the agency commits...

This was a show they did a few years ago. It shows the steps taken in producing .22LR ammunition at ATK's CCI facility in Lewiston, ID. There are a few steps they don't show, if you are really interested, I highly recommend reading this book: http://tinyurl.com/4z6yxn4 Part 2 is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdNkfTS0lOQ

A number of Idaho lawmakers are targeting a topic they say should be taboo on television—premarital sex. And they’re taking a symbolic stand. Lawmakers are against references to premarital sex in dramas, comedies, reality and talk shows as well as advertisements. “We need to take a stand and stand up for for the morality of what is best for the citizens of Idaho,” said Rep. Darrell Bolz, (R-Caldwell). …

New Jersey’s governor has branded them “political thugs.” A former federal education official has likened them to terrorists. Less vilified in Kansas than some other parts of the country, those teachers unions still find their clout under attack in the Legislature. The battle over teachers unions has marched its way across the country. Ohio. Michigan. Wisconsin. Idaho. And now it’s in Kansas, greeted by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and his conservative allies in the Legislature. Lawmakers are moving to undercut the tenuous power of teachers unions by barring them from using voluntary paycheck deductions for politics. And they’re going after...

A federal judge has struck down an Idaho law prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks, ruling that the so-called fetal pain law violates U.S. Supreme Court prohibitions against unduly impeding a woman’s ability to seek an abortion before her fetus is able to live outside the womb. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Boise declared the 2011 law -- similar to limits adopted in at least seven other states -- to be unconstitutional in a ruling that took the Idaho Legislature to task for acting against the advice of its own attorney general. “The Idaho Legislature’s enactment of the [fetal...

Multiple rural county sheriffs from Utah testified Thursday about the abusive use of police power by Bureau of Land Management rangers or forest protection officers with the U.S. Forest Service. They are asserting it is time to rein in the authority the agencies should have never been allowed to exercise. Sheriffs from San Juan, Kane and Garfield counties spoke in favor of HB155, sponsored by Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, which proposes to limit BLM rangers and forest protection officers from exercising police power over state and local laws unless someone's safety is at risk or federal contracts are in place...

On Thursday, the Idaho House unanimously passed a bill that would create an ‘enhanced’ concealed carry permit, one that requires more training but also expands carry benefits for licensees who travel outside state borders. Due to it’s relatively lax issuance standards, Idaho’s concealed carry permit is only recognized by 11 other states. Under House Bill 192, gun owners would have the opportunity to take additional training, including an eight-hour safety course with a certified instructor that features live-fire instruction (minimum of 98 rounds) to obtain the ‘enhanced’ permit, giving the applicant CCW reciprocity in as many as 40 other states....

BOISE, Idaho – Lawmakers fearful the U.S. Supreme Court might one day reverse itself on the issue of individual gun rights aim to change the Idaho Constitution's definition of a militia to include all the state's adults. That way, argued Sen. Jim Rice of Caldwell Wednesday in the Senate State Affairs Committee, the federal government could never swoop in and disarm residents.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho - An estimated 1,000 people took to the streets of Idaho Falls in support of 2nd Amendment rights on Saturday. The group's organizers say the massive demonstration isn't exclusively about guns -- it's about freedom. “Are all of you Americans?” shouted organizer Chad Christensen, to a resounding response from the crowd. The large crowd crossed the Broadway Bridge in downtown Idaho Falls in a trek from the Bonneville County courthouse to the Shilo Inn. “This isn't about guns, I believe,” said Christensen. “It's about our freedom and our liberty and our childrens’ future.” Through city streets, marchers...

MERIDIAN — Heritage Middle School went into lockdown Thursday morning after a report of an armed suspect inside the school. A few hours later, police confirmed that the suspect did not have a weapon, but rather a military-style folding shovel. The report of an armed individual came in to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office around 9 a.m. The weapon was initially believed to be a type of ax. The lockdown at Heritage, in Joint School District No. 2, and surrounding schools, lasted almost two hours. There were no injuries. The shovel was brought into the school from a car in...

Legislation that would move the ownership and management of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in New Mexico to the state has been introduced at the Roundhouse. The Transfer of Public Lands Act is sponsored by Rep. Yvette Herrell, R-Alamogordo, and Sen. Richard C. Martinez, D-Espanola... Herrell said New Mexico has a rich history of farming, ranching, hunting, fishing and oil drilling. "In our past we have also had a thriving timber industry that is unfortunately near nonexistent ... ... A healthy timber industry, managed responsibly by New Mexicans, would not only help our economy by creating...

The Hage family last Thursday filed a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, appealing a claims court judgment that stripped away part of their $14 million award in a suit against the U.S. Forest Service over grazing rights in Monitor Valley. Nye County Commissioner Lorinda Wichman said Tuesday she’s afraid the ruling by a court of appeals for the federal circuit overturning part of the judgment in the Wayne Hage case — that only hand tools are allowed to be used to maintain roads in the national forest — could jeopardize the $250,000 the county spent on the...

As an elected official and a sheriff, I have the great honor to take an oath of office. Very few occupations include the special pride that comes with the trust inherent in an oath of office, but mine does. In that oath, I swore to uphold the Constitution and laws that we live under in this great nation. Those words were my promise that I would not use my own personal interests to decide what is right and wrong. I swore to work within our system of law and justice to fairly enforce what you, through your elected representatives in...

BOISE – With Idaho state lawmakers fired up to protect gun rights, more attention is being focused on an Idaho law that’s been on the books since 1990 permitting any elected official in the state, including legislators, to carry a hidden firearm without a concealed weapons permit. A 2011 survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures showed no other state with such an exemption; most states exempt only peace officers, retired peace officers, military members, and in some cases, judges and prosecutors. Earlier this week, a three-hour evening training class offered in the state Capitol on carrying a concealed...

From the office of Gov. Butch Otter: Myth - Rejecting a state-run health insurance exchange will ensure Idaho will not be part of any exchange. Fact – The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires every state to have a health insurance exchange. The question is not whether Idaho will have an exchange, but rather who will build and administer the system – the federal government or the state. Ignoring the law would invite increased federal involvement in our state affairs through regulation of our insurance markets, forfeiting the creation of jobs in Idaho to other states, adding to...

Canyon sheriff says no to Obama’s measures Idaho’s U.S. attorney says a local official’s position won’t affect enforcement of federal gun laws. BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF mcuniff@idahostatesman.com   © 2013 Idaho Statesman Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue says he won’t enforce any new federal firearms restrictions, joining a chorus of county sheriffs across the U.S. who have publicly denounced President Barack Obama’s executive orders. Donahue issued a statement Thursday calling Obama’s orders “political posturing.” “I’m not going to fight hysteria with hysteria,” the statement reads. Sheriffs in Oregon and several other states made similar announcements Wednesday, the day Obama issued...

Legislators deal with ‘panic’ over gun laws Idaho lawmakers are getting an earful from constituents, and leadership is working to consolidate proposals. BY DAN POPKEY dpopkey@idahostatesman.com   © 2013 Idaho Statesman In one of the most Second Amendment-friendly legislatures in America, the pressure to respond to the Connecticut school massacre and President Barack Obama’s gun control ideas has prompted a flurry of behind-the-scenes action. Compounding the interest is the largest freshman class in Idaho history — a group eager to address constituent concerns. To manage the flow of legislation, House Speaker Scott Bedke has informally assigned a point person, Republican...

Hundreds of families have signed up to join a new community dubbed the Citadel, an armed and 'defensible' fortress city where their freedoms and liberty will be fiercely protected. Organisers have outlined plans for a community of 3,500 to 7,000 families of 'patriotic' Americans in western Idaho and more than 200 have already signed up through their website. The group has already purchased 20 acres in the area where they intend to build an arms factory which will be used to fund the project.

Hundreds of families have signed up to join a new community dubbed the Citadel, an armed and 'defensible' fortress city where their freedoms and liberty will be fiercely protected. Organisers have outlined plans for a community of 3,500 to 7,000 families of 'patriotic' Americans in western Idaho and more than 200 have already signed up through their website. The group has already purchased 20 acres in the area where they intend to build arms factory which will be used to fund the project.

"There will be no legislation passing this body that restricts the citizens of Idaho from exercising their Second Amendment rights," said Brent Crane, house assistant majority leader. Jan. 13--BOISE -- Recent mass shootings in Connecticut and Colorado have some Idaho lawmakers looking for solutions, but that's unlikely to include tighter restrictions on gun rights. If anything, they may consider measures that would expand access to weapons, in hopes of preventing these types of events. That includes the possibility of allowing public school teachers to carry guns. It's unclear if any legislation will actually be introduced this session, but Sen. Marv...

A group of like-minded patriots, bound together by pride in American exceptionalism, plan on building an armed community to protect their liberty. The group, named Citadel, intends to purchase 2,000 to 3,000 acres for the project in western Idaho. The community will comprise of 3,500 to 7,000 families of patriotic Americans who "voluntarily choose to live together in accordance with Thomas Jefferson's ideal of Rightful Liberty." According to the Citadel website, Rightful Liberty means that "neighbors keep their noses out of other neighbors' business, that neighbors live and let live." Citadel explains that residents in the community will be bound...

Police in Alexandria, Va., said Sunday that the Idaho Republican was pulled over after his vehicle ran a red light. Police spokesman Jody Donaldson said Crapo failed field sobriety tests and was arrested at about 12:45 a.m. He was transported to the Alexandria jail and released on an unsecured $1,000 bond at about 5 a.m.... Police said Crapo, who was alone in his vehicle, registered a blood alcohol content of .110. The legal limit in Virginia, which has strict drunken driving laws, is .08.

A well-traveled panhandler who made national headlines last summer when he told an Oklahoma City police officer he'd made $60,000 in a year begging for money was arrested this week in Boise. ... Speegle was in Oklahoma City, where he told a police officer he was too lazy to get a job and didn't need to because he'd made $60,000 last year... The officer told Speegle he needed a $200 daily permit to panhandle, but Speegle suggested the price was within his means.

In 5 minutes this video sums up what it's all about. Watch the fantasic Sen. James Risch of the great state of Idao fry the SBA and the Obama adminstration's tax proposal - with one simple question followed by hummanna hummanna hummanna. Followed by Mary Landrieu barfing up communist spew to try to recover from the logical hit the administration took with that question. Action is from 1:24:50 to 1:30:00. But if you're into small business, the whole video is worth a background listen (and watch of the freaky characters). The SBA is a complete waste and needs to be...

The Obama administration announced with little fanfare Thanksgiving eve plans to lock up nine million acres of land for the endangered Northern Spotted Owl. The plan would double the amount of public forest lands proposed by the Bush administration for the owl’s habitat in Oregon, Washington and Northern California, and is expected to severely limit commercial activities like logging. Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said he is concerned the plan will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. “Expanding the Northern Spotted Owl’s critical habitat will further endanger the timber industry, the thousands of jobs that...

BOISE -- The Idaho Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling that declared the 2008 Outdoor Sport Shooting Act unconstitutional as part of a lawsuit dealing with the expansion of a north Idaho public shooting range.

Two pubcasting fans in different cities who separately conceived plans for a “Million Muppet March” in support of public broadcasting have teamed up to try to organize the event on Nov. 3 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Michael Bellavia, 42, of Los Angeles, and Chris Mecham, 46, of Boise, Idaho, were watching the presidential debate on Oct. 3 when Republican nominee Mitt Romney said that he would end subsidies to PBS if elected. Even before the debate ended, Bellavia had secured the URL millionmuppetmarch.com, and Mecham created the Million Muppet March Facebook page. “We just merged the two...

MERIDIAN, Idaho (KBOI) - Idaho State University-Meridian as well as Renaissance High School were in lockdown mode Wednesday after there were reports of an armed subject on campus. Police tell KBOI-TV that a husband and wife went to the school campus. The woman apparently went inside the school, but the man stayed behind in the vehicle, but was parked improperly. A parking lot attendant later went to the vehicle to ask the driver to move, but saw the man put a gun on the passenger seat. (Photos from the Scene >>>) The attendant went back to the school and told...

BURLEY, Idaho -- Fire officials believe it was spontaneous combustion that made a gun room explode at the home of an Idaho state lawmaker last weekend. The blast sent Representative Fred Wood's wife to a burn center in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. Burley Fire Chief Keith Martin believes a gun room below Fred and Amy Wood's house exploded after rags with gun cleaning chemicals on them sat in a garbage bin and slowly produced enough heat to ignite on fire. “He cleaned his guns, and we are thinking maybe the cleaning solvent and the rags that he used...

An Idaho state representative’s wife was injured Saturday after a room converted to a gun safe exploded at her home. Amy Wood, wife of Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, was taken by air ambulance to an unspecified Utah hospital suffering from second-degree burns to her face and hands. The incident occurred at 8:11 p.m., according to Burley Fire Chief Keith Martin. On Saturday evening, Martin said the owners of the home at 100 S. 147 E. were eating dinner when “they heard a sound like a 747 coming from the basement.”

Two gray wolves in Washington state were killed from a state helicopter Tuesday afternoon after officials decided the entire pack -- believed to be at least eight wolves -- needed to be killed because of repeated attacks on cattle, officials said. An airborne marksman with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife killed the two wolves about seven miles from the Canadian border -- a week after marksmen and wildlife biologists spent days looking for the pack. A major conservation group working with Washington state to manage its gray wolves agreed that the pack should be culled but also blamed...

<p>BOISE -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission says Idaho Power's long-term purchase agreement with wind farms means that it must buy electricity from the farms even when demand for power is low.</p> <p>The commission's decision, reached Thursday, is good news for Idaho wind farms but a loss for the state's largest utility.</p>

A friend of mine from a previous life has been lobbying me to move to Idaho before TSHTF. If I could only afford to retire, I'd take him up on it. But I'm gainfully employed now and need the income.Next, he sends me a transcript of Idaho Primary Election Results to prove even the lowest vote candidate in most GOP primaries still gets more votes than all total votes in the Democrat primary. How can a state so big and so geographically dispersed have such uncommonly common sense?

The Farmstead Corn Maze and Pumpkin Festival opens Friday with an election-year theme. The maze's image portrays President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney. Friday's edition of the Statesman's Scene Magazine will include another cool aerial photo. Visitors get two chances to register their support. If you're an Obama backer, you enter on the left (ha! ha!); if you favor Romney, you enter on the right. Patrons also may vote in a "straw poll" by tossing a pumpkin in Obama and Romney bins. Almost as cool as vote-by-mail. History suggests Romney will best Obama, perhaps by a smashing-pumpkin margin. ...