Free Republic

The trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students, will be moved to Boise, the Idaho State Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The State Supreme Court granted a ‘change of venue’ motion, which will move the trial from its current location in Latah County, in North Idaho, down south to the capital in Ada County. This comes nearly two years after the murders took place. Bryan Kohberger is accused of murdering University of Idaho students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in an off-campus house in Nov. 2022. The house was located...

University of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger looked scruffy in a new mugshot after being flown hundreds of miles in preparation for his trial. Kohberger, 29, was flown Sunday to Idaho’s capital, Boise, after being granted a change of venue to take his trial away from Latah County, where he’s accused of brutally stabbing the four students in their rental home in Moscow. Kohberger was seen arriving in Boise on a small plane and was transferred to a Black SUV in an orange jumpsuit and cuffs. A new mugshot taken on his arrival at the Ada County Sheriff’s Office shows...

Liberty Counsel urges Idaho Nat'l Guard not to implement 'No Christians as Commanders Policy'.. An infantry officer who expressed Christian views on human sexuality and other LGBT-related issues faced pressure to resign from the Idaho National Guard and was stripped of his commanding position following a complaint from a subordinate who identifies as homosexual. The subordinate who filed the complaint claimed that the officer’s speech showed “just how much [the officer] truly hates the LGBTQ community.” Liberty Counsel disagreed with this assessment, arguing that the officer believes everyone is made in God’s image and cares for those under his command,...

A Post Falls resident may begin collecting a $1.1 million judgment against the blogger who defamed him, a judge ruled Wednesday. In May, a Kootenai County jury unanimously found that Summer Bushnell defamed Eric Posey when she falsely accused him of exposing himself during Pride in the Park 2022. Bushnell asked the court earlier this month to stay enforcement of the judgment while she appeals the case. First District Judge Ross Pittman denied Bushnell’s request Wednesday. “It’s on you, Ms. Bushnell, to show good cause, and you have not done so here today,” Pittman said. Bushnell, who is now representing...

Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador joined a lawsuit in federal court last week to stop the Biden-Harris administration from giving Obamacare to illegal immigrants. Labrador is joined in the lawsuit by attorneys general from 14 other states, and the suit is led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach. ‘The Biden-Harris Administration has made it overwhelmingly clear that our borders are wide open, and that illegal immigration will be rewarded, said Attorney General Labrador. “The latest taxpayer-financed incentive is free healthcare. Illegal immigrants shouldn’t get a free pass into our country when so many others wait patiently and follow every legal...

The latest state to criminalize actions based on the feelings of the protected class ... Coeur d'Alene? The Idaho Coeur d'Alene? [See link for video]

America’s founders believed direct democracy was a slower, more indirect path to tyranny. To prevent this, they avoided establishing an “elective despotism” and designed a system that filtered democracy through representative legislatures. Popular ballot initiatives didn’t exist until the Progressive Era in the early 20th century. Now, progressives use ballot initiatives to turn red states blue, including a proposal to abolish primaries altogether. What is the Republican Party’s response? As Democrats work toward creating a permanent political majority at the national level, their extremism has intensified popular backlash in nearly half the states, making them even redder. Currently, Republicans hold...

“Prop 1, the Ranked Choice Voting and Open Primaries ballot initiative, qualified to be on the general election ballot this November. If Prop 1 passes, this will be the end of the Idaho Democratic Party. The promise of Prop 1 is to allow Democrats and Independents to have a voice by choosing Republican candidates, but it also means the Republicans will be voting for Democrat candidates. This includes precinct committeemen (PCs) who elect the leadership of the Democratic Party. Imagine a concerted effort by Republicans to run for Democrat party Pc races (or maybe this is already underway). Same play...

After a brief leak of the decision documents yesterday on the Court’s website, the Supreme Court of the United States today formally issued its guidance in the Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States cases by choosing to return them to a lower court. The ruling lifts a stay on an injunction limiting enforcement of Idaho’s Defense of Life Act previously put in place by a federal district court order. This means Idaho hospitals receiving Medicaid funding must allow abortions to be committed as “stabilizing care” in compliance with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). However,...

With the Democratic National Convention less than two months away, a coalition of community organizations voiced “serious concerns” Thursday about the Chicago Police Department’s newly revised mass arrest policy. The overhaul stems from closed-door meetings authorized by the federal judge presiding over the department’s court-ordered reform push after the so-called consent decree coalition warned that an earlier version of the policy “eviscerates protections” that are otherwise granted to protesters. In a court filing, the coalition acknowledges the latest draft policy contains various “improvements,” including changes that ban the controversial containment tactic known as “kettling” and prohibit officers from arresting protesters...

The nation’s highest court issued a ruling in a case today where the Biden administration wanted to force Idaho to expand abortions. Instead, the Supreme Court ruled that the case needs more time at the lower court level before it can weigh in on the merits. As a result, the Idaho abortion ban is still in place and Today, the U.S. Supreme Court sent Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to hear oral arguments on the case. The opinion is what is known as a DIG, which is “dismissed...

The U.S. Supreme Court punted on a major abortion-related decision in Moyle v. United States by sending a case against Idaho’s Defense of Life Act back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.The decision was made after an appeal and dealt with Idaho’s pro-life Defense of Life Act and whether it was preempted by the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which the Biden administration claims includes abortions. The court's decision to send the case back to a lower court restores emergency abortions in Idaho for the time being."The decision vacates the previous stay, reinstates the preliminary injunction,...

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court admitted to mistakenly publishing a document online concerning a pending abortion case. Bloomberg Law obtained the document before it was promptly taken down from the website. According to Supreme Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe, the document was “inadvertently and briefly uploaded” to the court’s website. McCabe clarified that the ruling itself “has not been released.” It remains unclear whether the document was a draft decision, the final decision, or something else entirely. Either way, Bloomberg said it appeared the Supreme Court is going to side with Biden officials in their attempt to force Idaho to allow...

The Supreme Court case Idaho v. United States is less about abortion and more about federal control over state and individual rights. Thwarted by the U.S. Supreme Court [SCOTUS] in its effort to make abortion as easy to get as possible, the left is now hoping it can get the court to restore some of the power Democrats lost in the Idaho v. United States case. The case considers whether federal law can supersede state law. In this case, whether the federal government can require states that participate in Medicare to perform abortions in violation of a state law. “The...

Idaho librarian June Meissner was closing up for the day at the downtown Boise Public Library when a man approached her asking for help. As an information services librarian, answering patrons’ questions is part of Meissner’s day-to-day work, and serving the community is one of her favorite parts of the job. But when the man got close enough, “he took a swing at me and tried to punch me in the head,” said Meissner, a transgender woman. “I blocked it and he started yelling slurs and suggesting that he was going to come back and kill me.”

Eastern Idaho farmers may soon be out of water after the state issued a major curtailment. Brian Murdock, a farmer who resides in East Idaho, warned of the potential devastating impact of the order on his business during his appearance on "The Bottom Line" Wednesday. "Well, as you said, the state of Idaho and the Idaho Department of Water Resources has issued this curtailment of 500,000 acres. And to help put that in perspective, that's basically 781 square miles of farm ground that is being taken out of production," Murdock stressed. "And, of course, the worst problem is this is...

Matt Loesby, Secretary of the Libertarian Party of Idaho and 2024 candidate for Idaho’s first congressional district, issued an open letter to the Libertarian National Committee on Monday urging the removal of Chase Oliver as the party’s 2024 presidential nominee. In his letter, which was shared by Region 1 Representative Adam Haman with the LNC public list on Monday, Loesby cites Oliver’s positions on parental rights and medical decisions for minors, particularly regarding puberty blockers, as contradictory to Plank 1.5 of the Libertarian Party’s platform. He compares the use of puberty blockers to chemical castration, asserting that their effects are...

CV NEWS FEED // The Biden Department of Justice’s (DOJ) attacks on pro-life laws have moved to Idaho. Moyle v US, the latest abortion case to reach the Supreme Court, asks whether federal laws preempt states’ rights to regulate abortion care. Backstory After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance stating that hospitals that receive Medicare funding must provide emergency abortions as “necessary stabilizing treatment” to mothers under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). “Under the law, no matter where you live, women have...

A guy I went to high school with spent a year overseas as an exchange student. While away he wrote a letter to our school newspaper and asked all his friends to write him. At football practice, our coach commented that it was a shame he wouldn’t get any letters. Some people go through life without realizing that they’re a jackass. Years later I met the same fellow and we had a great conversation. At some point, he learned humility. His story comes to mind after the old-guard Idaho Republicans took another spanking at the state party convention. Even after...

A jury has awarded more than $1.1 million to an Idaho drag performer who accused a far-right blogger of defaming him when she falsely claimed that he exposed himself to a crowd, including children, during a Pride event in June 2022. The Kootenai County District Court jury unanimously found Friday that Summer Bushnell defamed Post Falls resident Eric Posey when she posted a doctored video of his performance with a blurred spot that she claimed covered his “fully exposed genitals,” the Coeur D’Alene Press reported. In reality the unedited video showed no indecent exposure, and prosecutors declined to file charges....