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Another New Mexico county has joined a lawsuit to fight the listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species. Lea County in southeastern New Mexico joined three other counties in the state last week in a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ... U.S. Rep., Steve Pearce, R-N.M., .. The Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to cater to environmental groups and disregard science will devastate New Mexico’s way of life,” he said. “New Mexicans will pay the price in lost jobs, industry, ranching and oil and gas production.”

Federal authorities have issued a moratorium blocking oil, gas and coal leasing on 800,000 acres of public land in southwestern Colorado and eastern Utah that is habitat for the imperiled Gunnison sage grouse. ... restrictive measures that will impact jobs and economic development

A two-star U.S. Army general will begin investigating this week how and why Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl left his base in Afghanistan, resulting in his capture, a senior defense official said. Bergdahl spent five years in captivity until his release May 31, in exchange for five Taliban figures being held at a U.S. military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Bergdahl, 28, returned to the United States -- specifically to an Army medical facility in San Antonio, Texas -- early Friday. Though the investigation begins this week, it's not known when the sergeant will undergo formal questioning. The senior defense...

Idaho’s state Republican Party convention degenerated into a fiasco Saturday after attempts to disqualify up to a third of the delegates attending appeared to be succeeding – and the convention adjourned without electing a chairman, setting a platform or doing any of its scheduled business. “For three weeks I’ve tried to broker a deal to prevent what happened today,” 1st District Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador told Idaho Public Television just after the convention adjourned. Labrador was the convention chairman and wants to be the next Majority Leader of the U.S. House.

HAILEY, Idaho — An Idaho county commissioner held a press conference in the hometown of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl this week to tell reporters and outsiders to leave the town and the Bergdahl family alone. The Times-News reported that Blaine County Commissioner Larry Schoen said people should stop attacking Bergdahl, his family and the people of Hailey for standing by the former prisoner of war. Schoen said the town only wanted to see the local man reunited with his parents, Bob and Jani Bergdahl, after spending five years as a prisoner of the Taliban in Afghanistan....

As of 3:35 PM local time in Moscow, Idaho, the 2014 Idaho Republican Convention is history. And what a piece of history it is! The fireworks started a couple weeks prior to the convention, in events surrounding reorganizational meetings for county Republican Central Committees throughout the state. These are meetings in which officers are elected; sometimes the old ones are reelected, sometimes new ones are elected. Also at these reorg meetings delegates for the convention are elected. Operative word, "elected." This year, there were abnormalities in three counties that drew complaints that were subsequently handed off to the Credentials Committee...

Rep. Raul Labrador, a fiery conservative lawmaker from Idaho, will challenge House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy in next Thursday's special election to replace Eric Cantor as majority leader, according to Republican sources. "I want a House Leadership team that reflects the best of our conference," Labrador said in a statement provided to National Journal. He later added: "I am running for Majority Leader because I want to help create a vision of growth and opportunity for everyone and start getting to work for the American people." A sophomore representative from a heavily Republican district, Labrador's election would dramatically alter the...

Rep. Raul Labrador, a fiery conservative lawmaker from Idaho, will challenge House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy in next Thursday's special election to replace Eric Cantor as majority leader, according to Republican sources. "I want a House Leadership team that reflects the best of our conference," Labrador said in a statement provided to National Journal. He later added: "I am running for Majority Leader because I want to help create a vision of growth and opportunity for everyone and start getting to work for the American people." A sophomore representative from a heavily Republican district, Labrador's election would dramatically alter the...

Second-term Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, plans to challenge Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for the second most powerful House leadership position. Labrador just released a statement announcing his bid for House majority leader, saying he believes Majority Leader Eric Cantor's primary loss on Tuesday shows, “Americans are looking for a change in the status quo.” The leadership election is scheduled for June 19. Labrador made the announcement a half-day after it appeared McCarthy had the job locked up with no opponents. Sign Up for the Politics Today newsletter! Now, a Labrador aide said, the contest is up in the air. “The...

Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador said Friday he will run for the House majority leader position being vacated by Eric Cantor. The decision sets up a race next week between Labrador, a leading conservative voice, and Kevin McCarthy, the current House majority whip.

The Mount Vernon Assembly – Indianapolis FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Skip Brown skip.brown@iga.in.gov 317-232-9521 The Mount Vernon Assembly to Meet at Indiana Statehouse June 12 and 13 INDIANAPOLIS (June 9, 2014) – More than 100 state legislators representing 33 states will meet at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis on June 12 and 13 to continue establishing the rules and procedures needed for a future state-led convention for proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as authorized by Article V of the Constitution. The meeting is a continuation of efforts that began in December 2013 at George Washington’s historic Mount Vernon estate...

Army sergeant and rescued Taliban prisoner Bowe Bergdahl has been caught up in a web of conspiracy theories and political noise since his handover in Afghanistan early last month, but those who know him are rejecting suggestions that he was a "a calculating deserter." The Washington Post today published excerpts from Bergdahl's journal, which he mailed along with a laptop and his copy of Atlas Shrugged, to his close friend Kim Harrison just before leaving his post and getting captured in the summer of 2009. "Trying to keep my self togeather," he wrote, mixing philosophical musings and misspellings. "I'm so...

Or.. Democratrina. Far more destructive than any bomb or hurricane, Democrat locusts destroy lay waste to Detroit. This is the 'progress' they want for the rest of America.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl could be entitled to about $300,000 in back pay and special compensation following his release as a Taliban prisoner, experts say. Service members designated by the Defense Department as "captive, missing or missing in action" are entitled to receive back pay and allowances, officials said. Any additional pay and allowances earned such as promotions or special entitlements are not issued until they are officially recovered or classified as deceased. However, questions remain over how much Bergdahl will receive and how much he is able to keep as he faces potential charges following allegations from his former unit...

The mother and father sit at the kitchen table in their Idaho farmhouse, watching their son on YouTube plead for his life. The Taliban captured 26-year-old Bowe Bergdahl almost three years ago, on June 30th, 2009, and since that day, his parents, Jani and Bob, have had no contact with him. Like the rest of the world, their lone glimpses of Bowe – the only American prisoner of war left in either Iraq or Afghanistan – have come through a series of propaganda videos, filmed while he's been in captivity. Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607#ixzz34APXclT2 Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone...

(CNN) -- As the controversy surrounding Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl release gains growing attention, Bergdahl's family is now the target of recent threats, according to an FBI spokesman. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl family have received threats following his release after five years in captivity at the hands of the Taliban, an FBI spokesman told CNN on Saturday. "We are working jointly with our state and local partners and taking each threat seriously," FBI Special Agent William Facer said in an e-mail. Facer declined to detail the nature and severity of the threats. Additionally, the military spokesperson for the Bergdahl family...

In a 2010 speech, Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's father, Robert Bergdahl, reportedly said, "The man who we believe holds Bowe grew up on the lap of his mother learning the Koran. He is a powerful man. We pray for him. He recently lost a son to a CIA missile drone strike. The fact that he didn't kill Bowe right then is incredible. So we pray for him." The statement would coincide with a time period during which there were US drone strikes in and around that region. The comments were made during an Idaho Republican Party fundraiser....

Reuters reporter Mark Felsenthal reports that Sgt. Bergdahl's hometown in Idaho is cancelling its planned celebration. "Bergdahl's home town in Idaho has canceled plans for a celebration, city administrator says," reports Felsenthal on Twitter.

Sen. Mike Crapo talks to media in November 2010 on the night he was elected to his third six-year term. DARIN OSWALD — Darin Oswald / Idaho Statesman |Buy Photo The senator has 'significant concerns' about Saturday's trading five Taliban leaders for the Idaho soldier. GOP Sen. Mike Crapo said Thursday that he earlier objected to an Obama administration proposal to free six Taliban prisoners in exchange for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Congress was informed about the plan to exchange prisoners at Guantanamo for Bergdahl and Crapo was among those who “pushed back very strongly,” he told the Statesman....

Fox News reporter James Rosen claimed intelligence sources have told him not only that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl willingly collaborated with the Taliban, but that his involvement with the terrorist group may be “as serious as you can imagine.” Rosen spoke with Bill O’Reilly Wednesday night about his ongoing conversations with intelligence and Pentagon officials regarding both old and new investigations into Bergdahl’s likely desertion and possibly treasonous activities. “My reporting has shown that the intelligence community also undertook a separate [from the Army] investigation of Sgt. Bergdahl,” Rosen explained, “both his final period of active duty that culminated in...