Free Republic

Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter sent a letter to federal officials Wednesday voicing his opposition to using the state as "a destination or a staging area for the influx of unaccompanied and illegal immigrants entering the United States through our southern border." In the letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, Otter blames the federal government for creating the current crisis at the border, and says Congress needs to take action to enforce the law. "Idaho will not open itself to the unwelcome challenges...

A new study shows the lesser prairie chicken population has exploded by 20 percent prompting concern by western lawmakers that the Obama administration acted hastily when it listed the bird as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The aerial survey conducted last month by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies showed the grouse species numbers jumped from 18,747 to 22,415. That study plus the Agriculture Department’s tardiness in reporting conservation efforts to Congress as required by law prompted a letter from lawmakers including Colorado Republican Rep. Scott Tipton demanding the report. “We request that your department provide this...

Miss Idaho, aka Sierra Anne Sandison, could certainly be posting pictures of crowns and diamonds all over her Twitter page. But the beauty queen is choosing to show off another accessory — her insulin pump. Sandison, a 20-year-old diabetic, was crowned Miss Idaho last Saturday and has talked openly about how she felt when she got diagnosed with type one adult-onset diabetes in 2012. She tweeted a picture of herself lying on her bed, wearing her Miss Idaho sash and crown, a Wonder Woman sweatshirt, and an insulin pump. She tagged the photo #showmeyourpump and encouraged friends and followers...

BOISE, Idaho - A U.S. Navy veteran filed a civil rights lawsuit Monday after the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery refused to allow her to be buried with the ashes of her late wife. Seventy-four-year-old Madelynn Taylor filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Boise after she tried to make advance arrangements last year to have her ashes interred with Jean Mixner, whom she met on a blind date in 1995 and married in California in 2008 when gay marriage was briefly legal. Though federal veterans cemeteries allow the spouses of gay veterans to be interred with their loved ones,...

Cable News Network has sued Blaine County seeking information from a 1999 police investigation involving the family of Bowe Bergdahl, the Wood River Valley soldier who spent five years in captivity of the Taliban. CNN says the report from the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office is subject to disclosure under Idaho public records laws. Sheriff Gene Ramsey has twice denied the network's request. The lawsuit was filed June 25 in District Court. A hearing is scheduled at 2 p.m. July 21 before District Judge Robert J. Elgee.

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the meadow jumping mouse as an endangered species. Now, the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees the Santa Fe National Forest, is considering erecting a series of 8-foot high fences to protect the mouse’s habitat. The Luceros, members of the San Diego Cattleman’s Association and holders of grazing permits with the federal government, say the fences will lock out their cattle — as well as those of other permit holders — from ever returning to the meadow where the livestock graze for 20 days in the spring and up to 40 days...

Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) demanded that the President Obama dispel misinformation regarding U.S. immigration policies, which they say is causing thousands of undocumented children to cross the border.Lawmakers have grown increasingly concerned about the thousands of unaccompanied minors illegally crossing the border.“The current crisis at our border is a direct consequence of the administration’s dangerous, piecemeal approach to reforming our broken immigration system,” Crapo said. “Backdoor executive orders have the potential to spread misrepresentations of current immigration policies — a situation we are unfortunately seeing play out at the border.”Crapo and Risch’s comments came after Obama...

Wildlife advocates want a federal judge to order faster action on a recovery plan for imperiled Canada lynx. ... Officials also say that lynx face a relatively low degree of threat compared to other protected species. The Fish and Wildlife Service was forced to come up with a timeline on the recovery document when Molloy last month expressed frustration with the government's progress. The judge said the "stutter-step" approach by federal officials necessitated court intervention. The lawsuit pending before Molloy was brought by Friends of the Wild Swan, Rocky Mountain Wild, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and the San Juan Citizens Alliance....

An Army veteran who served alongside Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan said Wednesday that the long-captive soldier was deeply frustrated with the mission and had lodged false allegations that their unit had carried out atrocities. Bergdahl “didn’t understand why we were doing more humanitarian aid drops, setting up clinics, and helping the populous instead of hunting the Taliban,” former Spec. Cody Full told lawmakers during a hearing on the exchange of Bergdahl for five Taliban detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. “He wanted to hunt and kill.” (VIDEO-AT-LINK)The Taliban released Bergdahl to U.S. Special Operations forces May 31 after he had...

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...