Free Republic

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Richard Dowling's statue ended up saving a whole lot of lives. Here's what happened now. Andrew Cecil Schneck, 25, was charged with attempting to maliciously damage or destroy property receiving federal financial assistance, federal prosecutors announced. A park ranger doing a routine patrol of the area around Hermann Park on Saturday caught Schneck kneeling in the bushes near the statue of Richard Dowling, a commander in the Confederate army

An Idaho state representative says it’s “plausible” that the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month was orchestrated to make President Trump look like a racist. State Rep. Bryan Zollinger, a Republican, on Thursday shared an article on Facebook by American Thinker, titled, “Charlottesville and Its Aftermath: What if It Was a Setup?” The article suggests, without evidence, that former President Barack Obama, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer, and billionaire investor George Soros could somehow be connected in planning and orchestrating the clashes in Charlottesville, which turned deadly on Aug. 12 after a reported Nazi sympathizer...

The opening gambit for refugee resettlement in Bonner County was met with strong opposition in Sandpoint Wednesday evening. Attendees from all parts of Northern Idaho quickly filled the 150 seat capacity of Community Hall while 50 or more remained on the front lawn and sidewalk waving signs opposing the proposal. The meeting, which was scheduled opposite the final chance for citizen input at the Sandpoint City Annual Budget meeting, may not have gone as planned by organizers from The Sandpoint Human Rights Task Force. Expecting a capacity crowd, the fire department was there to keep a head count as people...

BOISE -- The Riverside Hotel canceled the Idaho Freedom Foundation's annual banquet, citing concerns for guest safety surrounding the keynote speaker. But the foundation says the left is trying to stifle free speech and ideas. The "Faces of Freedom Banquet" was supposed to happen at the Riverside Hotel August 26. But after hearing of possible protests online - and in the wake of the violent incidents in Charlotesville - hotel owners told the conservative group that could no longer happen. The Idaho Freedom Foundation touts conservative principles, limited government, free markets and self-reliance. Their stated mission is to "hold public...

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday announced the federal government will relax Obama-era rules designed to protect the imperiled sage grouse, saying the administration will offer states flexibility in how they choose to protect the bird and also will loosen restrictions on energy development in sage grouse habitat. In a statement issued in response to a lengthy report from Interior’s sage grouse review team, Mr. Zinke said the recommendations will go into effect immediately.

Idaho's insurance regulator blasted the Trump administration's unwillingness to pay Obamacare insurers as the reason premiums couldrise by up to 38 percent next year. The state's Department of Insurance posted proposed rates for 2018 Monday. The state's six Obamacare insurers are calling for an average 38 percent rate hike, including a 50 percent increase for the silver plan, which is the most popular of Obamcare's three plan options. Idaho said the proposed increase for silver plans was because of "the potential refusal by the federal government to fund the cost share reduction mechanism." Insurers are required under law to lower...

The travesty of justice in Idaho is now complete. In the summer of 2016, a 5-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and urinated upon by three Muslim migrant boys in Twin Falls, Idaho. Since then, instead of getting justice, the victim’s family has been abused by law enforcement and governing authorities as if they were the criminals – because what happened to their little girl contradicts the politically correct narrative about Muslim migrants. On Monday, the perpetrators were sentenced, and the final injustice was done to this poor girl. The injustice began in the proceedings at the Snake River Juvenile Detention...

Idaho achieved a notable distinction last year: It became one of the hardest places in America for someone to quit a job for a better one. The state did this by making it easier for companies to enforce noncompete agreements, which prevent employees from leaving their company for a competitor. While its economy is known for agriculture — potatoes are among the state’s biggest exports — Idaho has a long history as a technology hub. And the new law landed in the middle of the tech world, causing a clash between hungry start-ups looking to poach employees and more established...

Idaho achieved a notable distinction last year: It became one of the hardest places in America for someone to quit a job for a better one. The state did this by making it easier for companies to enforce noncompete agreements, which prevent employees from leaving their company for a competitor. While its economy is known for agriculture — potatoes are among the state’s biggest exports — Idaho has a long history as a technology hub. And the new law landed in the middle of the tech world, causing a clash between hungry start-ups looking to poach employees and more established...

Cheri Glankler has been rescuing dogs for 20 years — the last five of those spent in Garden Valley — so the elderly retriever that ended up in her care in late June was nothing out of the ordinary. At least initially. From the outset, the dog looked rough. She was found collapsed on a ranch off Idaho 55 near Horseshoe Bend and brought to Glankler covered in fleas and ticks. “Please share if you know someone is missing her,” Glankler wrote in a Facebook post in the Lost Pets Boise page. But Glankler had a hunch about who might...

The Trump administration is removing Endangered Species Act protections for Yellowstone grizzly bears, after they spent more than four decades on the threatened list. The Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service announced the delisting decision Thursday, which immediately drew rebukes from conservationists and Democrats. Officials said that conservation efforts for the bear, a more than fourfold increase in its population and state policies designed to protect the bears show that the delisting is warranted. The Yellowstone grizzly bear lives in and around Yellowstone National Park in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. “This achievement stands as one of America’s great conservation successes;...

The travesty of justice in Idaho is now complete. In the summer of 2016, a 5-year-old girl was orally and anally raped and urinated upon by three Muslim migrant boys in Twin Falls, Idaho. Since then, instead of getting justice, the victim’s family has been abused by law enforcement and governing authorities as if they were the criminals – because what happened to their little girl contradicts the politically correct narrative about Muslim migrants. On Tuesday, the perpetrators were sentenced, and the final injustice was done to this poor girl. The injustice began in the proceedings at the Snake River...

Ten Idaho and farmers and ranchers spent an hour meeting with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke June 2. They covered a wide range of topics important to the state’s and nation’s farming industries. Farmers and ranchers described a private meeting with two of President Donald Trump’s cabinet members June 2 as unprecedented and historic. Instead of addressing the group, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke listened and took notes, according to those who were there. “They just didn’t have an agenda. They truly wanted to listen to us,” said Aberdeen potato farmer...

Legislation to shut down the controversial and unconstitutional U.S. Department of Education was introduced in Congress this week by Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a leading constitutional conservative. The bill, H.R. 899, would help President Donald Trump follow through on his campaign statements suggesting a desire to abolish the department as well as the Obama-backed “Common Core” school standards. The legislation was introduced on the same day U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was confirmed by the Senate.If and when the bill is passed into law, the one-sentence measure would give the powerful U.S. Education Department until the end of 2018 to wind down...

If you live within the reddish or pinkish shaded areas of the corridor shown on the accompanying map … you just might be among the first to feel the bite of the United Nations’ pipedream known as Agenda 21. What this map shows is one Agenda 21 installment of The Wildlands Network, known as the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. This is a collaborative effort of more than a hundred environmental groups, organizations and related agencies. One of those “radical” agencies just happens to be MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks which is listed as a collaborating partner of this plan...

SEATTLE (AP) - Washington state lost a major legal battle Friday, which could force it spend nearly $2 billion to restore salmon habitat by removing barriers that block fish migration. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year affirmed a lower court’s 2013 ruling ordering the state to fix or replace hundreds of culverts - large pipes that allow streams to pass beneath roads but block migrating salmon. Idaho and Montana joined Washington state in asking the appeals court to reconsider the case. Washington had sought a rehearing, arguing in part that the court’s decision forces...

In a first and significant step towards the remonetization of Gold and Silver, Idaho voted tonight to remove income tax on precious metals. This is the first step in what will likely be a cascade of other states following suit. Last week we discussed here the Arizona Senate Finance and Rules Committees' calling out the Fed on Gold Taxation by considering legislation (HB 2014) officially defining gold, silver, and other precious metals as legal tender. The bill also exempts transactions in precious metals from state capital gains taxes, thus ensuring that people are not punished by the taxman for rejecting...

Idaho Republican Rep. Raul Labrador, who made headlines over the weekend for his comment at a town hall that "nobody" dies from a lack of health care, is running for Idaho governor. The fourth-term congressman filed paperwork Tuesday morning with Idaho's Secretary of State. Labrador, a conservative Republican and founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, faced immediate backlash over the weekend after claiming "nobody dies because they don't have access to health care" at a town hall in Idaho. Later, the Republican issued a statement to reporters acknowledging his answer "wasn't very elegant," but he was "responding to the...

An Idaho high school had altered the traditional boys vs. girls competitions for its spirit week in order to be accommodating to its “gender variant” students, but the change still ended up causing a big controversy. The Twin Falls High School student council altered the activities’ monikers to “blue vs. pink,” but apparently there’s little substantive difference between the traditional gender colors … and the genders themselves. According to MagicValley.com, a group of students — “including some who are transgender” — complained of harassment and say they felt targeted after wearing purple shirts to school instead of blue or pink....

Greek yogurt giant Chobani is suing far-right radio host Alex Jones, accusing the conspiracy theorist of publishing false information about the company. Chobani alleges that Jones and his InfoWars website posted fabricated stories earlier this month that linked Chobani owner Hamdi Ulukaya and the company to a sexual assault case involving refugee children. The complaint says InfoWars released a video on April 11 falsely claiming that Chobani was “importing migrant rapists,” with the goal of causing customers to boycott its products.