Free Republic

BOISE -- A controversial bill to allow guns on Idaho college campuses has been signed into law by Gov. Butch Otter. The legislation allows a limited group of people to carry concealed weapons on college and university campuses. Supporters say the bill protects people's Second Amendment rights. In his approval letter, Otter stated that he has a sworn responsibility to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution, and this legislation fulfills that charge. He vowed to carefully monitor the situation to alleviate any safety concerns. Senate Bill 1254 garnered a lot of opposition from college professors, university administrators and students. Multiple...

BOISE, Idaho — TO the chief counsel of the Idaho State Legislature: In light of the bill permitting guns on our state’s college and university campuses, which is likely to be approved by the state House of Representatives in the coming days, I have a matter of practical concern that I hope you can help with: When may I shoot a student? I am a biology professor, not a lawyer, and I had never considered bringing a gun to work until now. But since many of my students are likely to be armed, I thought it would be a good...

Frank G. Bowne is a hunter by profession. Bowne is a K9 handler and SWAT operator with the Post Falls, Idaho Police Department. He and his canine companion, a German Shepherd named Koda, occasionally pursue criminal suspects. More frequently they can be found in pursuit of cash and other property that can be seized through “asset forfeiture” as part of the demented exercise called the War on Drugs. Law enforcement agencies have found this practice to be very lucrative in sparsely populated northern Idaho. Since the agencies conducting those seizures don’t have to prove that the property owner committed a...

A bill that would allow businesses to refuse service to customers based on personal, religious beliefs is now on the desk of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, as protests continue. The state legislature passed the bill late Thursday, but not without a fiery debate. "This is simply protecting religious freedom that is recognized and defended and supported in the First Amendment that the founders wanted, nothing else," said Republican Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, who sponsored the bill. "There's only type of equality," said House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, a Democrat. "And it's equal." Brewer, a Republican, vetoed a similar bill last year...

Idaho GOP gubernatorial candidate Russ Fulcher is speaking this evening from 6 - 7:30 PM at the Garden Plaza retirement facility on Mullan Ave. in Post Falls. Fulcher is currently an Idaho state senator from Meridian which is down near Boise. He is a consistent conservative who has stood up to RINO Gov. Butch Otter many times. North Idahoans should try to get to this event as his candidacy gains steam.

The Filer Police Department claims it was a justifiable shooting, but an outraged Rick Clubb plans to sue, saying, 'Maybe I deserve a ticket, but I don't deserve a dead dog.'An Idaho police officer was caught on video fatally shooting a dog just yards away from the house where a birthday party was being held for the owner's 9-year-old son. Dashcam video shows Officer Tarek Hassani of the Filer Police Department approaching dogs on the street and shooting Rick Clubb's 7-year-old black Lab. “He didn’t have to pull out his .45 and shoot my dog,” Clubb told the Times-News, which...

After championing the Affordable Care Act defunding strategy that led to the government shutdown in October, Sen. Ted Cruz continues to do Speaker John A. Boehner no favors — and some of Boehner’s allies think the tea party Texan should mind his own business. Cruz in recent weeks has undermined Boehner’s approach on both immigration and the debt limit — the two biggest issues the Ohio Republican has been trying to navigate through his conference. As Boehner unveiled his leadership team’s immigration principles at the House GOP’s retreat two weeks ago, Cruz and his staff simultaneously torched the push for...

Republican members of Congress are speaking out about replacing John Boehner as Speaker of the House. And, they’re not shy about it. Republican Boehner wants to push forward on immigration reform this year despite the risk of alienating the GOP base. The Washington Times reported: Rep. Raul Labrador said House Speaker John Boehner should lose his leadership post if he pushes forward with immigration reform this year, CQ Roll Call reported. “I think it should cost him his speakership,” Mr. Labrador, Idaho Republican, said in an interview with the Capitol Hill news organization. Mr. Labrador also refused to rule out...

(Reuters) - A tiny fish characterized by a disproportionately large head and previously unknown to scientists has been found in mountain rivers of Idaho and Montana in what biologists said on Thursday marked a rare discovery. The new aquatic species is a type of freshwater sculpin, a class of fish that dwell at the bottom of cold, swiftly flowing streams throughout North America and are known for their oversized head and shoulder structure. "The discovery of a new fish is something I never thought would happen in my career because it's very rare in the United States," said Michael Young,...

Eighty-five of 100 U.S. senators voted to renew the president’s power to indefinitely detain Americans, denying them of their fundamental right to due process.On December 19, by a vote of 84-15 (Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, did not vote), the Senate sent the Fiscal Year 2014 version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to President Obama’s desk. Although an overwhelming majority of Republicans and Democrats signed off on the evisceration of the Bill of Rights, a small coalition of Independents, Republicans, and Democrats refused to accede to such a devastation deprivation of rights. A list of the lawmakers...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A woman has sued the city of Post Falls and police officials after her northern Idaho home was searched without a warrant. In a lawsuit filed against the city, Police Chief Scot Haug, and several police officers in Coeur d'Alene's U.S. District Court last week, Melissa A. Miller contends she sustained physical injuries, emotional pain, lost wages and other damages because of the search.

MOSCOW, ID SNIPPET: "The Moscow Police initially offered a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to the arrest of the person who’s responsible, but the Idaho State Fire Marshall’s office is now offering an additional $5,000 reward to apprehend those responsible. The anonymous tip line for the Idaho State Fire Marshall’s office is 877.752.7766 or call Moscow Police at 208.882.2677."

The Obama administration appears to be on the verge of a diplomatic breakthrough with Iran after three and a half decades of low-level warfare. Now comes the hard part: convincing Congress. Skeptical lawmakers are gearing up to thwart efforts to lift the pressure on Iran. Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) warned this week that he may introduce legislation making it harder for President Obama to loosen existing sanctions, while several others have vowed to slap on new ones. “The United States should negotiate from a position of strength, not weakness,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a possible 2016...

BURLEY • Billboards are popping up in Mini-Cassia exclaiming, “They didn’t need to implement ObamaCare.” “They,” whose names are listed on the billboards are District 27 legislators, Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, and Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley. **SNIP** All the names of legislators who voted for the state insurance exchange will not make their way onto a billboard because there is “not enough room” on a billboard, Hoffman wrote in an email to the Times-News.

The Idaho high school basketball coach fired after the school district deemed a photo of her fiancé grabbing her chest as “immoral” says she is “discouraged” that she was fired while her fiancé, the school’s varsity football coach, kept his job. “Obviously, I don’t want to see my fiancé to get into trouble but I was a little bit discouraged,” Laraine Cook, 31, of Pocatella, Idaho, told GoodMorningAmerica.com today. “They told me it was because it was on my Facebook account that I was being terminated.” Cook, the mother of two elementary school-aged children, was fired from her job as...

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander (R) Montana Senator Max Baucus (D) Alaska Senator Mark Begich (D) Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R) Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran (R) Maine Senator Susan Collins (R) Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) Massachusetts Senator William "Mo" Cowan (D) Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi (R) Minnesota Senator Al Franken (DFL) South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R) North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan (D) Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D) Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe (R) Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns (R) South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson (D) Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) Michigan Senator Carl Levin (D) Kentucky...

**SNIP** CNN reports that insurers had nothing to do with it in at least three states, where the states themselves forced the cancellations in order to comply with ObamaCare: President Obama may have promised Americans that they can keep their insurance if they like it, but that’s not the case in at least three states where insurance companies are required to discontinue plans that don’t meet Obamacare’s new coverage standards. Virginia, Kentucky and Idaho have told insurance companies that they must scrap insurance plans that don’t meet the minimum coverage requirements laid out in the Affordable Care Act. Some states...

A Boise family is outraged over the death of their 5-year-old dog. Sunday afternoon, a Boise Police officer fired his weapon at the dog, killing it. For years, Gabrielle Stropkai found companionship in her dog, Kita, calling her a lover and a friend for her son Hayden to grow up with. “We have kids who run up and pull her tail and grab her by the back of the neck and get in her face and she does nothing but love on them,” said Stropkai. However, as two Boise patrol officers were investigating a theft that was reported in the...

NORTH DAKOTA -- A former North Idaho man who battled the Environmental Protection Agency has been arrested and charged with sex trafficking in North Dakota. Michael Sackett, 47, made his first court appearance in federal court Tuesday. Sackett faces charges for attempting to entice an underage girl across state lines to engage in a commercial sex act. Sackett and his wife Chantell made headlines when they fought the EPA over some land they bought in Priest Lake that was later determined to be wetlands by the agency. The couple brought their fight all the way to the Supreme Court and...

All of the congressional Republicans with viable 2016 presidential ambitions voted against the bill enacted overnight to reopen the government and increase federal borrowing. So did two members of the Senate GOP leadership and three members of the party’s House leadership. The opponents also included a majority of the Republicans who are chairmen of House committees and most of the members of the House GOP caucus who aspire to election to the Senate next year. While the Democrats were unified in their support for the legislation, a review of Wednesday night’s back-to-back roll calls in Congress reveals just how divided...