Free Republic

SNIPPET: “..."For the Love of Islam: A Second American Woman Is Arrested in Cartoonist Case,” by Vanessa O’Connell, Stephanie Simon and Evan Perez in the Wall Street Journal, March 13..." Last Easter, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a 31-year-old mom with a $30,000-a-year job as a medical assistant, announced to her family that she had converted to Islam. A few months later, she began posting to Facebook forums whose headings included “STOP caLLing MUSLIMS TERRORISTS!”” SNIPPET: “On Sept. 11, she suddenly left Leadville, Colo., a small town in the Rocky Mountains, for Denver, then for New York, to meet and marry a Muslim...

A Pennsylvania woman known to authorities as "Jihad Jane" was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft. The indictment, unsealed Monday, charges that Colleen R. LaRose, and five unindicted co-conspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad.

Colorado health officials estimate that it will cost $5 million to launch an emergency water-pumping program next week to avert a potential catastrophic blowout at an old mine tunnel here. Such an event could send a toxic brew laced with heavy metals into the Arkansas River and harm hundreds of people in this historic mountain community. Jim Martin, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, told townspeople Friday the state will do everything it can to jump-start a response plan that includes pumping water out of the tunnel to relieve pressure and to treat the water...

Changing Lives At 13,000 Feet It may be several months until the America's Marines television commercial hits the air, but Tuesday we got a powerful reminder of how strong the connection is between Americans and their Marine Corps. Filming for the commercial wrapped up Tuesday just ahead of snow flurries, 13,000 feet up in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. More than 100 people showed up for the production, all braving rapidly plunging temperatures and each with a slightly different motivation for making the drive. A bus full of students from Ridge View Academy, south of Denver, drove more than three hours to...

The Climax mine will pour molybdenum once again. Owner Phelps Dodge of Phoenix on Wednesday said it would spend $200 million to $250 million to resume strip-mine operations at the top of Fremont Pass - after shuttering it for more than 20 years. The company expects to begin harvesting the stainless steel-hardening mineral by the end of 2009. It plans to produce up to 30 million pounds of molybdenum per year for at least 20 years and hire 300 to work in the mine.

Ken Chlouber still runs in Leadville 100 trail race, races burros and rides bulls... The siren song of politics keeps calling Ken Chlouber. "I'm not good at doing nothing," he said, although promoting an ultra-marathon, running in burro races and riding bulls and motorcycles hardly qualifies as "nothing." The Leadville Republican was supposed to be through with politics after the 2002 session of the Colorado Legislature, thanks to term limits. After four years away from the state house, though, Chlouber has decided to run for the seat in the Colorado House of Representatives now held by Breckenridge Democrat Gary Lindstrom....

High on liberty - - - - - - - - - - - - by Wayne Laugesen (letters@boulderweekly.com) LEADVILLE, Colo.-At 10,188-feet above seal level, Leadville is more than just high. It's high on liberty. It's high on life. Some folks are high on drugs. Mostly, Leadville is high on the fact that with four Libertarians in office, the Leadville City Council stands as the first government entity in America to be controlled by Libertarians. People enjoy a sense of freedom up here, and they speak with rare pride and joy about their famous and friendly city council. Two of...