Free Republic

A Gallatin County jury ruled against a Gardiner woman who was seeking money for her daughter born with cystic fibrosis. After about two hours of deliberations, the 12-person jury ruled that Livingston HealthCare nurse Peggy Scanson and Bozeman OBGYN Dr. William Peters did not violate their standard of care with Kerrie Evans. The verdict came on the ninth day of the trial, held before Gallatin County District Judge Mike Salvagni. Evans sued in 2011 after her daughter, now 5, was born with cystic fibrosis. Evans’ attorneys Casey Magan and Russ Waddell argued that during Evans’ pregnancy, Evans had chorionic villus...

'Our city is failing because of the refugees. We have 22 different languages spoken in our schools.' ... Obama administration plans to send refugees to smaller Montana cities. Over 120 Montana citizens faced snow and ice on Monday to protest outside the Missoula County Courthouse. ... protesters voiced concerns over an increase in refugee-related crimes, including rape, and the inability for Muslim men to treat women with respect. "Amarillo is overrun with refugees," Karen Sherman, a citizen of Missoula, Montana stated. "Our city is failing because of the refugees," Sherman continued. "We have 22 different languages spoken in our schools....

Obama on federal coal mining is a throwback to Carter administration failings. resident Obama's plot to use the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to kill federal coal mining with a thousand paper cuts is not the first time he has used NEPA to try to end energy development. Disturbingly, his scheme is a throwback to President Carter and a decade-long moratorium that ended only when President Reagan took office. Meanwhile millions of Americans, vast regions and the nation's economy will suffer. In 2009, the Obama administration settled a "sweetheart lawsuit" by environmental groups by agreeing to a NEPA study on...

A Louisiana man issued a federal oil and gas lease in 1982, but denied the right to explore his property since approval of his application for permit to drill (APD) in 1985, recently responded formally to a brief filed by the United States government in which it argued that it has authority to cancel his lease and will cancel his lease as soon as its proposed schedule for doing so is approved by the federal court. Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) represents Sidney Longwell of Baton Rouge, whose company Solenex, LLC owns the Reagan-era lease, and which sued Secretary of...

George Will on Primary Race (video)

The Utah Attorney General's Office filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture, claiming the agencies' strategy to disallow new mining on or near greater sage grouse habitats is a breach of "numerous federal laws and regulations." The lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeks an order voiding the federal government's land-use plan amendments submitted last year that would directly prohibit new hard rock mining on 233,300 acres in Utah. "The state of Utah claims that the 2015 federal plan amendments disregarded the hallmark of federal land management -- multiple use and sustained yield --...

In the hunt for Saddam Hussein's billions, investigators have identified five networks of more than 100 companies used to launder money skimmed from Iraqi oil sales. Saddam's gangster regime set up shell companies in Switzerland, Jordan, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg and Panama, according to investigators. Those company networks and their banking affiliations were used to enrich the former Iraqi strongman, his sons Uday and Qusay, and other family members. "Ultimately, the money was stolen from the Iraqi people," said Taylor Griffin, spokesman for the Treasury Department, which is heading the government's laundering probe along with U.S. Customs, the Secret Service and various...

<p>Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is lashing out at Marco Rubio and Donald Trump on immigration while facing New Hampshire voters for the first time since his Iowa caucus victory.</p> <p>Cruz charged that Rubio led the fight for "amnesty" for immigrants in the country illegally. He also said Trump didn't do anything to fight immigration reform as the debate raged on Capitol Hill in 2013.</p>

Another big battle is brewing over Syrian "refugees" sweeping into small-town America. Rural folks in Montana are pushing back against plans by urban elites to plant hundreds of Muslims from the Third World into Helena and Missoula. They plan a protest rally at 10 a.m. Monday in front of the county courthouse in Missoula. And if the pattern holds of similar rallies in Twin Falls, Idaho, and Fargo, North Dakota, a contingent of pro-refugee people will show up to counter protest. Of all the 50 states, there are only two that have not received their "share" of the nearly 1...

Montana legislators were able to shut down Democratic Governor Steve Bullock's attempts to expand ObamaCare in Big Sky Country for two years. But in 2015, with the help of Ohio Governor John Kasich and some legislative trickery, Bullock and his pro-ObamaCare allies got their way. A small group of moderate Republicans joined with the Democrats to change the legislature's procedural rules and yanked the bill to the floor for a vote. The bill passed narrowly, making Montana the only state in 2015 to legislatively authorize ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion. (Alaska Governor Bill Walker unilaterally expanded Medicaid in 2015, despite a clear...

Though Montana's newly redesigned driver's licenses and identification cards include increased security features, they still do not meet federal standards that might soon be required for air travel and access to federal buildings.

<p>HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- A Montana man is charged with threatening to shoot a boy for sharing information about a subplot of the new "Star Wars" movie during an online conversation.</p> <p>Arthur Charles Roy, of Helena, was charged with felony assault with a weapon Monday during an appearance in Lewis and Clark County Justice Court. He remains jailed with his bail set at $10,000.</p>

ULAN BATOR, Mongolia (AP) - A chat with a Buddhist monk. An encounter with a gift horse named Montana. A peek inside a yurt, the traditional felt tent home. A word with Mongolian veterans of the war in Iraq. No outpost is too distant, no audience too small for U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, globe-trotting to bolster support for Iraq, Afghanistan and the wider fight against terrorism. The roaming Rumsfeld dropped in Saturday for an official visit with senior leaders of this once communist nation of about 2.7 million, home of the legendary horseman-warrior, Genghis Khan. Rumsfeld wound up...

What do Common Core and Obamacare have in common, other than the enthusiasm they engender in the White House and widespread disappointment they generate outside of it? Both programs have fatal computer glitches. "New Hampshire-based company Measured Progress, which developed online Common Core tests used in Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota, has acknowledged a major glitch in the tests' rollout," Chris Neal reported in School Reform News. "Technical malfunctions, such as servers crashing during testing, resulted in only 37 percent of Nevada students being able to take their exams." "Meanwhile, Montana and North Dakota only managed to test 76 percent...

"Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values," [Obama] said.Six Republican governors have announced that Syrian refugees won't be allowed to resettle in their states in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley issued statements Sunday saying that they wanted to prioritize the safety of the residents in their states. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a GOP presidential candidate; Arkansas Gov. Gov. Asa Hutchinson; and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence joined them on Monday. "Michigan is a welcoming state and we are...

Montana Governor Steve Bullock released a statement on Monday afternoon saying that state officials are reviewing the process of accepting refugees. “Montana will not allow any terrorist organization to intimidate us into abandoning our values. The safety of Montanans is my top priority. No Syrian refugees have been settled in the state and we have had no formal requests to do so," the governor's statement read. "Montana has a process in place for considering refugee settlement requests; we are reviewing those protocols to ensure that if a request comes, we take all appropriate steps to ensure that the safety of...

An El Al Israel Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles made an emergency landing in Montana on Sunday after the pilot received an automated alert that the aircraft's engine was on fire, transportation officials said.The Boeing 777 aircraft, carrying 279 passengers and 20 crew members, landed on the runway of Billings Logan International Airport about 6 a.m. local time, Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting supervisor Mike Glancy said.The pilot grounded the plane after a cockpit warning light switched on, indicating a fire in the right engine, Glancy said. After the plane landed, fire and transportation officials examined it but...

Only 1% of the Bakken Play area is commercial at current oil prices based on my analysis that follows. Only 4% of horizontal wells drilled since 2000 meet the EUR (estimated ultimate recovery) threshold needed to break even at current oil prices, drilling and completion, and operating costs. The leading producing companies evaluated in this study are losing $11 to $38 on each barrel of oil that they produce, the very definition of waste. Although NYMEX prices are about $46 per barrel, realized wellhead prices in the Bakken are only $30 per barrel according to the North Dakota Department of...

Judge stalls approved Montana coal mine expansion in 2nd successful suit citing climate change. The U.S. Interior Department should not have approved the expansion of a southeastern Montana coal mine without taking a closer look at its effect on the environment, a federal judge said about a lawsuit arguing the government ignored coal's contributions to climate change. Environmental groups sued the Interior Department after it approved an expansion of the Spring Creek Coal mine in 2012. The case marks the second time conservationists have used worries over climate change to successfully challenge approval of a coal mine after it had...

The decision by officials at a high school in Montana to give up $117,000 in federal money and drop Michelle Obama's healthy lunch program has proved to be a popular and profitable success. Business has been booming in Bozeman High School's cafeteria since its board members voted to drop the National School Lunch Program in a bid to keep students from leaving campus to eat. The lunch program set limits on calories, fat and salt in lunches and mandated that more whole grains, fruits and vegetables should be served in order to curb the onset of childhood obesity.