Free Republic

An online petition calling for the impeachment of a Montana judge over the sentencing of a 40-year-old man to 60 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to raping his 12-year-old daughter has more than 30,000 signatures. The man was sentenced to the jail time, plus a 30-year suspended prison term last week as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. District Judge John McKeon gave the man credit for time served, meaning he would spend only an additional 43 days in jail as long as he met the conditions of his probation. The plea agreement had recommended a 25-year...

The first family of refugees arrived in Missoula this week, marking the beginning of the re-opened International Rescue Committee office efforts to make Missoula home to over 100 refugees over the next year. Missoula IRC office director Molly Short-Carr says the family is doing well and just beginning to figure out how to use household appliances like their stove, and which foods they can substitute to make meals they are familiar with. The family of six is from the Congo where they fled a civil war before 2005. Since then, they lived in refugee camps in Rwanda, Tanzania or Uganda....

ASKED by an out-of-stater where the nearest shooting range is, Patrick Leavitt, an affable gunsmith at Riverman Gun Works in Coeur d’Alene, says: “This is Idaho—you can shoot pretty much anywhere away from buildings.” That is one reason why the sparsely populated state is attracting a growing number of “political refugees” keen to slip free from bureaucrats in America’s liberal states, says James Wesley, Rawles (yes, with a comma), an author of bestselling survivalist novels. In a widely read manifesto posted in 2011 on his survivalblog.com, Mr Rawles, a former army intelligence officer, urged libertarian-leaning Christians and Jews to move...

Wildfires were burning Monday in seven Western U.S. states, from California's famed Big Sur region to tribal towns and hamlets near Reno, Nevada. Evacuations were ordered in Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming and firefighters were trying to stop a Washington blaze from reaching a thickly forested security zone at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

MISSOULA – U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ... Putnam said he’s attended several Oath Keepers rallies in the past, including three in Portland, Oregon and several at a memorial on the highway outside Burns, Oregon where LaVoy Finicum was killed by law enforcement in a standoff following the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife refuge. ... Jason Van Tatenhove, a Eureka-area man who serves as the national media director for the Oath Keepers, said he had doubts about the performance of Robertson’s federal public defense attorney, Michael Donahoe, saying he had refused, for example, to push to get an...

<p>A Montana lawmaker has resigned as a delegate to the Republican National Convention over the GOP's position on the transfer of federal lands to states.</p> <p>Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke told The (Billings) Gazette that he still plans to give a speech Monday to the convention about national security. But he says he's withdrawing as a delegate because the GOP platform is "more divisive than uniting."</p>

In a nine-word per curiam decision, eight justices of the United States Supreme Court have revealed they are deadlocked in a 4 to 4 divide on the new immigration procedures of the Obama administration, with its executive decision to not deport the immigrant parents of children born in the United States (thus citizens) and give them legal status but less than citizenship in the process. The State of Texas, joined by 25 others states, filed a lawsuit to block this executive action, which affects between 4 and 5 million immigrants in the United States. The case was before the Supreme...

To allow Montana’s solar industry to continue growing toward its enormous potential, we need the right policies in place. That’s why I was so glad to see the energy plan recently released by Gov. Steve Bullock. (cut) Henry Dykema is president of the nonprofit Montana Renewable Energy Association and owner of Sundance Solar Systems, a solar installation business near Red Lodge.

Montana Mountain Mamas and Moms Clean Air Force are particularly pleased by two specific points of the plan. Montana can and will double our solar development and reduce energy use 10 percent by 2025. These are commonsense goals we can collectively reach for. To help, we also fully support a $5 million proposal to the 2017 Montana Legislature to fund energy conservation projects in schools across the state. Energy conservation saves money in the long-term and will help school districts lower their long-term energy bills.

The United States Forest Service severely damaged a forest road and trail in Northwestern Idaho earlier this month, raising serious questions about the agency’s ability to care for federally-managed lands. During the first weekend in June, several members of Northwestern Gold Prospectors Association (NWGPA) planned to attend a gathering to prospect private claims in the Bedrock Gulch and Eagle Creek areas. When the prospectors arrived, Forest Road 152 was blocked with cement barricades and hundreds of felled trees. ... Photographs from that day show large logs laid crosswise and laterally on the trail, covered with hundreds of large pine branches...

You might remember that Andy Johnson, the rancher from Wyoming, just won his case this week against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). That battle concerned their environmentally friendly stock pond on their private property. The EPA demanded that he remove the pond and threatened him with fines of $37,500 per day if he did not comply. The case was settled this week and the Johnson Family are happy. However… He is not the only citizen that the EPA has targeted. More cases are coming to light on the extreme overreach of this organization. Disabled Navy veteran Joseph Robertson, 77, of...

NorthWestern Energy is asking Montana to pull the plug on solar projects, at least until the utility can get better terms from the state on ones it legally can’t refuse. The utility, which provides electricity to half of Montana, told Montana’s Public Service Commission on June 9 that the mandated price it must pay to small commercial solar projects of 3 megawatts or less is too high and hurting consumers. The projects, known as qualifying facilities, or QFs have been popping up like dandelions because Montana’s guaranteed rate is too generous, according to the utility.

KALISPELL - 18 teens have been charged with misdemeanors related to a spree of vandalism at Flathead High School that occurred in early May. 21 students were allegedly involved in the destruction that included drinking fountains torn from the walls and toilet paper strewn through the halls. 18 recent graduates of FHS face misdemeanor criminal mischief and trespassing according to the Flathead County Attorney's Office. The remaining three individuals' cases are being reviewed. School officials estimate the students caused $4,000 in damage.

HELENA - A new plan, complete with targeted digital and radio advertising, has been proposed to notify millions of Remington rifle owners about how to fix their weapon’s trigger mechanism. The plan filed in federal court late last week in Kansas City, Missouri, is part of an ongoing lawsuit claiming trigger mechanisms are defective in several Remington rifle models, sometimes causing the rifle to fire without the trigger being pulled. The plan also has a high-profile author: Signal Interactive Media, the firm co-founded by Jim Messina, who managed President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and was a top aide to...

Today's guest was Curtis Bowers. He is a former Idaho Legislator and is a current writer, director and award winning producer. He is also the star of “Agenda, Grinding America Down.” Curtis talked about his work and took listener comments and questions.

On Tuesday Donald Trump closed the door on the Republican nomination for President by winning all five of the remaining primaries — New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico and California. Trump won the last 16 Republican contests. Trump has 1,536 delegates and counting. Trump may also be the first candidate in the modern era to have funded his campaign by himself during the primary season. Although his results are much more impressive, he only spent a quarter the amount of money as Democrats Clinton and Sanders. He proved to be the real capitalist in the primary while Clinton and...

The Ninth Circuit Court has upheld the ruling of the lower court in the Edward Peruta v. County of San Diego case and affirmed the Second Amendment does not include a right to conceal a firearm. The Peruta case challenged the legality of denying permits to conceal and carry a firearm unless the applicant for a permit has "good reason" to do so. A three-judge panel initially ruled that the San Diego County Sheriff's Department did not have the right to deny the permit. The case was subsequently heard by the entire Ninth Circuit Court and their decision was...

Trump closed out the primary election season with wins in South Dakota, New Mexico, New Jersey, Montana, and California. While Sen. Bernie Sanders remains actively campaigning for the Democratic nomination against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump became the GOP’s presumptive nominee shortly after winning Indiana’s May 3 primary election. The American businessman surpassed 2012 nominee Mitt Romney’s and 2008 nominee John McCain’s primary election vote totals by late in April according to Politico calculations. Previous record holder George W. Bush received just 10.8 million votes in 2000, a number far surpassed by Trump’s over 13 million votes with...

Tuesday, June 7th primaries California – 546 delegates Montana – 27 delegates New Jersey – 142 delegates New Mexico – 43 delegates South Dakota – 25 delegates North Dakota – D Caucus – 25 D delegates