Free Republic

Kansas – A federal judge has decided a lawsuit challenging increased federal regulation of economic activity and land use in the area that is habitat for the Lesser Prairie Chicken will be litigated in Oklahoma and not transferred to Washington, D.C., Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said today. The decision yesterday by U.S. District Judge James H. Payne is the second time in the last two months that the federal judiciary has rejected an attempt by the federal government to move the litigation from Oklahoma to Washington, D.C. “This is good news for Kansas,” Schmidt said. “It means our case...

A new poll shows likely New Mexico voters still oppose an 11-year-old state law that allows immigrants who are in the country illegally to obtain driver's licenses. The Albuquerque Journal reports three-fourths of the likely voters surveyed opposed the law, echoing findings of similar Journal polls.

Amarillo, TX - An incident involving a Clovis (NM) police officer accused of using excessive force is receiving a lot of attention. A video recently released shows what happen during the traffic stop. The officer in question is Brent Aguilar. He placed Jorge Corona under arrest during a traffic stop for concealing ID. According to a local attorney, that was just the first mistake. Dan Lindsey says the second mistake was slamming Jorge Corona to the ground when he was not resisting or evading an officer. "Jorge was falsely accused of concealing his ID, falsely arrested, falsely slammed to the...

ROSWELL, N.M. — A driver who went missing after a one-car rollover says he later woke up in a field of donkeys. New Mexico State Police say the driver called 911 seven hours after investigators failed to find any victims from the crash. The driver told 911 dispatchers that he was lost and found himself surrounded by the animals. Authorities say the man claims he and a passenger were drinking the night before but didn't remember what happened next.

Odile will unload tremendous rainfall over a large part of the Southwest United States that will run off the mountains and into the desert valleys and plains through the end of the week. While the rain will continue to ease the long-term drought in the region, too much rain will fall too quickly for the landscape to absorb.

Google is planning to test Internet delivery by drone high above New Mexico, according to a government filing. On Friday, the company asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to use two blocks of frequencies for the tests, which are scheduled to last about six months and begin in October. They will be conducted above an area of more than 1,400 square kilometers in the center of New Mexico to the east of Albuquerque. “Google recently acquired Titan Aerospace, a firm that specializes in developing solar and electric unmanned aerial systems for high altitude, long endurance flights,” Google said in...

This is real: Discovery Channel is stranding Republican and Democratic U.S. senators on a deserted island and filming what happens. In an aisle-crossing new reality series titled Rival Survival, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) must put their political differences aside and work together for six days and six nights in an harsh isolated environment

Mark Udall, who yesterday had to apologize for his use of beheaded Americans as a political shield in his weekend debate with Republican opponent Rep. Cory Gardner, has been hit with an accusation of a campaign finance violation. What Senator Mark Udall did, which was caught on camera by Revealing Politics, is a rather blatant violation of the Federal Elections Commission rule which bans the practice of federal candidates soliciting non-federal funds. While a named guest at a fundraising event for State Representative Crisanta Duran, Chairwoman of Colorado’s powerful Joint Budget Committee and rumored contender for House Majority Leader, Udall...

"The court appointed attorneys in the Reese case have filed a joint motion to vacate (throw out) the felony convictions and sentence them under a misdemeanor statute." "Rick, Terri and Ryin Reese were convicted in 2011 of four counts of Form 4473 (Brady check) violations. According to agents who testified during trial, the Reeses ran all of the required background checks (the Brady checks) through the FBI processing center for all sales, including the undercover agents who purchased the firearms, and that none of the paperwork was missing."

OPINION Harry Reid is mad that Republicans didn't obstruct his bill BY ASHE SCHOW | SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 | 10:57 AM After all his complaints about Republican obstruction this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed frustration last night after Republicans helped guarantee a floor vote on a measure he supports. The Nevada Democrat has accused Senate Republicans of chicanery for voting to advance to the Senate floor a Democratic constitutional amendment allowing Congress to regulate all campaign speech and spending. After Monday's bipartisan 79-18 vote, Reid vented to reporters that Republicans were trying to "stall" the Senate, indicating that...

In which New Mexico Democrats' white, male gubernatorial nominee pronounces his Hispanic, female opponent -- whom he's trailing in the polls -- to be insufficiently 'Latino' in her heart, or something (via the Weekly Standard):

Best smile, most likely to succeed and most likely to skinny dip? A category in a high school yearbook is raising some eyebrows, but it’s the photo that goes along with it that is really stirring up controversy. “It was kind of tasteless,” said Portales High School Senior Emilee Haman. Another student called the photo inappropriate.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Oriana Farrell was terrified. The single mother of five recalled an October 2013 traffic stop, when officers wrestled her out of her minivan along a New Mexico highway, and then shot at the vehicle as she tried to flee with her children inside. Video from a police dashboard camera captured the seemingly-routine traffic stop devolving into a tense incident. “I started thinking about children who have been shot, families who have been shot,” she said in her first television interview that appeared today on “Good Morning America.” “I started thinking about Trayvon Martin.” The ordeal began when a police officer...

With recent waves of Central Americans seeking to reach the U.S., human smuggling along the Texas border has, at least for the moment, become more lucrative than smuggling illicit drugs for criminal organizations such as the Gulf and Zetas cartels, according to two U.S. intelligence officials. U.S. agents tracking the money flow as part of the anti-smuggling Operation Coyote say that in just over six months, human smuggling has generated nearly $50 million, mostly in the area around the Mexican border city of Reynosa. The revenue has helped sustain the Gulf cartel during a bloody internal split, the officials said....

From the start, little has been typical about Tesla Motors' plan for a $5 billion factory to make batteries for a new generation of electric cars. It's not just the project's massive scale, the cutting-edge technology, or even the bonanza of 6,500 good-paying jobs. It's how Tesla is deciding where to build. Through a series of unusual plays, Tesla has five states bidding up subsidy packages to land the coveted plant. The winner is expected to offer the luxury car-maker publicly financed incentives exceeding a half-billion dollars.

A man trying to rob a South Valley ice-cream shop was shot and killed by an employee Thursday evening, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy had just stopped a driver nearby when he heard the shots around 6 p.m. He rushed to the Dairy Queen at 427 Isleta SW, south of Bridge Boulevard, and found a man outside the restaurant with gunshot wounds, according to BCSO spokesman Sgt. Aaron Williamson. “It does appear at this point it was a robbery gone wrong,” Williamson said. Williamson said the man went to the Dairy Queen’s window with a gun...

Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices (VBIED). High-level federal law enforcement, intelligence and other sources have confirmed to Judicial Watch that a warning bulletin for an imminent terrorist attack on the border has been issued. Agents across a number of Homeland Security, Justice and Defense agencies have all been placed on alert and instructed to aggressively work all possible leads and sources concerning this imminent terrorist threat. Specifically, Judicial Watch sources reveal that the militant group...

For those of us who’ve been raising alarms about both the jihadist threat and the national-security vulnerability created by the Obama administration’s non-enforcement of the immigration laws, this is not a surprise — particularly less than two weeks before September 11. But it is nonetheless jarring to read. Judicial Watch has just put out this statement: Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle born improvised explosive devices (VBIED). High-level federal law enforcement, intelligence and other sources have confirmed to Judicial Watch...

The cost of getting caught with a little weed in Santa Fe will drop to just $25 max, thanks to a City Council vote Wednesday to decriminalize marijuana. When the ordinance goes into effect, those caught with an ounce or less of marijuana in arts loving Santa Fe will be hit with a civil fine. Previously, it was a criminal misdemeanor carrying a possible $100 fine and jail time. With the 5-4 vote, the liberal-leaning northern New Mexico capital known for its arts market and tourist draws joined the national movement to change marijuana laws, and became the first city...

A 55-gallon drum of nuclear waste, buried in a salt shaft 2,150 feet under the New Mexico desert, violently erupted late on Feb. 14 and spewed mounds of radioactive white foam. The flowing mass, looking like whipped cream but laced with plutonium, went airborne, traveled up a ventilation duct to the surface and delivered low-level radiation doses to 21 workers. The accident contaminated the nation's only dump for nuclear weapons waste — previously a focus of pride for the Energy Department — and gave the nation's elite ranks of nuclear chemists a mystery they still cannot unravel. Six months after...