Free Republic

After a summer largely spent raising money for his Republican campaign for president, Marco Rubio says he's about to start spending a whole lot more time in Iowa and the other early voting states. "There were obviously other things we needed to do," the Florida senator said this past week in an interview with The Associated Press.

The Interior Department said Tuesday that the greater sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird whose vast range spans 11 Western states, does not need federal protections ... The fight over whether to list the bird as endangered or threatened recalled the battle over the spotted owl 25 years ago, where federal protection greatly impeded the logging economy. ... could help defuse a potential political liability for Democrats heading into the 2016 election; ... House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop said Tuesday's announcement was a "cynical ploy" intended to mask the fact that the Obama administration has imposed limits on development...

But soon, there could be something a little different and a lot faster: a high-speed train connecting Palmdale to Victorville, all the way to Las Vegas. XpressWest and China Railway International have put out $100 million to start the project. Not only would it provide a comfortable and fast-way to get to Vegas, but you could avoid the 15 Freeway as well. "The 15 Freeway is murder. Trying to get to Vegas for New Year's or any other holiday, it's like a three, four or five-hour delay," said Brigette Conyers of Victorville. ... He also said the environmental hurdles for...

HOUSTON, Texas – Today, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, continuing to build a strong, national organization announced the beginnings of his Nevada Leadership Team, which consists of conservative grassroots leaders, faith and values leaders and elected officials. Nevada currently is the fourth GOP presidential contest on the calendar and is the first in the West. Republicans in Nevada will caucus on Tuesday, February 23, 2016.“I am excited to have the support of such a terrific group of courageous conservatives in the State of Nevada,” said Sen. Cruz. “Each day, we continue to build our team of activists, volunteers and supporters...

A long-discussed high-speed rail project linking Southern California and Las Vegas will be built by a U.S.-China joint venture, Chinese officials said Thursday, though many details about the agreement remained hazy. Announcement of cooperation on the XpressWest project adjacent to the 15 Freeway comes days ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States. Financial terms of the agreement, and the cost of the project, were not immediately clear. XpressWest, a private venture formerly called DesertXpress, has been under discussion since at least 2007. Chinese officials described the project as a 230-mile train linking Las Vegas and...

Where is Christina Gupana? The Nevada immigration attorney and Hillary Clinton campaign fellow has gone into hiding since she was captured in a James O’Keefe video apparently conspiring to violate election laws. Gupana told who she thought were Hillary Clinton campaign staffers and volunteers to “Do whatever you can. Whatever you can get away with, just do it, until you get kicked out, like, totally.” Gupana seemed to know that none of these volunteers were licensed to register voters by a county clerk, as required by law in Nevada. Breitbart News reported Friday that Nevada election officials are now investigating...

Republican presidential candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker made a name for himself battling public-sector unions, and now he wants to take that fight to the federal level. During a speech in Illinois Thursday, Walker said he would take on federal employee labor groups on his first day in office. His proposal would require the unions to disclose exactly what percentage of union dues are spent on political activity, and ban the automatic deduction from feds’ paychecks in a corresponding amount. Walker said his plan was part of an effort to “wreak havoc on Washington” by transferring “power from the...

MADISON, Wis. — Sinking in the national polls, the bumbling campaign of onetime frontrunner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, is preparing to double down with renewed attacks on working people. Career politician Walker’s desperate bid to remain competitive on the backs of the middle class and working people will be unveiled in a Monday speech in Las Vegas Nevada, hometown of anti-union, Walker mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. “Scott Walker has always been willing to do or say anything to try to win an election,” commented One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. “It’s no surprise he’s...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker plans to focus Monday on weakening labor by proposing to abolish unions for federal workers, create a national "right-to-work law" and eliminate the National Labor Relations Board.At a Las Vegas manufacturer, he also plans to call for requiring all unions to hold periodic votes so workers can decide whether they should continue to exist, according to his campaign. He will also cancel President Barack Obama's Labor Day order that federal contractors provide paid sick leave and work to end policies requiring some salaried workers to receive overtime—saying in some cases they should get time off instead."It's...

Imprisoned former football star O.J. Simpson has lost his latest appeal of his 2008 kidnapping and armed robbery conviction in Las Vegas. A three-member Nevada Supreme Court panel ruled Thursday there's no reason to grant him a new trial. ... The 68-year-old Simpson's serving 9 to 33 years in prison for a botched hotel room heist in 2007. He's not eligible for parole until 2017.

Bill Hemmer: People on the outside see this and think that that’s just Washington doing what Washington wants to do. And, damn the laws. And, you know what’s going on in the campaign trail, Democrat or Republican. That’s why Bernie Sanders is getting 15,000 people at a rally. That’s why Donald Trump is at 32% of the polling right now. People do not like what is coming out of Washington and they think the smell stinks Mitch McConnell: Well I agree with that. This is a deal supported by Democrats only. A deal negotiated by a Democratic president. Let’s make...

The Wisconsin governor who's known for taking on unions in his home state is holding the event Monday afternoon at XTreme Manufacturing. He said he'll discuss his plan to transfer power from union bosses to taxpayers. He said the strategy includes preventing the government from deducting union dues from federal employees' paychecks. Las Vegas is home to powerful labor groups, including the Culinary Union that represents some 55,000 casino workers.

Dozens of Las Vegas gun control activists rallied in the west valley Thursday night as part of a national push to get Congress to act on their behalf. Moms Demand Action, part of the Everytown for Gun Safety organization, held gatherings across the U.S. as Congress returned from recess. State senators joined families and activists near a bus stop on the corner of West Sahara Avenue and Fort Apache Road to hold signs, share opinions and stories, and also to tweet. State Senate Minority Leader Aaron Ford, D-Las Vegas, spoke at the event about the most recent legislative session's "crazy"...

Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama's Democrats staved off a united Republican effort to sink the Iran nuclear deal Thursday, handing him a welcome foreign policy victory. As expected, US senators fell two votes shy of the 60 needed to advance a resolution disapproving of the international accord, meaning the legislation aimed at sabotaging the deal is essentially dead. "The Senate has spoken with a clarion voice and declared that the historic agreement to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon will stand," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said after Democrats cleared the way for the accord.

Passengers on board a British Airways flight which was forced to abort a take off after an engine burst into flames have been criticised for stopping for their cabin baggage before evacuating the aircraft. The Boeing 777-200 ER reached 90mph when the Captain Chris Henkey, 63, was forced to abort his takeoff at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. After safety stopping the aircraft, Captain Henkey ordered the passengers to evacuate the aircraft, but video footage shows many of those fleeing the aircraft brought their cabin luggage with them.

A fire on a British Airways plane at McCarran International Airport has been extinguished and two people were transported to the hospital. The fire was reported aboard flight 2276 which was preparing to take off for London, airport officials said.

This just happened and I'm not finding any other sources other than Twitter yet.

LAS VEGAS – The U.S. Air Force is giving an ultimatum to owners of a remote Nevada property that over time has been surrounded by a vast bombing range including the super-secret Area 51. They're being told to take a $5.2 million "last best offer" for their property by Thursday -- or the government will seize it through condemnation. The owners include descendants of a couple who lost their hardscrabble mining enterprise after the Air Force moved in in the 1940s. Nuclear tests then began in 1951, their mine mill mysteriously exploded in 1954 and they ran out of money...

BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nev. — Timothy Leary, the late father of LSD, was memorialized at Burning Man after a fantastic procession and burning of his ashes in the Black Rock Desert. It was a spectacle that not even he probably could have imagined, as actress Susan Sarandon led a march with his ashes into a temporary church built as an art installation in the desert for the week-long festival. The church was scheduled to burn as part of the event on Saturday after the “man”, a giant wooden structure, burned.