Free Republic

The Larry H. Miller Group of Companies will not renew its lease with Tooele County and Miller Motorsports Park will close. The summer schedule will continue as planned then the park will close at the end of the season on October 31, 2015. “On behalf of my family, I would like to thank all of those who have supported the track over the years, both locally and worldwide, for their enthusiasm and use of the facility,” said Gail Miller, owner of the Larry H. Miller Group. The 511-acre facility opened in April 2006. It hosted seasonal automobile, motorcycle, kart, off-road,...

Garfield County officials said Monday the Bureau of Land Management is considering even-stricter measures to protect greater sage-grouse than previously contemplated, rather than listening to concerns the county and others have raised. As a cooperating agency, the county got an advance look Friday at the revised proposal the agency is now considering. “It is very dramatic in terms of the changes (from a draft BLM proposal) that are being proposed,” Fred Jarman, the county’s community development director, told county commissioners Monday. Jarman and Garfield Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said the proposed measures are the result of directives coming from Washington, D.C....

A mother from Riverton, Utah makes a shocking discovery -- pictures of her children on websites connected to porn. Brittany Champagne was on Instagram Wednesday night when she came across her 8-year-old daughter’s picture on somebody else’s profile. “I clicked on there and I found a girl claiming to be 11-years-old as my daughter, and she's a bisexual cheerleader and her whole page is about gay pride,” Champagne said. This was clearly a fake account, so Champagne did some digging and made more disturbing discoveries -- pictures of Champagne herself and her 9-month-old son.

OREM, Utah — Police say a shopper with a concealed weapons permit fatally shot a suspect to thwart a carjacking Saturday outside a Utah grocery store. ... the shooter ... heard a woman’s screams as she was being pulled from her SUV by the suspect ... went to assist the woman and fired one round after the 27-year-old male suspect lunged at him in an attempt to grab his gun. The suspect, who was shot in the chest, later died at a hospital.

Senators on Wednesday blocked a Republican push to tie Iran's support of terrorism to a final deal on the country's nuclear program. Senators voted 45-54 on the amendment from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), which would have required President Obama to certify as part of a diplomatic deal that Iran hasn't carried out or directly supported an act of terror against the United States or a U.S. citizen. Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Dan Coats (Ind.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and John McCain (Ariz.) voted with Democrats against the amendment....

The New York Times reported this week on the unseemly transfer of cash from parties interested in a major uranium deal to the Clintons. The Canadian company selling Uranium One to the Russians donated $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation. And Russians tied to the deal gave Bill Clinton $500,000 for a Moscow speech. The deal had global consequences. It would put one fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States under Russian control. So critical was the deal that it needed the approval of the U.S. State Department. State approved the deal, and it managed to so...

A convicted pedophile recently commandeered a school bus and attempted to pick up kids at their homes, but was thwarted by alert residents. Patrick Fredericksen, 30, was on parole for previous crimes, including sexual activity with a minor, when he recently walked off his landscaping job at a city-owned building and stole a sport utility vehicle. Police told WFMY News 2 Frederickson cruised around in the SUV until he came across a parked school bus, with student route information inside.The man then decided to play substitute bus driver, and started going down the list to pick up students, Emery County...

BOUNTIFUL — A former Davis High School teacher admitted Wednesday that she had sex with three of her students. In a plea deal, Brianne Land Altice, 35, pleaded guilty to three counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony. In exchange for her plea, 11 other felony charges were dropped against the former English teacher. Altice had been facing four trials and 14 felony charges — including rape, forcible sodomy, forcible sexual abuse, unlawful sexual activity with a minor and dealing in materials harmful to a minor — stemming from sexual relationships with three former Davis High students who were...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has clearly awakened the Washington establishment beast.Not only is the liberal media and establishment right-of-center coming out guns-a-blazing at Walker over his pro-American worker position on legal immigration, but now Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)—the most pro-amnesty Republican there is, someone who worked for years with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) on immigration—is leading a charge against Walker’s new position.“I think most statistics show that they fill part of the workforce that are much needed. We have, and I’m a living example of, the aging population. We need these people in the workforce legally,” McCain said...

Wal-Mart closures have citizens concerned. Jade Helm 15 is set to kick off in seven states this summer, sending Special Operations forces from all four main branches of the military onto civilian soil to conduct hostile take-over training – and civil-rights advocates are sounding the alarms. ... The looming Jade Helm exercise, set for July 15 through Sept. 15, labels Texas and Utah as hostile areas. Global Research also reported the military says New Mexico “isn’t much friendlier.” Other states participating: California, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada. Some of the social media commentary so far: “The Pentagon’s ‘Operations Jade Helm 15′:...

The Girl Scouts are concerned about falling membership and a declining number of adult volunteers, so a Girl Scout staffer in Salt Lake City cooked up the idea to start a troop headquartered in the area’s “gay pride center.” The idea is to attract “transgender” youth and children living with an LGBT parent. Shari Solomon-Kleba told the Associated Press, “Girl Scouts is all about empowering girls to become leaders who make the world a better place. Why not at the Pride Center?”

Two of the country’s most powerful and politically influential labor unions are backing President Obama in the recent court challenge to his 2014 executive action on illegal immigration, saying they support the president’s effort because "undocumented workers" need more workplace protection and their participation helps the U.S. economy. The AFL-CIO and the National Education Association on Monday each filed so-called amicus briefs in a federal appeals court case in which Texas and 26 other states are challenges the president’s 2014 memorandum on illegal immigration. The memorandum essentially expands work authorization and delayed-deportation programs for illegal immigrants. And it provides similar...

Sen. Mike Lee would have quite the fight on his hands if he were to face off against former Rep. Jim Matheson in 2016. The latest UtahPolicy.com shows 48% of Utahns would support Lee while 42% would back Matheson. 10% are undecided. Matheson's electoral calculus has always been the same in heavily Republican Utah. Win a majority of Democrats, pick off some Republicans and get a majority of the independent vote. The survey shows Matheson would win 87% of Democrats, 20% of Republicans and 57% of independents. He would likely need to increase the numbers among Republican and independent voters...

As a declared presidential candidate, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) should generate even bigger headlines when he addresses black audiences, as he has at Howard University and other venues. When he was executive of mainly Democratic Milwaukee County, Governor Scott Walker (R., Wis.) appealed to black voters; his reelection majorities consistently increased. These and other Republicans should ask black Americans for their votes from now through November 2016. They should do so by challenging blacks to ask themselves an honest question: “What, exactly, have you gained by handing Obama 95 percent of your votes in 2008 and 93 percent in...

A Utah man was shocked to discover that his 'informal meeting' with a federal official to discuss veterans was actually with President Barack Obama. Last Friday, 26-year-old Lance Futch donned a white wrinkled polo shirt and drove to Hill Air Force Base in Utah thinking he was going to be led into an auditorium to talk about how to help veterans get more jobs in the infinitely abundant field of solar energy. Instead, Futch was sat at a table with Obama, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch, congressman Rob Bishop, and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker - all of whom were...

Welcome to the big leagues. That’s the message several top GOP operatives say Rand Paul will get from the Republican establishment, and from the media, when he announces his candidacy for the presidency on Tuesday. These onlookers believe that Paul, who has been a media darling and a ubiquitous presence on the airwaves since his election in 2010, has gotten a pass from the press. In their eyes, he’s been allowed to skate past one controversy after another in part because he’s been a vocal critic of the Republican party. “The media treats him better than they treat other Republicans,”...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) is the only major Republican likely 2016 presidential candidate who hasn't weighed in on the controversy over Indiana's "religious freedom" law that erupted this week — and his explanation for avoiding the issue is questionable.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said it is listing the northern long-eared bat as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, securing certain regulatory protections for the mammal and triggering charges of government overreach from some agricultural groups and politicians. ... The bat's range stretches from Maine to North Carolina on the Atlantic Coast, westward to eastern Oklahoma and north through the Dakotas, reaching into eastern Montana and Wyoming. In all, it covers 37 states, the District of Columbia and 13 Canadian provinces. In October 2013, the FWS proposed listing the bat as “endangered,” meaning on the...

The Western Governors' Association released a report today highlighting the voluntary efforts in 11 states to conserve the habitat of sage-grouse as part of an effort to avoid a federal listing of the bird under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The association, which represents the governors of 19 Western states, said that “the breadth and depth of voluntary conservation efforts across the region, if allowed to run their course, will provide the bird with the necessary habitat to live and thrive.” The greater sage grouse is found in 11 states and its habitat encompasses 186 million acres . The U.S....

This afternoon, Fact Check.org produced a fact-check that ostensibly criticizes U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) for his contention that there has never been an instance of ground water contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing. Of course, this piece isn’t really about Inhofe at all; but before we get into that, we can’t help but wonder why they are fact-checking Inhofe and not former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson … or Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz … or Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell — all of whom have said exactly the same thing. Rather than a “fact-check,” it reads more like an advocacy...