Free Republic

A federal agent who had been scrutinized for his handling of rare evidence and his behavior at the counterculture Burning Man festival is no longer an employee of the Bureau of Land Management, authorities said Friday. Daniel Love, who played a command role in federal agents' 2014 standoff with Nevada rancher and states' rights figure Cliven Bundy, no longer works for the agency. .... Love still worked for the agency on Aug. 24, when a federal investigative report was released saying he handed out valuable stones known as moqui marbles to colleagues and a contractor "like candy,". The rocks are...

Alternate headline: “Orrin Hatch must retire.” And there’s a fair chance that he will! He’s 83 and said in March that he’d be more inclined to step down if he could get a “really outstanding person” to run for his seat. When asked if he had anyone in mind, he said “Mitt Romney would be perfect.” That lit the fuse on RomneyWatch 2018, leading to reports that Romney was thinking about it and had even spoken to Mitch McConnell about running. But then in May the speculation seemed to fizzle: Hatch himself claimed that Romney told him he wouldn’t...

Sources tell UtahPolicy.com that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is preparing to run for Senate in 2018 if Sen. Orrin Hatch decides to retire. Sources close to Romney say the two-time presidential candidate will jump into the 2018 Utah Senate scrum if Hatch opts not to. So far, Hatch has not made up his mind as to whether he'll run for an eighth term in 2018. He has previously said he was planning on running as long as his and his wife's health holds up. Dave Hansen, a longtime political advisor to Hatch, told UtahPolicy.com last month that he didn't...

Prosecutors in Salt Lake County, Utah, have asked the FBI to join a criminal probe into the violent arrest of a local nurse who was manhandled by a detective and shoved screaming into a squad car as she tried to protect the legal rights of a patient. In a letter made public Thursday, District Attorney Sim Gill called on FBI agents to investigate whether the arresting officer or anyone else in the chain of command violated nurse Alex Wubbels’s civil rights or broke other laws during the July 26 incident.

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill has requested the FBI’s assistance in the investigation into the arrest of a Utah nurse who refused to allow a blood draw from an unconscious patient without following proper procedure. In a statement released Thursday, Gill said his office officially requested the FBI investigate: “any and all individuals involved in the chain of conduct arising from the incident at the University of Utah Hospital on July 26, 2017 for any Civil Rights Violations under the color of authority.” Gill said he requested the FBI’s help due to events beyond...

On July 25, 2016 Amanda Houghton called police for help after she was rear-ended at a stoplight. She expected Layton City officers would help her, but instead she was arrested for DUI and subjected to a body search that left her feeling violated. The arrest was recorded by a police camera. “I was shocked. Who arrests a sober person for DUI?” she said. She failed a field sobriety test but says it was because she was shaken after being hit at about 30 miles per hour. Her car was totaled after the crash. Houghton is also upset that after she...

An Idaho police department on Friday revealed that the patient in a Utah hospital is one of its reserve officers and thanked the “heroic” nurse who informed law enforcement that it was against hospital policy to draw blood from an unconscious patient without a warrant. The Rigby Police Department in a statement on Facebook identified the patient as William Gray, one of its reserve officers. Rigby is a city in southeast Idaho. The department said Gray was “severely injured” in a car accident during his full-time truck-driving job. “The Rigby Police Department would like to thank the nurse involved and...

Another cop was placed on administrative leave with pay in the handcuffing of a Utah hospital nurse who refused to take blood from an unconscious patient.

A nurse says she was assaulted and illegally arrested by a Salt Lake City police detective for following a hospital policy that does not allow blood draws from unconscious patients. Footage from University Hospital and officer body cameras shows Detective Jeff Payne and nurse Alex Wubbels in a standoff over whether the policeman should be allowed to get a blood sample from a patient who had been injured in a July 26 collision in northern Utah that left another driver dead. Wubbels says blood cannot be taken from an unconscious patient unless the patient is under arrest, unless there is...

(SALT LAKE CITY) — A Utah police officer's body camera video shows a hospital nurse being handcuffed after refusing to draw blood on an unconscious patient. The video taken at University Hospital in Salt Lake City shows nurse Alex Wubbels calmly explaining to Salt Lake detective Jeff Payne that she couldn't draw blood on a patient who had been injured in a car accident. She told the officer a patient was required to give consent for a blood sample or be under arrest. Otherwise, she said police needed a warrant. The dispute ended with Payne telling the nurse she was...

Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski announced that as a result of the criminal investigation being launched by the Salt Lake County District Attorney, Detective Jeff Payne will be placed on full administrative leave with pay. Later Friday night, police stated two employees are on administrative leave. It was not immediately clear who the second employee is.

On a winter day in 2016, Curt Albert was traveling Interstate 15 in Utah on his way to Arizona. Near New Harmony, another motorist drove up beside him and signaled him to pull over. The other motorist, according to Albert and findings by an administrative law judge, was an employee of Freeway Tire in New Harmony. He said the right rear tire on Albert’s travel trailer was wobbling. Albert agreed to follow him to the tire shop for a repair. “I don’t want to get stranded somewhere,” Albert recently explained. “It’s 25 degrees outside, and the wind’s blowing.” But $1,018.10...

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, wants the names and other redacted information revealed in an ethics probe of the Bureau of Land Management law enforcement supervisory agent once in charge of Utah and Nevada. Details of the more than yearlong probe by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General were released in a February report, but key names were blacked out — including that of Dan Love, who the Deseret News confirmed was at the center of the probe. In the report, the inspector general substantiated that ethics breaches had occurred and ... Bishop asked for the full report by no...

National Public Radio has this interview with Evan McMullin, who ran for president as an independent last year. At the end, he says he will probably run for some office in 2018. He implies that would be as an independent candidate. http://wuwm.com/post/former-presidential-candidate-evan-mcmullin-centerist-politics#stream/0

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) its July 2017 Porker of the Month for advocating for taxpayer-funded housing for members of Congress.During an interview with The Hill on June 26, 2017, then-Rep. Chaffetz said, “I really do believe Congress would be much better served if there was a housing allowance for members of Congress.” He admitted that the current political climate made such a proposal legislatively arduous, but claimed that, “A $2,500 housing allowance would be appropriate and a real help to have at least a decent quality of life in...

Amazon has announced that 1,500 full-time jobs will be created at its $200m fulfillment center in Salt Lake City. Plans for the 800,000 square ft facility were revealed last month and in a statement on Wednesday Amazon confirmed news about employment opportunities. The positions will be hourly associate jobs with, according to the statement, ‘competitive salaries and comprehensive benefits packages’. "We are excited to continue growing our team with the first fulfillment center in Utah," said Akash Chauhan, Amazon's Vice President of North American operations. Utah originally went up against six other states to fight for the facility, with Salt...

SALT LAKE CITY — One woman was killed and at least five others were hospitalized after a vehicle struck them in what police called a hit-and-run incident Tuesday night. Salt Lake City police Lt. Justin Hudson said shortly after 6 p.m., police were dispatched to a call of a vehicle traveling on the sidewalk at a high rate of speed, striking people. When police arrived at 200 S. 465 West, Hudson said six people were on the ground injured.

....After eight-and-a-half years on an upward trajectory in Washington, D.C., Chaffetz of Utah has suddenly and quite unexpectedly pulled himself out of the game. Attkisson: "Some people might think this is a great time to be a Republican chairman of an important committee because Republicans control the House, they're the majority in the Senate, and they hold the president's office. That means, you would think, that federal agencies can't stonewall investigations of spending, waste, fraud and abuse." Chaffetz: "The reality is, sadly, I don't see much difference between the Trump administration and the Obama administration. I thought there would be...

The seven women whose allegations ended Rob Miller's bid to lead Utah's Democrats say the party should continue an investigation of Miller because "a culture of pervasive sexual harassment has been revealed." The group, which includes a former Salt Lake County Democratic chairwoman and a former state Senate candidate among other well-known Democrats, sent a letter to party leadership Thursday after Miller announced his exit from the race to become chairman and his withdrawal from the party.

It's how dictators operate. Pick a relatively small, politically powerless group of people and portray them as objects of fear and derision. Then swoop in with the power of the state to arrest members of that disfavored group and reap the political benefits of protecting the state from the threat that you invented. This is why the current administration's move to arrest and deport more people who are in the United States without proper documentation, but who have committed no other crime, is so troubling and so counter to what America should stand for. Whether by design or default, this...