Free Republic

Ali Muhammad Brown was charged with executing two gay men in Seattle. Brown was previously prosecuted federally following an FBI probe into an Islamic group suspected of supporting jihadists overseas. This devout Muslim is also a registered sex offender for crimes against a 6-year-old girl, the same age as Aisha when Muhammad married her. He was previously prosecuted as part of a federal investigation into a sleeper cell thought by investigators to be linked to a terrorism funding organization. “One prominent member of the group is thought to have been killed waging jihad in Somalia after fleeing prosecution in the...

LYNNWOOD, Wash. – Michelle Obama’s national school lunch overhaul is getting a little ridiculous. The First Lady worked with federal bureaucrats to strictly limit what types of foods can be served in school cafeterias across the country in an effort to fight childhood obesity. The federal regulations on meat, vegetables, salt, and other aspects of the school lunch has been met with staunch indignation from students who have either trashed their mandatory fruit and vegetables or opted not to eat lunch at all. Now, the Edmonds School District in Washington state and others are cracking down on birthday cupcakes and...

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) launched what it hopes will be the most successful private effort to date to crack down on cyber crime by moving to disrupt communications channels between hackers and infected PCs. The operation, which began on Monday under an order issued by a federal court in Nevada, targeted traffic involving malicious software known as Bladabindi and Jenxcus, which Microsoft said work in similar ways and were written and distributed by developers in Kuwait and Algeria. It is the first high-profile case involving malware written by developers outside of Eastern Europe, according to Richard Domingues Boscovich, assistant general counsel...

Greenshields and Sewell envision their product selling for roughly $3,000 per pound. They believe their pot will be as good as anybody’s. But they want to be in the business long-term and establish a well-regarded brand. They don’t want to be seen as gouging the first customers just because they can. After retailer markup and before sales tax, Sewell hopes consumers can buy an eighth of an ounce of AuricAG weed for $60. Top-shelf eighths sell in medical marijuana dispensaries for roughly $40. But dispensaries don’t pay the stiff state excise taxes that the recreational system will — 25 percent...

After 38 years in the Washington National Guard, 1st Sgt. Brett Jensen received something new for a change. The citizen soldier belongs to an aviation battalion that’s receiving brand-new helicopters for the first time in five decades. It means the local unit will be able to retire aircraft dating to the Vietnam War era. “It’s kind of nice being able to see new aircraft in the fleet,” said Jensen, 56, a Tacoma resident who has deployed twice to the Middle East and participated in domestic missions ranging from the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980 to the more recent disaster...

Wildlife advocates want a federal judge to order faster action on a recovery plan for imperiled Canada lynx. ... Officials also say that lynx face a relatively low degree of threat compared to other protected species. The Fish and Wildlife Service was forced to come up with a timeline on the recovery document when Molloy last month expressed frustration with the government's progress. The judge said the "stutter-step" approach by federal officials necessitated court intervention. The lawsuit pending before Molloy was brought by Friends of the Wild Swan, Rocky Mountain Wild, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and the San Juan Citizens Alliance....

Joint Base Lewis-McChord is among the military installations that could be tapped temporarily to house some of the thousands of young Central American immigrants who have been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border, congressional sources said Monday. Negotiations are still under way to place the minors in vacant housing at the South Sound base, said Kati Rutherford, spokeswoman for Rep. Denny Heck, D-Olympia. Gov. Jay Inslee’s office also has been in touch with the Defense Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the proposal, a spokeswoman said. “This is an urgent humanitarian situation, and though this is...

Soccer star Hope Solo pleaded not guilty to domestic violence charges this afternoon in Kirkland Municipal Court. City prosecutors asked for a bail of $5,000 and no-contact order between Solo and the alleged victims. However, Kirkland Municipal Court Judge Michael J. Lambo allowed Solo to be released on her own recognizance after her attorney, Todd Maybrown, argued that she had no prior arrests and was not a flight risk. The judge also ordered Solo to not consume alcohol as a condition of her release. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11. Among those seated in court was Jerramy Stevens,...

Seattle recently raised the minimum hourly wage that employers in the city must pay to $15. That puts Seattle out in front in America’s Living Wage Derby – hooray! Mayor Ed Murray boasts that the high minimum wage makes his city “the model for the nation.” Not only that, but the big increase, over Washington state’s minimum wage of $9.32 per hour will, he says, enable the city to “regain economic strength.” Great objectives, Mr. Mayor, but I don’t know why you’re being so stingy. You have at best taken a baby step towards fairness for workers and economic vitality....

Full Title: Safety in steel: Hanford workers' health monitored in room made from battleship RICHLAND -- For 25 years, the hull of the battleship USS Indiana has helped protect the health of Hanford workers. Before that, it played a role in saving the life of Hanford's Atomic Man, Harold McCluskey, who took in life-threatening amounts of radioactive material in a Hanford accident. The pre-Atomic Age steel from the battleship's hull now is at work in a low, nondescript building in Richland on the corner of Goethals and Knight streets, with a small sign labeling it the In Vivo Radiobioassay and...

t's not like a player would ever forget winning the Super Bowl, but it's nice to have a giant diamond ring there to remind you. Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen revealed his team's ring. Unlike a lot of Super Bowl rings, it's kind of cool, or at least not overdone and as tacky as some of them are.

The federal government’s decision to ban energy development across a wide swath of Colorado and eastern Utah to protect the Gunnison sage grouse habitat has raised concerns the action would inflict economic damage. Although the Obama administration was not expected to make its decision as to whether the bird warrants the endangered listing until November, the Bureau of Land Management’s decision this week effectively puts an oil, gas and coal moratorium on 400,000 acres – roughly 90 acres per bird. The final decision was “pushed back until after the election, because when people understand the impact on jobs, people get...

A U.S. Navy sailor from Washington State is currently serving on a submarine thousands of miles away in the Pacific Ocean, but a judge has ordered him into an impossible custody scenario: Appear in a Michigan courtroom Monday or risk losing custody of his 6-year-old daughter. Navy submariner Matthew Hindes was given permanent custody of his daughter Kaylee in 2010, after she was reportedly removed from the home of his ex-wife, Angela, by child protective services. But now a judge has ordered him to appear in court Monday, or risk losing his daughter to his ex-wife in addition to a...

The Redskins got a flurry of bad news Wednesday when the U.S. Patent Office canceled the team's trademark registration, because the team name is “disparaging to Native Americans." Basically, it means that the team could lose its federally trademarked protections and could hasten the franchise to change the name, depending on how much pressure the rest of the league puts on Washington for a potential loss of revenue. While Miami University, now the RedHawks but formerly known as the Redskins, tried to offer some advice on Wednesday, the sports editor of the Seattle Times, Don Shelton, is taking a more...

Many Seattle workers are about to see their income go way up, after the City Council unanimously passed a $15 minimum wage earlier this month. But faster than you can get a happy meal at McDonald's, the ordinance is facing a legal challenge. “I guarantee not everyone will survive,” warned David Jones, who owns a Subway franchise in Seattle. “This discriminatory law will affect some franchisees and they will go out of business.” The International Franchise Association, representing those concerns, has sued over the wage hike, specifically objecting to the fact the ordinance treats franchises as big businesses and requires...

In a defiant statement issued Wednesday, the Washington Redskins said the team would appeal the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to revoke the trademark to the team's name and logo on the grounds that they are offensive to Native Americans. The professional football team added that in the meantime, the ruling would have "no effect at all" on its trademark rights while the case is on appeal. The press release even put that in boldface and underlined it. "We are confident we will prevail once again, and that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s divided ruling will be overturned...

Mr Hague said the "circumstances were right" following an improvement in bilateral relations in recent months. Full diplomatic relations with Iran were suspended after attacks on the British embassy in Iran in 2011. The election of a new Iranian president and a deal on Iran's nuclear programme has led to renewed contacts this year. The move comes as Iraqi forces are engaged in heavy clashes with Sunni Islamist militants across the country and amid reports that Iran is providing military assistance to its historic rival. The US is deploying up to 275 military personnel to protect staff at its huge...

Yes, Washington marijuana growers will have product ready for sale in the first week of July in time for the first wave of 20-30 stores receiving state licenses. Exactly which day those first stores will open, how much you’ll be able to buy and how much it will cost the consumer is still mostly an open question, but there will be legal weed on store shelves. But expect it to sell out fast. “There’s just no way it’s not going to sell out,” said Attila Soos, the owner of Verdavanti, one of the largest growers licensed so far. He will...

On Monday, June 9, Boeing revealed the design of their CST-100 astronaut spaceliner aimed at restoring Americas ability to launch our astronauts to low-Earth orbit (LEO) and the International Space Station (ISS) by 2017. The full scale CST-100 mockup was unveiled at an invitation only ceremony for Boeing executives and media held inside a newly renovated shuttle era facility at the Kennedy Space Center where the capsule would start being manufactured later this year. The CST-100 is a privately built manrated capsule being developed with funding from NASA under the auspices of the agency's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) in a...

The Mount Vernon Assembly – Indianapolis FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Skip Brown skip.brown@iga.in.gov 317-232-9521 The Mount Vernon Assembly to Meet at Indiana Statehouse June 12 and 13 INDIANAPOLIS (June 9, 2014) – More than 100 state legislators representing 33 states will meet at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis on June 12 and 13 to continue establishing the rules and procedures needed for a future state-led convention for proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as authorized by Article V of the Constitution. The meeting is a continuation of efforts that began in December 2013 at George Washington’s historic Mount Vernon estate...