Free Republic

First on CNN: Liz Cheney, whose bid to unseat Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi sparked a round of warfare in the Republican Party and even within her own family, is dropping out of the Senate primary, sources told CNN's John King. Cheney, the eldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, began telling associates of her decision over the weekend and could make an announcement about the race as early as Monday.

New York (CNN) -- Liz Cheney, whose upstart bid to unseat Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi sparked a round of warfare in the Republican Party and even within her own family, is dropping out of the Senate primary, sources told CNN late Sunday. Cheney, the eldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, began telling associates of her decision over the weekend and could make an official announcement about the race as early as Monday.

Hundreds of abandoned drilling wells dot eastern Wyoming like sagebrush, vestiges of a natural gas boom that has been drying up in recent years as prices have plummeted. The companies that once operated the wells have all but vanished into the prairie, many seeking bankruptcy protection and unable to pay the cost of reclaiming the land they leased. Recent estimates have put the number of abandoned drilling operations in Wyoming at more than 1,200, and state officials said several thousand more might soon be orphaned by their operators. Wyoming officials are now trying to address the problem amid concerns from...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- One of the country's largest producers of ammunition magazines for guns is leaving Colorado and moving operations to Wyoming and Texas because of new state laws that include restrictions on how many cartridges a magazine can hold.

The supervolcano that lies beneath Yellowstone National Park in the US is far larger than was previously thought, scientists report. A study shows that the magma chamber is about 2.5 times bigger than earlier estimates suggested. A team found the cavern stretches for more than 90km (55 miles) and contains 200-600 cubic km of molten rock. The findings are being presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco. Prof Bob Smith, from the University of Utah, said: “We’ve been working there for a long time, and we’ve always thought it would be bigger... but this finding is...

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander (R) Montana Senator Max Baucus (D) Alaska Senator Mark Begich (D) Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (R) Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran (R) Maine Senator Susan Collins (R) Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) Massachusetts Senator William "Mo" Cowan (D) Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi (R) Minnesota Senator Al Franken (DFL) South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (R) North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan (D) Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D) Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe (R) Nebraska Senator Mike Johanns (R) South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson (D) Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) Michigan Senator Carl Levin (D) Kentucky...

he Wyoming GOP primary campaign is already shaping up to be a scorched-earth affair, demonstrating the kind of senator Liz Cheney would likely be. ..... Other Wyoming politicos who’ve tried to stay above the fray have found themselves drawn into the feud, notably Alan Simpson, the former Republican senator known for his crotchety demeanor. The Cheneys and the Simpsons were at a charity gala in Cody, Wyoming, when Lynne Cheney—Liz’s mother, Dick’s wife, and a writer of racy novels—allegedly approached Simpson and told him to “shut your mouth.” Simpson’s daughter-in-law posted about the incident on her Facebook page, and the...

Three environmental groups petitioned the federal government Monday to block new oil and gas development in an area of key sage grouse habitat near Douglas. The petition came a month after Gov. Matt Mead announced a plan with Chesapeake Energy to allow drilling in what is known as the Douglas Core Area and represented an effort by environmentalists to counter what they see as an erosion of state sage grouse protections. ... WildEarth Guardians, the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and American Bird Conservancy petitioned the Department of Interior and U.S. Bureau of Land Management to prohibit construction of new wellpads and...

The Niobrara Shale Play – the Next Bakken? [ 0 ] February 1, 2013 The Niobrara shale formation extends across northeastern Colorado, northwestern Kansas, southwestern Nebraska and southeastern Wyoming.  The play ranges in thickness from 275-400 feet deep, with three primary carbonate-rich benches that average 10-25 feet thick with 5-10% porosity. Within the Niobrara, oil and natural gas are found at 3,000-14,000 feet beneath the earth’s surface.  O&G producers tap these resources through both vertical and horizontal wells typically drilled at 7,000-8,000 feet with variable geopressures. To date, most of the Niobrara’s O&G development focuses on the Denver-Julesburg Basin (“DJ...

Sebelius the 'laughingstock of America,' says senator By Elise Viebeck - 10/27/13 11:02 AM ET A Republican senator called Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the "laughingstock of America" after she was lampooned on "Saturday Night Live." The sketch, which aired Saturday, poked fun at Sebelius's attempts to downplay serious problems with ObamaCare's enrollment website. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) referred to the skit Sunday during an appearance on ABC's "This Week." "She's lost considerable credibility," Barrasso said of Sebelius. "She's the laughingstock of America." Sebelius has experienced a wave of scrutiny since HealthCare.gov debuted with major problems on...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that the tea party is a positive influence on the Republican Party. “I think they raised issues that an awful lot of Americans care about,” Cheney said on NBC’s “Today” show. “It’s an uprising, in part, and the good thing is it’s taken place within the Republican Party. I don’t see it as a negative. I think it’s much better to have that kind of turmoil and change in the Republican Party than it would be to have it outside.” Cheney, who has a new book coming out about struggles with his heart...

To fully understand the state of play in the Republican party, look no further than Sens. Mike Enzi (WY) and Pat Roberts (KS). Both are reliable, mainstream conservatives, yet neither have a record of seeking a fight or standing on principle. Think Orrin Hatch, without the tab-collars. Both, however, stood with Ted Cruz in the fight over ObamaCare. Not coincidentally, both face serious primary challengers. Sen. Mike Enzi is being challenged by Liz Cheney, who criticizes his "go-along-to-get-along" approach to government. Sen. Pat Roberts, who helped guide HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius through the nomination process, is being challenged by doctor,...

Pat Vaillancourt went on a trip last week that was intended to showcase some of America’s greatest treasures. Instead, the Salisbury resident said she and others on her tour bus witnessed an ugly spectacle that made her embarrassed, angry and heartbroken for her country. Vaillancourt was one of thousands of people who found themselves in a national park as the federal government shutdown went into effect on Oct. 1. For many hours her tour group, which included senior citizen visitors from Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States, were locked in a Yellowstone National Park hotel under armed guard. The...

Hunters and tourists are needlessly being kept away from public lands during the shutdown, Republicans claimed Tuesday. GOP members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee accused the Interior Department of closing roads and lands that could have been kept open in Western states. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is wrongly blocking access for hunters as the Alaskan winter approaches. “This is moose season. This is hunting season. This is when Alaskans are filling up their freezer for a long winter. In so many of our communities there is no Costco;...

Cheney: ‘I Don’t Pay a Lot of Attention to What Barack Obama Says’ By Patrick Brennan June 16, 2013 10:23 AM Dick Cheney said this morning that “it’s good” the executive branch is still running counterterrorism surveillance operations, but he’s unhappy with how the president has talked about them and defended them. The president “ought to be able to say this is a righteous program,” Cheney said, but President Obama instead has run the program while claiming — most prominently in his speech at the National Defense University recently – that the War on Terror is coming to an end....

In a secret meeting on Tuesday morning, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) hosted a bipartisan group of senators and House members in the Capitol’s basement. According to several participants, the lawmakers plotted ways to stop the use of U.S. military force in Syria. Since the diplomatic situation is fluid, there was no final consensus on how best to combat the administration, but potential legislative maneuvers, press appearances, and letters were discussed. Several undecided members asked questions. Aides say Paul planned the gathering over a week ago, and the list of attendees grew by the day. He is pleased, especially, by...

Republican Senate primary challengers are looking to use Syria as wedge to gain traction in their bids to unseat GOP incumbents. [WATCH VIDEO] Against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), nearly every primary challenger has come out early and loud in opposition to military engagement in Syria. And nearly every senator facing a contested primary — aside from Graham, who has expressed support — is still undecided, a week after President Obama said he’d go to Congress for approval. The vote is one that could provide some much-needed...

Mary Cheney, the younger daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney who married her long-time partner Heather Poe last year, chastised her older sister, a Republican who is running for the Senate, for her opposition to same-sex marriage in a posting on Facebook. Liz Cheney, who is seeking a Senate seat in Wyoming, said on Friday that she was "not pro-gay marriage." "For the record, I love my sister, but she is dead wrong on the issue of marriage," Mary Cheney wrote on Facebook, according to the New York Times. "Freedom means freedom for everyone," she wrote, repeating a phrase...

Mary Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney and sister to Wyoming senatorial candidate Liz Cheney, severely denounced her sister’s statement on gay marriage, posting on her Facebook page that marriage was “not something to be decided by a show of hands.” “For the record, I love my sister, but she is dead wrong on the issue of marriage,” Cheney wrote. “Freedom means freedom for everyone. That means that all families—regardless of how they look or how they are made—all families are entitled to the same rights, privileges and protections as every other.” Mary Cheney encouraged her Facebook friends to share the...

Wyoming senatorial candidate Liz Cheney definitively stated her opposition to gay marriage on Friday, despite the pro-marriage stance of her father Dick Cheney, and her sister Mary Cheney, who married her partner last year. “I am strongly pro-life and I am not pro-gay marriage,” declared Cheney in a campaign statement. “I believe the issue of marriage must be decided by the states, and by the people in the states, not by judges and not even by legislators, but by the people themselves.” Cheney issued the statement because she felt opponent (and friend of her father’s) Mike Enzi was “distorting her...