Free Republic

BY THE OREGONIAN/OREGONLIVE (Compiled from news accounts, court records, public notices) Last week's arrest of a long-sought accused eco-saboteur pushed the spotlight back on a tight-knit cell of radical environmentalists responsible for a $48 million run of firebombings and other crimes across the West in the 1990s and early 2000s. Six men and five women prosecuted in Oregon received sentences ranging from three years to 13 years. They were arrested starting in 2005 in what the FBI called "Operation Backfire," a task force that tracked down the suspects with the help of an informant deep within the underground group....

Could President Joe Biden, so closely associated with the state of Delaware, instead have started his political career in Idaho? Sure, if you ask Joe Biden about it. On Monday, the president visited Idaho for a roundtable where he was briefed on the wildfires in the state by officials with the National Interagency Fire Center, according to Fox News. During the briefing, Biden said his “first job offer” came from Idaho-based lumber company Boise Cascade — something he said he discussed with the late Democratic Sen. Frank Church, arguably the most famous politician in the state’s history. “I used to...

President Biden said at a wildfire-focused event in Idaho Monday that his “first job offer” came from the local lumber and wood-products business Boise Cascade, but the company says it has “no record” of that being true. Biden, who is famous for his recollection of things that did not happen, didn’t specify a year or job position, but said that he regularly mentioned it the the late Idaho Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho), his Senate colleague from 1973-1981. “I used to tell Frank Church this, I got a — my first job offer, where I wanted — my deceased wife and...

Boise Cascade Announce Third Quarter Profits By Associated Press BOISE - Boise Cascade Corporation nearly tripled its third quarter profits this summer and exceeded Wall Street expectations. The wood products company reported today that net income for July through September totaled nearly 33 (M)million dollars, or 48 cents a share. And even after a one-time tax benefit, profits hit 30 (M)million dollars, or 43 cents a share. Wall Street analysts had been expecting income of 42 cents. The company reported a profit of eight and a half (M)million dollars, or nine cents a share, a year earlier. The company...

Forest Plan Involves Timber Co. Contracts Sat Mar 8, 8:53 AM ET By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is confident it has found a novel, inexpensive way to clear overgrown forests and prevent catastrophic wildfires. Critics say it's a blatant giveaway to timber companies. The plan, approved last month as part of a giant spending bill, allows logging companies to cut large, commercially valuable trees in national forests in exchange for clearing smaller, more fire-prone trees and brush. Known as "stewardship contracting," the approach allows the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (news...