Free Republic

Lon Feia didn't know how big a black bear he had until he saw the carcass. He knew there were bears on his property, which borders Willow River State Park in the town of Hudson, Wis., and started setting out bait in July. Soon he began getting "hits." "Then, finally, on Aug. 24, he started coming in," Feia said. "And in pretty short order he claimed the bait, so (all the other bears) went away." It was the evening of Oct. 9 when Feia took a shot that brought down the bear - an animal that measured 7 feet, 2...

With demands seemingly all over the map by various occupiers of various streets and/or government centers and/or college campuses, a recurring theme has been free education, as in college education should be free. Incidentally, the drums and hula hoops have started up in Durham, N.C., home of Duke University, which was created by the generosity of a tobacco corporation. The Duke news came to me the other day from an acquaintance who informed me, "It's started, drums and hula hoops.'' I knew instantly what she meant and deduced that she watched, with, I hope, some irony, before resuming the rather...

DETROIT - Former Vice President Al Gore linked climate change to a rash of environmental catastrophes Thursday, from floods in Pakistan to drought in Texas and rampant algae blooms sucking oxygen from Lake Erie. The fallout from a warming planet is being felt around the world, Gore said in a speech during the annual meeting of the International Joint Commission, which advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on issues affecting shared waterways. Things will get worse unless people reject a campaign of denial orchestrated by the fossil fuel industry and make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

Step 1: The first rule of the establishment is: Do not admit you are part of the establishment! Step 2: Disarm them with praise Step 3: Moderate whoever they pick as the 2012 nominee. Step 4: Teach them about compromise. Step 5: Never forget reality

When we had 4.6 unemployment , Nancy Pelosi decried the "worst economy since Herbert Hoover". What is it now at 9.2? The best thing since sliced bread? Nothing like lowering expectations to make failure look acceptable. While we're at it, maybe we should be celebrating record numbers on foods stamps as 'economic stimulus' and achievement of "Great Society' ideals.

As part of its 2012 Diversity Visa program, the U.S. State Department is considering 5,662 applicants from countries deemed ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ – Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. In 2011, the State Department awarded 2,427 Diversity Visas to people from Iran, Syria and Sudan -- 1,842 for Iran; 553 for Sudan; and 32 for Syria.

Delbert Huber, 81, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. His son, Timothy Huber, 45, was arrested for aiding an offender and for liability for the crimes of another, the Tribune reported. According to a news release, the sheriff's Timothy John Huber (Photo courtesy of the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Dept. )office received a phone call from Delbert Huber, who said he was at a home in the 18000 block of 44th Street Northeast in Burbank Township. Huber told the dispatcher that he had shot and killed a person after an argument earlier in the day.

The city is promoting two new plug-in hybrid electric cars available for use by members of the Hourcar vehicle-sharing organization in St. Paul and Minneapolis. This fall and next spring, St. Paul will install 20 public stations where drivers can charge the vehicles. The two new hybrid cars were bought with a $30,000 contribution from Xcel Energy. Hourcar is run by the Neighborhood Energy Connection, a St. Paul nonprofit. The vehicles are in the Lawson and Lowertown parking ramps in downtown St. Paul. There are 13 Hourcars at nine locations throughout the city. Charging station locations, rates and details can...

Minnesota ranks as the fifth least affordable state for prekindergarten child care, after New York, Montana, Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Minnesota is among the most expensive for child care partly because the industry is highly regulated by the state, according to Ann McCully, executive director of Minnesota Child Care. For example, Minnesota requires a lower ratio of staff to children than other states, which requires centers to spend more money on personnel. McCully said it can be difficult for centers to make a profit or simply break even.

The Senate is supposed to be the "World's Greatest Deliberative Body". That means debating, amending, and voting on legislation -- all things Harry Reid has sought to avoid during his tenure as Senate Majority Leader. Folks, we're teetering on tyranny. We must elect a conservative majority in 2012 to stop this madness. This latest attempt to ignore the rules and force bad legislation on the American people is alarming, but it's not that surprising. Democrats have been ignoring the U.S. Constitution and blowing through its stop signs for years. Republicans can protect their rights in the Senate but it requires...

Jen and Keith Gorney have chosen to serve their children raw milk from a local farmer. They've also chosen to send two of their kids to an Eden Prairie daycare for half day sessions. They didn't realize those choices would work against each other. The Gorneys learned that USDA guidelines require centers that serve meals to serve pasteurized milk with those meals. The Gorneys wanted to bring water to serve as a substitute but that is not allowed. They understand the daycare has no choice. If they do not follow guidelines they could lose their state license.

top House Republican on Tuesday attacked conservative tax activist Grover Norquist in a blistering floor speech, saying his no-taxes pledge has "paralyzed" Congress from tackling the deficit. In a short but powerful speech, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., laid out a remarkable indictment against one of the most powerful figures in conservative politics. He cited Norquist's ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, as well as charges that Norquist was associated with two terrorist financiers. Wolf also raised Norquist's lobbying for Fannie Mae and the Internet gambling sector, and his reported support for moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States. "Simply...

During the month of September, NTUF analysts scored 384 bills to determine their impact on the federal budget. Of those, 274 were House bills with 126 introduced in the past month. In the Senate, 110 bills were able to be scored, including 55 bills sponsored in September. The 274 House bills scored by NTUF in September would increase spending by $724.5 billion a year. Totals exclude offsetting provisions.

The cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as other defendants, have settled with "Democracy Now!" journalists who sued over their arrests while they were covering the 2008 Republican National Convention. As part of the settlement, the cities and the U.S. Secret Service will pay a total of $100,000, said Anjana Samant, a Center for Constitutional Rights attorney who represented journalists Amy Goodman, Nicole Salazar and Sharif Abdel Kouddous. The settlement was reached Thursday night and recorded Friday in U.S. District Court, Samant said. The cities agreed to pay a combined $90,000; the federal government agreed to pay $10,000.

If abuse is found, it's up to the individual agency to take action, Skoogman said. If it's serious enough, the agency could contact the city attorney for possible charges. The department could also revoke access privileges. About 26,000 people in Minnesota have access to DVS records because of their profession, Skoogman said. About half of them are in law enforcement. DPS audits the DVS database monthly and monitors it regularly, Skoogman said. If patterns of potential misuse are found, DPS contacts the individual agency.

The National Labor Relations Board Regional Director has rejected a complaint in the American Crystal Sugar union lockout. Read NLRB Letter Here. The union representing 1,300 American Crystal Sugar Co. employees had asked the NLRB to rule on their accusations that the American Crystal was not negotiating in good faith. James Fox, Acting Regional Director for the NLRB, in a letter to lawyers for the the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, said the union had "failed to establish that the Employer violated the National Labor Relations Act. Fox also noted that the proposed contract changes were...

Mr. Hamm was one of the pioneers of this method in the 1990s, and it has done for the oil industry what hydraulic fracturing has done for natural gas drilling in places like the Marcellus Shale in the Northeast. Both innovations have unlocked decades worth of new sources of domestic fossil fuels that previously couldn't be extracted at affordable cost. Mr. Hamm's rags to riches success is the quintessential "only in America" story. He was the last of 13 kids, growing up in rural Oklahoma "the son of sharecroppers who never owned land." He didn't have money to go to...

As I detailed here in February in "Dick Durbin Is Stealing Your Free Checking," thanks to price controls on debit card transactions from the Durbin Amendment of the 2010 Dodd-Frank "financial reform" law, free checking is going the way of the dodo bird. The Durbin price controls on interchange fees -- the so-called "swipe fees" that retailers pay to bank and credit unions that process debit card transactions, go into effect this Saturday, October 1, and are already showing more dire effects than originally predicted. Not only is free checking disappearing at a rapid pace -- a new Bankrate.com survey...

Galtney was shot near East Fourth Street and Bates Avenue in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood just after 6:30 p.m., police said. Friends drove him to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where he died. Police say Nichlis John Kruse, 24, also known as Nicholas, was booked into the Ramsey County Jail early Thursday on suspicion of aiding an offender. Kruse was in a vehicle stopped by police Wednesday night near Johnson Parkway and Minnehaha Avenue in St. Paul. Police haven't ruled out more arrests. Galtney "was getting his life back on track," Yvette White said Thursday of her friend. "It's...

In the long term, the Pagami Creek fire still burning east of Ely, Minn., should improve moose habitat, clearing the bramble to make way for saplings and berries that the animals love to munch on. But for now, the forest fire is proving problematic for moose hunters, many of whom have been unable to access the territory they are permitted to hunt starting Saturday. The situation has led the state Department of Natural Resources to offer refunds for the cost of permits. Those permits, for what is often known as "the hunt of a lifetime," are a coveted commodity that...