Free Republic

A man is being held on $10,000 bail after he allegedly kicked a police officer. Christopher M. Thompson, 42, of Rathdrum, is charged with battery upon an officer, a felony. He is also charged with resisting and being intoxicated on a roadway, both misdemeanors. Police responded Wednesday night to a report that a man who appeared intoxicated was wandering outside a Coeur d’Alene motel. Management reportedly wanted the man, later identified as Thompson, trespassed from the premises. Thompson was staggering in the middle of the road near the intersection of 20th Street and Lakeside Avenue when police contacted him, according...

When I was a much younger man in Kansas City in 1984, Rush Limbaugh worked for me. I fired him. As you might suspect, managing Rush was a formidable challenge, and the fact that he was largely unmanageable was probably a part of the secret sauce that fueled his rise to meteoric success. I am saddened by his passing. And like him or hate him, any fair-minded or knowledgeable analysis of Rush's career would have to end by concluding that he was probably one of the most influential media forces in the past 100 years. In 1984, I was a...

Federal agents arrested a Sandpoint, Idaho man Friday morning in connection to the Jan. 6 riot at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Michael Pope was arrested without incident on charges of: obstruction or impeding an official proceedingcivil disorderentering and remaining in a restricted building or groundsdisorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or groundsdisorderly conduct in a Capitol buildingimpeding passage through the Capitol groundsparading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol buildingPope made a virtual appearance at the U.S. District Courthouse in Boise Friday afternoon. Shortly after his arrest, Pope’s brother — William — was arrested in Topeka,...

In a recent My Turn a group of individuals collectively calls for the resignation of the NIC Trustee Chairman Todd Banducci. This came as no surprise to anyone familiar with the situation at NIC. I am a former school board trustee myself and I have known Todd throughout his decade-long tenure on the NIC Board. He was elected and re-elected by the good citizens in his district. As a conservative and an Air Force veteran he has a direct, no-nonsense approach to people which many find a refreshing departure from your typical elected official. You know where you stand with...

Idaho Congressman, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, has introduced a plan to breach four existing hydroelectric dams in the Northwest to help improve salmon runs. It is part of a $33 billion Project that includes extra economic development funds, compensation for lost revenue for certain industries and billions in incentives for farmers. The dams slated for removal under this plan are the Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Lower Granite dams. Part of the plan requires environmental groups pledging not to use lawsuits over federal environmental-protection laws violations. Oregon recently banned coal based energy. California has an energy shortage that...

A law enforcement officer shot and killed an Idaho Falls man who was in the location where a suspect fled following a traffic stop early Monday morning. The Idaho Falls Police Department hosted a news conference explaining the situation. Police Chief Bryce Johnson said the man shot was a homeowner in his backyard and was holding a gun. The suspect was found in the vicinity a short time later. Neither of the names of the victim or suspect is being released at this time. According to a news release, IDPD said shortly after midnight a Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy pulled...

Freshman lawmaker Rep. Doug Okuniewicz (Hayden, Idaho) has launched his first hot topic piece of legislation — preserving Idaho's historic monuments. ...Okuniewicz, R-Hayden, amended the [draft] legislation to clarify that municipalities or groups would need the support of lawmakers only if they were planning on permanently removing or decommissioning a piece. Moving or doing restoration procedures on a memorial or monument would not require legislative action. "I appreciate the work that the representative has done in working with the committee to address our concerns. I do feel that it is important that we preserve our history and not set an...

The Bureau of Land Management said Thursday it is immediately implementing a mask requirement for employees, visitors, partners and contractors in all BLM facilities and buildings. Also, masks are required outdoors on public lands where physical distancing is not feasible. “Ensuring people use masks when physical distancing is not an option and washing hands is the best way to stop the spread of COVID-19,” said Mike Nedd, BLM deputy director of operations. “Getting outside and enjoying our public lands is a great way to be active during the pandemic. We want to make sure our employees and visitors remain safe...

The pilots were on a routine training flight when their Black Hawk helicopter went down near Lucky Peak. BOISE, Idaho — Three pilots with the Idaho Army National Guard were killed Tuesday night when their helicopter went down near Boise. The UH-60 Black Hawk crashed south of Lucky Peak just after 8 p.m. Tuesday. The three guard members were participating in a routine training flight, officials say. “This is a tremendous loss to the Idaho National Guard and our community,” said Maj. Gen. Michael Garshak, adjutant general of Idaho and commander of the Idaho National Guard. “Our thoughts and prayers...

Velma Farlin is 104 years old. Recently, she contracted the coronavirus. She beat it. “You know, the Lord is a healer of sickness,” she said Thursday as she sat in her room at Wellspring Meadows Assisted Living facility, the place she has called home for about seven years. While COVID-19 is especially dangerous, even fatal, to the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, Farlin said she was never scared after learning she had it. She said it left her weary and affected her sense of smell for several days, but otherwise, it didn’t hit her too hard. And for...

Idaho lawmakers are taking another crack to pass a bill that will compensate people wrongfully convicted of crimes. Last year, Gov. Brad Little vetoed a bill passed by the House and Senate that would have given tens of thousands of dollars to those wrongfully convicted. Sen. Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg, introduced the new bill’s printing this week to the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee. While serving in the house last year, Ricks introduced the 2020 version of the legislation, which had nearly unanimous bipartisan support. The COVID-19 pandemic cut the legislative session short, leaving legislators unable to reach a solution after...

When Gabriel Rench recounts being arrested in front of city hall in Moscow, Idado, while singing hymns with his church last September, one detail especially continues to irk him. “They literally took my hymn book away from me and proceeded to handcuff me,” Rench, 41, said of the officers, who then led him away to the county jail, where he remained for several hours. Moscow, a town of about 25,000 people approximately 80 miles south of Spokane, Washington, made national news last fall when local police arrested three people and cited five others for attending a “peaceful protest” against the...

A North Idaho wireless internet provider says they will be making it easier for their customers to block Facebook and Twitter, after they said they've received "non-stop calls" from their customers asking them to do so. KHQ spoke with YourT1Wifi owner Bret Fink who said the decision to do this was based only on logistics, not political ideology. Fink says many of his customers aren't tech savvy and he is simply trying to do his best to help as many customers as possible in as easy a way as possible. Fink says following Facebook and Twitter's decision to ban President...

Idaho-based internet provider T1 WIFI will no longer provide service to Facebook and Twitter following this week’s purge of conservatives. “Our company does not believe a website or social networking site has the authority to censor what you see and post and hide information from you, stop you from seeing what your friends and family are posting. This is why with the amount of concerns, we have made this decision to block these two websites from being accessed from our network.”

Idaho's attorney general says he's declining to join a lawsuit filed by Texas seeking to overturn the outcome of the presidential election by invalidating the results in four battleground states Donald Trump lost. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden in a statement Thursday said the decision is necessary to protect Idaho's sovereignty. Here is the full statement: "I've spent substantial time reviewing Texas's Bill of Complaint so I could fully understand and consider the legal arguments being made. After doing so, I am declining to join this effort. As I have done since the day I took my oath of office...

Boise Idaho--Boise Police and Boise Mayor Lauren McLean requested the Central District Health meeting be postponed due to protests outside CDH and board member's homes. Due to large crowds outside of CDH offices and at least three board member's homes, CDH Director Russ Duke and Mayor McLean and Boise Police requested the meeting end over safety concerns...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The U.S. government said Thursday that Idaho is its preferred choice ahead of Tennessee for a test reactor to be built as part of an effort to revamp the nation’s fading nuclear power industry by developing safer fuel and power plants. The U.S. Department of Energy said in an email to The Associated Press that the site that includes Idaho National Laboratory will be listed as its preferred alternative in a draft environmental impact statement planned for release in December. The Versatile Test Reactor, or VTR, would be the first new test reactor built in the...

The mainstream media is projecting Joe Biden to be the next President of the United States. President Donald Trump and his legal team meanwhile are challenging the results of the election. Rudy Giuliani, part of Trump’s legal team held a press conference in Pennsylvania earlier today where they say they are bringing evidence to federal court to challenge the validity of some of the votes cast and where they say Republican election officials were prohibited from validating ballots in some cities. In Idaho, Trump was the victor by over 20 percentage points, but that did not stop some of his...

Tired of Democratic dominance in Oregon, some rural voters on Tuesday endorsed a plan to split off from the liberal state and join their conservative-friendly neighbor Idaho. Two conservative counties approved a non-binding ballot measure to "Move Oregon's Borders" as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden easily carried the rest of the state, AFP reports. The measure failed in two other counties. "In the United States, the differences between liberal and conservative... there's hatred there," said Mike McCarter, the chief petitioner of the ballot measure in Union and Jefferson counties. "Populated urban areas are controlling the mass of everybody," he told...

From a distance, it looked like some garbage had blown into Neal Andrus’ corral on County Line Road in Jefferson County on a recent afternoon. When Andrus went to retrieve it, he found it wasn’t garbage at all but a large, black hog sleeping in the sun. It didn’t look like any domestic hog he’d ever seen. “Every indication told me it was a feral hog with its long snout, short tusks and course hair that stood up all along its back,” Andrus said. Andrus’ approach startled the hog, which darted past him and into an irrigation canal and across...