Free Republic

(RNS) — Officially, abortion is still a top policy priority for many religious leaders. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops calls preventing abortion its “preeminent priority,” and prominent conservative evangelicals continue to mobilize their voters around the issue. But as Idaho, Missouri, Nevada and Virginia prepare to vote on abortion-related measures in the midterm elections, polling suggests it is less of a priority for voters than in other recent election cycles. According to an October poll by Pew Research Center, significantly fewer registered voters from every religious group surveyed said abortion was “very important” in deciding who to vote for...

* Idaho prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Andrea Shaw, who faces first-degree murder charges in the May 2025 suffocations of her twin toddlers. * Idaho’s primary execution method is now firing squad under a July 2026 state law. * Shaw has pleaded not guilty, denying the charges and alleging her children became severely ill and died following a “post-immunization reaction” from routine vaccinations received days earlier. *Shaw’s attorney called the capital punishment filing “outrageous,” noting that core prosecution evidence remains unreleased while grand jury indictments and coroner reports are sealed. * Children’s Health Defense (CHD) outside counsel Rick...

On a cold, drizzly day in July 2026, Nate Lewand and his fleet of whitewater rafters passed by Black Canyon, an obsidian-colored gorge on the Main Salmon River in Idaho. As they rounded the bend, they spotted a woman standing on a narrow sandy beach far too small to hold a tent. She wore clean linen clothing, military-style boots, and carried a burled walking stick. Despite being right at the water’s edge in the rain, the woman was bone dry. She had no gear—no ropes, no backpacks, and no raft. “She was just standing there,” Lewand told Outside. “We hollered...

On Friday, October 9, 2026, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated $1 million to the “Too Extreme for Idaho PAC,” a political action committee working to defeat Idaho’s Proposition 1. Current Idaho law generally prohibits abortion, with limited exceptions, including for rape and incest. However, Proposition 1 allows abortion up to fetal viability, which it redefines, allowing abortion for any reason into the eighth month of pregnancy. Proposition 1 eliminates Idaho’s parental consent laws. Proposition 1 also says any “health care provider” can perform abortion. The donation is notable not only for its size but also for...

Around 3 a.m. on Friday, a juvenile black bear reportedly broke into a home in the Sunset Heights neighborhood in Salmon, where Brian and Kim Heidemann, along with Kim’s 14 and 9-year-old daughters were sleeping. ...one of the juvenile bears, estimated at about 1 year old, reportedly tried to break into the home through the 14-year-old daughter’s bedroom window.“(Kim’s) daughter heard noises outside of her bedroom window, and they have a swamp cooler right there,” says Dabell. “Her daughter looked out the window, and at first thought it was a human because apparently when bears grunt, they sound very human-esque.”The...

Idaho voters will be able to cast a vote for one of six guns on Election Day, and the votes will serve an “advisory” role to guide the legislature in choosing the official gun of Idaho. Idaho News 6 reported: The six options include Western-style weapons that gained fame during pioneer days, such as the 1873 Single Action Army Revolver Colt .45, the Winchester Model 1894 (.30-30), and the Winchester Model 1873, known as the “Gun That Won the West.” The list also includes weapons with military heritage, like the M1 Garand and the Colt Model 1911 .45. The sixth...

Watch as a WSJ reporter visits Idaho, where a battle is under way for the future of the Republican PartyThis is an episode of Rooted In, where our reporters take you back to their hometowns to capture the voice of the nation ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.Video Transcript Summary ISLAND PARK, Idaho—If you’re trying to understand the ongoing battle over the soul of the Republican Party, a good place to start is out on a lake in eastern Idaho near the Wyoming border. Armed with a fishing rod, of course.I met Jack Nelsen, a lifelong Republican and state representative...

An American technology executive and a Russian national have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with alleged efforts to conceal Russian ownership and software development at a digital forensics firm that obtained U.S. government contracts, including work involving the Secret Service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced on September 23 that Lee Reiber, 55, of Boise, Idaho, chief executive officer of Alexandria, Virginia-based Oxygen Forensics Inc., and Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov, 52, of Moscow, had been arrested Reiber was taken into custody in Idaho on September 20, made an initial appearance in...

Ada County Sheriff identifies man found dead in Boise church in 1982, possibly linked to the Tylenol cyanide poisonings in the 1980s. The following is the YT transcription. It might be better just to watch all 10 minutes of the news cast.

The federal government just told noncitizens who cast ballots in American elections that prosecutors are coming for them. The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday it had charged 16 people in seven states with illegally voting, registering to vote through false citizenship claims, and related fraud, according to a press release from the department’s Office of Public Affairs. Many of the accused are noncitizens alleged to have voted in federal contests. The department paired the filings with a blunt message on social media. “Let this be a warning to ANYONE trying to cheat and undermine our elections,” the DOJ wrote....

A case study in Obama's refugee folly The fecklessness of the Obama administration’s despicable “refugee” agenda can be personified. Last August a federal jury convicted Uzbek refugee Fazliddin Kurbanov of three terror-related charges that included working to support a terrorist organization, and amassing explosive materials in his apartment in Boise, ID. Kurbanov is a Russian-speaking truck driver originally from Uzbekistan who began his life as a Muslim. When his parents converted to Orthodox Christianity, the family was subjected to government persecution and they fled to nearby Kazakhstan. In 2009 his parents came to the Unites States, followed shortly thereafter by...

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints oppose an Idaho ballot initiative that would establish a right to abortion in the state. They also encouraged church members to “voice their opposition” to the proposed law in a letter that will be read from the pulpit during worship services for the next two Sundays, according to a letter the leaders sent to the faith’s 1,300 congregations in the state. “We join with other like-minded individuals and organizations working against this initiative,” the letter states, “and encourage our members to voice their opposition to it in a respectful manner...

The 2026 Idaho Liberty Bell Tour will kick off with three stops in East Idaho this week before it continues its journey through all 44 counties. The bell, modeled after the cracked original in Philadelphia, will be in Pocatello from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday and from 10 a.m. to noon Friday at the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation. It will then travel to Blackfoot on Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. for the Eastern Idaho State Fair and Parade. The Idaho Liberty Bell was one of several replicas that were distributed to U.S. states and territories to promote the...

BOISE (CN) — Reproductive health advocates sparred with Idaho before the state Supreme Court on Wednesday in an effort to change an abortion access proposition’s ballot language ahead of the November election. The dispute concerns language used to describe the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, an initiative from Idahoans United for Women and Families. The group accuses Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane and Attorney General Raul Labrador of mischaracterizing the initiative in the section of the ballot that explains the effect of a yes or no vote. “These statements must be clear and concise; the proposed statements are neither,”...

In an altogether tragic, yet unfortunately predictable turn of events, the leftist group Idahoans United for Women and Children obtained the necessary number of signatures to put the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act (RFPA) on the ballot in November 2026. We all now know it as Proposition 1 (Prop 1). What does it say about the current state of Idaho that this radical measure made it on the ballot? To us, it says two things. First, Idaho is not as conservative as people are led to believe; and second, there are many voters who find themselves somewhere in the middle...

Vanity post: Where can I buy over-the-counter ivermectin in Twin Falls, Idaho or Boise, Idaho?

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Idaho — What started with a lightning strike ended with the Tartar Fire burning more than 158,000 acres across Washington County. But some ranchers say the wildfire wasn't the only source of their losses. Kirk Chandler, who has lived on his family's ranch his entire life, says ranchers spent days working to protect their property as the Tartar Fire moved through the area. "If you're the third one to call or the second one to call for help, they're not available, and so you just have to take care of yourself," Chandler said. That meant protecting cattle, sheep...

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in supporting a federal lawsuit challenging Idaho's law that bars transgender students from using school restrooms and other sex-separated facilities that align with their gender identity. The coalition filed an amicus brief urging a federal judge in Idaho to block enforcement of the law while the lawsuit moves forward, arguing that the measure is unconstitutional and undermines the rights and safety of transgender students. Idaho's House Bill 264 prohibits transgender people from using restrooms and other sex-separated facilities consistent with their gender identity in certain public educational...

Years before Chad Williams, 24, showed up at the new Twin Falls fast food joint, he expressed horror at the randomness of an armed carjacking in his hometown of Waddell, Arizona. “He would have killed you or me for walking out of our front door at the wrong time over a truck he would sell for just $8,000.” Williams, whose X bio said that he was a “former foster care youth” and that he participated in Boys State — a leadership program for top students — in 2019, stopped posting in July 2025. He mostly commented on news of the...

Three people were killed and at least seven others were wounded in a shooting Saturday afternoon at an In-N-Out restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho, local authorities said. The situation unfolded before 2:30 p.m. local time. Social media video obtained by CBS News showed people fleeing a shopping center parking lot as multiple gunshots are heard. In the video, a person carrying what appeared to be a firearm could be seen outside the restaurant opening the doors to a parked sedan. In a news conference Saturday night, Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks told reporters that there were fatalities, but he...