Free Republic

The US Air Force is urgently searching for a Florida-based airman accused of possessing and distributing disturbing child sexual abuse materials. Airman First Class Branden Cecil Standifer, 27, was due in court on April 18 for a hearing related to the charges but failed to appear, prompting officials to believe he is evading prosecution, according to KTTC. Standifer is wanted for military desertion, as he is believed to have gone into hiding to avoid facing the charges. According to a warning from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), Standifer fled Hulburt Field in Florida and was last seen...

A man shot and killed a grizzly bear Friday after it charged while he was shed hunting near Dupuyer in north-central Montana. According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the man was searching for antlers on a brushy hillside when he first saw the bear. As he was leaving, the bear charged him at close range and he shot the bruin. The man was not injured. The adult female grizzly was healthy with no history of conflict. She was estimated to be 13 years old and weighed about 250 pounds. The sow had a single yearling cub that was found...

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump signed four executive orders Tuesday promoting the deregulation and expansion of the “beautiful, clean coal” industry in the U.S. The first order White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf said might be “one of the most significant executive orders” the president has issued so far. “This directs all departments and agencies of the federal government to end all discriminatory policies against the coal industry. This ends the leasing moratorium that prevents new coal projects on federal land, and it’s going to accelerate all permitting and funding for new coal projects,” Scharf said. The other...

The Montana Republican Party has kicked nine GOP legislators out of the party for continually voting with Democrats and "undermining Republican priorities and leadership." They will not receive funding or recognition from the Party in future campaigns

Montana – Deep in Montana’s remote wilderness lies the Sage Wall, a stunning megalithic structure composed of massive granite blocks intricately stacked in a straight line extending 275 feet (84 meters). Reaching up to 25 feet (8 meters) high, with some blocks weighing 91 tons, it is believed that the wall continues an additional 15 feet underground. This unique formation appears to have precise, interlocking stones resembling ancient masonry found worldwide. Despite its remarkable features, the Sage Wall remained hidden for centuries, covered by dense foliage on private land owned by Christopher Borton and Linda Welsh. Its discovery occurred when...

Taxpayer-funded abortion is increasing at the state level as pro-abortion lawmakers work to expand abortion since the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Federally, the Hyde Amendment prohibits most taxpayer funding of abortion, allowing funding only in cases of rape, incest, or when the physician determines the pregnant mother’s life is at risk. But while the Hyde Amendment prevents most abortions from being paid for by federal tax dollars, each state can determine its own taxpayer funding for abortion. According to the pro-abortion organization KFF.org (The Kaiser Family Foundation), “There is tremendous variability in how much states reimburse for abortion services...

Former U.S. Senator Jon Tester, D-Mont., linked his 2024 Senate loss to ex-Vice President Kamala Harris’ poor performance in the state. Tester, who lost to former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy in that race, declared on HBO’s "Real Time with Bill Maher" that the woke politics embraced by the top of the ticket are what doomed his performance in Montana. "And the top of the ticket did not perform because I don’t think the top of the ticket embraced the issues that Americans were talking about," he said. "We got wrapped up in all the cancel culture crap." Tester had served...

The state of Montana is considering a proposal that would ban mRNA vaccines. Having passed out of committee, Republican lawmakers are supporting legislation that would ban the use of mRNA vaccines in most medical circumstances. Sponsored by Reps. Greg Kmetz, Tracy Sharp and Lukas Schubert, House Bill 371 would ban the administering of vaccines developed with mRNA, or messenger ribonucleic acid, technology on humans. Last week, the Montana House Judiciary Committee voted to send the bill to the floor after hearing testimony for and against the proposal, according to NBC Montana. “[mRNA vaccines are] the most destructive and lethal medical...

In the summer of 1991, Alan Yates was working in the forested mountains near Bozeman, Montana. Two black bears charged him at the same time. He successfully defended himself against the bears with two shots fired from his .357 magnum Smith & Wesson 65 revolver. He was 21 years old.Here are Alan’s words, lightly edited for space and clarity:In the summer of 1991 I worked on a logging operation in the mountains of Montana.There was a large bear that lived in the hills and mountains around our community. He was very aggressive. His favorite mode of attack was to charge...

Senator Tim Sheehy emphasized rebuilding America’s shipbuilding industry as vital to countering China’s growing naval power during Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing. This past week, the U.S. Senator from Montana, Senator Tim Sheehy, asked the very last, but the single most important question of the day during Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing: “How are you going to lead the reinvigoration of our national shipbuilding industry and restore our Navy?” While much of the rest of the hearing was a spectacle of hysterical accusations and a cavalcade of calumnies, Senator Sheehy’s last question of the day brought up the...

Not quite six years ago, wildfire expert Jack Cohen, who lives in Missoula, Mont., visited Pacific Palisades to instruct firefighters and property owners on how to protect homes against wildfires. Three days of training, including a tour of the community, left Cohen hopeful, but the feeling faded when it became clear that his lessons were not going to be fully implemented. This week’s tragedy has left him with a deep sadness. Respected by fire agencies across the country, Cohen and Pyne have found their straight-talk admonitions often disregarded or dismissed. Sensitive to losses and suffering, both said they are motivated...

A Montana official entrusted with preserving Montana’s history is accused of embezzling up to as much as $300,000 in state funds to pay for his tattoo, divorce fees and rent. Michael Elijah Allen, who took over as the Heritage Commission’s executive director in 2012, is accused of embezzling the money between 2020 to early 2024, a criminal complaint filed by Lewis and Clark County. The MHC’s total annual budget is around $2.2 million, which the agency uses to maintain and preserve three important historic sites in Montana. Allen allegedly deployed a variety of tactics to embezzle MHC funds and launder...

Not soon after the general election, and within two weeks of each other, two major financial institutions have left a United Nations Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). This is after they joined three years ago, pledging to require environmental social governance standards (ESG) across their platforms, products and systems. According to the "bank-led and UN-convened" NZBA, global banks joined the alliance, pledging to align their lending, investment, and capital markets activities with a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, NZBA explains. Since April 2021, 145 banks in 44 countries with more than $73 trillion in assets have joined NZBA, tripling...

The incident happened in the fall of 1989 near Bozeman, Montana. This correspondent interviewed Alan Yates this year. Alan says this, and a few other incidents involving bear charges are burned into his memory. Alan was kind enough to write about what happened. Alan’s account has been lightly edited for space and clarity. This is Alan’s story:I was hunting whitetail in the early morning. I had my sort-of-trusty 303 Enfield over my shoulder. As I slipped slowly and quietly along, with the wind in my favor, trying to make no noise in the dew-dampened tall grass, a sound caught my...

Researchers found direct evidence that Clovis people relied heavily on mammoths for food, using isotopic analysis to confirm 40% of a Clovis mother's diet came from mammoths. The study highlights how hunting large animals supported the Clovis people's mobility and rapid spread, while also contributing to the extinction of Ice Age megafauna...The study, featured on the Dec. 4 cover of the journal Science Advances, employed stable isotope analysis to reconstruct the diet of the mother of an infant found at a 13,000-year-old Clovis burial site in Montana. Previously, researchers inferred prehistoric diets primarily through indirect evidence, such as stone tools...

The Biden administration moved on Thanksgiving eve to bar future coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, one of America’s most coal-rich regions, according to multiple reports. The Powder River Basin, a region that spans parts of Montana and Wyoming, accounted for about 43% of U.S. coal in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The administration made its move to formally end coal leasing in the area and roll back previous approvals for development plans on Wednesday as Americans prepared to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, according to E&E News. “The decision is to make no federal coal available...

The Bureau of Land Management has made it official Tuesday — coal leasing will end in the Powder River Basin by 2041. The move follows a court order in a federal lawsuit, Western Organization of Resource Councils et al. v. BLM. The judge on the case directed the BLM to redo its environmental analysis, and include both no-leasing and a limited coal leasing alternatives. As a result of that analysis, the BLM said it has determined that “additional leasing of BLM-administered coal is not necessary, based on the current analysis in the Final Supplemental EIS. The analysis indicates that operating...

In recent days, the Biden administration has released two decisions on the future of mining in the Powder River Basin. The basin, which includes portions of Wyoming and Montana, produces 43 percent of the nation’s coal. The administration said it would not allow new leasing to take place in the area, citing climate change impacts. Ongoing mining operations, which are expected to last through 2041, would not be affected.

A groundbreaking lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas accuses financial giants BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street of colluding to manipulate the U.S. coal market. The case, spearheaded by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and supported by 10 other state attorneys general, alleges that these firms have used their substantial ownership stakes in major coal producers to suppress competition and artificially raise energy prices. The states listed as plaintiffs are” Texas Alabama Arkansas Indiana Iowa Kansas Missouri Montana Nebraska West Virginia Wyoming According to the 108-page complaint, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street collectively...

This afternoon’s fabulous cabinet announcement is that Chris Wright, founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, is President Trump’s pick to be secretary of energy. Chris is an old friend—he hosted me any my family for a week of skiing once at his second home in Big Sky, Montana, some years back—and he was a guest on our podcast along with his great friend Lord Matt Ridley back in 2018, which you can take in here. He has spoken to couple of my classes on a few occasions when his busy schedule allowed. With his solid background in science and energy,...