Free Republic

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — British Columbia will send hundreds of cancer patients across the international border for treatment in Bellingham beginning this week in a multimillion dollar, desperate and controversial effort to restore government funded health care to some of its most vulnerable residents. It is a highly unusual, yet not entirely unprecedented effort by the free universal health care system Canadians have long enjoyed. It will also mean two Whatcom County clinics stand to make millions in payments from the BC government. “I don't think people who are suffering right now and in this immediate period should have to...

The auditorium at Nathan Eckstein Junior High (now a middle school) in Wedgwood is standing-room only in October 1970 for a discussion of a proposal to bus 1,500-2,000 North End and Central Area students in order to desegregate the new Edmond S. Meany Middle School on Capitol Hill. Another 400 people in the lunchroom listened via loudspeakers as Superintendent Forbes Bottomly, left, school district attorney Gary M. Little fielded questions and comments. (Larry Dion / The Seattle Times, 1970) Asha Mohamed, an immigrant from Ethiopia, from left, and her daughter Hikma walk with Laura Stowell and her daughter Ella...

A Washington state appeals court this week granted an emergency injunction to a retired doctor who faces disciplinary action from the Washington Medical Commission (WMC) arising from articles he published in a local newspaper in 2021, questioning the official narrative and medical advice related to COVID-19. Dr. Richard Eggleston, a retired ophthalmologist in Clarkston, Washington, wrote the articles as part of an ongoing column in the Lewiston Morning Tribune. He challenged the WMC’s disciplinary proceedings against him on First Amendment free speech grounds. According to Tuesday’s ruling: “The Commission seeks to sanction Dr. Eggleston based on allegations that he, a...

A 35-year-old woman was recently caught sexting and providing alcohol and drugs to teens. She was subsequently arrested. After being taken into custody, Amanda Dorrough, better known as “Taz” to her underaged friends, allegedly told Washington state officials that she identified as a 15-year-old boy. According to an article published yesterday (May 25) by Fox News, the Port Angeles Police Department claimed Dorrough had plans to flee to Seattle with the teens. Before she could evade authorities, she was taken into custody and charged with unlawful harboring of minors. May 4 is when school administrators first learned of the alarming...

Seattle-based artist Jerry Chris Van Dyke, who falsely advertised his carvings as Native American art, has been sentenced to 18 months of federal probation. In March, Van Dyke, who has no tribal enrollment or heritage, pleaded guilty to violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act—a federal truth-in-marketing law administered by the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) to curtail the proliferation of counterfeit Native American artworks. The Indian Arts and Crafts Board received a tip in February that Van Dyke had claimed to be a member of the federally recognized Nez Perce Tribe, whose ancestral lands are in present-day Idaho....

Smithers' remains were discovered on April 27, 2023 in a wooded area in Stroudsburg approximately 30 miles from the Kohbergers’ home. The parents of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger have reportedly been called to testify in the case of a 45-year-old Pennsylvania woman who disappeared in 2022 and was later found dead in the same county where he lived. According to the Daily Mail, Michael and Maryann Kohberger are scheduled to appear in front of a grand jury in connection with the May 28, 2022 disappearance of 45-year-old Dana Smithers. Investigators are looking to determine if the Kohbergers’ son was...

A man is dead and a woman was taken to the hospital after they were shot while allegedly trying to steal a truck from a hotel in Lynnwood early Tuesday morning.According to the Lynnwood Police Department (LPD), officers responded to the Best Western Alderwood around 2:35 a.m. Tuesday after a man in his late 20s called 911 saying he shot a man and a woman who were “in the act of stealing his truck” in the parking lot. The hotel is located on the 19300 block of 36th Avenue West, which is a couple blocks north of the Lynnwood Event...

The new BLM rule introducing so-called conservation leasing will likely become the administration’s vehicle for locking up federal property. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is preparing to fundamentally reshape how public lands are managed without congressional approval. In March, the agency unveiled a sweeping proposal to establish a framework for “conservation leases” that places a newfound priority on preservation. The new Public Lands Rule presents a radical departure from the “multiple use mandate” Congress outlined for the agency in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). New Rules Are a ‘Game Changer’.. FLPMA requires federal lands...

Seven inmates were hospitalized on Wednesday night after experiencing what officials described as "a medical emergency" while incarcerated at a jail in northwestern Washington. Authorities believe the inmates may have suffered from fentanyl overdoses, the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office office said. The sheriff's office, which is leading a criminal investigation into the incident, confirmed Thursday that all of the inmates who were hospitalized had since been discharged and returned to the Snohomish County Jail. The office said earlier that detectives believed an inmate brought fentanyl into the jail and had identified a possible suspect. By Thursday morning, authorities had referred...

Shocking video footage showed the co-chair of a taxpayer-funded Seattle committee angrily defend the nomination of a pedophile for a role - and shout down a fellow member who accused the pervert of molesting her. Shanee Colston was seen on the May 3 Zoom call yelling furiously that she was 'glad' that registered sex offender Thomas Whitaker wanted to be part of their team. And she angrily accused a fellow member of invading Whitaker's privacy by highlighting his sex offenses, with the pervert's nomination ultimately approved.

Police arrested a 35-year-old woman, who identifies as a 15-year-old boy, for harboring a teen runaway. Shouldn’t Washington Progressives defend this woman for being mis-aged? The police allege Amanda Dorrough was involved in a host of inappropriate behavior with juveniles, including getting naked in front of them, inappropriately touching one, and providing marijuana. One of her alleged victims characterized her as “pedophile-ish,” according to a police incident report, which doesn’t list the individual ages of the alleged victims. This incident highlights the dangers of identifying as something you’re not. But it also shows the left-wing hypocrisy on issues of identity.

As we sit comfortably in our homes, having dinner with our families, crime rates are going up all around us. That is to say that criminals are no longer relegated to the inner cities; they've evolved to suburbs and rural areas as they seek new and more vulnerable targets. For several decades, one of the major dreams of the middle class has been to own a home in the suburbs. Now, under the guise of prohibiting discrimination based on race, religion, sex, etc., Democrats have proposed regulations that would force jurisdictions that accept HUD funding to "promote equity in their...

A Colorado momma bear is suing Wellington Middle School in Fort Collins, Colo., after learning they pulled her sixth-grade daughter into a secret transgender recruiting meeting disguised as an “art club.” “When she got there, she very quickly learned it was actually a gender and sexuality awareness club,” Erin Lee ... “What you hear in here, stays in here,” the mystery groomer allegedly told the kids, suggesting that telling their parents wasn’t “safe.” Lee further disclosed that the guest presenter informed the kids they were transgender if they didn’t feel totally comfy with their gender. “She explained to my daughter...

Ignoring massive public opposition, Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee signed a radical bill Tuesday to allow shelters to hide runaway children from their parents without any allegations of abuse and allow them to have taxpayer-funded, elective abortions and sex-change treatments. The Post Millennial reports nearly 4,700 people signed up to oppose state Senate Bill 5599 during a Senate hearing in February. Parents also organized protests at the state capitol in Olympia, and Republican lawmakers unanimously opposed the bill, according to CBN. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, passed the Democrat-controlled state legislature anyway, and Inslee signed it...

A town which once prided itself as being the “most hippie” in Washington has taken drastic action to outlaw drugs, after state-wide decriminalization led to spiking crime and child overdose deaths. The proudly liberal city of 92,000 has been pushed to its limit, with the fire department responding to 223 overdoses — 2.5 calls per day — between January and April 12, according to Cascadia Daily. Among the dead are two teenagers and a five year old, who had overdosed on fentanyl in March and was found dead by police with foam coming from her mouth. Overdoses have become so...

Being a civil rights activist, advocate, and leader/founder of pro-freedom groups brings with it a certain amount of baggage. Trying to promote liberty in general – never mind the Second Amendment – on a national level, while being based in Washington state, can’t be easy. Our good friend Alan Gottlieb over at the Second Amendment Foundation knows this all too well, and has recently been left with no other recourse but to sue over alleged harassment. A recent announcement on the lawsuit against Washington’s Attorney General talks about two plus years worth of discriminatory practices, costing Gottlieb et.al. a pile...

The bodies of a 27-year-old missing mother and her 7-year-old daughter were found in Washington State this week, while the woman’s boyfriend — who was out on bond for a 2017 murder in another state and barred from contacting his girlfriend on domestic violence charges — was named as a person of interest in the disappearances. The bodies of the mother Meshay Melendez and her daughter Layla Stewart were found Wednesday morning when a passerby saw two “life-sized mannequins” in the thick brush off a roadway embankment in Washougal, Washington, just across the border with Portland, Oregon, officials said. The...

(LifeSiteNews) – On Thursday, the left-wing governments of Minnesota and Washington state have enacted laws to become “havens” for those seeking to thwart other states’ laws against abortion or gender “transitions.” The Associated Press reports that on the same day, Democrat Govs. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Jay Inslee of Washington signed laws ensuring that their respective states’ judicial systems will not be used to cooperate with out-of-state warrants, subpoenas, court orders, or extradition requests pertaining to abortion restrictions or surgical or chemical “gender reassignment” procedures. “Freedom of choice is a health care issue,” declared Inslee. “We are protecting access...

BELLEVUE, WA – Responding quickly to the adoption of House Bill 1240 by the Washington Legislature and Gov. Jay Inslee signing it into law, the Second Amendment Foundation today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the new statute on Second and Fourteenth Amendment grounds, and is asking the court for preliminary and permanent injunctions. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The case is known as Hartford v. Ferguson. Joining SAF are the Firearms Policy Coalition, Sporting Systems, a Hazel Dell retailer, and three private citizens, Brett Bass, Douglas Mitchell and Lawrence Hartford, for...

A Washington mom-of-three slammed her local school board for canceling music lessons for fourth graders after a school board member alleged it was rooted in 'white supremacy culture' and 'institutional violence.' Alesha Perkins blasted Olympia School District members after they voted last week to halt band and orchestra classes amid a million-dollar budget shortage. Perkins called out School Board Director Scott Clifthorne, who argued that the school district was 'entrenched in… surrounded by white supremacy culture' at a meeting of concerned parents last week. Clifthorne argued that music lessons beneficial but inequitable since students at certain schools can miss out...