Free Republic

Federal regulators found numerous serious violations at Badger Guns, prompting them to take the rare step of revoking the gun store's license last year, newly released documents show. The West Milwaukee gun shop long has been under fire because of its high number of crime gun sales, including those used in shootings of Milwaukee police officers. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revoked Badger Guns' federal license last year. The store stopped selling guns Dec. 31. The ATF has refused to say why the store's license was revoked, citing a law passed by Congress that shields public...

A jilted ex-lover in Stillwater is accused of going to his former flame's home, where he killed her pet snake and wrote "I loved you" with its blood. When police arrived at the ex-girlfriend's home, Jonathan Paul Utecht, 21, was standing outside with blood on his hands and told the woman, who was with the officers, "that she did not want to go inside the apartment and see what he had done," according to a criminal complaint. Utecht was charged today with felony counts of burglary and terroristic threats. His initial court appearance will be July 28. Police were alerted...

UW-Madison athletics officials have created a unique way to use the UW Badgers' home football season to reduce carbon emissions. According to Justin Doherty, UW-Madison assistant athletic director, the effort to create a "carbon-neutral" football season involves offsetting the amount of carbon that is expended during home football games because of practices like fans traveling to and from the game and the use of electricity. He said along with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, UW-Madison calculated the amount of carbon emitted at home football games and will pay for carbon "credits" as a part of the Chicago Climate...

Grant for converting Badger from coal to diesel rejected by federal government 10/22 - Ludington, Mich. - A federal transportation grant application by the city of Ludington to convert the S.S. Badger cross-lake ferry from coal to diesel power was unsuccessful, officials announced Wednesday. Ludington’s $14 million request for special federal stimulus money for new engines for the Lake Michigan Carferry operation was not among the 42 projects funded nationwide. The city’s request to provide new diesel engines for the historic coal-powered steamship was among nearly 1,000 grant applications totaling $19 billion. The U.S. Department of Transportation had only $600...

Workmen painting white lines on a road left a gap for a dead badger because they said it was not their responsibility to move it. The animal had been killed about a week before on the A338 near Downton, on the Hampshire-Wiltshire border. Hampshire County Council said the workers did what they thought "was best" because it is the district council's job to remove carcasses.

The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) is commissioning a pilot cull of badgers within a 288 sq km (111 sq miles) area of south-west Wales. WAG has not revealed the date when the cull will begin, nor the exact boundaries of the Intensive Action Pilot Area; but it is known to lie principally in north Pembrokeshire, extending marginally into Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. The aim is to remove all badgers within the area.

A wayward badger somehow managed to get into a building at the main post office in downtown Milwaukee this morning. The badger was seen hiding underneath a locker in the men's locker room of the vehicle maintenance facility around 7 a.m., said U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Marge Oehlke. A Department of Natural Resources warden was called to the scene and with the help of postal employees, the badger was herded out of the locker room. The animal huddled in a corner of a gated area outside the building where postal trucks are maintained. Eventually it waddled away. The DNR did...

A cull of badgers in Wales to eradicate bovine TB has moved a step nearer after the rural affairs minister began the next stage of the legal process. Elin Jones said she will sign an Order which will give Welsh ministers the powers to implement a cull. It comes after £25m was paid to farmers whose 12,000 cattle were put down after contracting TB in 2008. But opposition groups to the plans say a cull of badgers will not stop the spread of the disease. A public consultation where 741 people responded showed 50% were opposed to a cull. However,...

German police called to clear a road of a dead badger found the animal in question had in fact gorged itself on over-ripe, fermented cherries and, blind drunk, staggered out into the middle of the road. "The animal's stomach had turned the fruit to alcohol and the badger was, to put it crudely, drunk as a skunk," said a police statement on Wednesday. "In addition, the badger was suffering from diarrhoea studded with cherry stones." Prodding the reluctant beast with a stick, officers managed to persuade it to leave the road near the town of Goslar in northwestern Germany and...

In this photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, graduate student at Oregon State University, Katie Moriarty, got a picture of a wolverine on a motion-and-heat-detecting digital camera set up between Truckee and Sierraville, Calif. in the northern part of the mountain range on Thursday Feb. 28, 2008. The discovery could affect land-use decisions if the wolverine is declared an endangered species, a step the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering, although the animals typically live at high elevations where there is limited development. (AP Photo/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) A research project aimed at weasels...

Crazy giant Badger video...

British forces have denied rumours that they released a plague of ferocious badgers into the Iraqi city of Basra. Word spread among the populace that UK troops had introduced strange man-eating, bear-like beasts into the area to sow panic. But several of the creatures, caught and killed by local farmers, have been identified by experts as honey badgers. The rumours spread because the animals had appeared near the British base at Basra airport. UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer said: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area. "We have been told these are...

Giant badgers terrorise Iraqi port city by Karim Jamil Wed Jul 11, 12:56 PM ET BASRA, Iraq (AFP) - The Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a new fear -- a giant badger stalking the streets by night. ADVERTISEMENT Local farmers have caught and killed several of the beasts, but this has done nothing to dispel rumours of a bear-like monster that eats humans and was allegedly released into the area by British forces to spread panic. Iraqi scientists have attempted to calm the public...

BADGER BURGLAR COLLARED A badger broke into a house and woke up the neighbours by smashing a window during its bungled escape. A police spokeswoman said: "It is believed the badger entered the house via a cat flap and made its way up the stairs to a bedroom. "Once there it tried to jump through the window, causing the window to smash, and injuring itself." The 78-year-old woman who lived in the house, in Swindon, Wiltshire, was alerted to the break-in by a neighbour who was disturbed by the sound of smashing glass at about 1.30am. The neighbour told police...

Prehistoric badger had dinosaurs for breakfast Michael Hopkin Fossil of a surprisingly large, carnivorous mammal is discovered in China. This artist's impression shows how the metre-long mammals might have looked. © Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Archaeologists have dug up a new species of mammal that roamed China during the reign of the dinosaurs. The creature was large enough to feast on young dinosaurs, exploding the myth that all of the mammals living back then were relatively tiny. Repenomamus giganticus, as the creature has been christened, was more than a metre long, about the size...

Here's something to put on the 'puter as you open presents. It's an offshoot of a Net animation called Badger! Badger! which had dancing badgers to a danceable tune. That, in turn, spurred "Bananaphone", a similar animation set to the tune of a sped-up Raffi song. This one does seem to accent "Presents!" but it does show baby Jesus though! (And speaking of Web animation I guess yahoo had a "Santa" one from the makers of that Jib Jab animation. Haven't seen it yet though.) Link to the Santa! Badger! http://www.ebaumsworld.com/santabadger.html

Bush's lead stronger, poll says Kerry behind by 10 points in state, according to Harris By ALAN J. BORSUK Posted: Sept. 29, 2004 Evidence that President Bush has moved into a notable lead over Sen. John Kerry in the important Wisconsin presidential contest increased Wednesday with the release of a fresh poll. Election 2004 Harris Poll Graphic/Alfred Elicierto Harris Poll Related Coverage Debate: Bush, Kerry set to put on the gloves Badger Poll: Finds support for Bush handling of war Kerry: Candidate takes away Badger spirit Absentee ballot: Problems threaten the overseas vote Editorial: Break sound-bite barrier Editorial: A Democratic...

Kerry takes away Badger spirit Democratic hopeful says he's ready to debate Bush By STACY FORSTER Posted: Sept. 29, 2004 Madison - Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry left Wisconsin Wednesday, saying he was revived by three days of debate preparation and ready to challenge President Bush on his record during a series of debates that begins today. "I can't think of a better way to spend three days, clear your head and get a whole lot of Badger fighting spirit," the Massachusetts senator told a couple hundred supporters who gathered at Dane County Regional Airport to send him off to...

Badger badger badger badger . . . mushroom mushroom!

LAZY road workers painted a white line straight over a dead badger. The animal’s body was lying by the side of a main road as the new lines were being marked out. Instead of moving it, workers painted a white stripe over its back. Passer-by Chris Crab-tree took these photos of the callous act on the A361 near Frome, Somerset. The salesman, 58, said: “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “I had driven over the county border into Somerset when I noticed it. “They had painted over the badger where it lay.” The dad of four, of Congresbury, added:...