Free Republic

RUSH CITY, Minn. (WCCO) — It’s the Fourth of July weekend, so it’s fitting to hear a story about an eagle rescued by a veteran. Earlier this week, Jason Galvin and his neighbors noticed an eagle dangling from a tree near Rush City. Its leg was caught in a piece of rope that was wrapped around a branch, about 70 feet off the ground. “I thought it was dead at the time,” Jason said. “I took a closer look with binoculars and saw that the head was moving, and I knew it was very much alive.” Jason and his wife...

Some history of the Natick MA Quartermaster Labs solar furnace. "http://www.boston-online.com/bizarro/the_cockroaches_that_ate_natick.html" "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tK3s1Vnol0"

To allow Montana’s solar industry to continue growing toward its enormous potential, we need the right policies in place. That’s why I was so glad to see the energy plan recently released by Gov. Steve Bullock. (cut) Henry Dykema is president of the nonprofit Montana Renewable Energy Association and owner of Sundance Solar Systems, a solar installation business near Red Lodge.

Montana Mountain Mamas and Moms Clean Air Force are particularly pleased by two specific points of the plan. Montana can and will double our solar development and reduce energy use 10 percent by 2025. These are commonsense goals we can collectively reach for. To help, we also fully support a $5 million proposal to the 2017 Montana Legislature to fund energy conservation projects in schools across the state. Energy conservation saves money in the long-term and will help school districts lower their long-term energy bills.

NorthWestern Energy is asking Montana to pull the plug on solar projects, at least until the utility can get better terms from the state on ones it legally can’t refuse. The utility, which provides electricity to half of Montana, told Montana’s Public Service Commission on June 9 that the mandated price it must pay to small commercial solar projects of 3 megawatts or less is too high and hurting consumers. The projects, known as qualifying facilities, or QFs have been popping up like dandelions because Montana’s guaranteed rate is too generous, according to the utility.

KALISPELL - 18 teens have been charged with misdemeanors related to a spree of vandalism at Flathead High School that occurred in early May. 21 students were allegedly involved in the destruction that included drinking fountains torn from the walls and toilet paper strewn through the halls. 18 recent graduates of FHS face misdemeanor criminal mischief and trespassing according to the Flathead County Attorney's Office. The remaining three individuals' cases are being reviewed. School officials estimate the students caused $4,000 in damage.

HELENA - A new plan, complete with targeted digital and radio advertising, has been proposed to notify millions of Remington rifle owners about how to fix their weapon’s trigger mechanism. The plan filed in federal court late last week in Kansas City, Missouri, is part of an ongoing lawsuit claiming trigger mechanisms are defective in several Remington rifle models, sometimes causing the rifle to fire without the trigger being pulled. The plan also has a high-profile author: Signal Interactive Media, the firm co-founded by Jim Messina, who managed President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and was a top aide to...

Today's guest was Curtis Bowers. He is a former Idaho Legislator and is a current writer, director and award winning producer. He is also the star of “Agenda, Grinding America Down.” Curtis talked about his work and took listener comments and questions.

A small victory for three 4-H clubs in Silver Bow County after a judge temporarily reinstates their council leaders. A temporary restraining order allows the Silver Bow 4-H council president, vice president, secretary and treasurer to retain their officer positions for now. They were all fired by the Montana university extension office which governs the 4-H program. (1/2 of story... not so for the kids in 4H)

Hillary Clinton supporters gathered in the Helena office, which is located just above the U.S Bank on Last Chance Gulch. (OH, it's ABOVE a US Bank????) Bless her heart, she's not making them tunnel anymore.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican presidential debaters misfired in assertions about Supreme Court nominees, Syria, immigration and more.

Win Butler wants the United States to Wake Up, but ESPN wasn't about to allow him the platform for his alarm. The frontman of Arcade Fire, a band that hails from Canada, was named the Celebrity Game MVP in Toronto on Friday night, racking up 15 points and 14 rebounds for team Drake in a game some people actually watched. But Butler tried to keep eyes and ears on him after the performance, pivoting an interview with ESPN's Sage Steele into a plea for health-care reform in the United States

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan's pointed attacks on Democrats who overturned his veto of expanded voting rights for felons appear to have tapped into a current of anger among some state residents, who are sending hate mail and making threatening phone calls to lawmakers who voted for the override.

A 73-year-old man who mysteriously vanished Tuesday is facing a $113 million judgment from the Federal Trade Commission over a get-rich-quick infomercial scam. John Nelson Beck of Alameda was the man behind John Beck Amazing Profits LLC, which put out infomercials marketing “John Beck’s Free & Clear Real Estate System.” According to court filings, the infomercials falsely told consumers that they could easily make massive amounts of money by buying homes at government tax sale auctions and immediately flipping or renting them.

A 22-year-old Carteret man who recently spent nearly three years in prison for weapons offenses was in court Tuesday on charges that he robbed a man at gunpoint in Jersey City while on parole, officials said.

Journalists covering student activism on the campus of the University of Missouri still face a hostile environment. According to Higher Education news site The College Fix, one of their student videographers had the cops called on him after he refused to leave a Wednesday evening town hall meeting organized by Concerned Student 1950.

(AP/excerpt) A coalition of voting rights groups on Friday sued a federal elections official who decided that residents of Alabama, Kansas and Georgia can no longer register to vote using a national form without providing proof of U.S. citizenship.

The owner of the gun used to kill Pamela Smart's husband Gregg in 1990 is appealing a judge's ruling last month to not return the firearm. The Portsmouth Herald reported that Vance Lattime Sr. recently filed the appeal in Rockingham Superior Court, asking Judge Andrew Schulman to reconsider returning his Charter Arms .38 caliber revolver - a key piece of evidence in the case.

AP, link above

A Manhattan judge ignored a career criminal's history of mental illness, releasing him without bail after he sucker-punched a stranger - leaving him free to slash a woman in Chelsea a week later.