Free Republic

<p>The Denver Broncos' Tim Tebow came to Tampa, Fla., Friday to appear at a fundraiser and meet with a wounded Afghanistan veteran, My Fox Tampa Bay reports.</p> <p>Mar. 9, 2012: U.S. Army Ranger Romy Camargo got a surprise visit from Tim Tebow in Florida.</p>

There’s no escaping Solyndra Syndrome. Here in my home state of Colorado, citizen journalists have uncovered our own gaping government-green-loan sinkhole. The stench of Chicago-on-the-Potomac is fouling the fresh Rocky Mountain air. Meet Loveland-based Abound Solar, the lucky winner of a $400 million federal loan guarantee from the Obama administration. Earlier this month, the thin-film cadmium-telluride solar-module maker announced layoffs of nearly 300 employees (70 percent of its work force). In addition, the firm froze plans to build a new factory in Indiana. Abound says it will ride out bad market conditions and “hopefully” survive until the market recovers. But...

There's no escaping Solyndra Syndrome. Here in my home state of Colorado, citizen journalists have uncovered our own gaping government green loan sinkhole. The stench of Chicago-on-the-Potomac is fouling the fresh Rocky Mountain air. Meet Loveland-based Abound Solar, the lucky winner of a $400 million federal loan guarantee from the Obama administration. Earlier this month, the thin-film cadmium telluride solar module-maker announced layoffs of nearly 300 employees (70 percent of its workforce). In addition, the firm froze plans to build a new factory in Indiana. Abound says it will ride out bad market conditions and "hopefully" survive until the market...

DENVER — Colorado Senate Democrats rejected legislation to expand self-defense protections for businesses, saying Monday the proposal would give too much leeway to use deadly force against suspected intruders. "This dramatically changes self-defense," said Sen. Rollie Heath, a Democrat from Boulder.

A proposed bill that would allow law-abiding Colorado gun owners to carry a concealed firearm without a concealed carry permit would be dangerous and would shoot down important gun training, two local firearms instructors said Sunday. Leonard Jimenez, president of the Pueblo Municipal Shooters, and Patrick Watts, a retired Arizona sheriff's deputy and firearms instructor, said education is the only safe way for people to understand concealed weapons laws. Watts held a four-hour seminar on the subject at the shooter's club Sunday. The state's current law prohibits carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a weapon on school, college or university...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ' A Colorado doctor with a concealed-weapon permit said he grabbed his gun and guarded an exit at a medical building as dozens of people fled from a gunman who had taken two hostages.

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they are reviewing court summonses at the Aurora Detention Center in an effort to identify deportable illegal immigrants.

As I noted last Fall, Colorado courts have treated the Colorado Constitution’s right to keep and bear arms provision as substantially protecting felons’ rights to keep guns for self-defense — an approach quite different from that used by the U.S. Supreme Court in interpreting the Second Amendment, or by other states’ courts interpreting those states’ constitutions. Today’s State v. Carbajal (Colo. Ct. App. Mar. 1, 2012) reaffirms that. An excerpt: In 1876, the new State of Colorado adopted a constitution that included a provision in its bill of rights establishing a right to keep and bear arms in defense of...

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – The owner of a check cashing store in Lakewood shot one suspect and scared off another during a robbery attempt Saturday evening, police said. At around 7 p.m., two suspects entered Cambio De Cheques on the corner of Colfax and Reed. “The store owner reported that two males approached him as he was closing his business for the evening, sprayed him with mace and then tried to take the money he was carrying,” said Lakewood Police Det. Ryan McKone The owner shot one suspect in the leg. The other suspect fled the scene. “The suspects in this...

The owner of a pit bull and a boxer involved in a fatal dog shooting Thursday was cited Friday on suspicion of two counts of unlawful ownership of a dangerous animal, said Erica Meyer a Humane Society spokeswoman. The incident happened around 4 p.m. Thursday at a house on Portrait Place in northeast Colorado Springs. Bud Linton, who owns a german shepherd, said the two dogs had jumped his 6-foot fence and were fighting with his dog, Max. Linton said he coaxed max into the house when the boxer and pit bull chased after a neighbor and her two small...

It happens to every hunter and angler: A trip is ruined when an illegal gate, fence or “No Trespassing” sign prevents access to public land. In most cases, the hunter or angler gives up and goes elsewhere, which is just what the landowner wants and expects. But sometimes a hunter refuses to back down. Brandon Siegfried decided not to back down after being harassed by landowners illegally posting public land along Roan Creek near De Beque. “My buddy and I were turkey hunting up here and a rancher stopped his truck and asked us what we were doing,” Siegfried recounted...

MONUMENT, Colo. (CBS4) – A girl who borrowed a friend’s asthma inhaler at school has now been expelled. The incident happened in January at Lewis-Palmer Middle School in Monument. Both the girls and their families are unhappy with the punishment. The school’s punishment strikes one of the families as uneven justice. The school said the girls broke the district’s drug policy. Their families call the incident an accident and the school’s discipline heavy-handed. For 10 days Breana Crites and Alyssa McKinney sat at home while suspended from school. The two were in gym class. Crites complained of trouble breathing, so...

I attended a public conference organized by the Counter Terrorism Education Learning Lab (“The Cell”) which was held in Denver, Colorado on February 22 at the Denver Art Museum. Admission was by reservation-only, but the event organizers had been very liberal in passing out complementary invitations. Seating was available for about 600 people, but close to 700 actually showed up. The VIPs gathered before the opening session in an exclusive reception area that was open to selected attendees, presumably ones who actually paid for their tickets. A number of State officials were present from the major parties. The session panelists...

Barack Obama's re-election campaign hired Carrie Doyle, a high powered lobbyist for Colorado's most outspoken anti-drilling environmental organization, to run his campaign in the nation's key electoral battleground: Colorado. ... Among the green groups that Doyle lobbied for -- Colorado Conservation Voters, the Colorado chapter of the League of Conservation Voters. That would be the same League of Conservation Voters who most recently won national stardom for pressuring the Obama Administration to reject the Keystone Pipeline. Wondering whether Obama was going to move to the middle to shore up Colorado's notoriously independent voters? Wondering whether Obama's rejection of the Keystone...

In a ruling that is binding in nine western states and sets a nationwide legal precedent; the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found unanimously last week that the U.S. Forest Service's recreation fee programs must allow citizens to park at trail-heads and go for a hike without paying a fee. The case (Adams v. U. S. Forest Service) was brought in 2008 by four hikers who visit the Coronado National Forest around Mt. Lemmon, near Tucson. The San Francisco Appeals Court found the U. S. Forest Service at fault for charging parking fees to people who go for a hike...

In a ruling that is binding in nine western states and sets a nationwide legal precedent; the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found unanimously last week that the U.S. Forest Service's recreation fee programs must allow citizens to park at trail-heads and go for a hike without paying a fee. The case (Adams v. U. S. Forest Service) was brought in 2008 by four hikers who visit the Coronado National Forest around Mt. Lemmon, near Tucson. The San Francisco Appeals Court found the U. S. Forest Service at fault for charging parking fees to people who go for a hike...

DENVER (AP) -- House lawmakers approved a bill to forbid the state from seizing Colorado residents' firearms during a declared state of emergency. Republican House Leader Amy Stephens says the bill is about emergency preparedness. The proposal passed the Republican-led House Monday with bipartisan support but it's likely to be defeated in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in Aspen on Friday afternoon and is here with her daughters for a ski vacation. Few details about her trip were available. Sources said she is staying at the home of Jim and Paula Crown, owners of the Aspen Skiing Co. She is reportedly skiing at Buttermilk today, where the Crowns, of Chicago, own a home on the Tiehack side. Several people have known about the “low-key” vacation, with the Secret Service in town for the past few days scoping out places for the family to relax and enjoy what the resort has to offer....

Fox News segment. A Colorado student who refused to sing a song praising Allah quit the choir this week. This morning FOX and Friends reported that James Harper quit school in Grand Junction after receiving death threats. Harper received the death threats after the story broke this week. The school defended its decision to sing the song to Allah. Hat tip to Gateway Pundit

A Colorado high school student says he quit the school choir after an Islamic song containing the lyric "there is no truth except Allah" made it into the repertoire. James Harper, a senior at Grand Junction High School in Grand Junction, put his objection to singing "Zikr," a song written by Indian composer A.R. Rahman, in an email to Mesa County School District 51 officials. When the school stood by choir director Marcia Wieland's selection, Harper said, he quit. "I don’t want to come across as a bigot or a racist, but I really don’t feel it is appropriate for...