Free Republic

VICTORVILLE • A controversial proposal to give federal land north of Victorville to Cemex in hopes of ending a 12-year dispute over mining in Santa Clarita is back before the City Council Tuesday night.Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, first introduced the Soledad Canyon Mine Act in 2008 and then again in 2009. The bills aimed to give 10,600 acres of Bureau of Land Management property north of Victorville to cement producer Cemex USA. In exchange, the company would agree to a band on its rights to mine gravel in Soledad Canyon, where residents have been protesting the impact on...

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid might have violated Senate ethics rules by not disclosing to Congress the transfer of Las Vegas land he owned to a partnership in which he maintained a financial stake.The partnership sold the land three years later at a profit of $700,000 for Reid, property deeds show. The Nevada Democrat's deal was engineered by Jay Brown, a longtime friend and former casino lawyer whose name surfaced in a major political bribery trial this summer and in prior organized-crime investigations. He has never been charged with wrongdoing, except for a 1981 federal securities complaint that...

NORTH COUNTY ---- What may be his last contract with the federal government has run out. Most of his employees have quit or been laid off. He owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in back property taxes on his company's multimilllion-dollar Poway headquarters, a 97,000-square-foot building he is negotiating to sell. And in the latest blow to defense contractor Brent Wilkes ---- one of the men identified as an alleged co-conspirator of Randy "Duke" Cunningham in the bribery scandal that put the former congressman in prison ---- the Poway resident is being sued by two companies accusing him of breach...

WASHINGTON -- The Interior Department has disciplined four officials behind a Utah land swap and reformed its land appraisal process after an investigation revealed they concealed details that showed the exchange would have shortchanged taxpayers. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, had singled out the actions of the attorneys and negotiators behind a proposed land exchange in Utah's San Rafael Swell, saying they misled Congress and top Interior officials. He also demanded to know whether the Interior Secretary Gale Norton considered such behavior acceptable. "The Department of Interior is responsible for ensuring that we present accurate facts to the Congress, decision-makers and...

Originally published June 15,2001 THE GREAT GOLD HEISTThe Desert Wilderness Protection Act by Karen Lee Bixman Published in: Media ByPass Magazine (1-800-4-bypass) Senator Diane Feinstein: "The Modern Jesse James" Congress should be convening a criminal investigation. On October 8, 1994, the biggest gold heist in history occurred, but this theft lacked the melodrama of a Jesse James' holdup or the excitement of a Brink's truck robbery. Nary a word was reported by the media even though this thievery was committed in the light of day. The citizens that were being robbed tried to cry out for help but the lawmen...