Free Republic

Most of the 1.5 million electricity consumers served by the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association probably don’t think about it. But when they wake up and flip on their light switches each morning, they can thank in significant part Tri-State’s Craig Station power plant in Moffat County, the second largest in Colorado. And that power plant can operate only thanks to hundreds of local workers digging in, not just figuratively at the plant itself, but literally at the two area surface mines — Colowyo and Trapper — that provide the plant’s coal. ... With 220 people working at Colowyo, some...

Man killed trying to rob ex-CNN anchor was 'street slave' who was given drugs to commit crimes claim police as they charge his 'owner' with HIS murder The man who was killed as he tried to rob a former CNN anchor at gunpoint is now being described as a 'street slave.' Lynne Russell, 68, had stopped for the night in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday June 30 when she was grabbed by an Tomorio Walton, who demanded valuables from her room. But she was saved from the attack after her husband Chuck de Caro- a former CNN anchor who has...

A man who police say was part of a group who targeted two former CNN staffers at an Albuquerque Motel 6 and gave shooter Tomorio Walton a gun to rob them was arrested Thursday morning. Walton tried to rob Lynne Russell, former CNN anchor, and her husband Chuck de Caro, a former CNN reporter, the night of June 30 while they were staying at a Motel 6 near Coors and Iliff NW. Walton fired at de Caro, and de Caro returned fire, killing Walton, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. De Caro hasn’t been charged. Instead, Walton’s accomplice, 30-year-old Skyy...

Attorneys general from thirteen states filed a lawsuit Monday challenging EPA's new rule defining the waters of the U.S. (WOTUS), asserting that the rule expands the scope of clean water regulations to lands that are dry much of the year and increases the federal government's authority over land use. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, who joined in the lawsuit, noted that 35 states have filed comments in opposition to the rule and several other attorneys general are considering filing challenges. The EPA is overstepping...

Donald Trump appears to have deleted a tweet he quoted that made questionable comments about Jeb Bush and his wife. On July 4th, Trump quoted another users tweet which claimed to know why Bush likes “Mexican illegals.” The tweet appeared to be live for 24 hours before Trump deleted it. Bush’s wife, Columbia, is Mexican. Bush responded to Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants being rapists and drug lords over the weekend. “I don’t think he represents the Republican Party, and his views are way out of the mainstream of what most Republicans think.”

The Hillary Clinton campaign’s “Dinner With Hillary” contest has slightly different fine print than past Clinton campaign contests. The rules have been altered so as not to explicitly exclude illegal immigrants from entering.As The Daily Caller reported, the Clinton campaign’s “Meet Hillary” contest, which closed for entries June 5, prohibited DREAMers from entering or winning prizes.“Promotion open only to U.S. citizens, or lawful permanent U.S. residents who are legal residents of the 50 states, DC or Puerto Rico and 18 or older (or age of majority under applicable law),” according to that contest’s fine print.But the new “Dinner With Hillary”...

Thursday night, Albuquerque police identified the man killed in a shootout at a west side Motel 6 with former CNN reporter Chuck de Caro as 27-year-old Tomorio Walton, who APD says is an absconder out of Memphis, Tennessee. APD spokesperson Tanner Tixier said it is unknown how long Walton had been in the Albuquerque area.

Former CNN anchor and Manzano High School graduate Lynne Russell told Action 7 News she and her husband Chuck de Caro were robbed at gunpoint around 11:30 p.m. at the Motel 6 near Coors and Iliff. De Caro worked as a correspondent for CNN. Russell said they were exhausted Tuesday night and decided to go to a motel to rest. She had gone to the car to get something when a man put a gun to her head, dragged her back into the motel room and demanded her valuables. "The man pushed me inside, I was airborne, literally. And (I)...

A former CNN reporter shot and killed a man who allegedly tried to rob him and his wife at a northwest Albuquerque motel room Tuesday night. Chuck de Caro, who is married to former CNN Headline News anchor Lynne Russell, has worked as an investigative reporter for CNN and other news organizations. The couple was staying at the Motel 6 at 6015 Iliff NW while on their way to California. According to Russell’s account, de Caro was struck three times in the firefight before shooting and killing the offender, who hasn’t been identified by police. De Caro was taken to...

Albuquerque police say a Domino's delivery driver shot an armed man who attempted to rob him in the restaurant's parking lot in the North Valley late Sunday. Police responded to the scene near Menaul and 12th around 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Officers received reports of a robbery in progress and shots being fired in the area.

To keep conservative rebels in check, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies have been doling out punishments at an aggressive clip in the 114th Congress. From kicking unruly members off the Rules Committee and GOP whip team to stripping a lawmaker of his subcommittee gavel, leadership has been growing more comfortable with taking retaliatory measures to try to enforce party discipline. But several Tea Party targets haven’t gone quietly. They’ve been fighting back with help from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s conservative House Freedom Caucus, which successfully pressured leaders this week to return a subcommittee gavel to one of their...

NCBA will engage EPA in lawsuit alleging overreach in Waters of the U.S. rule, group says. Concerns of cattlemen regarding the U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers Waters of the U.S. rule released last month are coming true, National Cattlemen's Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall said Tuesday, but that's actually generating more support for repeal efforts. We just got some more feedback this last weekend that it's the determination of the EPA that any stock tank or pond that runs around in a flooding type event would be considered a 'water of the United States,'"...

Grand Junction, COLO. It's a hot debate that's sparked a lot of controversy in Mesa County. The updating of the Resource Management Plan has been in the works for years. It was announced a few months back, but not everyone's happy about the proposal. The Mesa County Commissioners and the Bureau of Land Management took turns speaking at the town hall meeting. The public listened to what happened in a meeting with representatives from the governor's office, in regards to the Resource Management Plan, and had the chance to share their concerns and suggestions. At last week's meeting with the...

TAOS, N.M. -- Searchers have found the body of a former White House chef who had been missing for more than a week after going hiking in the New Mexico mountains, authorities said. The body of 61-year-old Walter Scheib was found Sunday night near a hiking trail in mountains in the Taos area, the New Mexico State Police said. "The body was discovered off the immediate trail," a State Patrol statement said. Authorities did not provide a cause of death or any other details about the discovery, saying rescuers were still gathering information and more details would be released later....

New research has revealed why it took more than 30 million years for large Triassic dinosaurs to populate the tropics after they first appeared on Earth, ending a mystery that has kept researchers baffled for decades. Using new geological evidence culled from Ghost Ranch, N.M., researchers from the University of Southampton in the U.K. have found that an extremely unpredictable hot and arid climate due to elevated carbon dioxide levels (four to six times of what they are today) kept large herbivorous dinos at bay until after 200 million years ago.

A former White House executive chef to Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush has been reported missing in New Mexico’s Taos Ski Valley after a planned hiking trip to the area last Saturday. Walter Scheib, 61, was reported missing by his girlfriend when he did not return home from a hiking trip last Saturday. Authorities discovered his vehicle on Tuesday, and have been combing 20 to 30 square miles of mountainous area for Schieb since Wednesday, according to Bob Rodgers, the search and resource officer leading the search for the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. "The terrain is...

The House on Thursday approved a key plank of President Obama's trade agenda after the push nearly imploded amid Democratic resistance last week, sending the bill to the Senate where it still faces an uncertain fate. The 218-208 vote nevertheless marked a significant victory for Obama and his pro-trade supporters in both parties. The vote came after Obama huddled Wednesday evening with congressional allies to try to craft a way forward.

House GOP leaders booted three members off the whip team for voting against a procedural rule that structured how a critical trade package was brought to the House floor last week. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) informed Reps. Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Steve Pearce (N.M.) and Trent Franks (Ariz.) on Monday that they were no longer a part of the GOP’s vote-counting operation, a source close to the whip team confirmed. Scalise’s decision was based on longstanding whip team rules that stated members must “vote as a team on procedural matters” but are free to vote against leadership on underlying legislation,...

House Republican leaders are cracking down on rebellious members after a near-disaster on a trade vote last week, but another imperiled rule coming to the House floor Tuesday is making it difficult to punish members leaders need to pass the measure. Reps. Cynthia Lummis, Steve Pearce and Trent Franks have been removed from the whip team after they sided with GOP rebels to vote against a rule governing debate on a trade bill, according to sources close to the team. Lummis, a deputy whip and a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was perhaps the whip team's highest-ranking bridge...

At a time when New Mexico judges are under fire for not being tougher on suspected criminals, the state Supreme Court is telling them to give suspects more rights. Even some suspects accused of murder would be allowed the chance to get out of jail on lower bonds, or no bond at all. The high court said Walter Brown's case is the reason. In 2011, Brown was accused of fatally stabbing a man in the heart. A judge set his bond at $250,000. According to court records, he sat behind bars for more than two years awaiting trial. But last...