Free Republic

While combat drones are not allowed in the U.S. airspace without a special certificate from the FAA, the military is in a fix over the 7, 500 military drones deployed overseas, that need to be recalled home.... After returning home, the robotic aircraft would be stationed in military bases around the nation for use in emergencies... Last week, Congress approved legislation requiring the FAA to create a plan for wide-scale integration of drones in the national airspace by 2015.

Lower-income smokers in Utah may soon have to pay more for a doctor's visit if they continue the unhealthy habit. That is, if a bill currently making its way through the state legislature passes. State Representative Paul Ray, R., is the author of the proposal to charge a Medicaid recipient a higher co-pay for doctor visits if he or she smokes cigarettes.

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

PROVO -- A major new art exhibit is currently undergoing installation at the BYU Museum of Art is expected to attract 100,000 visitors and will feature art from the world of Islam. KSL was able to get an exclusive first look. The "Beauty and Belief" exhibit is expected to attract 100-thousand visitors. Works will travel to four museums in America, but they make their first stop in Provo. The exhibit team is mounting 250 works of art. A pair of 19th century mother-of-pearl doors from India were donated by the Doris Duke Foundation in Hawaii. A heavy, jewel-encrusted box from...

Twenty-One Republican Candidates Take Steps Toward ‘Young Gun' Status Washington- The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) today announced its newest round of ‘On the Radar' candidates. By reaching the second step of the four-step ‘Young Guns' program, these Republican candidates have reached the fundamental benchmarks to place them on the road to victory. Now, these 21 candidates are ready to take on the Democrat establishment and return fiscal sanity to Washington. "These candidates have worked hard to meet the benchmarks that have been laid out before them and are determined to hold Washington Democrats accountable this November," said NRCC Chairman...

DUCHESNE — A judge has ordered an LDS Church bishop to stand trial on charges of witness tampering and failure to report abuse. But the defense attorney for Bishop Gordon Moon called the judge's order "a far cry from a ringing endorsement of the prosecution's case." "I think anyone who reads the bindover order can see that," attorney David Leavitt said Wednesday. "From our perspective, the bindover was something we expected because the burden of proof is so low." Moon, 43, is accused of failing to notify police about a 17-year-old girl's disclosure that she had been sexually abused by...

The US Bureau of Land Management published a draft programmatic environmental impact statement and possible land use amendments for federally administered oil shale and tar sands acreage in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. It also opened a 90-day comment period on the proposals on Feb. 3. The draft PEIS analyzes several land allocation and resource management alternatives, the US Department of the Interior agency noted. It said if it decides to adopt the preferred alternative, 461,965 acres would be available for research and development of oil shale (35,308 acres in Colorado, 252,181 acres in Utah, and 174,476 acres in Wyoming), and...

Updated at 10:07 p.m. ET: The preliminary autopsy results of Josh Powell and his two sons show that they suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning, and the boys also suffered from other injuries. The Pierce County Medical Examiner tells KING 5 TV that 7-year-old Charles suffered "chop" injuries to the neck and 5-year-old Braden suffered similar injuries to the neck and head. Both the wounds and carbon monoxide poisoning were contributing factors in their deaths, the medical examiner said. Pierce County sheriff officials say a hatchet was recovered next to the bodies in the home. Powell, the husband of missing Utah...

The Mormon Church owns one of the most active and unregulated gun sale portals on the web, according to a national investigation released by the New York City Mayor's office. The website in question is KSL.com, the online hub for Utah's NBC affiliate and sister radio station, which are both owned and operated by the for-profit arm of the Mormon Church. In addition to local news, KSL.com produces a popular classifieds section that reaches millions of users well beyond Utah.The LDS connection drew little notice when Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a leading financier of the gun control movement, published the report...

Josh Powell Tragedy: Son Said Mom Was In Trunk of Car, Lawyer Claims The young sons of Susan and Josh Powell, who died with their father when he ignited an explosion in their Washington home, were beginning to verbalize that their mother was in the trunk of their father's car on the night that she disappeared in 2009, a lawyer for the missing woman's parents said. Attorney Steve Downing told the Associated Press that Braden and Charles Powell, who were 2 and 4 at the time of Susan Powell's disappearance, were beginning to tell their grandparents details about the night...

The last general answer seems to be a popular subject, especially with the new legislative session: laws concerning open carry and carrying concealed weapons. First off, when dealing with police, just notify us of the fact that you have a firearm. I cannot tell you how an individual officer will react, but that's what you do. Let me first say that I believe in gun ownership. I believe in defending yourself if in a life-threatening situation or defending the life of someone else. I however do not understand the need to own an assault rifle for private use, with ammunition...

The Bureau of Land Management on Friday proposed scaling back a George W. Bush-era plan for development of oil shale and tar sands on Western lands, drawing the ire of Republicans and industry groups. The plan would reduce the available acreage for oil-shale and tar-sands development by about three-fourths in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming in an attempt to protect environmentally sensitive areas. It also would pull back the Bush-era proposal to make oil-shale leases available for commercial development, instead continuing to lease them only for research-and-experimentation purposes. BLM announced last year it would redo the Bush-era plan as part of...

The husband of a missing Utah mom blew up his home Sunday —apparently intentionally — killing himself and the couple’s two young sons, authorities said. Josh Powell’s house in Graham, Wash., exploded and burst into flames moments after a social worker brought the two boys Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5, for a visit with their dad. Powell was under investigation in the disappearance of his wife, Susan, from their West Valley City, Utah, home in December 2009.

SALT LAKE CITY - Legislator Paul Ray-R, Clearfield is sponsoring a bill that will allow Utahns to openly carry firearms and other weapons without being charged with disorderly conduct. Ray maintains some police agencies have unnecessarily issued citations to gun owners who have not concealed their weapons. Ray said, “When you’re trying to take away any second Amendment rights, there needs to be some protection there.” HB49 “provides that in the absence of additional threatening behavior, the otherwise lawful possession of a firearm or dangerous weapon, whether visible or concealed, is not a violation of certain statutory provisions …” If...

RUSH: This is Erin, Salt Lake City. Erin, welcome. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Hi, Rush. It's great (garbled). I just first wanted to say this is my first time calling and I'm new to listening to you full time and it's a pleasure. RUSH: Thank you. CALLER: I think... I think to just allow me one second to just explain who I am. I think it's important to my point. I am a 37-year-old mother of three who has multiple sclerosis. And I have, you know, like I said three children. And I live...

A 6-year-old Whittier Elementary student got the surprise of her young life Friday as she was telling her classmates what she wanted the most for her birthday -- her father back home. Just as she was doing show-and-tell in class, Bailey Page's father, Sgt. Adam Page, walked in to surprise her after coming back from his Afghanistan deployment.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A House committee gave the green light to a bill that would clarify that a person cannot be charged with disorderly conduct for simply carrying a gun openly. "We are trying to just clarify what disorderly conduct is when there is firearm involved," the bill's sponsor Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, said. Ray's bill states that openly carrying a firearm in public would not be disorderly conduct. Rather, the person would need to commit some sort of questionable act to be charged with disorderly conduct. "They can't write me a citation just because I'm carrying a weapon,"...

Reporting from Port Saint Lucie, Fla.— Dubbed the "proxies with moxie," Mitt Romney's congressional backers have been crashing Newt Gingrich's events to offer a counterpoint to the former House speaker's remarks. It's an unusual tactic to begin with, but their collisions with Gingrich's testy spokesman, R.C. Hammond, have made their sparring into the campaign trail's version of must-see TV. Gingrich said he doesn't mind their presence, which he said is a sign of desperation by Romney. "They send a member of Congress, we send R.C. It's a slight overmatch — R.C.'s a little bit more informed than they are, but...

Mitt Romney's newly released tax returns provide more than an accounting of the Republican presidential candidate's remarkable personal wealth. The documents also give a rare glimpse into tithing to the Mormon church by one its most prominent members. Romney reports he will give a total of $4.13 million to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over two years as part of his overall charitable donations. The former Massachusetts governor reported income of about $43 million for the two years. Separately, over the past decade, Romney and his wife, Ann, have given more than $4.7 million to the denomination...

'I'm Happy and Excited For This Next Chapter': Kidnap Victim Elizabeth Smart Engaged To Be Married Identity of husband not revealed, but reported to be Matthew Gilmour Was married and raped by kidnapper Brian David Mitchell when she was 14 Says she is 'happy and excited for next chapter in her life' 21st January 2012 Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped at the age of 14 from her bedroom at knife-point and held captive for nine months, is engaged to be married. A spokeswoman for 24-year-old Smart revealed she got engaged last week and would be getting married in the summer....

CNN) -- It's tough to pick a mascot these days. Over the past few years we've seen several instances of schools being pressured to change their mascots because of cultural sensitives like Miami University of Ohio having to go through a 25-year process to change from the Redskins to the Redhawks. But we've never heard of a mascot that offended, well, older women. The Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah, needed to choose a mascot and after 23 percent of students who voted decided they wanted to be the Corner Canyon Cougars. Falcons, Raptors and Diamondbacks were the other...

Students in Utah may have voted to urge on their sports teams with the battle cry ‘Go Cougars!’ But the school district has overruled the popular choice because it claims it would be insensitive to women. The students were asked what they wanted to be the mascot for the new Corner Canyon High School, which is scheduled to open in Draper, Utah, next year. While cougars – the large mountain cats - are prevalent in Utah, the principal Mary Bailey worried people would also be reminded of the popular culture use of the word to describe sexually aggressive middle-aged women...

Last week, the Pew Forum released the results of its “Mormons in America” study, the broadest survey of Mormon attitudes ever conducted by an outside organization. The results made headlines, in large part due to the Republican front-runner status of Mitt Romney, a devout and life-long member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many accounts led with Mormons’ surprising perceptions of anti-Mormon prejudice: A whopping 46% of respondents said that Mormons face “a lot of discrimination” in modern America. Fewer Mormons said the same thing about discrimination against African-Americans (31%) and atheists (13%). The specter of prejudice...

STOCKTON, Utah – The U.S. Army has destroyed about 90 percent of its aging chemical weapons after it wraps up work this week in Utah, where it has kept its largest stockpile -- a witches' brew of toxins, blister and blood agents that accumulated through the Cold War. The Army's Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah's west desert burned its last hard weapons in a 1,500-degree furnace on Wednesday -- projectiles that contained mustard agent, which can produce painful skin blisters. The last tray of 23 projectiles came out of a furnace at 2:11 p.m. after baking for two hours, a...

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

If Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love wins her bid for Congress, she will be the first black Republican congresswoman in history. But don’t try to put her in that box. ~snip~ If she does receive significant media attention, Love hopes to use the opportunity to express a conservative message that has too few African American champions. “Any time I’m in front of that camera … I’m going to champion those conservative causes. I’m going to let people out there know that we exist, and that … there are conservative black Americans everywhere that believe in fiscal discipline, limited government and...

If elected in November, Love would be the first black Republican woman in Congress and Utah's first black representative. She said she would join the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C., should she win. "Yes, yes. I would join the Congressional Black Caucus and try to take that thing apart from the inside out," she said.

Jon Huntsman was endorsed by Columbia, S.C.'s The State newspaper on Sunday. The endorsement comes less than a week before the South Carolina primary and comes as Huntsman quickly tries to gain traction in the Palmetto state. The State's endorsement is actually similar to what happened just before the New Hampshire primary: Mitt Romney's hometown paper, The Boston Globe, backed Huntsman in a long editorial in which it compared Romney with the former Utah governor. Like the Globe endorsement, The State praised both Romney and Huntsman but said Huntsman was the better candidate. "There are actually two sensible, experienced grownups," The...

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Two pro-gun conservatives recently announced they were running against Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. This is welcome news for gun owners. In a Senate career that has lasted more than thirty five years, Hatch has not been a particularly good friend of the Second Amendment. During negotiations over the 1986 McClure-Volkmer Firearms Owners Protection Act – designed to protect gun owners from abuses of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- Hatch sat at the negotiating table next to officials of the ATF and argued against the pro-gun positions of Sen. Jim McClure. Though a senior member...

Six police officers were shot by Matthew David Stewart on January 4, one of them died. Officer Jared Francom was laid to rest today with thousands of mourners in attendance. Police are being pretty button-lipped about some of the basic questions about the case, though there have been strange reports in the last few fays that Stewart had a "possible bomb" in his house. CNN reported: "There was a device that was fashioned in a way that concerned those who found it that there were materials that could have been used as a bomb," Weber County Attorney Dee Smith told...

It is no secret that the MPAA and other pro-copyright groups lobby politicians and law enforcers, but when a column by a prominent Attorney General appears to be written directly by the entertainment industries something is horribly wrong. A few days ago Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff wrote an article in the Salt Lake City Tribune. In the column the Attorney General stresses how important it is for Congress to pass the SOPA and PIPA bills. The MPAA is delighted with the support and praised it in a blog post yesterday. “Shurtleff effectively hammers the point that Google, Yahoo and...

(AP) SALT LAKE CITY - A bodybuilder who was shot in the head during a carjacking outside a Nevada casino — then drove herself to get help — was released from a Salt Lake City hospital just days after the shooting, which authorities said figured in a two-state crime spree. Rattana Keomanivong, operator of the Animal House Training and Nutrition gym in West Wendover, Nev., is a tough woman who earned the title "Wendover Strongest" during a weightlifting fundraiser last summer, police Sgt. David Wiskerchen said Wednesday. Keomanivong was able to drive herself to the police station after being shot...

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — Authorities say a Utah police officer has died following a shootout that left five other officers and a suspect wounded. Ogden police say in a statement early Thursday that Jared Francom died from his wounds following Wednesday night's drug-related shooting.

“This is not a time for us to shrink. This is a time for us to have bold colors, not pale pastels.” -- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum campaigning at the Rockingham County Nursing Home in Brentwood, N.H. It doesn’t look like Mitt Romney could lose New Hampshire, but then again, he can’t really win it either. Even a 20-point landslide by Romney in New Hampshire would be instantly discounted as merely meeting expectations for the former governor of the neighboring state who keeps a summer home there. The only way Romney could make news in New Hampshire would be...

Praying for their full recovery.

You know the “reasonable, common sense” crowd’s litany, the one about guns only being good for one thing? Namely, killing, death and wanton destruction? Yeah, well, next time one of them throws that one at you at a cocktail party, here’s a handy comeback example to keep in your quiver. If Chris Willden hadn’t had his gun on his hip yesterday, there would probably be two or three dead kids in Logan, Utah… Roger Anderson was headed for a day of skiing with three kiddies in tow. But he lost control of his car on a slippery, narrow bridge and...

People often criticize the media for what they perceive to be an obsession with bad news; That sort of “if it bleeds it leads” credo that keeps many viewers away from their 6′oclock’s because “it’s just going to make me angry.” We’ve all heard it. So here’s a piece of good and uplifting news for you: This past Saturday while we were all getting fabulous for our New Years Eve shenanigans, former police officer Chris Willden came upon an accident along the U.S. 89 in Logan Canyon, Utah where a Honda Accord had slid off the road and plummeted into...

As many as 10 heroic people jumped into an icy Utah river to help save three trapped children after a car plunged down a 10-foot embankment and flipped over. The rescuers helped turn the Honda Accord upright in the Logan River, and one man shot out the car’s window with a handgun and cut a seat belt to help free the children after Saturday afternoon accident, patrol Lt. Steve Winward said. The driver, Roger Andersen, 46, of Logan, lost control as he tried to brake while heading northbound on U.S. 89 during slick conditions. His 9-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son...

HILDALE, Utah— A deadline set by Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs for his members to reaffirm their commitment to the faith is prompting some people to walk away from the polygamous church on the Utah-Arizona border. Other FLDS members are simply vanishing once they are re-committed to the faith, ex-members and observers told FOX 13. Jeffs, who is imprisoned in Texas for child sex assault related to underage marriages, has ordered his followers to be questioned by FLDS leaders. They've had to fill out questionnaires, confess their sins and be re-baptized into the faith, only after church elders deem...

WASHINGTON — Two out-of-state doctors who traveled to Maryland to perform late-term abortions have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of murder under the state’s viable fetus law, authorities said. Dr. Steven Brigham, of Voorhees, N.J., was taken into custody Wednesday night and is being held in the Camden County jail, according to police in Elkton, Md. Authorities also arrested Dr. Nicola Riley in Salt Lake City and she is in jail in Utah. Each is awaiting an extradition hearing. The two doctors were indicted by a grand jury after a 16-month investigation, police said. The investigation began in...

Two Maryland doctors face murder charges related to abortions performed on late-term fetuses that were viable, authorities said Friday. Steven Brigham and Nicola Riley are in jails in New Jersey and Utah, respectively, awaiting extradition hearings to bring them back to Maryland, police in Elkton, Maryland, said in a news release. The two face identical charges -- five counts each of first-degree murder, five of second-degree murder and one of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. < snip > The investigation began August 13, 2010, when Riley brought a woman into an Elkton hospital due to a "complication resulting from a...

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill proposed for the 2012 Utah Legislature would prohibit a person who is lawfully carrying a firearm in public from being charged with non- firearm related crimes such as disorderly conduct or disturbing the operation of a school. HB49, sponsored by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, states that, “… in the absence of additional threatening behavior, the otherwise lawful possession of a firearm … whether visible or concealed” would not in itself constitute a violation of various criminal statutes. The statutes specified by the bill also include failure to leave a higher education campus when ordered,...

The state's high court determined that an unborn child qualifies as a minor child and, therefore, wrongful death lawsuits may be filed on behalf of those who die before birth. "Although there is no majority opinion, four members of this court hold that the statute allows an action for the wrongful death of an unborn child," Chief Justice Christine Durham wrote. "The term 'minor child,' as used in the statute, includes an unborn child." Durham wrote that the "plain language ... reveals that the term 'minor child,' as used in this statute, includes an unborn child. The statute does not...

WEST BOUNTIFUL — In a closet inside Gary Turley's West Bountiful home, an empty spot now shows where his most valued material possession used to sit. It was a safe, containing nearly $200,000 in cash — he thought was safer there than in a bank. "It was my life savings," Turley said. "I had stuff from my grandpa, who's dead now: his pocket watch, stuff like that. My Social Security cards, Visas, passports, birth certificates, checking — everything to do with my checking (was in the safe)." How it disappeared is almost worse that losing it in the first place....

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Two nurses in a Utah hospital's intensive care unit were fired this week for taping a patient's mouth shut and laughing about it, hospital officials said Friday. Penny Artalejo was admitted to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo on Dec. 17 with nausea and anxiety from taking medication for chronic neck pain, her daughters told KSL ( http://bit.ly/tbVNuS ). Artalejo's daughter, Brittany Bilson, told the television station that her mother's teeth were chattering and she was moaning and shaking. Bilson said the nurses told her mother to shut up, taped her mouth closed and...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, state GOP officials said Friday evening. Perry’s campaign told state election officials it had submitted 11,911 signatures, but a Virginia Republican familiar with the situation said that the Texas governor did not submit the required 10,000. Earlier Friday, the Republican Party of Virginia certified former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) to appear in the March ballot. Four candidates — Romney, Perry, Paul and former House speaker Newt Gingrich — turned in thousands of signatures by the deadline. State...

SALT LAKE CITY, December 22, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Utah’s high court has ruled that the “plain language” of the legal term “minor child” includes children in the womb. The ruling was issued in the case of a Utah couple who was suing their doctor after their child was stillborn in 2006, saying that the doctor refused to induce labor in time. Although the justices were divided on the case, four agreed that unborn children should be classified as minor children. “In my view, a plain language reading reveals that the term ‘minor child,’ as used in this statute, includes an...

These days if you don't like the polls, wait a few minutes. Another will be along shortly. Speaking of which, here's a new one this morning that could presage the start of a significant move by one candidate (or not), as well as some fresh insights into the thinking of those New Hampshire voters who'll hold the nation's first Republican primary early next month. Suffolk University is out with a new survey showing Newt Gingrich gaining and Mitt Romney slipping there, which we already knew. What it also shows though is Jon Huntsman making a push into third place with...

A Walmart parking lot in Cedar City, Utah was the site of mass carnage when thousands of birds crashed into the pavement Monday night, reports Brian Ahern at The Spectrum. Wildlife officials believe that the flock of migrating Grebes, a duck-like aquatic bird, was confused by storm clouds that made the parking lot look like a flat body of water...

Mitt Romney will be missing in The Gift of Life premiere audience, as well as Ron Paul, a pro-life doctor, and as Jon Huntsman. When I asked Governor Huckabee if tonight amounts to an endorsement application test, Huckabee gives them all a pass. “More than anyone” he tells me, “I recognize that candidates have frantic schedules and all can’t come to every event. Those who don’t come aren’t snubbing the pro-life issue, but those who do are showing that they believe it to be a priority and that is significant.” Interestingly, Nancy Keenan from NARAL takes the premiere as an...