Free Republic

In a display of defiance at the U.S. Capitol’s governing gun lobby, Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and eight colleagues have introduced legislation to reinstate a ban on carrying loaded firearms in America’s national parks. The legislation was prompted by January’s murder of Mt. Rainier National Park ranger Margaret Anderson. Anderson was shot as she set up a road block for a car that didn’t stop at a chain-up checkpoint. By Joe Sebille“The dreadful and deeply saddening event that occurred on Mt. Rainier makes me question why on earth people should be allowed to carry loaded weapons in our national parks,”...

Federal fish cops in Seattle bought a $300,000 luxury boat to spy on whale-watching tours — but didn't go through an appropriate bidding process, held barbecues onboard, ferried friends and family across Puget Sound to restaurants and resorts, and used the boat for what one visitor called "a pleasure cruise." When confronted, one federal employee in Seattle misled inspectors about how the vessel was used, and one interfered with federal investigators, according to an internal investigation by the Commerce Department. Those documents were released Friday by U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. At issue is a 35-foot, 14-passenger boat purchased by...

Days after a Pierce County Superior Court judge ordered that the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club to shut down until it can obtain land-use permits, the controversy over how this club operated is sizzling. Located along the old Seabeck Highway, when the club was originally founded generations ago, there were not a lot of people living in the area. The noise from shooting didn’t bother anybody, because there wasn't anyone within earshot to be bothered. Nowadays, that has changed dramatically because human encroachment into former forest land has brought with it the almost obligatory conflict between gun ranges and people...

They asked for a hearing. Didn’t they ask EPA for a hearing on whether their lands fell within the statute? They did ask for a hearing, and EPA said no.” Those were the words of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during U.S. Supreme Court oral argument last month in Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She wasn’t the only justice to express impatience with the EPA’s treatment of Mike and Chantell Sackett, the couple from Priest Lake, Idaho, who face staggering federal fines after the EPA declared their small parcel to be “wetlands.” As the Washington Post reported, “Justices across the...

The outcome of Kitsap County vs. Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club has undoubtedly brought relief to a lot of people in the northwest part of the county. Since the club began expanding its facilities in 2005, its neighbors have been bothered by increased noise from bulldozers and from larger and larger weapons, as well as by the threat of bullets flying beyond the club's embankments. Until 1993, the club had rifle and pistol ranges with cleared land between them, but then it began clearing more acres, grading the land, excavating wooded areas and using bulldozers to rearrange the earth for...

Attention Seattle area Freepers and America lovers: Obama will land in Marine One on the Northwest University athletic fields in Kirkland, WA at 11 AM Friday Feb. 17. He will have lunch with Bill Gates and buddies at 12 PM at the Westin Hotel in Bellevue to extort money for his re-election. I think that he will fly way about 2:15 PM from Northwest U. campus, which means he will be returning before 2 PM. The university is getting no payment for the huge inconvenience of jamming our wireless, moving classes and parking. 55th street runs east west bordering the...

A Seattle police officer has been caught on tape talking about "making up" evidence while two wrongly arrested men sit in jail. It's the latest shocker uncovered by a KOMO 4 Problem Solver investigation into the Seattle Police Department's vanishing dashcam videos. Josh Lawson and Christopher Franklin filed a claim against the city Monday for excessive force and wrongful arrest. The two were arrested at gunpoint on November 16, 2010 and said the incident changed their lives forever. "I thought I was gonna die," Lawson said about that night. Franklin said it was "the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced."...

A sheriff and his sergeant in Washington state have bought burial plots next to Josh Powell's boys in order to block family members from burying him next to them, according to a media report Wednesday.

Wyoming lawmakers appear ready to change the state’s wolf management law to accommodate an agreement that Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar reached last year on ending federal protections for the animals in the state. Under the agreement, wolves could be shot on sight in much of the state. The Republican governor has made wolf management a priority, saying the animals threaten agricultural interests and other wildlife. Officials say there are about 300 wolves in the state, and Mead has said the population grows by 10 percent every year. Under the deal, Wyoming would commit to...

Within an hour of Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire signing a same-sex-marriage bill into law Monday, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was meeting with a group of gay-marriage foes at a church minutes away, offering a message of support for their efforts to repeal the law. "I told them to keep up the fight, that this is an important issue for our families; it is an important issue for religious liberty," the former Pennsylvania senator said of his meeting with church leaders, during a news conference Monday afternoon. Santorum said it doesn’t make sense to have each state define marriage its...

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):

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Chris Gregoire handed gay rights advocates a major victory Monday, signing into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage in Washington state, making it the seventh in the nation to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed. Gregoire signed the bill surrounded by gay rights supporters. “I’m proud our same-sex couples will no longer be treated as separate but equal,” she said. OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Chris Gregoire handed gay rights advocates a major victory Monday, signing into law a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage in Washington state, making it the seventh in the nation to...

Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire February 13, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington State has signed into law a gay “marriage� bill that will force church-owned facilities to accommodate homosexual ceremonies. Gregoire, a lame-duck Democrat governor who proposed the bill earlier this year, celebrated the end of defining marriage as between a man and a woman as she signed the bill on Monday. “I’m proud our same-sex couples will no longer be treated as separate but equal,� she said. The bill makes Washington the sixth U.S. state to redefine marriage, in addition to the District of Columbia. Click...

The Washington state Senate has passed a bill to charge electric car owners a $100 annual fee to compensate for the lack of gas taxes they pay. Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, the Camano Island Democrat who sponsored the bill, says while electric cars are good for the environment, they put the same wear and tear on the state's roads that gas vehicles do. The same bill passed in the Senate last year but failed in the House.

In an NBC Dateline interview, one of the 911 operators who took the call from the social worker outside Josh Powell's house, breaks his silence. In an exclusive interview with NBC's Keith Morrison, David Lovrak, who's been taking heat for his questions when Elizabeth Griffin-Hall called him, says he, like so many others in this case, didn't recognize the kind of man they were dealing with. "Especially for somebody who has done this for as long as I have, to relisten to the call and hear how clumsy and faltering I sounded," Lovrak said, "It was horrible. This has been...

The federal agency that sells and transmits most electrical power in the Northwest has proposed a plan to cover half of wind producers' lost revenue when they're forced to shut down wind farms during periods of excess hydropower production. The plan would affect Cowlitz PUD, which owns interests in two Central Washington wind farms, but would not lower or raise rates significantly, PUD officials said. "This is not going to do anything that would appear to be a rate-driver," PUD spokesman Dave Andrew said Wednesday. Over the objections of wind energy producers, the federal Bonneville Power Administration last spring ordered...

The Westboro Baptist Church, which has gained infamy for protesting at the funerals of men and women killed in combat, will have a new target on Saturday: the services for two little boys slain by their father. The church, whose "God hates fags" signs and messages have been seen across the country, intends to be at the funeral of Charlie Powell, 7, and his brother, Braden, 5. Saturday at the Life Center Church in Tacoma. The boys died Sunday after their father , Josh Powell, blew up their Pierce County home.

Nearly eight minutes elapsed between when a social worker called 911 to report that Josh Powell's children were in danger and when sheriff's deputies were dispatched, emergency call logs show. The home was a gas-fueled inferno - with Powell and his two young boys inside - by the time officers were on their way. Several minutes of response time was lost when the priority of the dispatch Sunday was listed as "routine" instead of "emergency." There was nothing deputies could do when they arrived 14 minutes later. >>SNIP<< After getting it straight, the dispatcher told her someone would come, though...

A homeowner in the Edmonds neighborhood of Esperance shot and killed a suspected burglar Tuesday night, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. A 911 call alerted the police to the shooting just after 8 p.m. at a house in the 8900 block of 225th Place Southwest, which is in unincorporated Snohomish County. It's a dead-end street off 90th Avenue West, which is north of 228th Street Southwest. The Sherriff's Office reports that the suspected intruder died at the scene. Detectives from the Sheriff's Major Crimes Unit are investigating the shooting. "It'll be a long night for our detectives," said...

Washington state lawmakers voted to approve gay marriage Wednesday, setting the stage for the state to become the seventh in the nation to allow same-sex couples to wed. The action comes a day after a federal appeals court declared California’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, saying it was a violation of the civil rights of gay and lesbian couples. The Washington House passed the bill on a 55-43 vote. Supporters in the public viewing galleries stood and cheered as many on the Democratic side of the House floor hugged after the vote. The state Senate approved the measure last week,...

Sen. Maria Cantwell, a longtime opponent of oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, has helped defeat the latest Republican plan to open up the refuge for new energy exploration. The Washington Democrat and member of the Senate Finance Committee raised objections Tuesday when Utah GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch offered a plan that would have allowed drilling rigs into the refuge and protected waters off the coast of Florida and southern California “We all know that gas prices going up are a very big challenge to us and we need to find alternatives to foreign oil,” Cantwell said. “But...

When the right-wing Second Amendment Foundation teamed up with the left-wing First Amendment foundation to sue the Eastern Washington library system for filtering out gun websites, it serves as a case study as to why the Seattle Public Library was right last week when it said it wasn't going to do anything about Internet porn. There's not much titillating about Women & Guns magazine. About as racy as it gets is a recent photo spread on "practical leather" — gun holsters and casual carry handbags for the lady who packs heat. With articles like "Taming Shotgun Recoil" and "Ammunition on...

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...

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 headline reads “Mount Rainier shooting revives gun debate ...” (Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012). What debate? Self-defense is not debatable. Whether you are in a national park, a parking lot, or on a school ground or college campus, you must be aware of your surroundings and be capable of neutralizing any threat to your safety by any means at your immediate disposal. For some reason an H&N writer apparently feels there is some problem with the new law that permits lawful carry of concealed defensive firearms in state, local and national parks. Citing a shooting death in Washington’s Mount Rainier...

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.

LAS VEGAS — Newt Gingrich is wooing NASCAR voters. As he charts a possible course to the Republican nomination, aides say Gingrich will paint frontrunner Mitt Romney as the candidate of the PGA golf tour while the former House speaker pursues the blue collar mantle of Dale Earnhardt. It’s a strategy that exploits the class warfare Gingrich professes to oppose. Still, it could pay dividends once the GOP race again swings South. Gingrich sees delegate-rich Texas as a firewall in April. But he must slog through more than 30 contests before that....

Seattle libraries will not allow patrons to eat or sleep or go barefoot. But they can watch all the hardcore porn they want in front of children. Seattle PI reported: The Seattle Public Library has a long list of rules of things you can’t do in the library, to ensure “comfort and safety” of staff and patrons. You can’t eat, sleep, look like you’re sleeping, be barefoot, be too stinky or talk too loudly. But you can watch graphic porn on a public computer in front of kids. Despite repeated complaints from female patrons about men watching porn in full...

The program has shown poor results, and the agency that oversees training has stopped referring people. Government-funded training for so-called green jobs has come to a near standstill in Snohomish County, having produced lackluster results. Nationwide, about $500 million in Recovery Act funds were allocated to train nearly 125,000 people for green careers. Nearly a year and a half later, the audit found, only 52,762 people had been trained and 8,035 had found jobs. The program's underwhelming success rate, both nationally and locally, has people worried. The modest success rate of green training programs didn't come as a surprise to...

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing a Washington state library district for not offering access to online porn, Seattle's King 5 TV reports. When a user logs on to a computer at the Wenatchee public library, for example, and types "porn" into the search engine, the list of results will appear as if porn doesn't exist, according to King 5. The search censorship by the North Central Regional Library also means some websites -- such as Google Images and YouTube -- are blocked too. The board decided the filter serves its mission to promote reading and lifelong learning. "We...

OLYMPIA, January 30, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A same-sex “marriage” bill that would force church-run facilities to open their doors to homosexual couples seeking marriage has passed a key committee in the Washington state Senate. The full Senate is expected also to approve the bill. SB 6239 passed the Government Operations, Tribal Relations & Election Committee on a 4-3 party-line vote on Thursday, and the full Senate is expected to vote on the measure this week. The measure, which would make Washington the seventh U.S. state to alter the definition of marriage, reportedly has the backing of Gov. Chris Gregoire. The...

A same-sex “marriage” bill that would force church-run facilities to open their doors to homosexual couples seeking marriage has passed a key committee in the Washington state Senate. The full Senate is expected also to approve the bill. Meanwhile, one of the area’s leading evangelical pastors has said that the bill’s language on marriage “discrimination” is “the setup for a knockdown” of religious institutions that oppose redefining marriage. “The laws against discrimination are so expansive that virtually every church in Washington could come under legal threat,” wrote pastor Joseph Fuiten. Fuiten notes that, although the bill’s introduction says that clergy...

Babylonia Aivaz prepares to wed a crumbling Capitol Hill warehouse that is slated for demolition. SEATTLE - A beaming bride, a crumbling warehouse – Babylonia Aivaz said it’s a love that will never die, as she exchanged wedding vows with the Seattle building on Sunday. Aivaz and the 10th and Union warehouse entered into a self-described “gay marriage,” surrounded by friends singing of love and united against displacement in their neighborhood by means of new development. Aivaz told the crowd of approximately 50 people about her relationship with the building, which is slated to be demolished in a week to...

SEATTLE - A very unique wedding in Seattle on Sunday afternoon as people came to witness the union of a woman - and a building. In order to save a building from demolition, a Babylonia Aivaz “married” it. Aivaz said "I do" to the warehouse on 10th and Union on Capitol Hill. She said she fell in love with the 107-year-old building during an Occupy Seattle protest and doesn't want to see it torn down to make room for a brand-new apartment building. "I hope that America wakes up and realizes that gentrification is a serous issue that affects poor...

Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee shop chain, added its name to the list of major corporations that have endorsed a gay marriage bill in Washington State, saying the legislation shares the company’s values at its core. The decision was criticized by many conservative, pro-family organizations. Leading traditional marriage organizations, for instance, are accusing the Seattle-based company of “meddling” in the debate, after Starbucks joined Google, Microsoft, and Nike in support of the legalization of same-sex marriage that is currently gathering momentum in the state legislature. Kalen Holmes, executive vice president for Partner Resources, released a statement on Jan. 24 entitled,...

A federal judge in Seattle sentenced the "Barefoot Bandit" to the maximum six and a half years in prison for a string of thefts and burglaries after the 20-year-old bragged to friends in emails from jail that prosecutors were fools and he'd emerge unscathed. Judge Richard A. Jones on Friday also sentenced Colton Harris-Moore, who pled guilty to 33 state and seven federal felony charges during his two years as a fugitive, to three years of probation. The federal sentence is to run concurrently with a seven-year state sentence, as part of a plea agreement. The maximum federal sentence was...

A woman plans to marry a partially demolished building in Seattle on Sunday. Even though cranes have already started demo work at 10th and Union Warehouse, Babylonia Aivaz reports "I'm STILL Getting Married." "Yes, I'm in love with a 107 year old building!," writes Aivaz on the wedding invite page on facebook. The event will be a community potluck on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Aivaz writes that her relationship with the building began when she and a group of around 200 occupied the warehouse claiming it as a community space. "The warehouse is slated to be demolished...

OLYMPIA — As immigrant advocates gathered in Olympia on Thursday, state lawmakers took up a bill that could give minorities a better chance at winning election to local government positions. The legislation would make it easier to bring court challenges aimed at pushing cities, counties and school districts to switch from at-large to district elections in areas where large minority groups are present. -snip- The Washington legislation would make it easier to prove that such districts are necessary. If passed into law, a plaintiff could use census data and election results to show that an unsuccessful minority candidate for local...

Alaska Airlines, America's seventh-largest carrier in terms of passenger traffic, said on Wednesday that it would end a decades-old tradition of handing out prayer cards with its in-flight meals. The prayer cards, which the Seattle-based airline began offering in the 1970s after an executive spotted them on another airline, were intended to serve as a marketing strategy and to put passengers at ease, a spokeswoman said. The airline sent an e-mail to its frequent flyers on Wednesday explaining the change, which takes effect February 1.

Starbucks has joined the fight for gay marriage, as Washington state edges closer to becoming the seventh state to approve marriage equality. Executive vice president of Partner Resources at Starbucks sent an email to business partners yesterday afternoon with the subject, "RE: A Message From Kalen Holmes: Starbucks Supports Marriage Equality." "Starbucks is proud to join other leading Northwest employers in support of Washington State legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples," Holmes wrote.

Amanda Knox may soon return to Italy by LINDA BYRON / KING 5 News NWCN.com Posted on January 25, 2012 at 6:03 PM The Amanda Knox saga isn’t over yet. Knox was acquitted of murder and released in October after spending four years behind bars in Italy. But her Italian attorney Carlo Dalla Vedova says Knox could be going back to Italy as soon as September in order to help her parents, who are on trial for slander. At a pre-trial hearing Tuesday, an Italian judge ruled there is enough evidence against Amanda’s parents, for the case to go to...

Norwegian Air has signed deals valued at $21.5 billion for 222 Boeing Co. and Airbus single-aisle aircraft, the carrier said Wednesday. The carrier ordered 100 of Boeing's new 737 MAX jets and 22 of Boeing's existing 737 aircraft. Its Boeing's largest order ever from a European airline, Boeing said. The Boeing order is valued at $11.4 billion at list prices, though airlines negotiate discounts, especially on large orders like this one.

LA CENTER, WA (KPTV) - A suspected prowler at a La Center home has died after being shot by a homeowner early Tuesday morning, sheriff's deputies said. Clark County sheriff's deputies said they received a 911 call about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday about a prowler in the 900 block of northwest Pacific Highway. While deputies were on their way to the scene, the homeowner called 911 again, reporting he had shot the alleged intruder outside the house. When deputies arrived, they found Barry Parnel, 29, in the driveway. He had a gunshot wound to the chest and abdomen. Parnel was rushed...

Starbucks today joined a growing list of corporations, including Microsoft, that have endorsed gay marriage legislation in the state House and Senate. Gay marriage supporters have apparently secured the votes needed to pass a measure through both houses, and Gov. Chris Gregoire has said she'll sign it into law. Starbucks' statement below: Starbucks is proud to join other leading Northwest employers in support of Washington State legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples. Starbucks strives to create a company culture that puts our partners first, and our company has a lengthy history of leading and supporting policies that promote equality...

OLYMPIA (AP) -- Washington's Legislature now has enough votes to legalize gay marriage. Democratic Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen says she will support the measure, becoming the 25th vote needed to pass the bill out of the Senate. The House already has enough support, and Gov. Chris Gregoire has endorsed the plan.

A tech-savvy 14-year-old helped Seattle police track down a felon who was arrested with thousands of dollars in electronics equipment stolen from the boy's home. Using a laptop and the "Find My iPhone" app, Max Malkin pinpointed the location of his mother's iPhone, taken along with other items during a burglary early Saturday. An officer "quarterbacked" the search from Malkin's kitchen, communicating with officers on the street until a suspect was detained — and a well-timed phone call to the iPhone enabled police to recover the stolen loot, said Max's father, Harold Malkin. The 20-year-old man was arrested for investigation...

SEATTLE – Schools preemptively closed, crews salted down streets and more than two dozen flights into two Pacific Northwest cities were canceled as the region prepared for a potentially major snowstorm on Wednesday. Forecasts called for about 3 to 5 inches of snow in the Seattle metropolitan area, with heavier amounts expected in communities along the Interstate 5 corridor south of the city. The city's schools canceled classes, as did their counterparts in other western Washington cities such as Tacoma, Olympia and Bellingham. Alaska Airlines announced late Tuesday that it canceled 38 flights into and out of Seattle and Portland,...

LAS VEGAS — There’s a new piece of legislation in Olympia aimed at defining a “switchblade” knife that contains what appears to be a contradictory, or at least confusing, definition that has some Second Amendment activists puzzled. This column will have a chance to speak to several of them during the next four days here at the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show. They’re knife makers, whose wares will be just as much on display as new guns and other gear. Senate Bill 6179 says this about switchblades: "Switchblade knife" means any knife with a blade that is...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A Washington state lawmaker wants to exempt shooting ranges from noise-related civil and criminal legal action. The Kitsap Sun reports that Democratic Rep. Dean Takko of Longview has introduced a measure that would require shooting ranges to conform to noise laws that existed when they were built and exempt them from later laws. The aim is to head off complaints from people building new homes next to a shooting range.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - State government stores money at Bank of America, buys goods with U.S. Bank cards, and distributes welfare aid through JP Morgan Chase ATMs. Supporters of cutting such ties to big banks say the first step is creating the state's own bank. The idea of a state bank - a favorite of the Occupy movement that sees it as an alternative to Wall Street - has strong support among the Democrats who control the state House. Speaker Frank Chopp called it a top priority last week in a speech opening this year's session of the Legislature.