Free Republic

Cities coast-to-coast grappling with broken-down e-buses that cannot be fixed .. Between the federal government, states and municipalities, untold billions in taxpayer dollars have been spent adding electric buses to transit fleets across the U.S. in an effort to reduce carbon emissions. However, cities from coast-to-coast are grappling with broken-down e-buses that cannot be fixed, are too expensive to fix, or they have scrapped their electric fleets altogether. Officials in Asheville, North Carolina, recently expressed frustration that three of the five e-buses the city purchased for millions in 2018 are now sitting idle due to a combination of software issues,...

Sen. John Barrasso’s (R-WY) wife has passed away following a two-year battle with brain cancer. Barrasso, who is the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, announced Thursday that his wife, Bobbi, died after fighting glioblastoma, a type of cancer that causes brain tumors. “After a courageous battle with cancer, Bobbi is now at peace and at home with the Lord,” the senator said in a statement obtained by Fox News: In addition to being a devoted wife and mother, Bobbi was a leader, fierce advocate for Wyoming, and friend to everyone she met. We miss her dearly. On behalf of...

Florida earned its reputation as the retirement capital of the US.. A fixed income in retirement can go a lot further in some states than others .. ... To make the most of your retirement savings, you should retire in a state where the cost of living and tax rates are friendly to retirees, if you have the resources to. You should also consider factors like the quality of the state's healthcare system and the abundance of activities that you enjoy.' Colorado, which ranked second for the best state to retire in 2024, offers similarly taxpayer-friendly conditions, with no estate...

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) endorsed Donald Trump for president moments after the New Hampshire primary was called within minutes of polls closing. “I have seen enough,” Cornyn said on X. “To beat Biden, Republicans need to unite around a single candidate, and it’s clear that President Trump is Republican voters’ choice.” A majority of Senate Republicans have now endorsed Trump, but Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) had been the only senior member of Senate GOP leadership to endorse the former president’s reelection bid before Tuesday night.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to roll out a free way to file federal taxes, much to the chagrin of tax preparation firm TurboTax. The IRS is launching a pilot plan, known as Direct File, that will offer a free way to submit taxes for U.S. workers. In December, the agency published its plans for an in-house filing system that taxpayers can use to submit their federal tax returns at no cost. Residents of 12 states that meet certain income criteria will be able to try the new service. To qualify, filers need to opt for the standard deduction...

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) endorsed Donald Trump for president Tuesday, becoming the highest ranking member of Senate Republican leadership to endorse Trump in his quest to retake the White House. The third highest-ranking Senate Republican, Conference Chair Barrasso is the highest-ranking Senate Republican to back Trump. He joins Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee leads the candidate recruitment and campaign arm, as the only members of elected Senate leadership to endorse Trump.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) got the better of CBS moderator Margaret Brennan — and perhaps CBS editorial “standards” — in an interview that aired Sunday. “Back in 2021, you were the lawmaker who circulated the legal brief known as the Texas amicus brief, challenging the 2020 election outcome in a number of states, which by CBS editorial standards makes you an election denier,” Brennan said to Johnson on Face the Nation. “That’s nonsense,” Johnson calmly replied. Brennan persisted, “Can I get you on the record on that?”

Occasional guest columnist Karl Brauneis writes, "The Threatened and Endangered Species Act actually did more for attorneys and environmental elites then it did for the wildlife it was designed to protect. The few got rich while the working men and woman and the forest itself suffered." In 1974 I was a rookie on the Bighorn Inter-Regional Fire Suppression Crew at Greybull, Wyoming. The crew name was later changed to the Wyoming Hot Shots. As a “new man” I was classified as a Government Service (GS) - 3 and made $3.08 per hour. We also earned overtime pay (time and ½)...

Last week, the Supreme Court rejected Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request that the high court fast-track an appeal by former President Donald Trump claiming immunity from the charges related to the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. While the immunity questions will likely return to the Supreme Court after the D.C. Circuit weighs in on the issues, before then the justices will consider the validity of two of the four charges levied against the former president — and it is likely a majority of the Supreme Court will rule that the “crimes” the special counsel charged are not...

Donald Trump used his social media platform to falsely accuse Liz Cheney of destroying evidence gathered by the congressional January 6 investigation, saying she was guilty of 'extreme sabotage.' It is not the first time he has made the claim and suggested it is all part of denying him the testimony, video footage and documents he needs to defend himself in criminal trials. Cheney, one of his biggest critics inside the Republican Party, quickly hit back, posting a link to online materials collected by the investigation. The former president is due to go on trial in March in Washington, D.C.,...

Position of the empty chamber “click” at the charging grizzly. As part of a previous Freedom of Information Act request, AmmoLand obtained details of the defensive shooting of a grizzly bear with a revolver, which happened at Paint Creek, Wyoming, in 2010.On September 2, 2010, an archery hunter and his guide were hunting for elk from a camp at the end of Henry’s Mill Road. This is the head of the Paint Creek drainage in Wyoming. Paint Creek is in the mid-eastern part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, about 20 miles NNE of Cody. The hunter and guide left the...

Wyoming’s energy ideas, technology and resources will step into the nation’s spotlight this weekend on the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes.” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, Power Company of Wyoming CEO Bill Miller and University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources Executive Director Holly Krutka were interviewed by the television magazine. A CBS trailer promoting the show depicts correspondent Bill Whitaker and Gordon on horseback riding across rangeland, mountains in the background. “Growing up here gave me an enormous appreciation for the world,” Gordon says. The trailer cuts to a coal train heading down the tracks. Gordon Surprises '60 Minutes' Whitaker...

Donald Trump and former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney have been engaged in a war of words over her new memoir, in which she criticizes the former president and other Republicans. Among Cheney's claims is that then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Trump became depressed and stopped eating after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, which Trump has denied. Trump has since hit back in a series of messages including one that said she lost her Congressional seat by the largest margin in history. A post by Donald Trump on Truth Social on Wednesday, December 6, stated that Liz...

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) released all the 44,000 hours of Jan. 6 footage. Immediately, the release blew apart the Jan. 6 Committee's narrative about the event. . The video release showed why they were likely suppressed. They included police escorting peaceful protesters walking through the Capitol, even shaking their hands. There was even a video showing one "protester" who appeared to have been cuffed, then taken to an area by the Capitol Police, where he was released and fist-bumped one of the officers. ... That raised many questions about whether the man released was an undercover officer, which then...

Uranium enrichment and the nuclear fuel industry make up a globally integrated complex concentrated in the hands of a few key players. A geopolitically-driven divorce is on the horizon, however. At the outset of the invasion of Ukraine last year, US Senator John Barrasso, a Republican of Wyoming, led an effort to ban Russian-origin uranium and nuclear products following the West’s break with the fossil fuel industries that had been filling the Kremlin’s war chest. The bill stalled, but it highlighted America’s reliance on Russian nuclear imports and the need for a comprehensive supply chain rework. When countries are already...

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said Sunday that she is not ruling out a White House bid and vowed to help elect leaders who will fight against future challenges to election results as seen in the 2020 election. Cheney initially dodged a question about her 2024 plans, telling CNN “State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper: “I will tell you what I’m definitely going to do — I’m going to spend the next year, between now and the election, certainly helping to elect serious people, helping to elect sane people to Congress.”

Liz Cheney has slammed ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy for 'elevating white supremacists and anti-Semites' as part of his leadership. Cheney was defeated in a primary in 2022 by Harriet Hageman in a race that was heavily influenced by her criticism of Donald Trump. The daughter of ex-Vice President Dick Cheney said McCarthy has muddled the party by following Trump's lead. 'I wish that it were surprising,' she told CNN. 'You know, what we've seen is a result of really the leadership decisions that Kevin McCarthy made back after the 2020 election and certainly after January 6.' 'And, you know,...

ROCK SPRINGS — The tenant of a downtown Rock Springs embroidery shop recently requested permission to open a coffee shop in the same space but was denied because of the city’s fire code regulations. Now the business, Nell’s Coffee at 204 Elk St., has closed and moved to a new location at 1100 Elk St. The 204 Elk St. building’s owner Rick Milonas has taken the city to task over its building code that forced the move. In July, he threatened to sue the city over it. Milonas said it would cost $500,000 to add fire sprinklers and bring the...

A transit system run by the town of Jackson and Teton County set out to replace its diesel buses with electric, but none of the eight electric buses in its fleet are running, and the company that made them went bankrupt. Teton County and the town of Jackson had set its sights on a low-emission transit system for the county. The Southern Teton Area Rapid Transit (START) system, a joint operation between Jackson and Teton County, bought eight electric buses to complement its fleet of 31.

Tales of electric vehicle failures grow more numerous by the day.According to Cowboy State Daily, a Wyoming-based news organization, Wyoming’s Teton County and the town of Jackson purchased eight electric buses, all of which have broken down and will no longer run.The electric buses’ failure has forced Jackson and Teton County to rely on their existing fleet of 31 diesel buses.