Ryan Bundy Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Interior Department Rescinds Grazing Rights For Hammond Family, Reversing Trump Admin’s Decision

By NWPB News February 26, 2021

Protesters object to the sentencing of Oregon ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond during a rally in Burns, Oregon, on June 2, 2016. CREDIT: AMELIA TEMPLETON

It reverses the decision by former President Donald Trump’s Interior secretary, David Bernhardt. He had granted the permit to Dwight and Steven Hammond on Trump’s final day in office. The permit gave the Hammonds the right to graze livestock on public land for 10 years.Read More

10 Years After White Supremacist Tried To Bomb Spokane’s MLK Parade, Extremism Is More Mainstream

By Scott Leadingham January 17, 2021

The backpack bomb made by Kevin Harpham, of Stevens County, Washington, was discovered on the parade route of Spokane's 2011 Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, before it could be detonated. CREDIT: FBI

This week marks 10 years since a white supremacist attempted to bomb the Martin Luther King Junior Day parade through downtown Spokane. The bomb was discovered and defused just in the nick of time. But the effects of extremist ideologies in the region lived on. Journalist Leah Sottile examined that in the podcast Bundyville, from Oregon Public Broadcasting. Leah spoke with Read More

Roots Of U.S. Capitol Insurrectionists Run Through The West And Northwest

By NPR News January 12, 2021

Ammon Bundy riding a horse at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Occupation in 2016

As the violent mob broke into the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday, and livestreams showed pro-Trump insurrectionists defacing property and posing in the House Speaker's chair, here in the West, feelings of shock quickly faded to familiarity. "There are years of warning signs," said Eric Ward of the Western States Center, which tracks extremism in Oregon and the West.Read More

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal Of Cliven Bundy Case From 2014 Standoff With BLM

By NPR News August 7, 2020

A federal appeals court has confirmed the dismissal of a criminal case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy (left), seen in 2018 with his son Ryan Bundy and attorney Larry Klayman. CREDIT: Ken Ritter/AP

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has denied the Justice Department's motion for a retrial in the case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who led an armed standoff against federal agents over cattle grazing near his ranch in 2014.Read More

Judge Denies Grazing Rights To Oregon Ranchers Whose Case Helped Spark Malheur Occupation

By Dirk VanderHart December 21, 2019

President Trump pardoned Dwight and Steven Hammond Tuesday, June 10 2018 CREDIT: OPB

The Oregon ranchers whose imprisonment helped spur an armed occupation in 2016 don’t have permission to graze on federal land after all. On Friday, a U.S. District Court rejected the Trump administration’s decision to restore grazing rights to Dwight and Steven Hammond, the father and son pair at the center of years of controversy in eastern Oregon.Read More

Oregon Ranchers Whose Case Sparked Malheur Occupation Can Graze On Public Lands Again

By Conrad Wilson January 29, 2019

Dwight Hammond Jr. greets protesters outside his home in Burns, Oregon in January 2016. Hammond was convicted of arson on federal charges in 2012. The case sparked the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Occupation led by Ammon and Ryan Bundy. CREDIT: AMELIA TEMPLETON/OPB

s one of his last acts in office, ousted Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed off on returning grazing rights to the eastern Oregon ranchers whose prison sentences led to a 2016 standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.Read More

‘Bundyville’ Tells A Story Of Anti-Government Extremism Set In The Rural West, Says Podcast Host

By Scott Leadingham December 11, 2018

'Bundyville' is a seven-part podcast from Longreads and Oregon Public Boradcasting, hosted by Leah Sottile. CREDIT: Illustration by Zoë van Dijk for Longreads

Journalist Leah Sottile covered the 2016 Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation and its aftermath with the Bundy family. This year she released a deeply reported podcast about the Bundys – called 'Bundyville,' a collaboration between Longreads and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Read More

FBI Agent Heads To Trial, Accused Of Lying About Deadly Malheur Shooting

By NPR News July 24, 2018

The Jan. 26, 2016, shooting incident at the center of Joseph Astarita's trial was captured on an FBI video. CREDIT: FBI/AP

An FBI agent is facing trial on charges linked to a deadly incident in January 2016 during the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Jury selection begins Tuesday at a federal court in Portland.Read More

Harney County, Oregon, Residents Dismayed By Nevada Bundy Trial Dismissal

By Amanda Peacher January 8, 2018

Even though it was a separate case from the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation, many environmentalists and opponents of the occupation viewed the Nevada Bundy case as an opportunity to get what they viewed as justice.Read More