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HELENA — A judge has issued an injunction that effectively prevents Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill from spending a disputed $500,000 donation before Tuesday's election. District Judge Kathy Seeley's order issued Wednesday says Hill's campaign appears to be in violation of the state's campaign contribution limits by keeping the Montana Republican Party donation. The order keeps in place a hold that has been in effect since last Thursday. The preliminary injunction will remain in effect until there is a final j...
HELENA — Gov.-elect Steve Bullock made his first cabinet appointments Friday, naming the three people who will lead the departments of labor, corrections and commerce. Bullock must still fill several other top administrative positions before he takes office in January, and he said additional announcements will be made in the coming weeks. Bullock named Pam Bucy as the head of the Department of Labor and Industry, Mike Batista to lead the Department of Corrections and Meg O'Leary to the Department of Commerce. They will r...
HELENA — A convicted Montana medical marijuana provider with a history of serious illness died Thursday after his transfer to a federal prison that could give him proper medical care was delayed for months. Richard Flor's death came weeks after a federal judge denied an attorney's request to release the 68-year-old Miles City resident while he appealed his five-year sentence. U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell wrote in his Aug. 7 order that it was "unfortunate" that Flor's transfer to a Bureau of Prisons medical facility w...
BOZEMAN — Democrat Steve Bullock and Republican Rick Hill met Saturday for a final debate that was at times tense as the gubernatorial candidates aggressively made their case to voters 10 days before the election. Bullock set the tone with his very first response by attacking Hill for keeping a disputed $500,000 donation from the Montana Republican Party after an appeals court blocked a federal judge's order throwing out the state's campaign contribution limits. AP Photo/Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez D...
HELENA — A Montana investigation into allegations of sexual assault on mentally disabled patients at a state hospital found the hospital's chief investigator encouraged one woman to recant her accusation that a staffer raped her. Montana Developmental Center Chief Investigator Keith Reeder also reportedly discouraged another employee from driving the woman to a hospital or taking any action that would bring outside law enforcement into the investigation. Those details are included in a Department of Justice investigation r...
HELENA — Some Indian tribes have started receiving their shares of a $1 billion settlement with the U.S. government over mismanagement of their money and trust lands, while others are waiting and remain undecided on what to do with their windfall. The agreement between the government and 44 tribes across the nation was announced in March to settle claims of money lost in mismanaged accounts and royalties from natural resource development. The tribes sued in an attempt to receive an accounting of the Interior Department's mana...
HELENA — The Justice Department has broken its long silence about last year's crackdown on medical marijuana operations in Montana, with U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter saying more than two dozen people have been indicted so far and that prosecutions will continue. The statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office is the agency's first since a single press release was sent the day after the March 14, 2011, raids on 26 homes, offices and businesses that effectively stymied the state's once-booming medical pot trade. Then, f...
HELENA (AP) — Democrat Steve Bullock and Republican Rick Hill exchanged barbs Tuesday in the first debate between the two candidates for governor over the cases Bullock chose to take to the U.S. Supreme Court. The debate, the first of seven scheduled through the end of October, started slowly as the pair picked through common ground on issues such as pay raises for state employees and fixes to the pension system. Then things began to pick up steam as the candidates looked to stake out turf in areas from economic development t...
AP Photo/The Missoulian The Ranch For Kids, a working ranch for troubled adopted children, many of them Russian and many of whom suffer from the damages caused by alcohol and drugs ingested by their mothers while pregnant, is shown. The ranch was founded by Joyce Sterkel in Eureka HELENA — The Russian government isn't alone in raising questions about a Montana ranch that cares for troubled children adopted from foreign countries. Montana regulators are actively involved in a legal battle to shut down the Ranch For Kids n...
HELENA — Democrat Steve Bullock and Republican Rick Hill square off Tuesday in the first of seven scheduled debates, giving voters a chance to see what the campaigns call sharp differences between the two candidates vying to be Montana's next governor. The Helena meeting will be the first between Hill, a former congressman, and Bullock, the state's attorney general, 50 days before the Nov. 6 election. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a popular Democrat, can't run again due to term limits. "It's been a long time since we've had two c...
MISSOULA — Six gay couples who are suing Montana for the benefits that married couples have asked the state Supreme Court on Friday to rule that denying those benefits is an unconstitutional violation of their equal protections. The couples' attorney, James Goetz, said his clients are not asking to for the right to marry, but they are entitled to make the same decisions about their families' health care and finances as married couples under the Montana Constitution. The state's refusal to expressly provide those rights is d...
HELENA — A Montana prosecutor has formally charged former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf with four felonies in connection with allegations that he broke into homes to steal prescription painkillers. Cascade County Attorney John Parker charged Leaf Thursday with two counts of burglary and two counts of criminal possession of a dangerous drug. Leaf is accused of entering an acquaintance's home to steal oxycodone on March 29. He was arrested the next day and released after posting bail. Authorities say he broke into another home a...
HELENA — A West Virginia man accused of shooting himself and then claiming to be a drive-by victim was arrested in northeastern Montana on Thursday and quickly released on a $10,000 bond. Ray Dolin, 39, appeared at the Glasgow courthouse at 10 a.m. as the Valley County prosecutor had arranged with Dolin's attorney, Jeffrey Simkovic. Dolin had previously been under the care of Veterans Affairs in Montana and Wyoming as the attorneys negotiated his return to the county. Prosecutors say Dolin, of Julian, W.Va., has a...
HELENA — Fire response coordinators in Montana will use the social media website Twitter this year for the first time as a way to update residents of wildfire developments such as road closures and evacuation notices. A state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation committee spent 15 months examining a wide range of social media before deciding on Twitter because of its simplicity and popularity, agency spokesman John Grassy said. After seeing the success of Twitter updates in states such as Washington and C...
In their first eastern Montana debate Tuesday, gubernatorial candidates Rick Hill and Steve Bullock fielded questions on natural resource development while hammering home their favorite campaign themes. Hill, a former congressman and the Republican candidate, said improving the business climate is the key in getting more and better paying jobs. He told the audience at Montana State University Billings that he would put to voters a proposal to cap money going into the coal trust and use it instead to pay for infrastructure...
HELENA — When federal agents raided 26 Montana medical marijuana provider homes, businesses and warehouses in March 2011, prominent among those targeted were the owners of Montana Cannabis. The four partners — Richard Flor, Chris Lindsey, Tom Daubert and Chris Williams — ran one of the state's largest pot businesses, with more than 300 registered customers. Montana Cannabis had locations across the state, a slick website and hundreds of leafy marijuana plants plainly visible through the windows of its massive warehouse on U....
HELENA — Leaders of a Hutterite colony are demanding an apology from the National Geographic Society and a pledge that it never again broadcast a television show they say misrepresented their way of life and damaged their reputation. National Geographic Channel CEO David Lyle said Wednesday an apology is unwarranted because the show gave a fair and accurate depiction of colony life. Caught in the middle are the stars of the show who say they have been told by elders to "tell the truth" but some of whom now fear possible e...
HELENA — Leaders of a Hutterite colony are demanding an apology from the National Geographic Society and a pledge that it never again broadcast a television show they say misrepresented their way of life and damaged their reputation. National Geographic Channel CEO David Lyle said Wednesday an apology is unwarranted because the show gave a fair and accurate depiction of colony life. AP Photo/National Georgraphic, Ben Shank This undated image released by National Geographic Channels shows Hutterite Judy Hofer picking c...
HELENA — The public response to the plans for this year's wolf hunt in Montana has been staggering: A whopping 6,500 comments have been received on the proposal set for approval Thursday by the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission. That far outnumbers the 1,500 comments received on the 2011 wolf hunt plan and just about doubles the comments FWP took on last year's hotly debated proposal to relocate Yellowstone National Park bison, agency officials said. AP photo/Eliza Wiley, Independent Record Randy Newberg, with Headwaters S...
GREAT FALLS — Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he broke into a Montana home and illegally possessed painkillers, part of a deal with prosecutors that recommends he spend nine months in a secure drug treatment facility. The former San Diego Chargers quarterback and Washington State standout was shackled hand and foot and wore a black-and-white prison stripes as he told Cascade County District Judge Kenneth Neill that he needed treatment. "I'm very much looking forward to the o...
HELENA — Montana officials planning the state's upcoming wolf hunt are considering allowing trapping for the first time and eliminating quotas in an effort to reduce the number of wolves in the state. Ranchers and hunters concerned about their livestock and big-game kills have complained the growing wolf population threatens their interests and they have pressured state regulators to do more to cut wolf numbers. In March, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials invited county commissioners from across the state to Helena t...
HELENA — A charity watchdog says the penalties leveled against "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson for mismanaging and financially benefiting from his Central Asia Institute underscores the need for stronger regulation of charitable organizations. Daniel Borochoff of the American Institute of Philanthropy said the problems found at the Bozeman, Mont.-based Central Asia Institute are more prevalent in the charity world than most people think and that the regulatory structure is broken. "It's a Wild West atmosphere and i...
HELENA — Montana voters who head to the polls next month to choose a president may be surprised to also find ballot questions on medical marijuana, abortion, illegal immigrants, whether corporations are people and health insurance mandates. Those five measures have been overshadowed in a packed ballot that also includes high-stakes U.S. Senate and governor's races, an open congressional seat and a lengthy list of legislative and judicial candidates. Each measure deals with a contentious issue that has been the source of h...
HELENA (AP) — A lobbyist who became the face of the effort to legalize medical marijuana in Montana and helped draft the initiative approved by voters in 2004 won't see jail time on a federal conviction related to the pot business he co-founded. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen sentenced Tom Daubert Thursday in Missoula to five years' probation. Daubert had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to maintain a drug-involved premises, a charge that stems from the 2011 raid of a Montana Cannabis, the medical marijuana p...
HELENA — Fishing restrictions due to drought will remain in place on three Montana trout streams for the foreseeable future, but state fisheries officials are cautiously optimistic that they won't need to make any other closures. Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials last month imposed "hoot-owl" restrictions on the Smith, Dearborn and Sun rivers, meaning that fishing isn't allowed on those central Montana streams in the afternoons and evenings, when the water temperatures are too high. AP Photo/Matt Volz Ethan Stratton casts a...
