News you can use
News you can use
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HELENA — The West Texas district attorney who prosecuted former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf in 2009 said Saturday that he'll file a motion to revoke Leaf's probation following his arrest in Montana. Leaf was arrested Friday in his hometown of Great Falls on burglary and drug possession charges, police said. James Farren, the Randall County district attorney who prosecuted Leaf in Texas and negotiated a plea deal with him in 2010, said he would file the motion Monday to revoke the 10-year probation Leaf got in the agreement. "...
HELENA — Montana Supreme Court justices on Wednesday questioned whether people have a constitutional right to sell medical marijuana even though the drug is illegal under federal law. State attorneys asked the justices to rule that a district judge made a mistake last year when he blocked part of a new medical marijuana law that bans the commercial sales of pot in Montana. James Goetz, the attorney for the Montana Cannabis Industry Association and the other plaintiffs challenging the new law, said the court should not r...
HELENA — A federal judge on Monday dismissed a civil lawsuit against author Greg Mortenson, calling claims "flimsy and speculative" that the humanitarian and his publisher lied in his best-selling "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones Into Schools" books to boost sales. The lawsuit by four people who bought Mortenson's books claimed that they were cheated out of about $15 each because the books were labeled as nonfiction accounts of how Mortenson came to build schools in central Asia. They had asked U.S. D AP Photo/Central Asia I...
HELENA — The University of Montana has fired football coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O'Day. Assistant athletic director Greg Sundberg says O'Day and university President Royce Engstrom told staff and coaches Thursday morning. Sundberg says neither gave a reason for the firings other than to say it was time for a leadership change. University Vice President Jim Foley's office says the school does not have immediate comment. News of the firings comes as the football program deals with sexual assault a...
AP Photo/Michael Albans, File Montana head coach Robin Pflugrad watches his team against Western Oregon in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Missoula,on Nov. 5. Montana fired Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O'Day on Thursday, adding more uncertainty to a program already dealing with sexual assault allegations against two of its players. HELENA — The University of Montana fired football coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O'Day on Thursday, adding more uncertainty to a program already dealing w...
HELENA — A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that juveniles whose identities otherwise would be protected can be required to publicly register as sex offenders. An incident at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation prompted the federal lawsuit. The 9th U. S. Circuit of Appeals denied the argument by three males in Montana — including a boy who was 14 at the time of the offense — who said lower-court judges should not have sentenced them to register as offenders for sex crimes committed when they were children. The Rocky Boy r...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Religious colonies of Hutterites in rural Montana are fighting the state's attempts to impose a labor law backed by businesses that complain they can't outbid the low cost of the communal workers. The Hutterites are Protestants similar to the Amish and Mennonites who live a life centered on their religion, but unlike the others, Hutterites live in German-speaking communes scattered across northern U.S. states and Canada. They don't pay wages, don't vote and don't enlist in the military. They make their o...
PABLO (AP) — Melody Sure Chief is like many tribal prosecutors in that all of her courtroom experience comes from decades working in the Blackfeet court system. AP Photo/Matt Volz U.S. Attorney for Montana Michael Cotter and Indian Law and Justice Commission Executive Director Jeff Davis address tribal prosecutors from reservations in Montana, Washington and North Dakota attending legal training in Pablo. Of the 20 prosecutors working in the tribal court systems on Montana's eight Indian reservations, only six have law d...
HELENA (AP) — The percentage of Montana students who graduate from high school has risen over the past decade, though state officials say the dropout rate remains a problem they hope to cut in half in the next two years. Montana graduated 270 more students in 2009 compared to 2002 and the state's graduation rate rose from 79.8 percent to 82 percent over that period, according to a new report by a children's advocacy organization. Those rates outpaced the national average of 72.6 percent in 2002 and 75.5 percent in 2009. T...
HELENA — Montana officials gave their initial approval Thursday to a plan that would let hunters kill bison that stray beyond designated areas north of Yellowstone National Park and from the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap Indian reservations. The plan is to remove bison that wander outside of defined "tolerance areas" beyond the park and where wild Yellowstone bison have been slated for transfer, such as the two northeastern Montana reservations. AP Photo/The Livingston Enterprise, Garrett Cheen, File Mounted Yellowstone N...
HELENA — A district judge may have broken Montana's code of judicial conduct when he wrote a letter soliciting donations for another judge who is running for a seat on the state Supreme Court. District Judge Laurie McKinnon of Choteau confirmed Monday that Judge Nels Swandal of Livingston wrote the undated letter in support of her candidacy, and that the letter was distributed by her campaign. McKinnon said she accepted responsibility for the letter but declined to speak to its contents, other than to say she does not b...
HELENA — Ten people have filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, claiming they were sexually abused by priests when they were children. The sex-abuse lawsuit is the third filed against the Catholic church in Montana since last year and the first against the diocese that covers the central and eastern parts of the state. The lawyers who filed the lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of the unnamed plaintiffs also represent about 200 others in one of the claims against the Catholic Diocese of H...
HELENA — Ten people filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming they were sexually abused as children by Roman Catholic priests and nuns in central and eastern Montana, including a priest who was on a board that reviews allegations of child sex abuse for the church. It is the third sex-abuse lawsuit filed against the Catholic church in Montana since last year and the first against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings. AP Photo/Great Falls Tribune, Larry Beckner Seattle attorney Tim Kosnoff announces a lawsuit against t...
HELENA — Two top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee called for a hearing Tuesday to examine a Montana judge's conduct in forwarding an email that included a racist joke involving bestiality and President Barack Obama's mother. Reps. John Conyers of Michigan and Steve Cohen of Tennessee told Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, in their letter that the committee has a duty to investigate the potential consequences of Judge Richard Cebull's email. "At a minimum, forwarding this email illustrates poor judgment and o...
HELENA — The wolf population in the Northern Rockies rose in 2011 despite the removal of federal protections and hunts being held in Montana and Idaho. AP Photo/Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, File This undated image provided by Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks shows a wolf in Montana. Hunters in Montana have shot about 160 wolves as the season comes to an end Wednesday, falling short of the state's 220-animal quota. State wildlife commissioners are considering extending the season in the Bitterroot Valley near the Idaho bord...
HELENA — Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to approve an antitrust settlement involving two Montana health insurers now that one of the companies has been broken up. U.S. Justice Department attorneys filed their request Monday asking U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull to sign the final judgment in the case against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana. The order would end the lawsuit that charged Blue Cross with being anticompetitive in its $26.3 million buyout of New West Health Service's approximately 11,000 h...
HELENA — State regulators are examining a $1.5 million proposal by an Oregon insurer to take over a portion of Montana's third-largest health insurance company as part of a government anti-trust settlement. Commissioner of Securities and Insurance Monica Lindeen has scheduled a hearing Tuesday on the proposal by PacificSource Health Plans to buy New West Health Service's commercial business. The hearing will examine whether the deal is fair and protects the estimated 9,000 New West policyholders who will be affected, said L...
HELENA — The interim director of Greg Mortenson's charity says the "Three Cups of Tea" author will continue to be a paid employee of the Central Asia Institute. Anne Beyersdorfer tells The Associated Press that Mortenson is the heart and soul of the organization and he will keep promoting CAI and build relationships overseas. But she says Mortenson will no longer be on the charity's board of directors. An investigation by the Montana Attorney General's office released Thursday concludes Mortenson mismanaged the nonprofit o...
HELENA — An investigation into the second of two fatal grizzly bear attacks last summer at Yellowstone National Park was unable to conclude if the same bear was responsible for both deaths, a report released Monday said. But DNA tests show the bear that killed California hiker Brian Matayoshi in July fed on Michigan hiker John Wallace with one of her cubs in August, and evidence of two other bears in the area where Wallace's body was found much farther away — 65 feet and 492 feet from the body. The report indicates there is...
HELENA — A broad legal challenge to Montana's campaign finance laws narrowed Wednesday to focus on corporate contributions to political committees, with conservative groups telling a federal judge that a state ban on such contributions amounts to a restriction on free speech. State attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell to reject the groups' request that the judge remove the ban on those corporate contributions, saying the century-old law is still needed to keep corrupting influences out of elections. "It's a l...
HELENA — Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was arrested again on Monday and is accused of committing another burglary two days after he posted bail on charges that he broke into a friend's home and stole prescription painkillers, a drug task force commander said. Leaf has been jailed in the Cascade County Detention Center and is facing new charges of burglary, theft and two counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. He also is being detained on a probation violation. "It's based on a burglary that happened yesterday aft...
HELENA — Two days after posting bail for drug and burglary charges, former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf has been arrested a second time in Montana. Central Montana Drug Force Commander Chris Hickman says Leaf was arrested early Monday in Great Falls and is facing charges of burglary, theft and two counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. He also is being detained on a probation violation. Hickman says the new charges stem from a burglary on Saturday — the day after Leaf was arrested and charged with burglarizing an acq...
MISSOULA — A federal prosecutor says the U.S. Justice Department has opened a civil investigation into how Missoula police, prosecutors and the University of Montana respond to sexual assault and harassment claims. Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said Tuesday the investigation was opened after his agency learned of complaints late last year that allegations were not being properly handled. Perez says the federal investigation will look at all 80 sexual assaults reported by women in Missoula over the past three y...
MISSOULA — The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into the way Missoula police, prosecutors and the University of Montana have responded to reports of sexual assault and harassment after the federal agency learned of complaints that cases were not being properly handled. The federal investigation was disclosed Tuesday after a preliminary investigation conducted earlier this year concluded there was enough to move ahead with a full probe, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said. The investigation will l...
HELENA — "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson says the dismissal of a civil lawsuit that accused him of fabricating book passages to make money for himself and his charity confirms his faith in the U.S. justice system. Mortenson told The Associated Press in an email Monday that he has been overwhelmed at times dealing with the lawsuit, a Montana investigation into the Central Asia Institute and surgery to repair a small hole in his heart. "At times, facing so much was overwhelming and devastating, however, my a...
