News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 261
BILLING — Wildlife agencies in the Northern Rockies go to lengths to warn people of the dangers of grizzly country — from signs advising hikers to carry mace-like bear spray to radio ads that warn hunters to take care when stalking elk in bear habitat. But after two hikers were fatally mauled in Yellowstone National Park over the summer, officials acknowledge their drive to make visitors "bear aware" is not reaching everyone. As a result, park officials, bear biologists and others say that in coming months they plan to sha...
BILLINGS — A grizzly bear killed a Michigan man whose body was found by hikers last week in Yellowstone National Park, officials said Monday. The victim was identified Monday as John Wallace of Chassell, Mich. Wallace's body was discovered along a trail about five miles from the nearest trailhead. Results of an autopsy concluded that he died as a result of traumatic injuries from a bear attack. It is the second time a visitor to the park has been killed by a bear this year. Authorities say Wallace likely died Wednesday or T...
AP Photo/National Park Service, MacNeil Lyons A gray wolf walks in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. A U.S. Judge is hearing a challenge to a federal law that stripped the endangered species status from wolves in five states across the Northern Rockies, including in Montana. BILLINGS — Wildlife advocates went to federal court Tuesday to challenge a move by Congress that stripped endangered species status from more than 1,300 gray wolves across five states in the Northern Rockies. The two-hour hearing before U. S. D...
CROW AGENCY — Crow tribal officials sent search teams Wednesday to remote parts of their reservation to look for people stranded by flooding, as cities and towns across Montana tried to stave off rivers and streams spilling from their banks. Flood waters in hard-hit southeastern Montana have receded enough for Crow reservation residents to return to find dozens of homes damaged by the flooded Little Bighorn River. AP Photo/Matthew Brown A flooded house and pickup near the Little Bighorn River in Crow Agency, Mont. are s...
BILLINGS — A failed Exxon Mobil pipeline that spilled an estimated 42,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River was expected to restart operations Saturday after getting approval from federal officials. Changes made during repairs to the Silvertip pipeline have made it less likely to fail again, Montana Department of Environmental Quality Director Richard Opper said. The line broke July 1 after flooding scoured the river bottom and exposed the 12-inch pipe, which was buried just five feet deep in some areas. AP Photo/Juli...
BILLINGS — The cleanup of a major oil spill in the Yellowstone River has proven more difficult than expected and could go on for several more months, an Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. executive said Thursday. Areas hit hardest by the July spill should be cleaned up by the first half of October, company vice president Geoff Craft said. That includes a 20-mile stretch of the Yellowstone stretching from the spill site near Laurel downstream to Billings. But scattered sites still would need to be dealt with, including contaminated r...
BILLINGS — A federal panel has rejected an attempt by conservationists to halt the construction of a long-stalled 121-mile railroad that would open a new area of Montana to coal mining. The Surface Transportation Board said opponents failed to show why the $550 million rail line needed further environmental review. The decision came Wednesday in response to a petition by the Northern Plains Resource Council and Montana rancher Mark Fix, who lives along the proposed railroad route. "We believe that (the Tongue River R...
MISSOULA — Fugitive and former Montana militia leader David Burgert is one of a new breed of anti-government activists who display particular hatred of law enforcement, police and militia experts say. Burgert apparently carefully planned for a gunfight with Missoula County sheriff's deputies on Sunday, then escaped into the heavily forested mountains of western Montana. The 47-year-old parolee remained on the run Thursday. Burgert, Sheriff Carl Ibsen said in a statement, "harbors great animosity for law enforcement and g...
BILLINGS — The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a petition filed by attorneys seeking new regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Siding with Attorney General Steve Bullock, justices wrote in Wednesday's order that the case raised too many questions about Montana's contribution to a global problem for a ruling on purely legal questions as sought by the plaintiffs. "The court is ill-equipped to resolve the factual assertions presented by the petitioners," justices wrote. Justices also rejected the plaintiffs' c...
BILLINGS — The White House is poised to accept a budget bill that includes an unprecedented end-run around Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in five Western states — the first time Congress has targeted a species protected under the 37-year-old law. This image provided by the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Department shows a collared gray wolf, part of the Smart Creek trio pack is shown southwest of Drummond, in the fall of 2009. Legal experts say the Obama administration's support of Congressional action to...
BILLINGS — Members of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians took their century-long campaign for recognition before Congress on Thursday, with what was called a last chance request for acknowledgement. The landless tribe of about 4,300 people was recognized a decade ago by officials and other tribes in Montana, where most Little Shell live. But its petition for federal recognition was turned down by the Department of Interior in 2009 after a 31-year wait. "For too long, we've been refugees in Montana, waiting for the U...
BILLINGS — A federal judge threw out a lawsuit claiming federal agents illegally raided Montana's Custer Battlefield Museum during an investigation into the alleged sale of fraudulent artifacts and eagle feathers. The judgment was filed in U.S. District Court in favor of two dozen federal agents who participated in the raids in 2005 and 2008. Judge Richard Cebull dismissed as frivolous claims by museum director Christopher Kortlander that the raids were illegal and the agents had violated his constitutional rights. The i...
BILLINGS — More oil-fouled locations were discovered along the Yellowstone River as floodwaters receded after an Exxon Mobil Corp. pipeline failure, but officials said Monday the geographical extent of pollution along the scenic waterway did not appear to be growing. A total of 45 locations with oil had been found, an increase of 15 sites since Saturday, said Steve Merritt of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The number is likely to keep increasing as crews in boats reach areas that previously were inaccessible b...
BILLINGS — Emergency workers ferried supplies to more than 300 people cut off Friday by flooding that has overwhelmed Montana towns and caused an estimated $8.6 million in damages to date. Heavy rain and the runoff from record mountain snowpacks have caused rivers over much of the West to spill from their banks. Montana has been hit particularly hard over the past few weeks, with hundreds of homes inundated and scores of roadways swamped. Glasgow Courier photo An underpass in downtown Glasgow is flooded Wednesday by water o...
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has approved a pair of sweeping settlements that could lead to endangered species protections for hundreds of animal and plant species by 2016. Friday's order by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan means the government must act on imperiled species ranging from the northern wolverine and Pacific walrus to dozens of snails, mollusks, butterflies and plants. The order comes after the Obama administration reached deals with environmental groups that filed lawsuits challenging the government's h...
BILLINGS — The state of Montana has cut its ties to a joint Exxon Mobil-government command post overseeing an oil spill in the Yellowstone River after the governor said the group was defying state open government laws by denying public access. The move underscores mounting tensions between the state and one of the world's largest energy companies over its handling of the pipeline rupture that spewed an estimated 42,000 gallons of oil into the scenic river. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg of Montana said the House Subcommit...
ROUNDUP — Central Montana's Musselshell River has started to recede after swamping the small agricultural community of Roundup for the second time in two weeks. AP Photo/Matthew Brown Elaine Krueger loads a rifle case into the back of her truck as she removes items from her gun and pawn shop, Wednesday, in Roundup. The Musselshell River swamped portions of the small agricultural town for the second time in two weeks Wednesday as heavy rains continued to cause widespread flooding in Montana. Dozens of residents were forced t...
BILLINGS — The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it will collect indoor air samples from homes downstream AP Photo/Jim Urquhart Cleanup workers use oil absorbent materials along side the Yellowstone River in Laurel, Wednesday. An Exxon Mobil pipeline near Laurel ruptured and spilled an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude into the Yellowstone. of a Yellowstone River oil spill after residents raised concerns about health risks from the tens of thousands of gallons of crude that poured into the watercourse. About 150 p...
BILLINGS — A 3-year-old child witnessed the killing of three people in a remote area of Montana's Crow Indian Reservation and named a family member as the shooter, according to an FBI affidavit. Sheldon Bernard Chase, 22, was captured in Washington state and made an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Cynthia Imbrogno in Spokane on Thursday. He was ordered held on three counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his grandmother, cousin and cousin's boyfriend at their rural home on Tuesday. He faces life in p...
LODGE GRASS — A 22-year-old man suspected of killing his elderly grandmother and two others on Montana's Crow Reservation was arrested Wednesday night in Washington state after a daylong search, the FBI said. Sheldon Bernard Chase was arrested without incident in Spokane, Wash. He is suspected of using a rifle around noon Tuesday to kill his grandmother, Gloria Sarah Goes Ahead Cummins, 80; his cousin, 21-year-old Levon Driftwood; and her boyfriend, 20-year-old Rueben Jefferson. AP Photo/The Billings Gazette, James W...
BILLINGS — The search for an armed suspect in a triple shooting on the Crow Reservation spanned the southeast Montana countryside Wednesday as people were warned to stay inside for their safety. Authorities were seeking Sheldon Bernard Chase, 22, in the deaths of a his grandmother and a young couple at a rural residence about 10 miles outside of Lodge Grass, a town of about 500 people near the Wyoming border. AP Photo/The Billings Gazette, James Woodcock Law enforcement officers remove a shooting victim's body from a home a...
LAUREL — The scope of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s oil leak into the Yellowstone River could extend far beyond a 10-mile stretch of the famed waterway, the company acknowledged under political pressure Monday. As the company intensified its cleanup of tens of thousands of gallons of spilled crude, Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. President Gary Pruessing pledged to do "whatever is necessary" to find and mop up oil from the 12-inch pipeline that broke at the bottom of the river over the weekend. Schweitzer slams Exxon Mobil AP Photo/Jim U...
BILLINGS — Gray wolf hunts are under way in Montana and Idaho as state officials seek to sharply reduce the predator's numbers in hopes of curbing attacks on livestock and big game herds. Montana's hunt kicked off at sunrise Saturday with a six-week, archery-only wolf season. A general wolf hunting season opens Oct. 22 and runs through the end of the year. Montana wildlife officials have set a statewide harvest quota of 220 wolves, which would reduce the state's population to a projected 425 animals. Idaho's hunt began T...
AP Photo/Matthew Brown ExxonMobil contractors clean up oil along the banks of the Yellowstone River in Billings Sunday. A company pipeline about 20 miles upriver near Laurel, Mont., ruptured and spilled an estimated 1,000 barrels of crude into the Yellowstone on Saturday. LAUREL — Authorities struggled Sunday to gauge the environmental and crop damage from tens of thousands of gallons of oil that spilled into the legendary Yellowstone River, as Montana's governor criticized Exxon Mobil for downplaying the possible scope of th...
BILLING — A new U.S. government report highlights serious gaps in mental health care for many American Indians and Alaska Natives, groups that suffer from problems including a teenage suicide rate more than twice the national average. One in five hospitals and clinics in Indian Country provide no mental health services, according to the Inspector General's Office of the Department of Health and Human Services. Only half provide drug therapy treatments, and at dozens of facilities some drug treatments are handled by n...
