News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 226 - 250 of 261
BILLINGS — Five years after a cow dubbed the "Unsinkable Molly B" leapt a slaughterhouse gate and swam across the Missouri River in an escape that brought international acclaim, the heifer has again eluded fate, surviving the collapse of the animal sanctuary where she was meant to retire. Molly B was among an estimated 1,200 animals removed from the Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in recent weeks as part of a massive effort to bail out its overwhelmed owners. Animal rescuers said they were forced to euthanize d...
BILLINGS — Five years after a cow dubbed the "Unsinkable Molly B" leapt a slaughterhouse gate and swam across the Missouri River in an escape that brought international acclaim, the heifer has again eluded fate, surviving the collapse of the animal sanctuary where she was meant to retire. Molly B was among an estimated 1,200 animals removed from the Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in recent weeks as part of a massive effort to bail out its overwhelmed owners. Animal rescuers said they were forced to euthanize d...
BILLINGS — Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer says the state will defy federal protections for gray wolves and kill packs that have been hurting elk herds. Schweitzer also told The Associated Press that he is encouraging livestock owners north of Interstate 90 to shoot wolves that harass their animals. He says state game wardens would stop investigating wolf shootings in that part of the state. Livestock owners in southern Montana already have authority to shoot wolves that harass their animals. The Democratic governor says he i...
Schweitzer blocks Yellowstone bison slaughter MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press BILLINGS — Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Tuesday signed an executive order blocking the shipment of hundreds of Yellowstone National Park bison to slaughter. The Democratic governor told The Associated Press that he was worried the shipments could spread the disease brucellosis, now largely confined to Yellowstone's wildlife, to Montana livestock. Park officials had planned to slaughter potentially hundreds of bison testing positive for exposure...
BILLINGS — Attorneys from Montana and Wyoming squared off before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday in a cross-border dispute over how they share the region's scarce water supplies. Montana has accused its southern neighbor of taking too much water from the Tongue and Powder rivers, breaking a 1950 agreement between the states. Justice skeptical of Bullock argument But justices Monday voiced skepticism when Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock said new irrigation practices had put Wyoming in violation of the agreement. "...
Montana, feds negotiating areas for buffalo to roam MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press BILLINGS — Montana and federal officials are negotiating a proposal to open a large area north of Yellowstone National Park to roaming bison during winter — a move that could sharply reduce pressure to slaughter the disease-bearing animals when they leave the park. Officials from several agencies told The Associated Press Wednesday that behind-the-scenes discussions on the proposal have been taking place for about a month. Montana Dep...
EPA: Montana air quality drilling rules too lax MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Federal environmental officials said Thursday they plan to reject Montana air quality rules that allow oil and gas companies to obtain emissions permits after they have already started drilling. The Environmental Protection Agency said the rules do not meet requirements of the Clean Air Act. Adopted in 2005 and 2006, the rules give companies 60 days after drilling a well to register with the Montana Department of E...
BILLINGS — Frayed, torn and maybe even a little bloodstained, the only U.S. flag not captured or lost during George Armstrong Custer's "Last Stand" at the Battle of Little Bighorn sold for $54 when it first surfaced in the 1890s. Today the swallow-tailed 7th U.S. Cavalry flag, known as a "guidon," is expected to bring up to $5 million at an auction at Sotheby's in New York. And while Custer's reputation has risen and fallen over the years — once considered a hero, he's regarded by some contemporary scholars as an inept lea...
BILLINGS — The Senate has approved major water rights settlements with American Indian tribes in Arizona, Montana and New Mexico that have been pending in some cases for decades. Calling the settlements historic, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Friday said they would deliver more than $1 billion combined to four tribes. Money would go toward safe drinking water systems and irrigation improvements that could boost reservation economies. Montana's Crow Tribe would receive the largest amount — $460 million. The other set...
Tribal court could resolve Little Shell dispute BILLINGS — Opposing factions within Montana's landless Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians have agreed in principle to tribal court proceedings aimed at resolving their differences. Representatives of the two sides said Monday that details still were being worked through an intermediary, James Steele Jr., chairman of the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council. The 4,300-member tribe last year split into two groups — each with an elected council — after disagreeing on the l...
A mother grizzly and two of her three cubs have been captured after killing one person and injuring two others during a late-night rampage through a campground near Yellowstone National Park. The mother, estimated to weigh 300 to 400 pounds, was lured into a trap fashioned from culvert pipe Wednesday evening, then left in place to attract the year-old offspring. By this morning, two of the younger bears had been caught and the third could be heard nearby, calling out to its mother. Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Capt. Sam...
The founder of t h e m i l l i o n a i r e s - o n l y Yellowstone Club goes on trial today to face claims that he fleeced the private ski resort out of at least $286 million. Before its 2008 bankruptcy filing, the Montana club gained a reputation as an alpine haven for the nation's elite. Its membership list includes Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, hotel magnate Barry Sternlicht and former Vice President Dan Quayle. The club came out of bankruptcy protection last year, but creditors are still chasing former owner Tim...
American Indian leaders on Thursday asked Congress to streamline the development of energy projects on tribal lands by curbing some federal oversight and providing incentives for companies to strike deals with reservations. Re s e r v a t i o n s f r o m Oklahoma to Montana and Alaska sit atop large amounts of oil, natural gas and coal. Others in wind-swept regions of the Northern Plains and on the West Coast have huge renewable energy potential. But existing government rules make it easier for energy companies to pursue...
U.N. scientists have recommended a moratorium on mining in Bri t ish Columbia's Flathead Valley and the creation of a conservation plan for the remote region spanning the United States-Canada border, a U.S. official said Thursday. Several companies have announced plans to extract coal, natural gas and gold within the Canadian stretch of the valley, whi ch i s near Albe r ta's Waterton Lakes National Park and Montana's Glacier National Park. But the call for curbs on mining is likely to increase international pressure on...
Survivors of a tornado that tore into Montana's largest indoor arena and leveled several commercial buildings returned to a scene of devastation Monday — awestruck that a twister so destructive caused no major injuries. Under sunny, blue skies, owners of damaged businesses in Billings picked through the rubble of their storefronts, salvaging what they could from rain-soaked piles of debris. Local officials said a 12,000-seat arena that suffered extensive damage would have to be gutted and, if there is structural damage, possi...
Researcher: Meth decline not linked to campaign MATTHEW BROWN,Associated Press Writer BILLINGS — A new study concludes that a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to deter youths from trying methamphetamines has had no discernible impact on abuse rates. Economics researcher D. Mark Anderson of the University of Washington said Tuesday that abuse of the drug already was on the decline before the high-profile Montana Meth Project was launched in 2005. An estimated $13 million has been spent on that campaign, and the p...
Montana ranchers vow to fight national monument idea MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Writer LEWISTOWN — Ranchers in eastern Montana are digging in for what they said Friday would be a protracted fight against a tentative Interior Department proposal to designate more than a dozen new national monuments across the West. At a forum hosted by Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, rural landowners said the proposal threatened to fragment their communities and take away ranching opportunities. "Shouldn't we have the right to say no to a...
BILLINGS — National Guard troops and local police were keeping a close eye on damaged property after a tornado barreled through two Billings neighborhoods, tearing the roof off a sports arena and several buildings. The tornado struck at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday, running through Main Street and damaging about 10 small businesses in the city's northeast area before quickly moving toward the 10,000-seat Rimrock Auto Arena about a half-mile away. The twister hovered for about 15 minutes over the arena, which often hosts concerts a...
National Guard troops and local police were keeping a close eye on damaged property after a tornado barreled through two Billings neighborhoods, tearing the roof off a sports arena and several buildings. The tornado struck at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday, running through Main Street and damaging about 10 small businesses in the city's northeast area before quickly moving toward the 10,000-seat Rimrock Auto Arena about a half-mile away. The twister hovered for about 15 minutes over the arena, which often hosts concerts and rodeos...
Internal e-mails show top officials at the governor's office and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks knew that a poaching investigation i n v o l v e d a p r omi n e n t Republican who later went to work for Rep. Denny Rehberg. But the e-mails, released Wednesday in response to a freedom of information request from The Associated Press, show no evidence that political pressure influenced the case. Republican Randy Vogel, now on voluntary leave from his job as state director for Rep. Denny Rehberg, faces four poaching charges...
Hunger and internal parasites afflicted a grizzly bear that ma u l e d t h r e e c amp e r s n e a r Yellowstone National Park, but investigators said Monday those factors failed to explain such aggressive predatory behavior. The bear's late-night rampage through a crowded campground was the most brazen by a Yellowstone grizzly in a quarter-century. It left one man dead and two people with serious injuries. But after an in-depth investigation, wildlife officials on Monday produced a 70-page report that left unanswered a...
Utilities across the country are building dozens of old-style coal plants that will cement the industry's standing as the largest industrial source of climate-changing gases for years to come. An Associated Press examination of U.S. Department of Energy records and information provided by utilities and trade groups shows that more than 30 traditional coal plants have been built since 2008 or are under construction. The construct ion wave stretches from Arizona to Illinois a n d S o u t h Ca r o l i n a t o Washington, and com...
Arch Coal Inc. has bid $86 million plus future royalties for the right to mine a half-billion tons of state-owned coal in southeastern Montana near the Wyoming border. St. Louis-based Arch already controls 731 million tons of coal in Otter Creek, south of Ashland. Because the public and private coal tracts are arranged in a checkerboard fashion, industry observers say the reserves likely would be mined together. Combined, they contain enough fuel to meet the nation's coal needs for more than a year. Developing a mine could...
Endangered species protections may be needed to protect the Northern Rockies fisher, a small fanged predator that once thrived in the region's old growth forests, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday. Also Thursday, the government said it will again review the endangered status of wolverines, another unprotected predator in the weasel family that has suffered a longterm decline. Both animals have been struggling to recover in Northern Rockies states since they were largely wiped out by over-trapping in the 1930s....
Wildlife officials in the Northern Rockies said Wednesday they are considering hunting gray wolves in the name of research to get around a recent court ruling that restored federal protections for the animals. Environmentalists derided the proposal, vowing to challenge in court any new plans for hunting the estimated 1,367 wolves in Idaho and Montana. "They' re adopt ing the Japanese whaling approach of holding hunts under the obviously erroneous concept of research," said Mike Leahy, Rocky Mountain director for Defenders of...
