News you can use
News you can use
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CAIRO — Egypt's military promised Monday not to fire on any peaceful protests and said it recognized "the legitimacy of the people's demands" ahead of a demonstration in which organizers aim to bring a million Egyptians to the streets to press for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. The military statement was the strongest sign yet that the army was willing to let the week-old protests continue and even grow as long as they remain peaceful, even if that leads to the fall of Mubarak. If the 82-year-old president, a f...
PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. — Dozens of tornadoes spawned by a powerful storm system wiped out neighborhoods across a wide swath of the South, killing at least 201 people in the deadliest outbreak in nearly 40 years, and officials said this morning they expected the death toll to rise. AP Photo/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, C. Todd Sherman An unidentified emergency responder combs through the wreckage of a destroyed home after a tornado touched down, Wednesday in Smithville, Miss. Alabama's state emergency management a...
'Clean and healthful' constitutional change fails The Associated Press HELENA — A Republican plan to dilute the Montana Constitution's guarantee of a "clean and healthful environment" to help industry won't be going to the 2012 ballot. The declaration in the Constitution's inalienable rights has long been a sore point for those who say it gets in the way of energy and other development. But conservationists and others have hailed it as forward-thinking language that has helped preserve the state. The failed Republican proposa...
BILLINGS (AP) — Flood waters have receded enough for Crow Indian tribal members to return to their devastated homes, while cities and towns across Montana trying to stave off rivers and streams spilling from their banks braced for more rain. Flood war AP Photo/The Billings Gazette, David Grubbs Shadd Cullinan and Tammie McCormick, both owners of businesses in downtown Lodgegrass, Mont., toss food into a dumpster Tuesday at the local IGA food market. The food was damaged by flood waters and had to be destroyed. nings have b...
NEW YORK — Huguette Clark, a 104-year-old heiress to a Montana copper fortune who once lived in the largest apartment on New York City's Fifth Avenue, died Tuesday at a Manhattan hospital, but prosecutors are still pursuing a legal battle over her money and care. The reclusive Clark spent the last two decades of her life in New York City hospitals. "Miss Clark's passing is a sad event for all those who have loved and respected her over the years," her attorney, Wallace Bock, said in a statement. "She died as she wanted, w...
rMINOT, N.D. — Water from the Souris River is expected to start pouring over dikes protecting the North Dakota city of Minot within the hour, the mayor said Wednesday morning. Mayor Curt Zimbelman, speaking by telephone to KXMC television, said there are several areas along the levees where officials aren't sure they control the dikes. Officials will sound the city's sirens when water starts overtopping the levees, and he said that's imminent. AP Photo/ The Forum, Teri Finneman A dog runs along the bank of the rising Souris R...
BUTTE — A Montana wildlife official says a federal trapper has shot and killed three wolves from the Table Mountain pack near Silver Star in southwestern Montana blamed for killing a calf on a ranch earlier in May. Pat Flowers of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks tells The Montana Standard that the wolves were killed Tuesday on private land. Flowers says one of the wolves was an adult fitted with a radio collar after a previous attack on livestock. Flowers says the pack is still viable though it's unclear h...
KALISPELL — The state Board of Regents has approved an increase in athletic fees for University of Montana students to fund a new softball program. The Missoulian reports students will see $12.50 added to their fee in each of the next two years. Montana President Royce Engstrom says the increased revenue will be used to help the university stay in compliance with federal gender equity laws by adding a women's softball team. Engstrom estimates the new team would cost about $700,000 a year and the new fee will fully fund the p...
KALISPELL — The Board of Regents has approved the hiring of Donald Blackketter as the next chancellor of Montana Tech. Blackketter, who is currently the dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Idaho in Moscow, will start his new job in Butte on June 27. He will replace Frank Gilmore, who served for 13 years. Blackketter earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Wyoming and joined UI in 1989 as an assistant professor in mechanical engineering. He was a...
GREAT FALLS — Flooding in eastern Montana has caused the cancellation of several high school graduations, fisherman have been trapped by washed out roads, a community near Billings has a voluntary evacuation in place and a private dam failed due to high water, meteorologists with the National Weather Service said Saturday. Much of the eastern two-thirds of the state is dealing with flood warnings or actual flooding as a slow-moving storm has been dumping rain across the region for several days, in some areas as much as six i...
BOZEMAN — Gov. Brian Schweitzer has signed legislation seen as a step to increasing the number of cancer patients participating in clinical trials. House Bill 615 calls for the state's insurance commissioner to study the medical costs insurance companies reimburse for cancer patients participating in trials and to recommend appropriate legislation. Democratic Rep. Kathleen Williams of Bozeman sponsored the bill after hearing from constituents that they could not participate in clinical trials because insurance companies d...
ANACONDA — A 59-year-old Anaconda man faces trial this fall on charges that he allowed his pit bull-cross dogs to run loose, enter another house and kill five cats. The Montana Standard reports John Griswold made an initial court appearance on May 11 and pleaded not guilty to two counts of owning nuisance animals and two counts of letting his dogs run at large. Trial is set for Sept. 10. Court records say Griswold's dogs jumped into a fenced yard, got into a house through a pet door and attacked five cats on April 7. Four w...
HELENA — The chief revenue forecaster for the Montana Legislature told lawmakers that state tax collections are coming in about $70 million higher than was predicted last November. Legislative Fiscal Analyst Terry Johnson says tax collections will be $67.7 million to $77.7 million higher for the fiscal year ending June 30. Lee Newspapers of Montana reports Johnson attributed the increases to strong growth in wage and salary income, higher individual tax payments and improved corporate profitability. State revenue estimates w...
HELENA — Two wind developers have asked Montana's Public Service Commission to keep their bids to buy a 40-megawatt wind farm in Judith Basin County from public view. The Independent Record reported Friday that Sagebrush Wind and Invenergy want their proposals for the project sealed, citing trade secrets. They made the request in May while the PSC considers approving NorthWestern Energy's plans for the farm. Lee Newspapers of Montana and The Associated Press objected to the request, saying if price and cost information for N...
HELENA — Montana Lottery officials say a Glasgow man has claimed the $60,000 Montana Cash jackpot from the May 11 drawing. David Larsen bought his ticket at Gary and Leo's Fresh Foods in Havre. He says he plans to share some of his winnings with his daughters and pay bills with the rest. Meanwhile, two brothers-in-law from Kalispell claimed a $40,000 Powerball prize while a Billings woman claimed a $10,000 Powerball prize. Charlie Trinh and Thuan Huynh won $40,456 in the May 5 Powerball drawing with a ticket purchased at t...
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Sen. Charles Schumer says Homeland Security will begin tapping into Canadian military radar later this year to detect low-flying aircraft used to smuggle drugs from Canada into the United States. The New York Democrat chaired a hearing of the subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security in Washington Tuesday. Afterward, he told reporters that the Department of Homeland Security will begin integrating the Canadian radar feeds by November. The technology was used with success in Washington state f...
MORGANZA, La. — Engineers made final preparations Saturday afternoon to slowly open a 10-ton, steel emergency floodgate for the first time in nearly four decades, purposefully inundating farmlands and homes in Louisiana's Cajun country to drain the swelling Mississippi River. Across the countryside, people fled to higher ground, shored up levees that held the last time the Morganza spillway was opened and built new walls of sand and dirt to hold back the flood they have known was coming for weeks. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis A...
HELENA — The deadline for Gov. Brian Schweitzer to veto the Republican-led Legislature's medical marijuana overhaul has come and gone. The bill became law on Saturday and already is causing confusion. The sponsor says the state must immediately stop issuing medical marijuana cards. AP Photo/The Independent Record, Eliza Wiley A tractor trailer passes by the empty former greenhouses for Montana Cannabis in Helena, Mont. Montana stopped issuing medical marijuana registration cards after a deadline passed for Gov. Brian Schweitz...
LEWISTON, Idaho — Aerial gunners in a helicopter have killed at least five wolves in north-central Idaho since Wednesday in an effort to protect elk herds, but the hunting has been halted because it hasn't been as successful as expected, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game official says. Deputy Director Jim Unsworth said agents with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services suspended the hunt indefinitely Friday because it was inefficient and expensive. He said some wolf packs are being found by radio collars w...
CROW AGENCY — The Crow Tribe has opened its new Apsáalooke Nights Casino that allows smoking. The casino that opened Friday replaces the Little Bighorn Casino that faced various safety violations. Tribal officials tell KULR-TV that gamblers are allowed to smoke inside because of a new ventilation system. Leonard Bends is chairman of the Apsáalooke Casino Enterprise Board. He says plans have been made to add a motel next to the new casino. Tribal officials say a grand opening for the casino is set for June 24....
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Key moments in Monday night's GOP presidential debate: Big moment: To open the debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney immediately went after each other on Social Security — with Perry defending his inflammatory language and Romney accusing Perry of scaring seniors. "It has been called a Ponzi scheme by many people long before me," Perry said. The Texas governor has also called the social safety net a "monstrous lie." AP Photo/Chris O'Meara Republican presidential can...
HELENA — A majority of Montana Public Service Commission members have rejected one commissioner's attempt to examine the private cell phone records of two others. The dispute is the latest squabble in a year of turmoil and infighting at the commission that regulates utilities. Republican Commissioner Brad Molnar wanted a state administrative judge to look at the phone records of commissioners Gail Gutsche and Travis Kavulla to see if they had made improper contacts while deciding PSC issues in April. Gutsche, a Democrat, a...
BUTTE — The Northern Rodeo Association Finals are moving to Butte after 36 years in Billings. The Butte Civic Center will host the rodeo finals starting Sept. 29. Bill Fisher, a promoter for Butte events, tells the Montana Standard that organizers have tried for a couple of years to get the finals moved. NRA president Tyler Holland said this spring's pitch sold him and the NRA directors on Butte. The NRA puts on more than 30 rodeos in Montana each season....
BILLINGS — An explosion and fire leveled a Billings house and damaged several others on Wednesday, leaving debris scattered across a residential neighborhood. Police, fire and utility employees were on the scene to help determine the cause. Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. spokesman Rick Matteson said natural gas was likely involved, but could not say what might have triggered the explosion. AP Photo/Matthew Brown Firefighters work on the scene of an apparent natural gas explosion that destroyed a house and damaged surrounding r...
BOZEMAN — Two charter bus drivers have been arrested for allegedly taking a group of Bozeman seventh-graders on a field trip to Yellowstone National Park while under the influence of alcohol. KBZK-TV reports schools Superintendent Kirk Miller has written a letter to parents of the Sacajawea Middle School students saying the park received a call Friday morning from a person unrelated to the trip who was concerned the bus drivers might be impaired. Miller says that while the students were exploring the park, rangers "...
