News you can use
News you can use
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BOZEMAN — Montana regulators are proposing a rule to require oil and gas companies to disclose what chemicals are being pumped into the ground as a way to extract natural gas and oil in a process called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." But the proposed rule is already under attack because of an exception that allows companies to withhold information if it reveals trade secrets. Environmentalists contend that fracking contaminates the soil and ground and surface waters Tom Richmond, administrator for the Montana Board o...
GOP plans abortion parental notification ballot measure The Associated Press HELENA — Abortion opponents are putting forward a proposed ballot measure that would require parental notification for abortions being considered by girls under the age of 18 who are not legally emancipated minors. The measure would allow lawmakers to put the question to voters in 2012, should the governor veto another measure advancing through the Republican-controlled Legislature that would simply make the change in law. Supporters say the n...
Education funding plan goes back to committee HELENA — Senate Republicans searching for votes on their primary education funding plan sent the measure back to committee for more tinkering. The Thursday move followed a floor vote on Wednesday where the measure deadlocked 25-25. Republicans hold a 28-22 advantage in the chamber, but face some opposition from those within their ranks worried about how it treats some resource-rich rural areas. Democrats are opposing it, arguing they like Gov. Brian Schweitzer's education plan b...
Reducation education funding plan reduced The Associated Press HELENA — Senate Republicans are trimming their education spending plan in hopes of getting full support from their caucus. Some Republicans bucked the original plan that re-crafts key aspects of school funding while increasing funding about 3 percent over the two-year budget period. Late Thursday, a committee reduced the funding a little and made clear that the 2013 Legislature will have to revisit a controversial plan to redistribute some of the oil and gas m...
HELENA — The Schweitzer administration is preparing to cut Medicaid payments to medical providers as much as 6 percent if the Republican legislative majority gets its way with proposed budget cuts. The cuts are still part of negotiations between Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who is resisting them, and Republican legislative leaders. Lee Newspapers State Bureau reports that administrative rules being drafted would hit hospitals, nursing homes, group homes and other providers of medical and disability services to the poor. P...
Poll: Montanans not happy with Legislature The Associated Press HELENA — A new poll finds six in 10 Montanans aren't happy with the performance of the 2011 Legislature. Mason-Dixon Polling & Research telephoned 625 registered voters last week and asked their opinions on various politicians and political issues for Lee Newspapers of Montana. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Those surveyed were given four options to rate lawmakers' performance: excellent, pretty good, only fair and poor. The first two w...
Maligned stream access bill tabled in committee The Associated Press HELENA — The Montana Senate is tabling revisions to the state's stream access law amid stiff opposition from anglers. House Bill 309 reopened a simmering dispute over a slough running through the Bitterroot Valley property of 1980s rocker Huey Lewis and others. The courts ruled several years ago that the slough be open to fishermen under the state's stream access law. Ranchers and others had sought to make clear that irrigation ditches are not open to a...
AP Photo/Shelby Promoter/Chris Muller Investigators survey the scene of a school bus accident Friday near Devon. The bus carrying about 40 people returning from a church camp flipped on its side Friday on a rural highway in northern Montana, injuring several students, none of them seriously, authorities said. A camp counselor says three people remain hospitalized after a school bus carrying about 40 people returning from a church camp flipped on its side on a rural highway in northern Montana. Malachy Horning tells the Great...
GREAT FALLS — A camp counselor says three people remain hospitalized after a school bus carrying about 40 people returning from a church camp flipped on its side on a rural highway in northern Montana. AP Photo/Shelby Promoter/Chris Muller Investigators survey the scene of a school bus accident Friday near Devon. The bus carrying about 40 people returning from a church camp flipped on its side on Highway 2 Friday, injuring several students, none of them seriously, authorities said. Malachy Horning tells the Great Falls T...
BUTTE— Delegates for the Montana Republican Party on Saturday elected Will Deschamps to serve another 2-year term as party chairman. More than 180 party delegates voted, KXLF-TV reported. Mark French, a tea party advocate, was also nominated for the leadership spot....
BILLINGS — A hearing is planned Monday on the fairness of a $3.4 billion settlement reached in a lawsuit that claimed the government mismanaged the accounts of hundreds of thousands of American Indian landowners. The hearing in Washington, D.C., comes six months after lawmakers approved the settlement and a federal judge granted preliminary approval of the deal in December. The lead plaintiff in the 15-year-old class-action lawsuit is Elouise Cobell of Browning, Mont., a member of Montana's Blackfeet Tribe. The lawsuit a...
HELENA — About a dozen people picketed outside a health fair sponsored by the Independent Record in Helena to protest the exclusion of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Stacey Anderson told the Great Falls Tribune that her organization was invited to join the more than 60 health and wellness businesses and organizations exhibiting at the fifth annual event held Thursday at the Helena Civic Center. But about a week ago, the IR returned the group's registration fees, Anderson said. "They said they decided not t...
BILLINGS — Facing mounting pressure from Congress, wildlife advocates and the U.S. Department of Interior on Friday reached an agreement to lift gray wolf protections in Montana and Idaho and allow hunting of the predators to resume. The settlement agreement — opposed by some environmentalists — is intended to resolve years of litigation that have shielded wolves in the Northern Rockies from hunting, even as the predator's population has sharply expanded. Terms of the deal were to be filed in U.S. District Court in Monta...
Montana Senate GOP moves to tilt environmental law HELENA — Senate Republicans are moving forward with their plan to tilt the state's main environmental law in favor of industry, despite objections from Democrats that the plan undermines key protections for clean air and water. The Senate endorsed in a 27-23 late afternoon vote a general revision of the Montana Environmental Policy Act after making some changes aimed at reducing the cost to state regulators. It had already received one favorable vote last month, before GOP l...
BOZEMAN — A retired Montana State University administrator and professor says he will donate $100,000 to the school's library in honor of his wife, who died last year at the age of 78. University officials say 82-year-old Stuart Knapp made an estate gift in his wife's name that will provide books and electronic materials after his death. Knapp says his wife, Bev Knapp, was a strong supporter of the MSU library, chaired the Bozeman Public Library board and was president of the Montana Library Association. The couple also h...
BILLINGS — Federal wildlife officials say they will take more than 1,300 gray wolves in the Northern Rockies off the endangered species list within 60 days. An attachment to the budget bill signed into law Friday by President Barack Obama strips protections from wolves in five Western states. It marks the first time Congress has taken a species off the endangered list. Idaho and Montana plan public wolf hunts this fall. Hunts last year were canceled after a judge ruled the predators remained at risk. Protections remain in p...
NEW YORK — A "60 Minutes" investigation alleges that the inspirational multimillion seller "Three Cups of Tea" is filled with inaccuracies and that co-author Greg Mortenson's charitable organization has taken credit for building schools that don't exist. The report, which airs Sunday night on CBS television, cites "Into the Wild" author Jon Krakauer as among the doubters of Mortenson's story of being lost in 1993 while mountain climbing in rural Pakistan and stumbling upon the village of Korphe, where the kindness of local r...
BOZEMAN — Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks are working on a new policy for poisoning streams to kill nonnative fish in the wake of a poisoning attempt last year that went farther downstream and killed more fish than expected. "We made a mistake and we learned from that mistake, and we're putting additional safeguards in place," fisheries biologist Travis Horton told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. The streams will be poisoned with a naturally produced chemical called rotenone. They will then be restocked with n...
Republican wants to link state coffers to gold The Associated Press HELENA — A Republican lawmaker says his plan to link state coffers to gold would spur rethinking of currency. Rep. Bob Wagner of Harrison told a House committee Monday that he wants Montana state government to trade with some taxpayers and contractors in units of gold. He envisions the exchange will be done electronically rather than with actual precious metal. Supporters say the new currency exchange will be "separate and parallel" to the traditional e...
Medical marijuana repeal stalls in MT Senate HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A measure to repeal Montana's medical marijuana law has stalled in a state Senate committee. House Speaker Mike Milburn's House Bill 161 was rejected Monday on a 6-6 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Most legislators say something should be done to rein in the state's marijuana industry. They say the boom in patients and providers has gone beyond the intention of the 2004 voter initiative approving the law. But many senators from both parties are o...
Democrats' job training bill stopped in committee HELENA — Legislation to train veterans and unemployed Montanans to be truck drivers has halted in committee after initially gaining bipartisan support. Some opponents of Senate Bill 359 were skeptical that the bill targeted veterans since the proposal opened up its training services to all unemployed Montanans. Others said the price tag could spiral well beyond the initial estimate of about $650,000 a year. Supporters of the bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. Mary Caferro of He...
TOKYO (AP) — A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. Hours later, the tsunami hit Hawaii and warnings blanketed the Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast. Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai. Another 88 were confirmed killed and at least 349 were m...
Montana judge orders hysterectomy, patient appeals The Associated Press MISSOULA— The Montana Supreme Court has delayed an order that a cancer patient undergo a hysterectomy to give her time to appeal a finding that she is not mentally competent to make such a decision. District Judge Karen Townsend issued a March 1 ruling ordering the woman to undergo a radical hysterectomy on March 3 to treat her cervical cancer. The woman is identified in documents by the initials L.K. Says she a deeply religious woman L.K.'s appeal says s...
0-year-old Great Falls boy shot, killed; sixth-grader charged GREAT FALLS (AP) — Great Falls police say a 10-year-old boy has been shot to death and a sixth-grader is facing a negligent homicide charge in Youth Court. Police tell the Great Falls Tribune the shooting was reported at 7 p.m. Sunday at an apartment complex. The 10-year-old was pronounced dead at the hospital. The sixth-grader appeared before Judge Dirk Sandefur for a juvenile detention hearing and was released to his father's custody after investigators v...
MISSOULA — The son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana has pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding. Nate Montana appeared in Missoula County Justice Court on Friday. Jail records show the 21-year-old Montana was booked into jail on a first-offense DUI charge at 3:46 a.m. Friday and released after posting a $685 bond. The Missoulian reports that Montana and his attorney declined to comment at the hearing. Montana transferred from Notre Dame to the University of Montana in M...
