News you can use
News you can use
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Tax error leaves schools in tight situation Tim Leeds The school districts still awaiting the payment of part of their revenue are hoping new tax bills bring in some money quickly. "For us, now, if we don't see the second half of the money coming in until May, we're going to run into a cash-flow problem," North Star Superintendent Ken Halverson said this morning. The Hill County commissioners said Monday an error in entering tax data had occurred in the Hill County Treasurer's Office last fall, leaving off a significant...
Cuts to seniors, disabled and children must stop By State Rep. Trudi Schmidt and Rep. Tony Belcourt On Jan. 3, the 62nd Montana Legislature convened in Helena to adopt a budget for the next biennium. This is no easy task. Fortunately, Montana remains one of the few states that continue to operate in the black with money in the bank. And, the economic picture is getting better every day. On Feb. 2, the Legislative Fiscal Division reported that at the end of this fiscal year there will be a $368 million ending fund balance. Or,...
Big Sky Rx on the chopping block With the Legislature in full swing at the capitol in Helena, state leaders are proposing budget cuts across all state agencies, which could result in a significant loss of funding for senior services. Not only are programs like Meals on Wheels in jeopardy, but Big Sky Rx is on the chopping block as well — even though a budget surplus has been projected by the governor's budget office. In a time of skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs, now is not the time to eliminate Big Sky Rx. We need M...
Winter jelly: The grand prize purple ribbon I woke in the night to the howl of the wind battering the west wall of my house. A chinook wind, the warm wind. I snuggled beneath my quilts and went back to sleep with a smile on my face. The first sound I heard when I awoke was the call of a mourning dove, the first dove of the year. I stuck my head out the door. Yes, the thermometer actually registered above freezing. Then and there I underwent a definite change in mind, body and...
Brouhaha flares over partisan budget plans MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA — The ongoing budget and revenue dispute between Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Republicans flared up Thursday, with the governor declaring he thinks in the end that GOP leaders will have to fund education and social services to levels he finds adequate. Republican leaders said they have no plans to bend to the governor's wishes. Schweitzer has been arguing for months with Republicans and their legislative staffers over how much money the state will h...
Senate endorses abortion notification bill STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press HELENA — The Senate has endorsed a bill to require girls under 16 to notify their parents before having an abortion. Senate Bill 97 would require doctors to give 48 hours' notice to parents of girls 15 and younger seeking an abortion. But it also makes some exceptions, such as in the case of an abusive relationship. The bill was endorsed by a 29-21 vote Thursday and faces one usually procedural vote before heading to the House. State Sens. Rowlie H...
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin answers questions at the public appearance at the Long Island (LIA) Association Meeting and Luncheon in Woodbury, N.Y., Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) Palin rejects new gun laws, vague on 2012 plans BETH FOUHY FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press WOODBURY, New York — Sarah Palin stuck to her guns on "death panels" Thursday, and on guns for that matter, in a rare public appearance in which reporters were allowed. Palin continued tweaking the first lady's efforts to fight childhood obes...
The Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds opened 9C girls tournament play with athrilling comeback win over North Star Thursday at the HHS gymnasium. The T-Birds beat the Knights 70-65 after trailing by as many as 20 points in the first half. HLP was led Anita Denny with 23 points, while the Knights got 27 points from Shelby Lipp. HLP will play top-seeded Box Elder Friday night at 6:30 p.m. North Star will play in a loser-out game Saturday at 8 a.m....
The Box Elder Bears got their 9C boys tournament off to a good start with a 74-56 win over Hays-Lodge Pole Thursday night at the Havre High gym. The Bears were led by Warren Parsian's huge double-double of 27 points and 20 rebounds. Box Elder will play in Friday's 2:30 p.m. semifinal against Chinook. HLP, which plays in a loser-out game Saturday at 11 a.m., got 17 points form Scotty Bradley....
The Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team dropped its third straight Frontier Conference game Thursday night in Billings. The Skylights fell to Rocky Mountain College 59-58. With the loss, the Skylights are now 3-8 in conference play and 12-15 overall. Northern is on the road again on Saturday to face Carroll College in Helena. For full coverage, see Friday's HDN....
The No. 16 MSU-Northern men's basketball team grabbed a huge Frontier Conference road win. The Lights beat Rocky Mountain College 74-53 Thursday night in Billings, keeping ahold of first place in the conference standings in the process. Northern improved to 8-3 in conference and 19-7 overall heading into Saturday night's showdown with Carroll College in Helena. For full coverage, see Friday's Havre daily News....
Missoula judge reduces teen's sentence MISSOULA (AP) — A judge has thrown out a plea agreement that called for prison time for a 19-year-old Native American on a criminal endangerment charge, saying he should receive a deferred sentence like a former state senator did last month for a similar offense. "The state of Montana needs to treat defendants more or less equally and not give old, rich guys breaks and with young, poor Indians, whack 'em," District Judge Dusty Deschamps said Tuesday. Missoula County prosecutors had r...
Northern dean gives upbeat view of developments Zach White At the end of the second week of legislative control, area Republicans got more good news Friday afternoon. Montana State University-Northern's Dean of Technical Science Greg Kegel spoke to the North Central Montana Pachyderm Club, an "officially recognized allied organization of the Republican Party," n Wolfer's Diner during a lunch meeting Friday. Kegel gave a presentation as a demonstration of what he will be telling the state legislature in the near future. The...
Helena hearing set on Montana social host law Tim Leeds An issue supported by a local group trying to reduce underage drinking is coming up for a hearing this week in the state House of Representatives. House Bill 20, sponsored by Rep. Gordon Hendrick, R-Superior, would allow counties to set social host ordinances that could hold adults responsible when underage drinking occurs on their property. A hearing before the House Local Government Committee will be Thursday. The Hill County Coalition for Rethinking Drinking...
Museum board presents its requests to county Grant applications, buffalo jump center, are discussed Tim Leeds The Hill County Commission heard several requests from the county museum board during a meeting Friday, saying some of them would have to be referred to the Hill County Attorney. That referral specifically regarded the best way to build a new visitors center for the Wahkpa Chu'gn Buffalo Jump archaeological site behind the Holiday Village Mall. John Brumley, the archaeologist at the site, said a new center would help...
Board, county discuss moving museum Debate: Would moving from mall be worth the effort? Tim Leeds A topic at the meeting Friday between the board of the county museum and the Hill County Commission was whether moving the H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum back to the Hill County fairgrounds would be a good idea or even a possibility, with one member of the museum board coming out strongly against it. "I see no advantage to it, personally," board member Gary Wilson told the commissioners. "I think we belong in...
Rosalind L. Harris, 89, died in the Roundup hospital on Jan. 9, 2011, after complications with Alzheimer's disease. She was born Rosalind Lillian Merten on June 29, 1921, at the family homestead in Petroleum County near Winnett. Her parents, Velma R. Woodard and John F. Merten, came to Montana in 1914 from Nebraska. Her father died when she was 18 years old and, being the oldest of five children, she helped raise her younger siblings, three sisters and one brother. Her mother, Velma Merten, was Clerk and Recorder of Petroleum...
Anastasia Mae 'Anne' Bachini Anne Bachini, 88, peacefully passed away from natural causes on Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, at Northern Montana Care Center. Anne was born the eighth child of Alfred and Agnes Rehbein in Enid, Mont., on May 10, 1922, and was raised on the family farm near Lambert, Mont. She was the middle child of 15 children. She had seven brothers and seven sisters who all called her 'Sis.' After graduating from high school, she moved to Havre to attend Northern Montana College where she met Vasco Bachini. They were...
Anastasia Mae 'Anne' Bachini Anne Bachini, 88, peacefully passed away from natural causes on Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, at Northern Montana Care Center. Anne was born the eighth child of Alfred and Agnes Rehbein in Enid, Mont., on May 10, 1922, and was raised on the family farm near Lambert, Mont. She was the middle child of 15 children. She had seven brothers and seven sisters who all called her 'Sis.' After graduating from high school, she moved to Havre to attend Northern Montana College where she met Vasco Bachini. They were...
The value of the Montana University System is felt far beyond the cities in which its campuses and agencies reside. More than 43,000 individuals are students within the Montana University System. They are joined by thousands more in our partner community colleges and tribal colleges. Collectively, they touch Montana businesses that rely on a skilled work force and advance our economy by meeting immediate needs, creating new companies and spending their earnings in the state's communities. A recent study by the Center on...
Washington's land preservation obsession Ron Poertner Just before Christmas with Congress in recess and the public on holiday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar issued Secretarial Order 3310 that puts the creation of de facto wilderness areas back in the Bureau of Land Management's preservation tool kit. Environmentalists love it; landowners and resource providers not so much. What is particularly egregious about Salazar's order is that it enables the BLM to create wilderness-like areas without the consent of Congress. In the lo...
Businesses that won't accept Canadian money don't deserve Canadian business Editor: I am a frequent visitor to Havre for family and pleasure purposes. We shop here and come to Havre often. I live in Canada and have been there 35 years, and in that 35 years we have been to Havre many many times. But in the last few months we have been getting negative feed back on the exchange of our money. We have been in a number of places that will not take Canadian money. Why not? It spends like the American dollar. Many of you should know...
No breast cancer golf tournament this year Editor: Hi-Line Women Against Breast Cancer is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that was formed to raise funds for breast cancer patients in our immediate area. We are now in our 11th year. We have had great success in helping local patients with travel expenses including gas, lodging and meals, medication, medical bills, day care, wigs, prosthesis, deductibles and co-insurance payments, and other financial help. Thanks to your support we were able to pay out over $33,000 in aid in...
Community News Service UM School of Journalism HELENA — They call it the Constitution Caucus, and its message rang clear as veteran Rep. Krayton Kerns rose in the state House Friday to oppose a bill to provide counseling for children from violent homes. "Don't vote your heart on this one, vote your oath," Kerns urged his fellow legislators. "The constitutional vote on this is no because it will grow government." Rep. James Knox, a freshman Republican from Billings, couldn't have agreed more. Killing the bill wasn't the easy t...
Republicans tout anti-abortion bills The Associated Press HELENA — Republicans running the Legislature made it clear that their opposition to abortion won't get lost amid the push on leading platform issues. About two dozen Republicans appeared at an anti-abortion rally at the state Capitol on Monday. They touted several pieces of GOP-backed legislation that are likely to get support from most of the caucus. GOP leadership has put its focus on such issues as making it easier for natural resource industries to do business i...
