News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1073 - 1097 of 2820
HELENA (AP) — House Republicans advanced a plan Thursday to end same-day voter registration that critics blame for long lines on Election Day, but supporters argue improves access to the voting booth. The measure, which cleared an initial 61-39 House vote on Thursday along party lines, would end voter registration the Friday before Election Day. Supporters of House Bill 30 argue the deadline provides ample time for voter registration, while freeing up county officials to deal with just traditional voters on Election Day. "Why...
BOZEMAN (AP) — Gov. Steve Bullock has signed into law a measure that prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage for cancer patients participating in clinical trials. Bullock signed Senate Bill 55 Monday flanked by Republican and Democratic lawmakers in a ceremony at Bozeman Deaconess Cancer Center, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/ZTH06K ) in a story published Tuesday. Center manager Spencer Green said there are between 30 and 40 patients participating in clinical trials at the hospital, many of w...
POLSON (AP) — A 45-year-old Polson man who drove his car into Flathead Lake in an attempt to elude police has pleaded guilty to his ninth DUI. Todd Burland entered his plea Wednesday before District Judge C.B. McNeil. Burland was arrested on Nov. 5 after officers pulled him out of the lake and into a rescue boat. Stevens says officers responded to a report that a vehicle was high-centered, but when officers arrived the vehicle was driving away. Officers pursued the vehicle as it drove through a park and into the lake. O...
HELENA (AP) — The House is backing a plan to ban physician-assisted suicide in Montana. The chamber backed House Bill 505 Wednesday in a 54-45 initial vote. Supporters say it is needed to protect elderly people from potential abuse of heirs seeking money. The Legislature has struggled with physician-assisted suicide since a 2009 state Supreme Court ruling that said nothing in state law prohibits it. The ruling effectively made Montana the third state to legalize the practice. But a lack of regulations or oversight has left l...
HELENA (AP) — Two Republican tax-cut proposals are advancing toward a full House vote while the governor's $400 rebate plan stalls. The House Taxation Committee on Monday advanced a plan to cut the statewide property tax assessment. The panel also backed a reduction in the business-equipment tax by exempting companies' first $250,000 in equipment. Committee chairman Mike Miller says the full House will consider both proposals soon. But Miller says the committee will sit on Gov. Steve Bullock's proposed $400-per-homeowner t...
HELENA — The chairwoman of Montana's Yellowstone County Republican committee denies she posted on her Facebook page a racist photo mocking President Barack Obama. Jennifer Olsen says she has received dozens of calls and emails since a blogger last week claimed Olsen posted an image of a box propped up with a stick with a watermelon underneath. The caption says "BREAKING NEWS: The Secret Service just uncovered a plot to kidnap the president." Olsen said Monday the blogger who claims she posted the photo is lying and she has n...
BILLINGS (AP) — Anna Whiting Sorrell has been named director of the Billings Area Indian Health Service. She succeeds longtime director Pete Conway and assumed her new duties on Monday. Sen. Jon Tester's office announced Whiting Sorrell's appointment late Wednesday. For the past four years, Whiting Sorrell has served as director of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. She is a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe. The Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/WQEXwf ) reports the Billings area o...
HELENA (AP) — State wildlife biologists plan to radio collar 50 cow elk in the Missouri River Breaks and track their movements for two years as part of an effort to find out where they go during hunting season. Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks say that elk populations have been greater than objectives set by the Missouri River Breaks Elk Working Group, which is composed of hunters, landowners and FWP. Even with issuing a "liberal" number of cow elk licenses, their numbers have only slightly decreased in r...
CROW AGENCY — Leaders of the Crow Tribe agreed Thursday to give a Wyoming mining company rights to lease an estimated 1.4 billion tons of coal beneath the tribe's land in southeastern Montana. The deal with Cloud Peak Energy involves more coal than the U.S. consumes annually, and revives stalled efforts to expand mining on the impoverished, 2.2 million-acre reservation. AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File A shovel prepares to dump a load of coal into a 320-ton truck at the Black Thunder Mine in Wright, Wyo. It is aimed at tapping i...
HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock has vetoed six bills, including a proposal to restrict bison relocation in the state and another that would end same-day voter registration. The anti-bison measure, House Bill 396, would have required all future bison relocations to be approved by county commissioners in the county where the potential moved is planned. In a letter to Republican leadership, Bullock said the measure wasn't "sound public policy" and would interfere with already established laws that manage wildlife and control d...
HELENA — Gun rights measures that include a plan to push back against potential federal restrictions on assault rifles were endorsed Thursday in the Montana House, despite criticism they may thwart law enforcement or lead to constitutional showdowns with the federal government. The Republican-led chamber endorsed the three gun-rights bills in an initial vote, which drew most of their opposition from Democrats. Supporters said the state needs to ban police from enforcing any future federal assault-weapons ban in the state. T...
HELENA (AP) — Indian leaders, wildlife advocates and sportsmen's groups are advocating for increased tolerance of bison and are opposing anti-bison bills now making their way through the Montana Legislature The Great Falls Tribune reports (http://gftrib.com/12PoNuS ) the groups participated in a demonstration Tuesday at the state Capitol. Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribal Council member Thomas Christian says they want to help people understand the significance of the buffalo in Indian culture. So far this legislative s...
BILLINGS — Investors including Montana's former governor filed formal notice of their intent to take over a mining company they say is losing money and putting its domestic operations at risk with foreign expansion pursuits, according to regulatory filings released Monday. Former Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the Clinton Group hedge fund are trying to oust the CEO and board of directors from Billings-based Stillwater Mining Co. In coming weeks, they'll launch a campaign to convince shareholders that CEO Frank McAllister is not w...
MISSOULA — Elouise Cobell had a way of sorting through complex Native American land ownership tangles and combing out what's right. It's part of the legacy the leader from the Blackfeet tribe left behind when she died in 2011, and one that still resounds with Terry Payne. "Elouise had a voracious appetite for justice, and she was an inspiration to me and so many other people," said Payne, a Missoula businessman whose family was the lead donor for construction of the Payne Family Native American Center on the University of Mon...
FLORENCE (AP) — A western Montana school board is considering holding a special meeting to discuss the future of the superintendent following an act of plagiarism. Florence-Carlton School District Board of Trustees chairwoman Pat Appleby tells The Ravalli Republic a decision will likely be made at their regular meeting Tuesday. Superintendent John McGee apologized earlier this year for copying the work of Fulton County School System Superintendent Robert Avossa after an anonymous blogger posted a link to the Georgia o...
HELENA — The Montana House has endorsed a bill that would repeal an obsolete state law criminalizing gay sex a day after voting to bypass the committee that tabled the measure. AP Photo/Matt Gouras Republican Rep. Duane Ankney, left, of Colstrip, speaks on the House floor Tuesday, in Helena. Ankney joined the chamber in voting to repeal an obsolete law that criminalizes gay sex. The House gave its initial approval Tuesday to Senate Bill 107 on a 64-36 vote. It needs to pass a final vote before facing Gov. Steve Bullock. The S...
HELENA — The Montana House is moving forward with a measure that would repeal an obsolete state law that criminalizes gay sex, despite a committee's decision to table it. Rep. Bryce Bennett, D-Missoula, made the motion Monday to take Senate Bill 107 out of the House Judiciary Committee and place it on the agenda for a House vote. Bennett, who is gay, said the law emphasizes inequality and pointed to the 1997 Montana Supreme Court case that ruled the language criminalizing gay sex was unconstitutional. "Under this law, I am c...
MISSOULA — More than 150 potential jurors packed a hotel ballroom Friday for the rape trial of a former University of Montana quarterback, as attorneys attempted to seat an impartial panel in a town where Griz football is king. AP photo Jordan Johnson and his defense tea, sit at the defense table awaiting the state iof his rape trial on Friday. Jury selection in the trial of Jordan Johnson took place at the Holiday Inn after District Judge Karen Townsend said no courtroom was large enough to hold the massive jury pool. The h...
HELENA (AP) — The state House has given initial approval a measure that would provide $2.5 million in private school scholarships and public school grants. Senate Bill 81 would give tax credits to people who donate to organizations that provide scholarships to private schools and grants for new programs at public schools. Supporters say it gives students more educational options. Republican Rep. Cary Smith of-Billings says it would help disabled and low-income students. Critics say the measure is unconstitutional because i...
BOZEMAN (AP) — Two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against Montana contending the state is failing to enforce the Clean Water Act by allowing at least 30 discharge permits to lapse for at least a year. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/10FKlVm) that Bozeman-based Cottonwood Environmental Law Center and Montana River Action filed the lawsuit Wednesday against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality in Gallatin County District Court. The groups said letting the permits lapse allows c...
HELENA — A state senator whose absence led to an uproar was back in attendance Saturday — but acrimony over a noisy showdown a day earlier promised to linger. AP Photo/Kathryn Haake Montana Senate Democrats stand in protest on Friday, in Helena. Republicans ignored Democratic attempts to stall votes until all members are present, allowing key GOP-backed legislation to clear a procedural deadline. State Sen. Shannon Augare of Browning returned to the Senate early Saturday as the chamber resumed voting. He told reporters in...
BILLINGS — A Stillwater Mining Co. shareholder has filed a federal class action lawsuit alleging the Montana company improperly awarded its chief executive more than 104,000 shares of company stock. The lawsuit comes as a group that includes former Gov. Brian Schweitzer wages a proxy fight to oust Stillwater's board for alleged mismanagement. Billings Attorney Thomas Towe represents the Pennsylvania woman named as a plaintiff in the case. He said Friday that stock awards in 2010 and 2012 to Stillwater Chairman and CEO F...
HELENA — A legislative standoff over a missing Democratic senator has boiled over with Republicans reconvening the floor session while Democrats pounded their desks in protest. Republicans allege Sen. Shannon Augare's absence is a ruse to kill GOP ballot measures. Friday is the deadline for ballot referenda and tax bills. Any bills that don't advance by noon Saturday will die. Senate Minority Leader Jon Sesso told his caucus he would invoke a parliamentary procedure that demands every member is present before business can r...
HELENA — The Montana Senate has rejected former U.S. Rep. Pat Williams' nomination to the state Board of Regents. Williams' nomination failed amid criticism that he went too far when he said the University of Montana had recruited thugs on its football team. The Senate vote of 26-24 on Thursday was mostly along party lines, with Republicans largely opposing one of the most well-known Democrats in the state. State senators said they had received thousands of e-mails, both in opposition and support of Williams. But opponents p...
HELENA (AP) — The Montana Legislature is moving ahead with plans to restrict where wild bison can be moved and to decrease the size of herds. The bills underscore the division between wildlife supporters who want to see free-roaming bison restored to the grasslands where they used to roam by the millions and landowners who say the time of the bison has passed. One such grassland, The Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Reserve, is a 1.1 million-acre prairie that conservationists say is prime bison real estate, but farmers l...
