News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1082 - 1106 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...
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...
MISSOULA (AP) — On May 22, 1970, a Carroll College graduate sat down with pen and paper and considered the draft, his future at Notre Dame and his reluctance to serve in the Vietnam War. He directed his letter to U.S. Sen. Mike Mansfield, asking for help, and waited for a response. Six days later Mansfield replied. He expressed his apologies for the situation in which the young man found himself, and vowed to continue his fight to end the draft and the war in Vietnam. "For my part, as you know, I voted against the e...
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...
MISSOULA (AP) — A petition urging the governor and legislators not to confirm Pat Williams' appointment to the state Board of Regents is being countered by one that supports his appointment. University of Montana football fans started the first petition two weeks ago after Williams made comments to several news outlets saying the university recruited "thugs" to its football program. Petitioners called the statement damaging to the university. Williams said he was referring to former players who have been convicted of c...
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 — A Republican state senator launched a long-shot bid Thursday for a constitutional amendment that would require prior judicial experience for Montana Supreme Court justices. The proposal would require approval from 100 of 150 lawmakers before it could be sent to the voters, a tough hurdle to clear even if all 90 Republicans in the Legislature back it. But Fred Thomas, of Stevensville, said he thinks the measure has a "50-50" chance. As written, the measure would require candidates to have experience as a District C...
BILLINGS — A mining company plans to start exploratory work this spring on an estimated 400 million tons of coal beneath Montana's Crow Indian Reservation, adding to a spate of recent interest in the region's huge coal reserves despite flagging domestic demand for the fuel. Signal Peak Energy is eying a future mine on private property within the reservation's boundaries known as the Hope Ranch. AP Photo/Billings Gazette, David Grubbs, File Production at the Westmoreland Coal Mine northeast of Hardin is shown ojn May 9, 2...
HELENA (AP) — Lawmakers are considering a measure that would require law-enforcement officers to have a reasonable suspicion before they can conduct strip or body cavity searches. The bill would allow such searches only in situations where a person is suspected of a crime, of carrying a weapon or of carrying contraband. Democratic Sen. Anders Blewett of Great Falls says Senate Bill 194 would provide needed clarification of when police can conduct searches. He presented the measure Friday in the House Judiciary Committee. M...
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...
HELENA (AP) — The Montana House has moved to increase from one to three the number liquor licenses that business owners may possess. Senate Bill 120 would allow the purchase of up to three liquor licenses, but restrict a person from owning more than half the licenses allotted to a single area. The bill previously passed the Senate 29-19 and was carried in the House Monday by Rep. Steve Fitzpatrick. The Republican from Great Falls says the measure is pro-business and would allow successful chains to acquire the necessary l...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana Supreme Court justice and a Billings district judge are being recommended to fill two open federal judgeships, U.S. Sen. Max Baucus' office said Monday. The Montana Democrat will recommend that District Judge Susan Watters take U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull's Billings seat and that Supreme Court Justice Brian Morris replace U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon of Great Falls. "Judge Watters and Justice Morris are exceptionally qualified and highly respected individuals who I have no doubt will s...
HELENA (AP) — A federal judge said Friday that the state properly gave a federal grand jury documents dealing with a secretive conservative group. The ruling comes in a case surrounding the disputed files connected to American Tradition Partnership. ATP and a conservative consultant who they belonged to have been seeking their return, arguing that the documents were stolen in Denver in 2010 before someone sent them to the Montana commissioner of political practices. State District Judge Nels Swandal sided with the group in D...
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...
NYE — Shareholders of Montana's largest public company elected former Gov. Brian Schweitzer and three other outsiders to Stillwater Mining Co.'s board Thursday after alleging mismanagement by the current directors. But the shareholders also re-elected four current board members, including CEO Frank McAllister, meaning the two sides now have even numbers and will be forced to work together after an acrimonious struggle for control of the company. AP Photo/Matthew Brown This photo shows Stillwater Mining Co. Chairman and C...
