News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1273 - 1297 of 2821
HELENA — New laws going into place with the new year will require Montanans seeking state services to prove they are U.S. citizens, and require minors under 16 to receive parental permission for an abortion. The laws were enacted last month by voters and are by far the most significant of a handful of legislation that will be taking effect. Nearly 80 percent of voters approved a measure that requires every person who seeks any state service to prove that they are a U.S. citizen or in the country legally. Supporters argue i...
BILLINGS — An elder from Montana's Crow Indian Tribe whose family ceremoniously adopted then-Sen. Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential race has died. AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File In this Dec. 2, 2011 file photo, president Barack Obama, Crow tribal elder Hartford "Sonny" Black Eagle Jr., left, and his wife Mary Black Eagle appear at the White House Tribal Nations Conference. Sonny Black Eagle, who had "adopted" then-presidential candidate Obama in a traditional cermony during the 2008 campaign, has died. Tribal o...
BILLINGS (AP) — Energy companies behind the oil boom on the Northern Plains are increasingly turning to an industrial-age workhorse — the locomotive — to move their crude to refineries across the U.S., as plans for new pipelines stall and existing lines can't keep up with demand. Delivering oil thousands of miles by rail from the heartland to refineries on the East, West and Gulf coasts costs more, but it can mean increased profits — up to $10 or more a barrel — because of higher oil prices on the coasts. That works out...
BILLINGS — State schools superintendent runner-up Sandy Welch is likely to wait until next week to request a recount in a race she narrowly lost but has pledged to challenge, her campaign manager said Tuesday. The Republican education consultant from Martin City trailed incumbent Denise Juneau by 2,231 votes in results certified Tuesday by state elections officials. State elections officials say she has until Monday to request a recount. Welch plans to use that time to line up observers to oversee ballot counting in each o...
HELENA — The Supreme Court refused a request Tuesday to overturn a court order that keeps Montana's campaign contribution limits intact through the election. American Tradition Partnership and 11 other conservative groups, individuals and businesses seeking to toss out the limits had appealed to Justice Anthony Kennedy, asking him to lift the order by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals keeping them in place. Kennedy denied the application in a one-sentence statement released by the Supreme Court's public information o...
HELENA (AP) — Individual privacy trumps the public's right to know the details of an investigative report into a 2009 boat crash involving U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg and former state Sen. Greg Barkus, the Flathead County attorney said Tuesday. But Ed Corrigan said he would not object to the release of an edited version of the document that removes all personal information on Barkus, Rehberg and the other injured passengers. The edited version also should exclude any description of chemical or alcohol use by Barkus, or any i...
BILLINGS — Candidates in Montana's three-way battle to fill the state's sole U.S. House seat are hoping a late push for the public's attention and an upcoming televised debate will help cut through the noise of other races dominating the airwaves. Republican businessman Steve Daines of Bozeman, Democratic state Sen. Kim Gillan of Billings and Libertarian restaurant consultant Dave Kaiser of Victor are vying to replace Republican Denny Rehberg. AP Photo/Matthew Brown Kim Gillan, the Democratic candidate for Montana's open U...
BUTTE (AP) — A Montana newspaper checking court records found seven misdemeanor DUI citations that a city judge hid from the public by attaching notes that said, "Keep out of the paper for security reasons." The Montana Standard in a story (http://bit.ly/ymatkf) published Sunday reported the seven tickets date between May 21, 2009, and Oct. 14, 2010. The notes were from 53-year-old Stephen Joseph Kambich, who in mid-December resigned from his job as a Butte city judge, a post he held since 2004. He pleaded guilty Jan. 13 t...
BOZEMAN — U.S. Sen. Jon Tester sought at a debate Saturday night to interject a new attack into a Senate race full of well-worn accusations by arguing that his Republican opponent Denny Rehberg is flip-flopping on Medicare. The two squared off Saturday night in Bozeman for a fourth and final debate — and neither was pulling punches. AP Photo/Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, left, makes a point during a debate against Republican challenger Congressman Denny Rehberg on Saturday at...
LIBBY (AP) — The CEO of an Arizona-based bridge manufacturing company and one of his employees were killed in a plane crash as they flew to northwestern Montana for a company Christmas party. Stinger Welding Inc. CEO Carl Douglas, of Coolidge, Ariz., and John Smith, also of Coolidge, died in the crash late Tuesday or early Wednesday near Libby, Sheriff Roby Bowe said in a statement. The men left Coolidge at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday with Douglas piloting the twin-engine Beechcraft, Bowe said. They were to arrive just after m...
BILLIINGS (AP) — Montana's Little Shell tribe appeared poised to fade from history in recent years after it was denied federal government recognition, lost its financial support from the state and saw its elected leadership splinter. But the past year has brought a sharp turnaround for the 4,500-member landless tribe that long has existed on society's fringe. AP Photo/The Great Falls Tribune, Rion Sanders Henry Anderson, left, and James Parker Shield welcome people to the new Little Shell Chippewa Cree Visitor Center in M...
HELENA — In the six days between a judge tossing out Montana's campaign contribution limits and an appellate court reinstating them, the Montana Republican Party dumped $500,000 into Rick Hill's campaign in the former congressman's tight race for governor. Hill's opponent, Democrat Steve Bullock, called Hill's acceptance of the donation a crime. The state GOP also donated $32,000 to attorney general candidate Tim Fox in that time, and tried but failed to assemble donors for Sandy Welch, the Republican trying to unseat O...
MISSOULA (AP) — Authorities are searching for a 3-year-old boy who was allegedly abducted by his biological father and thought to be in danger. An Amber Alert has been issued for the child abducted in Elk Valley, British Columbia, and possibly taken to Montana. The Missoulian reports Alvin Barnett was last seen Thursday. He is described as 3-foot-9, weighing 33 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, and wearing a red shirt and blue jeans. Alvin Barnett is believed to be in imminent danger. His father Robert Barnett's blue 2002 S...
HELENA (AP) — A judge on Thursday extended his temporary block of restrictions on medical marijuana providers while he considers whether the state can eliminate access to the drug for some of the most seriously ill patients in the interest of curbing abuse. District Judge James Reynolds did not immediately rule on whether to grant a preliminary injunction that would indefinitely block the state from implementing a ban on compensation for medical marijuana providers or limiting them to distributing marijuana to three p...
BILLINGS — Republican Sandy Welch dropped her request for a recount in the state schools superintendent race on Tuesday after failing to come up with $115,000 to cover the costs of the effort. Welch had pledged since the days following the Nov. 6 election to challenge her 2,231-vote defeat to incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau. AP Photo/The Daily Inter Lake, Patrick Cote Sandy Welch exits the courtroom Friday afternoon, in Flathead County District Court in Kalispell, Mont. A Flathead County judge h...
BILLINGS — Montana wildlife commissioners on Monday closed down the gray wolf season in some areas outside Yellowstone National Park after several collared animals used for scientific research were shot in recent weeks. The closures prohibit hunting and trapping for the predators and include areas north of the park around the town of Gardiner. AP Photo/National Park Service, Doug Smith This May 2007 photo by National Park Service photographer Doug Smith shows a Leopold wolf pack hunting a bull elk in Yellowstone National P...
Sherry Arnold BILLINGS (AP) — The search resumes Monday for a Montana high school teacher who didn't return from a weekend run. Forty-three-year-old Sherry Arnold was last seen at 6:30 a.m. Saturday in Sidney. More than 200 people participated in a search Saturday that yielded a shoe believed to belong to Arnold's near one of her regular routes. Assistant Police Chief Bob Burnison says authorities had to turn away hundreds of volunteers who wanted to help search on Sunday. National Guard troops, a helicopter, several a...
BUTTE (AP) — An investigation has revealed a former employee made more than 100 unauthorized changes to grades given to 36 former or current students, who now face potential disciplinary action, officials at Montana Tech said. Chancellor Don Blackketter told the Montana Standard (http://bit.ly/xw8hVb) in a story published Saturday that results of the investigation will be turned over to authorities for possible criminal prosecution. Blackketter declined to name the former employee. School officials said no faculty members w...
MISSOULA (AP) — A University of Montana football player faces a charge of sexual intercourse without consent. The Missoulian reports (http://bit.ly/zefGoU) that running back Beau Donaldson, 22, on Friday was booked into the Missoula County Detention Facility with a suggested bail of $100,000. It's unclear if the arrest is part of the university's investigation started Dec. 14 into allegations that two female students were given a date-rape drug and sexually assaulted by male students. Former Montana Supreme Court Justice D...
EAST MISSOULA (AP) — Authorities say a fire in the back of a repair shop in East Missoula caused several small explosions and sent a thick plume of smoke billowing into the air before the flames were doused. East Missoula Rural Fire Chief Justin Shaffer says the fire was reported at Diesel Power Parts and Machine at about noon Friday, and the cause remains under investigation. He says the blaze appears to have started in a semi truck parked behind the shop and quickly spread to a nearby truck and the rear of the building, c...
As Montanans surge to the polls today, some legislators are already working on changing state laws that say who, how and when future voters can register or cast their ballots. Rep. Ted Washburn, R-Bozeman, says he plans to propose bills in the 2013 Legislature that would eliminate same-day voter registration, stiffen voter identification laws, and require a longer period of residency before a citizen can vote. Voters line up outside the Missoula Election Center at the Missoula Fairgrounds on Tuesday morning to register to...
HELENA - A federal judge has denied a secretive conservative group's request to block its past bank records from being released to the public. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen denied the request by American Tradition Partnership on Tuesday. Christensen says in his order that ATP's request appears to be an appeal of a state court's judgment. ATP filed the request for a temporary restraining order after District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena ordered the records' release. They include bank account activity, copies of...
Update 12:40 p.m.: 146 of 794 precints fully reported, 469 precincts partially reported. Vote counts and election results will be posted here as they become available. Refresh this page periodically for the latest numbers. View the raw data, updated live as it becomes available, here....
BILLINGS (AP) — A Montana sheriff says a man mauled to death by two brown bears at a state wildlife casting agency suffered extensive wounds that make it impossible to determine if he was conscious prior to the attack. The head trainer at Animals of Montana had speculated that 24-year-old Benjamin Cloutier, formerly of York Haven, Penn., fell and hit his head prior to being killed. The mauling took place Sunday at the company's facility north of Bozeman. Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin Monday Cloutier died of m...
BILLINGS — The replacement of 1,200 wood stoves in Libby with newer, more efficient models has improved air quality, leading to associated health improvements for children in the northwest Montana town, according to a new study. Airborne particulate pollution in Libby dropped 30 percent over the course of the four-year study. The decline was associated with fewer reports of childhood wheeze, a condition commonly linked to asthma. Other health conditions showed less or no improvement. But study author and University of M...
