News you can use
News you can use
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MATT VOLZ, Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The University of Montana has fired football coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O'Day. Assistant athletic director Greg Sundberg says O'Day and university President Royce Engstrom told staff and coaches Thursday morning. Sundberg says neither gave a reason for the firings other than to say it was time for a leadership change. University Vice President Jim Foley's office says the school does not have immediate comment. News of the firings comes as the football p...
HELENA — The University of Montana has fired football coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O'Day. Assistant athletic director Greg Sundberg says O'Day and university President Royce Engstrom told staff and coaches Thursday morning. Sundberg says neither gave a reason for the firings other than to say it was time for a leadership change. University Vice President Jim Foley's office says the school does not have immediate comment. News of the firings comes as the football program deals with sexual assault a...
MISSOULA (AP) — Authorities say that a university of Montana linebacker has been charged with drunk driving after his pickup truck rolled over and stopped inches from a Missoula home. Missoula Police Detective Sgt. Bob Bouchee says 20-year-old Brian Maus refused a breath test and gave police a fake identification after the crash at 3:06 a.m. Sunday morning. The Missoulian reports (http://bit.ly/xPVTuN) that police obtained a warrant to test Maus' blood. He was charged with drunken driving, obstructing a peace officer and f...
HELENA (AP) — The commissioner of political practices says he hopes to reach quick resolution on campaign finance allegations made against a Republican candidate for governor. Commissioner Jim Murry says he hopes to gather the facts in the case against Ken Miller and issue a decision prior to the June primary election. Last week, Miller's former fundraiser accused the campaign of breaking state law by not fully reporting donations over the legal limit and by receiving anonymous donations from people using their credit c...
BILLLINGS — Booming oil production across a wide expanse of the Northern Plains is forcing law enforcement from the U.S. and Canada to gird for a spike in crimes ranging from drug trafficking and gun offenses to prostitution. Officials say up to 30,000 workers could descend on the Bakken oil fields of Montana, North Dakota and Saskatchewan in the next few years. The recent kidnapping and brutal murder of Sidney teacher Sherry Arnold has drawn more attention to the changes brought on by the rapid pace of drilling. In the w...
BILLINGS (AP) — A Montana judge has granted a restraining order that blocks further relocations of Yellowstone National Park bison following objections from ranchers and property rights groups. Thursday's order comes after Gov. Brian Schweitzer's administration transferred 62 Yellowstone bison to the Fort Peck Reservation earlier this week. The ruling presents another stumbling block in efforts by tribes and agencies to reintroduce bison to parts of their former range. Half the Fort Peck animals were to be transported from a...
BILLINGS — A body found in North Dakota was identified Thursday as a missing Montana teacher kidnapped in January. The identification was made after the body of 43-year-old Sherry Arnold was taken to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula. Arnold was grabbed off a Sidney, Mont., street on Jan 7 while jogging at the edge of town. Michael Spell, 22, and Lester Van Waters Jr., 48, were charged with aggravated kidnapping in the case and await trial. The FBI said no other details will be released at this time. Arnold's body w...
GREAT FALLS (AP) — NorthWestern Energy Corp. has given Compass Wind of Denver the go-ahead to build an $86.1 million wind farm in central Montana. NorthWestern spokeswoman Claudia Rapkoch says the utility will take ownership of the 40-megawatt, 25-turbine wind farm in Judith Basin County when it is completed. Compass president Chris McCall told the Great Falls Tribune (http://bit.ly/GMHcfu ) preliminary work will begin next week. The foundations will be poured in May, followed by the delivery of the turbines in July. The p...
AP Photo/The Missoulian, Michael Gallacher Convicted murderer Ronald Smith is escorted in for his clemency hearing at Powell County District Court on May 2, in Deer Lodge. Smith, of Red Deer, Alberta, is asking board members for a recommendation that the governor commute his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His lawyers want them to look beyond the horrific murders of two cousins in 1983. HELENA — The Montana Parole Board is recommending that a Canadian man on death row be denied clemency Ron...
HELENA — Democratic Attorney General Steve Bullock continues to raise more money than other candidates for governor while Republican hopefuls battle it out in a crowded primary. Bullock reported Monday that he has raised another $100,000 since April 6, and has $575,000 on hand. The Republican money leader is former congressman Rick Hill. He reports raising $54,000 over the last month, and he holds $200,000 as campaigning heats up for the June 5 primary. Hill's Republican foes in the seven-way race have been trying to o...
HELENA (AP) — The percentage of Montana students who graduate from high school has risen over the past decade, though state officials say the dropout rate remains a problem they hope to cut in half in the next two years. Montana graduated 270 more students in 2009 compared to 2002 and the state's graduation rate rose from 79.8 percent to 82 percent over that period, according to a new report by a children's advocacy organization. Those rates outpaced the national average of 72.6 percent in 2002 and 75.5 percent in 2009. T...
HELENA (AP) — Gov. Brian Schweitzer has ordered all flags flown in Montana to be lowered to half-staff from Tuesday morning until sundown Wednesday in honor of a 31-year-old Great Falls soldier who was killed in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense says Spc. Antonio C. Burnside died April 6 in Ghanzi province, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. Montana National Guard spokesman Maj. Tim Crowe says Burnside was promoted to corporal after his death. Burnside, whose B...
BOZEMAN (AP) — A former Three Forks High School football player and his parents have filed a lawsuit against the school district claiming he suffered a life-altering brain injury after sustaining two concussions in practice over a period of six days in August 2009. Michael Rouchleau, 18, along with Kim and Joseph Rouchleau, filed the claim in District Court in Bozeman on April 12, the Bozeman Daily Chroniclereported Tuesday. The complaint alleges the coaches were negligent when they sent Michael Rouchleau back in to p...
HELENA — A notorious "mountain man," who abducted a world-class athlete in 1984 to keep as a wife for his son, once wrote that blame for the "incident" lies with her and a would-be rescuer whom he shot and killed. Don Nichols undoubtedly will need to be more contrite later this month in front of the historically stern Montana Parole Board. AP Photo/File Don Nichols, right, stands with his son, Dan Nichols, left, as they pleaded not guilty in court in Virginia City, on Dec. 18, ,1984. Standing with them is attorney, Steve U...
HELENA (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Republican challenger Rep. Denny Rehberg are reporting that they each raised $1.2 million in the first three months of 2012. Tester and Rehberg are in a close race that could help decide the balance of power in the Senate, which is now narrowly controlled by the Democratic party. The Tester campaign reported Thursday that the first-term incumbent raised $1.2 million between Jan. 1 and March 31. He has $4.28 million cash left in the bank. Rehberg's campaign also reported r...
HELENA — The governor on Monday dropped Montana's lawsuit against the Defense Department over plans to move the Montana National Guard's F-15s to California since the administration has postponed the cost-cutting initiative behind scheduled aircraft transfers. The move came after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta assured the state's senators last month that the Air Force will halt scheduled transfers of National Guard planes until Congress finalizes 2013 budget plans later this year that could prevent those transfers. The t...
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — The National Park Service says an 18-year-old woman has died after falling 400 feet in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The Park Service says she was a Yellowstone concession employee on her first day in the park. She was hiking a canyon trail with three other acquaintances when she ventured off trail onto a loose rock promontory, which gave way underneath her. The accident occurred near Inspiration Point Thursday afternoon. Her body was retrieved Friday....
BILLINGS — Special response teams to handle sexual assaults are being established on six Montana reservations in a bid to curb high rates of rape and other abuses against American Indians, U.S. Justice Department officials announced Wednesday. The first-of-its kind pilot program will set up the joint federal-tribal teams to counsel victims and pursue arrests and courtroom justice for perpetrators of sexual abuse. Federal statistics indicate Indian and Alaska Native women are raped at a higher rate than any other race, with o...
BILLINGS — Montana interim football coach Mick Delaney says he will coach through the 2012 season. Delaney was named interim coach last Friday, a day after former coach Robin Pflugrad was relieved of his duties and informed that his contract would not be renewed. Delaney told The Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/HBRVEA ) on Thursday he would not have taken the position if the school was going to hire a new coach over the summer. Delaney had been a UM assistant for the past four years. He retired in February. His previous h...
BILLINGS (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. is working with government agencies on a plan to speed up the response to oil spills along Montana's upper Yellowstone River, after a major spill last year left local officials scrambling to deal with an ill-defined threat, state and federal officials said. The goal is to provide enough training and resources to take action on major pipeline, refinery or railway spills within 24 hours, or before outside help can arrive. Exxon would pay to plan and possibly equip the stepped-up response u...
WASHINGTON — The Canadian company trying to build the disputed Keystone XL pipeline in the U.S. submitted a new application for the project Friday after changing the route to avoid environmentally sensitive land in Nebraska. TransCanada said it applied again to the State Department for permission to build the pipeline to carry oil from tar sands in western Canada to a company hub in Steele City, Neb. From there, the project would link up with other pipelines operated by the company to carry oil to refineries on the Texas Gulf...
HELENA — The interim director of Greg Mortenson's charity says the "Three Cups of Tea" author will continue to be a paid employee of the Central Asia Institute. Anne Beyersdorfer tells The Associated Press that Mortenson is the heart and soul of the organization and he will keep promoting CAI and build relationships overseas. But she says Mortenson will no longer be on the charity's board of directors. An investigation by the Montana Attorney General's office released Thursday concludes Mortenson mismanaged the nonprofit o...
BOZEMAN (AP) — Montana State men's basketball coach Brad Huse has dismissed one player and imposed disciplinary sanctions on another after the two were arrested last weekend and charged with stealing from parked vehicles in Bozeman. The school in a news release late Friday says forward Tre Johnson of Reno, Nev., has been kicked off the team. Forward Jeff Budinich of Maple Valley, Wash., faces a reduction in scholarship, a three game suspension and community service. Budinich and Johnson have pleaded not guilty to two c...
HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer is backing an initiative that aims to undermine a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision granting constitutional political speech protections to corporations. Schweitzer signed onto the initiative that could appear on the November ballot if backers gather enough support. The proposed initiative would state that Montana policy is that "corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights because they are not human beings." Supporters say the initiative would send a message to the congressional d...
HELENA — The commissioner of political practice says Republican candidate for governor Ken Miller has been funding his campaign with illegal donations. The case stems from an unusual complaint that originated from within the campaign in April. Miller's former fundraiser said the candidate was not fully reporting campaign donations. Miller is a favorite of social conservatives in a crowded GOP primary that also featured former congressman Rick Hill and former state Sen. Corey Stapleton of Billings. Commissioner of Political P...
