News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1617 - 1641 of 2820
SIDNEY (AP) — Residents of a tight-knit eastern Montana town mixed calls for justice with sorrowful relief Friday as they mourned a high school teacher who was kidnapped, strangled and her body buried in a shallow grave discovered after two months of searching. Hundreds of people filled the Sidney High School gymnasium for Sherry Arnold's funeral, held in the same school where Arnold taught for 18 years, where her husband Gary still teaches and her two children attend classes. AP Photo/Williston Herald, Elijah Nouvelage S...
HELENA — The West Texas district attorney who prosecuted former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf in 2009 said Saturday that he'll file a motion to revoke Leaf's probation following his arrest in Montana. Leaf was arrested Friday in his hometown of Great Falls on burglary and drug possession charges, police said. James Farren, the Randall County district attorney who prosecuted Leaf in Texas and negotiated a plea deal with him in 2010, said he would file the motion Monday to revoke the 10-year probation Leaf got in the agreement. "...
WOLF POINT (AP) — A Florida man who pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he killed his friend by running him over on the side of a highway in northeastern Montana, told a reporter after the court appearance that "it was an accident." Charles Bowen, 46, of Tavares was arraigned Wednesday on a negligent homicide charge for the death of Brian Doyle. Doyle was a friend from Jensen Beach, Fla., who had come to the region to find oil field work. Bowen's mother, Marian Bowen, has said the two worked for the same company, V...
BILLINGS (AP) — As thousands of workers and their families move to North Dakota's Bakken oil field in search of jobs, nearby rural Montana communities' resources are being pushed to the limit. Housing, education and infrastructure are top government concerns regionally. But after the recent disappearance and apparent murder of Sidney high school teacher Sherry Arnold, communities also are looking closely at law enforcement. "We have a lot of activity now in this part of the state," Sidney Police Chief Frank DiFonzo said in e...
HELENA — Even as Republicans sought the high ground in the ongoing battle over Montana's troubled political practices office, inadvertently released emails show GOP leaders maneuvering to fill the ethics chief post with an ally. Former Commissioner Dave Gallik resigned last week amid a public dispute with his staff over his work time, and the hullaballoo has escalated as a legislative interim committee discusses the issue and lawmakers deal with a Friday deadline to find new applicants. Montana Senate President Jim P...
HELENA (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Pat Williams and former Bozeman Mayor Jeffrey Krauss have been appointed to the state Board of Regents, which oversees the Montana university system. Gov. Brian Schweitzer announced the appointments Wednesday. Williams spent 30 years as a classroom teacher and education administrator and served in the U.S. House from 1979-97, where he was chairman of the post-secondary education committee. Following his retirement from Congress, Williams taught at the University of Montana. Krauss is the d...
BILLINGS (AP) — Montana's 2011 wheat crop is valued at $1.3 billion, surpassing $1 billion for the second consecutive year, according to the state bureau of National Agricultural Statistics Service. Officials told the Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/AsE9l3) that strong and lasting wheat prices kept values high despite challenging weather during the crop year. Crop values in 2010 were $1.4 billion. Montana wheat values have exceeded $1 billion only four times, all in the last five years. "In 2010, prices were low through t...
HELENA (AP) — A district court judge indicated Wednesday that a portion of a Republican-backed ballot initiative, which many in the GOP hope will tilt Montana Supreme Court elections to their party's favor, could be unconstitutional as alleged by critics. The Legislature last year sent the initiative directly to this June's primary ballot. It establishes regional districts that would each elect one justice to the state's high court. The court's six justices and one chief justice are currently elected in statewide e...
HELENA — Attorney General Steve Bullock continues to lead in the money race among the field of candidates seeking the governor's office, according to the latest campaign finance reports. Bullock's supporters gave him another $100,000 in the first two months of the year, and he rolls toward the June primary as the presumptive nominee for the Democrats with about $440,000 in the bank. On the Republican side, former Congressman Rick Hill maintained his advantage in that primary by totaling $350,000 in his campaign coffers, a...
HELENA (AP) — A former Constitutional Party presidential candidate and Florida transplant says he is leaving the gubernatorial ticket headed by Bob Fanning of Pray. Chuck Baldwin said Monday that the campaign doesn't have enough money to run an effective campaign for governor. Recent finance reports show just $1,000 in the bank. Baldwin in 2008 was the Constitution Party's candidate for president, except for in Montana where the state party instead nominated Ron Paul. The Baptist minister moved to Montana in 2010 and soon a...
MISSOULA (AP) — A group representing Montana's travel and tourism industry has started an initiative to raise awareness about how tourism benefits the state's economy. Voices of Montana says its ultimate goal is persuading state lawmakers to make money available to market the state as a tourist destination. The Missoulian in a story published Sunday reports that the initiative is starting ahead of the 2013 Montana Legislature. Spokeswoman Mary Paoli says the privately-funded group started by the Montana Lodging and H...
HELENA — Neil Livingstone's biography reads like a real-life man of international intrigue, where big paydays and dealings with dictators are commonplace. Now the counterterrorism expert says he wants to leave all that behind to become Montana's governor, where chairing the state land board and congratulating state football champions could count as an exciting day. Livingstone lists his own exploits as exploring tunnels beneath the demilitarized zone separating the Koreas, fleeing from angry Nazis in Argentina, suffering i...
HELENA — The Republican challenger in Montana's heated Senate race is calling for a ban on all out-of-state campaign donations. U.S. Rep Denny Rehberg's proposal also seeks a ban on advertising by all third-party groups. Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester asked Rehberg to join him in barring third-party advertisements from the race for the Democratic incumbent's seat. Rehberg proposed Friday to take that idea much further. Rehberg is calling for each campaign to immediately return all money donated by PACs, lobbyists a...
HELENA — Republican hopefuls for governor are increasing their efforts to carve out conservative ground from perceived front-runner Rick Hill with less than two months until the GOP primary. Hill, a former congressman and fixture in Republican Party politics who has stockpiled plenty of endorsements, maintains a solid fundraising edge in the seven-way primary. Hill's campaign labeled recent criticisms as "desperate" attempts to catch him. Former state senator Ken Miller of Laurel is trying to parlay his social conservative b...
BILLINGS (AP) — North Dakota's governor has signed papers authorizing the extradition of two men held in the kidnapping of a Montana teacher who is presumed dead. A spokesman says Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed documents late Tuesday authorizing the extradition of 22-year-old Michael Spell and 47-year-old Lester Waters, Jr. They are being held on $2.5 million bond each in the kidnapping of 43-year-old Sidney high school teacher Sherry Arnold. An extradition hearing is scheduled for Feb. 14 in North Dakota district court in W...
HELENA — Ten people filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming they were sexually abused as children by Roman Catholic priests and nuns in central and eastern Montana, including a priest who was on a board that reviews allegations of child sex abuse for the church. It is the third sex-abuse lawsuit filed against the Catholic church in Montana since last year and the first against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings. AP Photo/Great Falls Tribune, Larry Beckner Seattle attorney Tim Kosnoff announces a lawsuit against t...
BILLINGS — A judge has rejected a lawsuit challenging the state Land Board's lease of 587 million tons of publicly-owned coal in southeastern Montana. Conservation groups had argued that further environmental studies were needed and that the lease sale would make mining inevitable if allowed to stand. But District Judge Joe Hegel says the state did not give up its discretion to halt mining at a later date when it leased the coal to St. Louis-based Arch Coal Inc. for $86 million in 2010. Hegel said in his Feb. 3 ruling that t...
BILLINGS — Hardin officials said Friday they are considering relinquishing control of a $27 million jail that was built with the promise of spurring economic development but instead became a source of frustration and embarrassment for the southeastern Montana city. The 464-bed jail has sat vacant since it was built five years ago under the direction of Hardin's Two Rivers Authority. With no short-term prospects for finding inmates, Two Rivers Executive Director Jeffrey McDowell said the title to the jail could be turned o...
HELENA — Two top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee called for a hearing Tuesday to examine a Montana judge's conduct in forwarding an email that included a racist joke involving bestiality and President Barack Obama's mother. Reps. John Conyers of Michigan and Steve Cohen of Tennessee told Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, in their letter that the committee has a duty to investigate the potential consequences of Judge Richard Cebull's email. "At a minimum, forwarding this email illustrates poor judgment and o...
GREAT FALLS (AP) — Police in Great Falls say an overnight standoff that included shots fired ended about 10:45 a.m. Saturday with a man in custody and that the area is now safe. Capt. Bryan Lockerby tells the Great Falls Tribune (http://bit.ly/yulbAP ) that evacuated residents may return to their homes on the city's northwest side. The standoff lasted about 16 hours. The man's name has not been released....
BILLINGS (AP) — A Lewistown judge who freed convicted killer Barry Beach and got sued by his clerk said Friday he is retiring from the bench. Judge Wayne Phillips, 63, said he wants to leave the judiciary after two terms before his performance deteriorates. "A job of district judge is very wearing, and I'm worn out," Phillips said. "I feel like I'm still at the peak of my capacity, so it really is the best thing for the citizens of the district that I leave at the top of my game." (AP Photo/Billings Gazette, Larry Mayer) This...
BOZEMAN (AP) — Montana State University's investigation of a former music professor found he made inappropriate advances to college students and at least one high school student, and that one high school would no longer allow him contact with its students. A judge ordered the documents released Thursday after the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and the Montana Newspaper Association sued, arguing the investigation into professor Shuichi Komiyama should be made public. Komiyama, 48, resigned Sept. 30. He had been placed on paid l...
MISSOULA (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is beginning an investigation into the way police, prosecutors and the University of Montana deal with reports of sexual assaults after complaints that the allegations were not properly handled. Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenberg, Mayor John Engen and Police Chief Mark Muir received letters Monday informing them of the investigation. Van Valkenberg said he also was visited by representatives of the agency's civil rights division. The letter, obtained by KECI-TV, said t...
MISSOULA (AP) — Fired University of Montana football coach Robin Pflugrad and athletic director Jim O'Day have met with attorneys in the wake of their sudden dismissals. The Missoulian reports in a story published Sunday that Pflugrad has met with Milt Datsopoulos of Datsopoulos, MacDonald and Lind, a firm that has represented UM football players with legal problems in recent years. O'Day has hired the Billings law firm of Edwards, Frickle and Culver. University President Royce Engstrom told Pflugrad and O'Day on Thursday t...
HELENA— U.S. Sen. Max Baucus is coming out with an early campaign advertisement this week and clearly making an announcement that he will run again in 2014 despite some speculation to the contrary following his bruising participation in the health care debate. The Democrat who is fifth in the U.S. Senate in seniority and has long been known as a dealmaker in Washington D.C., even often crossing party lines to do so. But he saw his approval ratings at home nosedive after the Obama administration tasked him with turning t...
