News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 1867 - 1891 of 2820
HELENA (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jon Tester isn't happy about a Republican attack advertisement portraying him with all five fingers on his left hand — even though he lost three fingers in a childhood accident with a meat saw. The ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee portrays Tester, a Democrat, as cozy with Washington, D.C., lobbyists. It shows a photo of Tester greeting President Barack Obama. But the edited photo erroneously shows Tester's left hand with all five fingers. Republicans say someone else's left han...
HELENA — The deadline is Friday for organizers to turn in signatures for proposed ballot initiatives that aim to repeal new state laws restricting medical marijuana and expanding eminent domain powers. Rose Habib, coordinator for a proposed initiative referendum sponsored by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, said Thursday that the group has met the requirements required to put the question to voters in the 2012 general election. That meant gathering more than 24,337 voter signatures from at least 34 legislative d... Full story
AP Photo/Destini Vaile Ruben Moreno of the Blackfeet Tribe displays his hands that he had placed in pools of oil July 15 near Cut Bank Creek in order to take a sample for Blackfeet Community Hospital Water Lab. FX Energy Inc. plans to permanently shut down two oil wells in northwestern Montana where a spill went unreported for a month and spread nearly a mile before being discovered, a company executive said July 19. HELENA — Crews reported being a third of the way through the cleanup of a northwestern Montana oil spill T... Full story
HELENA — Medical marijuana advocates in Montana said Monday that they hope to start gathering signatures soon in an effort to block stringent new state regulations, even as the group awaits a judge's decision on a legal challenge to the new law. The Montana Cannabis Industry Association has so far made the court arguments the focal point of its effort to derail a law that goes into effect Friday. A Helena judge has indicated he may block at least part of it. But medical marijuana growers have a backup plan if the whole law i...
HAMILTON (AP) — The Ravalli County prosecutor says the owners of a Stevensville marijuana growing operation raided in July will face four felony charges. The Ravalli Republic (http://bit.ly/uC23Io ) reports the partners who ran Banana Belt Caregivers are due in court Jan. 13 to answer to charges including drug production, distribution and possession with the intent to distribute On July 20, Ravalli County sheriff's deputies seized evidence at the growing facility. Banana Belt was claiming to be a "provider" under the state o...
KALISPELL (AP) — A third Glacier High School student accused of hazing teammates on a freshman football bus has been charged with misdemeanor assault. KCFW-TV reported Friday the 15-year-old boy was charged this week after prosecutors took another look at his alleged involvement in the Sept. 12 incident. Parents and grandparents of students on the bus told police that several players were assaulted and molested as the team returned to Kalispell from a game in Missoula. Two other students were charged with assault. One of t...
HELENA (AP) — A new legislative audit found several issues under the Department of Transportation that recently underwent a high-profile change in command when the former Director Jim Lynch resigned after a disagreement with the governor over the hiring of the director's daughter. Lee Newspapers of Montana reported Wednesday that auditors found the agency hired unqualified applicants for agency jobs. The auditors reviewed five recruitment files and found that in three cases, the person who was hired didn't meet the minimum q... Full story
BILLINGS — Montana wildlife officials say fish exposed to an Exxon Mobil Corp. oil spill into the Yellowstone River are safe to eat despite some crude found in their internal organs. Laboratory results disclosed Thursday by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks revealed no oil in fillets cut from about 60 fish taken from the river in mid-July. Trace amounts of oil were detected in the livers and gonads of some fish. Wildlife agency spokesman Robert Gibson says the contamination potentially could harm the health of the fish but n...
BILLINGS (AP) — Federal environmental regulators are seeking public comment on a toxicology study that details the dangers of asbestos from a Montana mine that has killed hundreds of people. A summary of the document was released in May, outlining the potency of asbestos from a now-shuttered W.R. Grace mine that operated for decades near the northwest Montana town of Libby. Thursday's release of the full, 467-page study by the Environmental Protection Agency opens a 60-day public comment period. The study suggests the c... Full story
HELENA — The federal government is giving states like Montana another chance to run at least parts of the insurance exchanges that are part of the federal health care law. Montana Insurance Commissioner Monica Lindeen said developing federal rules opens the way for more state involvement in the health insurance exchanges, even in places like Montana where the legislature rejected an option to have the state run the exchanges with federal grants. Republicans in the Montana Legislature, working to undermine the federal law gene...
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Patrick Zimmer tossed five shutout innings and Ben Askelson hit a two-out, two-run double to lift Billings, Mont., to 3-1 win Sunday over Lafayette, La., at the Little League World Series. The first team from Montana to qualify for the World Series extended its postseason winning streak to six behind an effective outing by the 13-year-old Zimmer, who struck out four. Louisiana scored in the sixth off reliever Sean Jones after Nick Fruge reached on a three-base error and scored on a wild p...
WINIFRED — The head of the federal Bureau of Land Management returned to Montana on Monday with a message similar to the one he delivered to ranchers a year ago: No new national monuments. As part of a tour of rural communities across the West, BLM director Bob Abbey met with about 20 ranchers still upset over the creation of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument by former President Bill Clinton more than a decade ago. AP Photo/Matthew Brown Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey listens to Gary Slagel w...
(Editor's note: This is the second and final part in a series on tranparency in Montana.) HELENA - Earlier this year state officials released payroll information on thousands of state employees that they now claim in some cases contained confidential information that should not have been released. Department of Administration Deputy Director Sheryl Olsonsaid payroll information was sent electronically to a state legislator in response to an information request. She said the legislator was later asked to scrub the information...
EAST MISSOULA — A Montana woman photographing a bald eagle in a spruce tree near her house also made a picture of what was left of its prey — a fawn carcass dangling from a power line. AP Photo/Lee Bridges A power company lineman uses a pole to remove a young deer carcass that was dropped onto a power line. It is suspected the carcass was dropped after being snatched by an eagle in East Missoula. The incident caused a brief power outage. Lee Bridges, of East Missoula, says she photographed the eagle Wednesday morning bec...
MISSOULA — Missoula County Sheriff's deputies are still pursuing leads in the hunt for David Burgert, the former militia leader who is accused of shooting at deputies this week. The sheriff's department said Friday it was patrolling the Petty, Graves and Howard Creek areas of Lolo National Forest west of Missoula. Burgert fled into the forest after exchanging shots with deputies on Sunday following a car chase. Police say he may be hiding in the mountains along the Montana-Idaho border. Burgert once led an anti-government m...
BILLINGS (AP) — Students at Montana State University Billings College of Technology have created a digital, three-dimensional model of coal mine tunnels crisscrossing under Red Lodge that give a much better picture than the century-old, ink-on-linen maps. Red Lodge Mayor Brian Roat tells the Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/t7t7ab) that many people hadn't realized how vast the underground complex extended until viewing the computerized map. Historians say organized mining began in the area in 1889 and persisted through the e...
MISSOULA (AP) — A Missoula police officer who stopped at a downtown bar to interview a witness to a fight came back outside to find he was without transportation. Sgt. Bob Bouchee says witnesses reported a man wearing pajama bottoms and an Elmer Fudd-type hat with fur drove off in the car late Friday. The Dodge Charger was found, undamaged, near the Elks Lodge about four blocks away. Bouchee says they're still trying to find the suspect and are looking at surveillance video that might help in identifying him. He could face a...
HELENA (AP) — A conservative group's television advertisement has been pulled from a cable network amid complaints from U.S. Sen. Jon Tester that it falsely accuses him of supporting tougher rules for farm dust. The ad from Crossroads GPS claims that Tester "voted against preventing Obama's EPA from being able to regulate Montana farmers' dust." The Washington D.C.-based group says Cablevision's Optimum cable service did pull the advertisement, although other networks have not. Tester's campaign argues the grain farmer has l...
HELENA — The entry of Democratic Attorney General Steve Bullock into the 2012 governor's race gives a crowded Republican primary field a bigger target to aim for, and turns more attention to which GOP candidate would be the most electable in a tough general election. With Bullock, active Democrats have someone many of them are excited to rally around. But things are not so clear on the GOP side with several viable candidates in the race — and maybe even more on the way. AP Photo/Matthew Brown Montana Attorney General Steve Bu... Full story
BILLINGS — Nearly half of the 460 or so students at a Billings elementary school called in sick Friday as health officials continue to investigate what is making them ill. Billings School District 2 Superintendent Keith Beeman says he doesn't think all 230 Beartooth Elementary students who stayed home were sick, but were kept away from the school by their parents as a precaution. Up to 100 students went home sick Thursday. Beeman says an inspection of the school kitchen Thursday didn't reveal any problems. Meanwhile, city a...
HELENA — It has been months since Rep. Denny Rehberg, a champion of the town hall meeting, has held one of the wide-open events — but the congressman is not abandoning the platform. Rehberg told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he has been forced to hold other types of events in recent months when back in Montana due to a new leadership post requiring he build part of a proposed federal budget, the demands of his developing campaign against U.S. Jon Tester and other factors. The change comes as many in Con...
BILLINGS (AP) — Wildlife officials say a harsh winter combined with spring flooding and a summer disease outbreak have reduced antelope and deer numbers, leading to fewer hunters visiting northeast Montana. "Hunter numbers so far are down 31 percent from last year," said Scott Hemmer, wildlife biologist for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. But officials also said the wet weather has caused duck numbers to skyrocket, while elk have benefited from more forage and are more widely distributed. "Hunters have reported observing good n...
BILLINGS — Three people were killed in a remote area of the Crow Reservation and a manhunt was under way for a suspect who may be armed, authorities said Tuesday. FBI agents were on the reservation investigating the deaths, but had little information to release immediately beyond the number of victims, agency spokeswoman Deborah Bertram said. The killings took place about five miles south of Lodge Grass in a remote area of the southeast Montana reservation, Big Horn County Commissioner John Pretty on Top said. People were t...
HELENA — It would take an immediate infusion of $633 million or a combination of other actions over time to prevent the state's teacher pension system from running out of money by 2055, administrators said Monday. Officials with the Montana Teachers' Retirement System said they would work with members and lawmakers hoping to come up with solutions before the 2013 legislative session. The actuarial report from last week painted a dire picture for the large pension system. An update is due later this month for Montana's o...
HELENA (AP) — U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg is sponsoring the House version of a bill meant to force President Barack Obama to act on a proposed oil pipeline from Canada, through eastern Montana and to refineries in Texas. Rehberg's bill filed Thursday is the companion to legislation introduced Wednesday by Sen. Dick Lugar and 36 other Republican senators. The bills would require the administration to approve the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days, unless the president declares the project is not in the national interest. The S...
