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HELENA, (AP) — Seven Democratic senators joined 20 Republicans on Saturday to approve a bill increasing DUI penalties on a 27-23 vote that reversed the Senate's on Friday. Republican-sponsored House Bill 488 would double minimum fines for driving under the influence and clarify that the same penalties apply to people driving high on marijuana. It would also levy a $300 fine on anyone believed to be driving under the influence who refuses to submit to a drug test. The bill failed on a 24-26 vote in the Senate on Friday, but s...
From Hopa Mountain George Winston, one of the most recognized solo pianists in the world, will be playing a benefit concert Tuesday, May 12, at 7 p.m. in the Emerson Cultural Center’s Crawford Theater in support of Hopa Mountain, a Bozeman-based nonprofit organization. The benefit concert will feature Winston’s “Winter Show,” including melodic fall and winter type songs, some of Vince Guaraldi’s “Peanuts” pieces, pieces inspired by the New Orleans piano and the stride piano traditions, and songs from his upcoming albu...
HELENA (AP) - A House panel has listened to five hours of testimony on a proposed water deal concerning the Flathead Reservation and will continue the public hearing into Saturday evening. Proponents of Senate Bill 262 spoke for roughly four hours Saturday. Opponents were underway by 3 p.m. in Montana's House Judiciary Committee. The measure would ratify a negotiation between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the state and federal governments regarding rights to...
LISA BAUMANN Associated Press HELENA - After a hard-fought battle to get the last-standing bill to expand the Medicaid program to the floor, the Montana House of Representatives gave it an initial green lightThursday. The House voted 54-46 to endorse the amended measure on a second reading with support from 13 Republicans and all 41 Democrats after it was sent to the floor Wednesday. Thursday, Rep. Roy Hollandsworth, R-Brady, voted to pass the bill, as did Rep. G. Bruce Meyers...
ALISON NOON Associated Press HELENA - Montana senators endorsed a two-year state budget proposal Thursday, but chamber leaders are not optimistic that the state House will pass the plan. Members of the Republican-controlled Senate voted 33-17 to approve a budget that is $23.5 million more than the roughly $10 billion biennial total that passed out of the House last month. Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, voted against the bill while Sen. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, voted for it....
Carol Gutierrez, 75, proud member of Rocky Boy Reservation, passed away at Northern Montana Care Center on April 8, 2015, surrounded by family and friends. Wake services began at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 9, 2015, and will continue until her funeral service, which will be at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 10, 2015, all at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, in Rocky Boy. Burial will follow in Rocky Boy Cemetery. Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with arrangements. Please visit Carol’s online memorial page and leave you...
Gpv. Steve Bullock has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on Friday as former Gov. Tim Babcock will lie in state at the state Capitol. ....
From Montana Department of Revenue HELENA — The Montana Department of Revenue is offering expanded hours at its call center to assist taxpayers during the days before the April 15 deadline for filing income tax returns. Taxpayers who need assistance can call the department’s call center toll free at 866-859-2254, or in Helena at 406-444-6900. Regular call center hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call center hours will be extended during the last days of tax season. Beginning Saturday, April 11, help will be...
BOZEMAN (AP) — Four Montana State University students have entered not guilty pleas to drug distribution charges. The four are the first of nine students to make their initial court appearance on charges of possessing, distributing and manufacturing dangerous drugs. During their court appearance Friday, Gallatin County District Judge Mike Salvagni allowed the four to be released on their own recognizance while their cases are pending. Court documents say the students distributed drugs, including ecstasy, LSD and hash oil f...
HELENA (AP) — The Montana Highway Patrol reached a settlement Friday with plaintiffs in a lawsuit claiming the patrol improperly detained Hispanic drivers over unfounded concerns they were in the country illegally. Attorney General Tim Fox, Montana Highway Patrol Col. Tom Butler and attorneys for the plaintiffs reached the agreement. The patrol acknowledges no wrongdoing, but the parties agree that traffic stop policies the patrol adopted since the lawsuit was filed address the plaintiffs' concerns. A group of plaintiffs l...
HELENA (AP) — With two-thirds of the 2015 session complete, Montana's Democratic governor has disagreed with relatively few bills passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature. As of Thursday, Gov. Steve Bullock has vetoed six Republican bills, including two calling for firearm deregulation, an income tax cut and a bill that would have eliminated the ability of local governments to set minimum wages. By this point in the last session, Bullock had vetoed the same number of bills, but six more he would later veto were on h...
KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — A Columbia Falls man said he was intoxicated and looking for drugs, not making an anti-abortion statement, when he broke into a Kalispell clinic last year, causing thousands of dollars in damage. Zachary Klundt, 25, pleaded guilty Thursday to burglary, criminal mischief and theft for the March 2014 break-in at All Families Healthcare, the only clinic in the Flathead Valley that provided abortions. "I harmed and hurt many people by what I did last March, but no one was hurt more by my actions than (...
LISA BAUMANN Associated Press HELENA - A Republican-led Senate panel passed the state's main budget bill Wednesday after adding about $50 million in funding through a deal negotiated with the Democratic governor's office. The Senate Finance and Claims Committee passed an amended House Bill 2 by a vote of 16-3. It's tentatively scheduled for debate April 9 on the Senate floor. Republican Sen. Kristin Hansen of Havre, who moved one packet of negotiated amendments Wednesday,...
Sens. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, and Kris Hansen, R-Havre, voted for the measure,. Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, voted no. HELENA (AP) — The Montana Legislature has passed a measure urging school employees to complete suicide awareness and prevention training. Senators passed House Bill 374 on a 32-18 vote Wednesday. It now goes to Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock for his signature. The proposal recommends that public school employees partake in two hours of suicide prevention training every five years. According to a f...
HELENA (AP) — A Senate panel considering Montana's main budget bill was adding millions of dollars to it in an effort to avoid state employee furloughs and layoffs The Senate Finance and Claims Committee passed a slew of amendments to House Bill 2 Wednesday to add components of a $31 million supplemental appropriation bill that a House committee tabled last week. House Bill 3 included $9 million in extra funding for public schools, $7 million for the Department of Corrections and $1.7 million for the Department of Justice. T...
HELENA (AP) — Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald told veterans in Helena the VA needs to do more to make sure Montana veterans get the health care they need in a timely fashion. McDonald says the VA has made hires in Billings and Helena and is working to hire primary care doctors and those specializing in mental health particularly in rural areas of the state. McDonald spoke Tuesday along with U.S. Sen. Jon Tester at the Montana National Guard headquarters near Helena's Fort Harrison VA hospital. Montana is the 2...
HELENA (AP) — Hours ahead of a referendum deadline, Montana representatives on Tuesday considered the latest of the 2015 Legislature's proposals to revise term limits. Members of the House State Administration Committee took no immediate action after hearing a bill to allow legislators to remain longer in one legislative chamber. As amended, House Bill 639 would allow lawmakers to serve 16 years in the Legislature in any 20-year period, whether in one chamber or between both the House and Senate. Currently, Montana's c...
(Rep. Roy Hollandsworth, R-Brady,. voted in favor of moving ahead with the pay plan.. Reps.. Stephanie Hess, R-Havre, Mike Lang. R-Malta, and G. Bruce Meyes, R-Box Elder, voted no. HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Representatives have failed to take up pay raises for state employees in the House as a whole. Montana's House of Representatives voted 44-55 on Saturday to deny consideration of House Bill 13, which had been tabled in the House Appropriations Committee on Friday. The bill is likely dead. Under the proposal, state employees wou...
Rep. Roy Hollandsworth voted no. Reps. Mike Lang, Stephanie Hess, R-Havre, and G. Bruce Meyers, R=Box Elder HELENA (AP) — The Montana Legislature turned away a proposed referendum Friday that if enacted by voters would have given people grounds to disobey any state laws that violate their religion. After a heated floor debate that moved the bill sponsor to raise his camouflaged Bible, state representatives failed to pass House Bill 615 on a 50-50 vote. The bill resembles a recent Indiana law that allows open discrimination f...
Sen. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, voted for the closure. Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, voted no. HELENA (AP) — State senators have endorsed a plan to close over the next two years the Montana Developmental Center in Boulder. By a vote of 41-8, senators passed Senate Bill 411 on second reading Saturday. The proposal would create a committee to design a specific route to fully closing the center on July 1, 2017. It would reduce the number of clients housed there by the end of 2016. Democratic Sen. Mary Caferro of Helena s...
Sen. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, voted no; Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, voted yes. HELENA (AP) — Montana Senators have endorsed a Republican's compromise Medicaid expansion bill after voting to blast it out of committee and onto the floor. Senators endorsed the measure 28-22 on Friday after more than 90 minutes of debate. Sen. Ed Buttrey of Great Falls introduced Senate Bill 405 last week after a version backed by the governor was defeated. The Montana Health and Economic Livelihood Partnership (HELP) Act would accept f...
Reps. Mike Lang, R-Malta, Stephanie Hess, R-Havre, Roy Hollandsworth, R-Brady, and Rep. G. Bruce Meyers, R-Box Elder, voted yes. HELENA (AP) — The Montana House has endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment bill that would define human life as beginning at conception. Representatives voted 54-46 to endorse House Bill 425 on second reading Friday. Because it would amend the constitution, the bill requires the support of two-thirds of the Legislature before it could be placed on the November 2016 ballot. Republican Rep. M...
HELENA (AP) — Senators have voted to blast a Republican lawmaker's Medicaid expansion bill out of committee and to the floor for debate. The motion passed by a 28-22 vote on Thursday. Sen. Ed Buttrey of Great Falls introduced Senate Bill 405 last week, touting it as a compromise bill. The measure would accept money from the federal government for expanding Medicaid eligibility to low-income Montanans, but requires them to pay premiums each month as well as co-payments for certain services. Those who enroll would also be a...
HAMILTON (AP) — The Montana Supreme Court has upheld a $150,000 restitution award in a securities fraud case against a Hamilton pastor, but reversed his conviction for fraudulent practices and sent the case back to District Court for a new trial. Harris Himes was convicted in September 2013 of failure to register a security, failure to register as a security salesman and fraudulent practices. He was sentenced to three concurrent 10-year commitments with the Department of Corrections. Prosecutors alleged Himes cheated a c...
HELENA (AP) — A bill signed by Montana's governor could pave the way to clemency for Barry Beach, who is serving a 100-year prison sentence for a 1979 murder he says he didn't commit. Gov. Steve Bullock signed the measure Friday after it passed the Legislature with wide bipartisan support. The bill allows the governor to grant clemency to prisoners even if the state parole board recommends against it. The governor also will be able to waive fines, lessen a sentence or pardon someone after the law takes effect Oct. 1. B...
