News you can use
News you can use
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WEST GLACIER (AP) — Glacier National Park officials are warning visitors that a mountain lion in the Upper McDonald Creek Valley area has been displaying aggressive behavior. Rangers are patrolling the trails and warned visitors Wednesday to be on the alert for mountain lions and report all sightings to the closest National Park Service facility. On June 23, a woman and her niece were confronted by an adult mountain lion on the Sperry Trail. The lion was crouched adjacent to the trail with its ears back. The visitors spoke f... Full story
House backs bill to toughen laws for repeat DUI STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press HELENA — A proposal to toughen the penalties against repeat drunk drivers was endorsed by the House Monday, one of a number of measures attempting to crack down on high drunk-driving rates in Montana. House Bill 14 carried by Democratic Rep. Mike Menahan would let courts look back to impaired driving offenses up to 10 years old when someone is being punished for a drunk-driving charge, a change from the current five-year cutoff. The measure, w...
Photo by Cody Bloomsburg Warden Mike Mahoney talks to an inmate through the window of an isolation cell at the Montana State Prison. Budget cuts advancing through the Legislature could make his prison more dangerous and push more inmates into community facilities, he says. Warden worries about the effects of cutting Montana's prison budget By CODY BLOOMSBURG , Community News Service UM School of Journalism DEER LODGE – Warden Mike Mahoney rests his arm on the steel door as if it were his backyard fence and he was talking t...
Radio Shack satellite TV promotion a blast HAMILTON, Mont.— A southwestern Montana Radio Shack is offering would-be satellite television customers a bit more bang for their buck. Customers who sign up for some Dish Network packages at Radio Shack in Hamilton will be rewarded with a pistol or shotgun. Pacifists can pick a $50 Pizza Hut gift card. "I think it really, really fits the Bitterroot Valley," store owner Steve Strand told the Ravalli Republic for a story published Friday. Strand said it took some haggling to get D... Full story
HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Thursday requested changes to a bill that prohibits the relocation of wild bison to a wildlife management area south of Avon, one of 14 vetoes and amendatory vetoes issued by the governor. The Legislature approved Senate Bill 174 this month, which aims to stop the relocation of bison to the Spotted Dog Wildlife Management Area. Relocation of wild bison has been unpopular topic among ranchers who fear the transfer of disease to livestock and property damage from the massive animals. Critics o...
HELENA — The Schweitzer administration is preparing to cut Medicaid payments to medical providers as much as 6 percent if the Republican legislative majority gets its way with proposed budget cuts. The cuts are still part of negotiations between Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who is resisting them, and Republican legislative leaders. Lee Newspapers State Bureau reports that administrative rules being drafted would hit hospitals, nursing homes, group homes and other providers of medical and disability services to the poor. P... Full story
Poll shows Rehberg. Tester in tight race The Associated Press HELENA — A new poll shows U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and his Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, are nearly even in the race for the Tester's Senate seat, while Sen. Max Baucus' approval rating has plunged, apparently over his role in the federal health care bill. The poll found 46 percent of registered voters favored Tester, a Democrat, while 45 percent favored Rehberg with 9 percent undecided. Lee Enterprises of Montana commissioned Mason-Dixon Polling & Re...
HELENA — The board of the state's largest workers' compensation insurer cut its rates by 20 percent on Friday, a move that some hope will help the business community and encourage more job creation and higher wages. The 7-0 vote by the Montana State Fund board (MSF) comes on the heels of House Bill 334, a massive workers' compensation reform package passed in the 2011 legislative session. Although it's workers' compensation costs are going down, Montana has the highest workers' compensation rates in the country. And l...
HELENA — Federal enforcement agents raided a Helena medical marijuana provider on Friday, the latest development in a continuing crackdown on pot distributors in the state. Paul Schmidt, the owner of Sleeping Giant Caregivers, was out of town Friday afternoon, but confirmed to The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview that agents were at his marijuana operation on the eastern edge of Helena. A search and seizure warrant signed Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch of Missoula authorized federal agents t...
HELENA — Opponents of a new state law that allows companies to condemn private property in the path of new power lines have begun gathering signatures to suspend the law and bring it to a public vote. A coalition of groups against House Bill 198 has formed the group VoteFor125. Group spokeswoman Kate Ord of Dillon said the secretary of state approved the group's petition language last week. A bill passed in April allows a power line company with a state certificate for its route to use the power of eminent domain to c... Full story
HELENA — About a dozen people picketed outside a health fair sponsored by the Independent Record in Helena to protest the exclusion of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Stacey Anderson told the Great Falls Tribune that her organization was invited to join the more than 60 health and wellness businesses and organizations exhibiting at the fifth annual event held Thursday at the Helena Civic Center. But about a week ago, the IR returned the group's registration fees, Anderson said. "They said they decided not t...
HELENA — More flood threats loom for Montana as an already-deep mountain snowpack increases and a cool spring brings more moisture. River basins in the mountains are nearly double their average snowpack levels, and eastern Montana has already dealt with some rivers and flooding in places. The National Weather Service said flood threats could persist into early July due to the cool weather. "It is going to be a big flood year," said Gina Loss, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service. "There is not any part of the s...
HELENA — U.S. Sen. Jon Tester's campaign reports that it raised more than $1 million in the first quarter of what promises to be a long, expensive race against challenger Denny Rehberg. Tester's office says it raised nearly $1.2 million in the first three months of the year and had about $1.5 million on hand. Rehberg's numbers were not immediately available. Montana's Republican congressman announced early in the year he would be challenge the first-term Democratic senator in 2012. The race may be one of a handful that c...
HELENA — Dozens of protesters occupied the governor's offices for more than four hours and interrupted their meeting with him by playing old-time tunes on a piano and dancing on an historic conference table after he refused to renounce his support for an oil pipeline project. The protesters argued that Gov. Brian Schweitzer should oppose the planned Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. after the Exxon Mobil pipeline spill in the Yellowstone River. AP Photo/The Independent Record, Dylan Brown Anti-oil protesters b...
Attorney: GOP health care proposal a legal risk MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA — Republicans running the Montana Legislature who have launched bills aimed at undermining a federal health care law they believe is unconstitutional may themselves be running up against the state Constitution by trying to order the attorney general to take action. The first GOP proposal on the issue to get a hearing Wednesday would direct the state attorney general to join about 20 other states suing the federal government over the health ca... Full story
HELENA — About 70 protesters occupied Gov. Brian Schweitzer's offices for more than four hours, refusing to leave after Schweitzer refused to renounce his support for an oil pipeline project. The protesters say the governor should oppose the planned Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S. after the Exxon Mobil pipeline spill in the Yellowstone River. Schweitzer met with the group Tuesday, saying he would not cede to their demands. They then started playing the piano and dancing on a table in the governor's reception r...
HELENA — The House is backing a Senate proposal to overhaul Montana's medical marijuana law after making major changes to the measure. Senate Bill 423 carried by Senate Majority Leader Jeff Essmann is aimed at significantly reducing the marijuana industry in the state. The measure was supported on a 77-23 in the first floor vote on Monday. The bill has been amended and rewritten several times. The House revisions include requiring growers to provide medical marijuana at no cost. Lawmakers from both chambers likely will h...
HELENA — The Obama administration rolled out state-by-state benefits of the president's jobs plan on Friday, saying 30,000 Montana businesses would see a cut in payroll taxes under the proposal and the average household in the state would see a tax cut of $1,240. The Obama administration touted the state-specific benefits of the $447 billion jobs program of tax cuts and new spending as the president began taking his pitch directly to Americans. The centerpiece of the proposal is a reduction in the Social Security payroll t...
AP Exclusive: GOP leader formalizes priority list MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA — An ambitious list of priorities for new House Republican leaders is topped by a plan to boost the natural resource industry by limiting lawsuits filed against development projects, along with plans to spur business growth in several other ways. New House Speaker Mike Milburn, a former Air Force pilot and rancher from Cascade, told The Associated Press that the goals will provide a roadmap for the new GOP majority. The list crystalizes a...
ROUNDUP — One of the hardest-hit towns in flood-soaked Montana took another blow Wednesday as record flooding struck the small agricultural community for the second time in two weeks, forcing dozens of residents from homes that they had just started to clean up. The Musselshell River gushed into Roundup's neighborhoods, nearly submerging cars and swallowing the ground floors of homes. Officials evacuated between 30 and 35 residences and businesses on the southern end of the central Montana town near the river, said Randy Holm...
HELENA — Medical marijuana supporters are planning to collect signatures for a voter initiative that would block the strict regulations that Gov. Brian Schweitzer says he will allow become law this summer. Meanwhile, advocates for outlawing medical pot altogether say they won't push for their own referendum after the Legislature passed a repeal of the state law, only to see it vetoed by Schweitzer. After that veto, the Legislature passed a bill that aims to rein in Montana's booming pot industry and avoid federal i... Full story
HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Friday that he will use an upcoming two-week trip to China to promote Montana wheat, beef, tourism and energy — and will continue to run state affairs by remaining in "24/7" contact with staffers. The governor is scheduled to leave Friday. He's set to be the keynote speaker at a conference in Beijing on coal technologies, such as producing liquid fuel from coal. The Gasification & Coal Chemicals in Asia Pacific 2011 Conference is being held next Wednesday and Thursday. "I have been ask... Full story
HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer has ordered all flags in Montana to be flown at half-staff on Tuesday in honor of U.S. Marine Cpl. Steven Jorgenson, who was killed in an accident after returning to the U.S. from Afghanistan. Jorgenson, 22, died May 26 when he was struck by a car after exiting a cab in New York City during Fleet Week. He was 200 yards from his ship, the USS Iwo Jima, when he was hit. "To die on a city street after surviving in Afghanistan — it's just a strange tragedy that shouldn't have happened," his fat...
HELENA — A veteran Montana congressman is seeking a settlement in a year-old lawsuit against his hometown for the way it handled a wildfire on his land. But the city maintains Rep. Denny Rehberg and his wife have yet to even specify what they're seeking or file the paperwork needed to jumpstart the slow-moving case. The lawsuit is unfolding amid the biggest campaign of Rehberg's career as he challenges incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in 2012. Both candidates are expected to set fundraising records in Montana, and the race h...
MISSOULA — The son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana has pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding. Nate Montana appeared in Missoula County Justice Court on Friday. Jail records show the 21-year-old Montana was booked into jail on a first-offense DUI charge at 3:46 a.m. Friday and released after posting a $685 bond. The Missoulian reports that Montana and his attorney declined to comment at the hearing. Montana transferred from Notre Dame to the University of Montana in M...
