News you can use
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HELENA — Montana has enough cash in the bank to cushion a temporary delay in federal funding to the states if the debt-ceiling showdown in Congress continues into next week, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Friday. The Democratic governor announced Thursday that the state ended the fiscal year with a $340 million surplus, making Montana one of eight states not facing a shortfall. That cash would allow the state to weather the storm for a month or possibly longer if the government defaults because of gridlock over raising the n...
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...
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...
GOP plans abortion parental notification ballot measure The Associated Press HELENA — Abortion opponents are putting forward a proposed ballot measure that would require parental notification for abortions being considered by girls under the age of 18 who are not legally emancipated minors. The measure would allow lawmakers to put the question to voters in 2012, should the governor veto another measure advancing through the Republican-controlled Legislature that would simply make the change in law. Supporters say the n...
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...
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 — From her wheelchair on Friday, Shyla Patera told the panel of lawmakers something they don't often hear. "I want to live and work and pay my taxes," Patera told members of the Senate Finance and Claims Committee. Patera represents four Montana independent living centers that help disabled people with the daily tasks of life so they can stay in their own homes and be a part of their communities. In 2003, enrollees in the program were reduced to three showers per week. If budget cuts proposed by Republicans become r...
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...
BILLINGS — Facing mounting pressure from Congress, wildlife advocates and the U.S. Department of Interior on Friday reached an agreement to lift gray wolf protections in Montana and Idaho and allow hunting of the predators to resume. The settlement agreement — opposed by some environmentalists — is intended to resolve years of litigation that have shielded wolves in the Northern Rockies from hunting, even as the predator's population has sharply expanded. Terms of the deal were to be filed in U.S. District Court in Monta...
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...
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...
BILLINGS — The Obama administration on Tuesday struck a new deal with wildlife advocates that would require the Interior Department to consider greater protections for hundreds of imperiled animals and plants. The agreement was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by attorneys from the government and the Center for Biological Diversity. If a judge approves it, the deal would set a 2018 deadline for the administration to decide whether Endangered Species Act protections are needed for species as diverse as the w...
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 — Gov. Brian Schweitzer is looking into what a state government shutdown would look like even as he continued talking to Republican leaders about a budget deal. Schweitzer says he spoke to House Speaker Mike Milburn and Senate President Jim Peterson on Monday as the Republican leaders were finalizing their budget plan in each chamber. Schweitzer has made it clear he may veto the bill or send back a proposed rewrite. The governor also is asking the attorney general to define which state services would be deemed e...
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...
Senate backs annual Legislature referendum STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press HELENA — The Senate is backing a constitutional referendum to have the Montana Legislature meet every year, rather than every other year. The measure calls for voters to decide if lawmakers should continue meeting for 90 days every other year or for 80 days spread over two annual sessions. Supporters say the annual meetings would make the Legislature more efficient and more open to the public. Those opposing the measure say annual sessions would e...
HELENA — Former congressman Rick Hill is leading Republican gubernatorial candidates in fundraising, while Democratic Attorney General Steve Bullock is keeping pace without yet saying whether he'll actually run for the state's top job. Candidates filed their campaign finance reports for the last three months with the state Commissioner for Political Practices with less than a year before the June 5 primaries to decide the party nominations for governor. The biggest question hanging in the gubernatorial race is whether Bullock...
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...
AP Photo/Doug Dreyer A sign outside of a sandbagged home owned by Deb and MonteA Kenworthy expresses their displeasure at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Ft. Pierre, S.D. FORT PIERRE, S.D. — Sitting atop a 6-foot wall of white sandbags hastily stacked to protect his home from the rising Missouri River, 82-year-old Helmet Reuer doesn't buy the official explanation that heavy rains caused a sudden flood threat. Along with his neighbors in an upscale section of Fort Pierre, Reuer thinks the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers b...
AP Photo/Matt Gouras Barry Beach, left, and attorney Peter Camiel listen to testimony Monday in Lewistown that they hope will lead to a new trial for a 1979 murder Beach says he did not commit. Beach, convicted in the 1979 beating death of a teenager on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation asked a judge Monday to consider evidence to support his claim that a group of girls was actually responsible, bringing forward witnesses and claims overwhelmingly rejected four years ago by a parole board. LEWISTOWN — A man convicted in the 1...
