News you can use
News you can use
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It is noon at the Capitol, and the hallways are jammed with people scrambling to get the attention of legislators on their way to lunch. Outside the House chamber, Alec Hansen calmly takes it all in. After 30 years at the Legislature, the chief lobbyist for Montana's cities and towns doesn't need to chase down legislators. They usually come to him. Photo by Miranda Dalpiaz Alec Hansen of the Montana League of Cities and Towns Hansen is easy to spot, with his white hair and bushy mustache, and with his uniform of khaki...
Senate endorses looser concealed carry law The Associated Press HELENA — A measure to allow people to carry a concealed gun without a permit from law enforcement is closer to becoming law. The Senate endorsed the measure late Friday in a 29-21 vote. The gun-rights proposal has already cleared the House. Currently in Montana, a permit and background check from authorities is needed to carry a concealed gun into cities and towns. There are also old restrictions on carrying without a permit into logging, mining and railroad camp...
Indian tribes prepare way for buffalo's return MATT VOLZ, Associated Press POPLAR — American Indians depended on the buffalo for hundreds of years for food, clothing, tools and medicine. Now today's tribes want to return the favor by helping preserve one of the last genetically pure herds in North America. The Sioux and Assiniboine tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars preparing 5,000 rolling acres in northeastern Montana for 50 wild bison from Yellowstone National Park. T...
Medical marijuana overhaul bill gets first hearing STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press HELENA — A new plan to overhaul Montana's medical marijuana law needs to be improved for it to be a workable plan, both supporters and opponents of the bill said Friday. Senate Bill 423 would overturn the state's current law and replace it with tighter, law enforcement-friendly regulation. The sponsor, Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeff Essmann, said the measure could reduce the number of legal marijuana users from more than 28,000 to a...
GOP plan to reduce business tax moves ahead MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA — Senate Republicans advanced their plan to cut a generally-reviled business equipment tax — along with a companion measure to pay for it by getting rid of a slew of tax credits. The business tax cut would reduce the rate on the first $2 million in business equipment from 3 percent to 2 percent. It would be reduced further if certain economic triggers are met, and estimates say it would ultimately cost the state about $23 million a year. Republic...
House sticks with analyst's revenue estimate HELENA — Lawmakers have decided to stick with a revenue estimate from fiscal analysts that frees up about $40 million for the ongoing budget debate. The House Taxation Committee agreed in a bipartisan vote Wednesday to increase the revenue estimate a bit, while still keeping it about $100 million less than the governor's. The move came after Democrats unsuccessfully tried to convince Republicans to go with the higher figure. The revenue estimate aims to guess how much money the s...
HELENA — The Legislature decided Wednesday to take a break until next week as Republican leaders await the governor's response on the main budget bill, which Schweitzer said is woefully lacking. It was not easy to tell exactly what the sticking points may be, with each side giving differing opinions on the matter. And as Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer both appeared increasingly farther apart, the possibility loomed that no budget deal could be reached in the five remaining working days t...
HELENA — Republican leaders say the Legislature is taking a break until Tuesday as they await the governor's response on the budget bill. House Speaker Mike Milburn says a small pay increase for state employees is a main sticking point. But Gov. Brian Schweitzer says the lawmakers have a lot more work to do — led by a school funding plan mired in an internal Republican dispute. Schweitzer has until Saturday to respond to House Bill 2, the primary budget bill. He has indicated that a rewrite, known as an amendatory veto, is...
HELENA — The commissioner of higher education is announcing plans to retire next year. Sheila Stearns told the board of regents meeting in Kalispell Thursday that she will be stepping down at the end of the next academic year. She has served as commissioner for nine years. Stearns says she has enjoyed working with all those associated with the college system, from students and educators to legislators and business leaders. The system under her leadership has spent time focusing on affordability, such as by freezing tuition f...
Eminent domain battle heats up The Associated Press HELENA — The battle over eminent domain remains mired down in a dispute between landowners and industry groups. Industry interests led by those building electrical transmission lines are seeking a bill currently languishing in a Senate committee that would clarify that their projects have the authority to condemn private land. They argue a court order last year threatens to scuttle the Montana Alberta Tie Line. Property owners led by ranchers are suspicious of that bill and...
HELENA — A Republican member of the Public Service Commission joined with the Democratic minority Friday to oust the GOP chairman and take over as leader of the dysfunctional panel that regulates utilities. The removal of chairman Bill Gallagher and insertion of Travis Kavulla caps a tumultuous three months for the commission and dissolves a rare Republican majority for a panel that had been under Democratic control for most of the last 30 years. Friday's meeting started as a discussion on how to reprimand vice chairman B...
PORTLAND, Ore. — Northwest wind farm owners want federal regulators to tell the region's main utility to quit shutting them down at night. Five companies said Monday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should rule the Bonneville Power Administration has broken their contracts and discriminated against them. For the last month as the Columbia River has run high with snowmelt, the BPA has intermittently curtailed transmission from wind farms. Customers haven't lost electricity. The BPA, a federal agency, substitutes s...
BILLINGS — An attorney for the state says Montana fulfilled its obligation to state employee unions when it submitted a pay raise later cut by the Legislature. Labor Relations chief Paula Stoll said Monday that the canceled raises for 11,000 state workers had been negotiated in good faith. Unions filed an unfair labor practice claim against the state last month. That came after the Republican-dominated Legislature rejected raises negotiated with Gov. Brian Schweitzer of 1 percent in 2012 and 3 percent in 2013. MEA-MFT u...
HAMBURG, Iowa — The rising Missouri River ruptured two levees in northwest Missouri on Monday, sending torrents of flood waters over rural farmland toward a small town in Iowa and a resort community in Missouri. Water rushing from a 50-foot-wide hole in a levee near the southwest Iowa town of Hamburg was expected to reach a secondary levee built to protect the town of about 1,100 people by Tuesday. If that levee fails, parts of Hamburg could be under as much as 10 feet of standing water, officials said. Terry Holliman, who o...
BILLINGS — Asbestos victims in a northwest Montana town where hundreds already have died will be eligible for new federal health care benefits starting next month. Federal officials on Monday announced the pilot program for the town of Libby, where a W.R. Grace vermiculite mine released asbestos that contaminated hundreds of households, businesses and surrounding forest. Under the program, the government will pay for services not normally covered by Medicare. They include special home care, medical equipment, counseling, h...
BILLINGS — Asbestos victims in a northwest Montana town where hundreds already have died will be eligible for new federal health care benefits starting next month. Federal officials on Monday announced the pilot program for the town of Libby, where a W.R. Grace vermiculite mine released asbestos that contaminated hundreds of households, businesses and surrounding forest. Under the program, the government will pay for services not normally covered by Medicare. They include special home care, medical equipment, counseling, h...
HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer has signed the compromise plan he worked out with Republican leaders to reduce worker's compensation insurance rates universally regarded as among the most expensive in the country. The bill marked the first big policy deal so far this session between Schweitzer, House Speaker Mike Milburn and Senate President Jim Peterson. Supporters say it will cut work comp premiums by 40 percent within three years by trimming benefits to workers and cutting costs in other areas. Labor interests have been c...
HELENA — Senate Republicans lost votes Tuesday from within their ranks for their spending plan — handing a setback to leaders trying to quickly get the budget to Gov. Brian Schweitzer in order to advance negotiations. From right, Representative Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, and the rest of the members of Montana's house of representatives place their votes Monday in Helena, Montana for HB2, the general appropriations act at the statehouse in Helena. AP Photo/The Independent Record, Eliza Wiley Three conservative Republicans joi...
GOP budget plan cuts state spending 6 percent MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA — The budget battle moves to the Montana House floor on Friday with the Republican majority aiming to cut enough spending to meet conservative expectations — while beating back criticism from opponents that their proposed cuts will hurt the poor and could result in college tuition hikes. A tally of GOP budget actions so far in committee shows that spending of state tax money would go down about 6 percent from the current budget, to about $3....
BOZEMAN — The embattled author of "Three Cups of Tea" has undergone open-heart surgery nearly two months after reports questioned the accuracy of the book and whether he benefited from the charity he founded, the charity's spokeswoman said. Doctors discovered an aneurysm, in addition to a hole, in Greg Mortenson's heart that had left him with low oxygen levels, Central Asia Institute acting director Anne Beyersdorfer said. Surgeons repaired the hole and tied down the aneurysm, she added. "We feel very fortunate it did not b...
HELENA — The Milk and Musselshell rivers were receding Thursday after reaching record levels and flooding streets and homes in Glasgow and Roundup. But it may be a brief respite as the melting snowpack and continuing rain were expected to mean more high water across Montana. Flooding has been reported from the Clark Fork River near Missoula to the Sun River in central Montana and the Missouri River in the eastern part of the state, forcing many residents to evacuate. Flooding expected to continue in several areas through t...
HELENA — An audit of the state lottery found its former director violated state law by extending one contract and changing another without the approval of the Montana Lottery Commission. The Independent Record reports the audit was presented to the Legislative Audit Committee Thursday. The audit also found the lottery spent twice as much as it was authorized to spend on lottery ticket vending machines and that it would not be hard for lottery employees to perpetuate and conceal errors or irregularities in prize payments. L...
CODY BLOOMSBURG Community News Service UM School of Journalism HELENA — It is late afternoon and only a handful of lawmakers are at their desks in the Senate when Sen. Minority Leader Carol Williams walks in holding a blue trophy topped with a golden pig. As she heads to her desk, the Missoula Democrat stops to show Sen. Ryan Zinke the traveling award that Democrats give to their party's Senator of the Week. She tells the Whitefish Republican that it could be his if only he would switch teams. Zinke has no qualms about v...
LAUREL — The initial cleanup along the oil-fouled Yellowstone River could be tested today as rising waters make it harder for Exxon Mobil Corp. to get to areas damaged by the crude spilled from a company pipeline. The National Weather Service predicts the Yellowstone River, swelling with mountain snowmelt amid hot summer temperatures, will peak at Billings this afternoon — a day after Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. President Gary Pruessing promised to do "whatever is necessary" to mop up oil spilled from the duct at the river bot...
AP Photo/Matthew Brown: Kellen Backbone prepares to hook up a hose to a pump being installed to remove water from of a low-lying area in Crow Agency, Wednesda. During a break in the rain Wednesday, members of the Crow tribe worked to bolster their flood defenses along the Little Bighorn River after much of the reservation was inundated during the last week. HELENA — Water-damaged Big Horn County is ordering 50,000 sandbags in preparation for more flooding next week. Officials on the Crow Indian Reservation say they will use a...
