News you can use
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House backs state power over federal land bill STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press HELENA — The House backed a measure Thursday to give Montana the power to exercise authority over federal land — one of a number of Republican-backed bills seeking to override powers the U.S. government holds in the state. Senate Bill 254 sponsored by Republican Sen. Rowlie Hutton, R-Havre, aims to give the state eminent domain authority over federal land within its borders — an untested state action that has recently caught favor with membe...
adioShack owner will continue gun giveaways HAMILTON — A Montana RadioShack owner said he will continue to give away guns with satellite television subscriptions despite the corporation's insistence he halt the promotion. Since October, independent dealer Steve Strand has been offering a gift card for a $125 pistol or $115 shotgun and a free background check to customers who sign up for two-year Dish Network packages. Those not interested in the firearms can opt for a $50 pizza gift certificate. RadioShack Corp. officials cal...
Battle lines drawn in work comp debate MATT GOURAS Associated Press HELENA — The battle lines over competing workers' compensation reform plans crystalized Monday at a hearing for the Republican reform plan, as workers made it clear they don't like a bill partially written by the insurance industry. Construction, timber, oil companies all made up parts of the business community that aligned with the medical community in backing a Republican proposal aimed at cutting rates by as much as 40 percent. One eastern Montana oil busi...
Montana House rejects linking state coffers to gold MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA — The Montana House has rejected a plan to link state coffers to electronic payments of gold. Republican Rep. Bob Wagner of Harrison says the Montana state government should trade with some taxpayers and contractors in units of gold. Supporters say the new currency exchange would be "separate and parallel" to the traditional exchange of federal notes. Democrats opposing the bill ridiculed it. They say a new currency and a local militia a...
Proposal mandates ultrasound before abortion MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA— Republicans who have long blasted health care laws they feel put the government between doctors and patients are now backing a bill that orders doctors to perform an ultrasound before an abortion. Republicans backing the bill said they don't think such ultrasounds are a medical mandate but rather an attempt to prevent a procedure they feel should be illegal anyway. They argued it is not hypocritical to support the government intervention in c...
Bison in pilot program shipped back to Yellowstone MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press BILLINGS — A group of wild bison was returned to Yellowstone National Park on Friday in a setback to a fledgling program that allowed the animals into parts of Montana where bison had long been prohibited. The roundup of the 13 animals came after they repeatedly left a 2,500-acre grazing area in the Gallatin National Forest, crossing the Yellowstone River and entering private property. After their capture, the animals were trucked just o...
Legislature bills restricting bison move forward STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press HELENA — The livestock industry's concern over the threat of disease spreading from wild bison to cattle has helped advance about a dozen bills restricting the movement of the animals as the legislative session breaks to transfer bills between both chambers. Those who want to see the bison reigned in say the animals are transmitters of brucellosis and a threat to the disease-free status of the state's livestock industry; a certification that i...
Montana GOP targets Missoula gay rights ordinance MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA (AP) — Republicans running the Legislature made it clear Monday that they favor a plan at the Legislature to squash Missoula's ordinance protecting residents from discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Republican majority on the House Judiciary Committee backed a plan that bars Missoula and other cities from establishing their own criteria for those protected from discrimination, sending the proposal to the full House floor with a...
7 train cars derail in Idaho, spilling grain The Associated Press BONNERS FERRY, Idaho — A BNSF Railway train loaded with grain has derailed in a remote canyon in Idaho, about 18 miles east of Bonners Ferry. BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says 25 cars derailed Sunday afternoon as the train with four locomotives and 97 loads of grain headed from Montana to Kalama, Wash., at about 18 mph. Melonas says 18 cars are reported on their sides and seven are upright. He said crews will work through the night to move cars, remove s...
1. AP Photo/Family Photo This undated photo shows suicide victim Chelle Rose Follette of Poplar, Mont. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death behind unintentional injuries among Indian children and young adults, and is on the rise, according to the Indian Health Service. 2. AP Photo/Michael Albans This picture shows a memorial message painted on the rear window of suicide victim Chelle Rose Follette's family's pick-up truck, outside their home on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Poplar. 3. AP Photo/Michael Albans...
GOP-backed bills ask for less FWP power STEPHEN DOCKERY, Associated Press HELENA — A number of lawmakers are making it clear they believe the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks department wields too much power around Montana. Critics of the department are moving dozens of bills through the Legislature seeking to rein in the agency by reducing its jurisdiction and authority. The bills in the GOP-dominated Legislature range from restrictions on the department exercising hunting regulations to reductions of its spending on animal m...
HELENA (AP) — Legislative Republicans have quickly shot down an attempt by Democrats to increase the state's renewable energy standard Montana utilities are required to procure a certain percentage of retail electricity sales from renewable resources such as wind power. The measure by Democratic Sen. Kendall Van Dyk of Billings would have increased that percentage to 25 percent. That's in contrast to Republican bills that critics say would water down the renewable energy standard or do away with it altogether. GOP leaders t...
HELENA (AP) — Legislative Republicans have quickly shot down an attempt by Democrats to increase the state's renewable energy standard Montana utilities are required to procure a certain percentage of retail electricity sales from renewable resources such as wind power. The measure by Democratic Sen. Kendall Van Dyk of Billings would have increased that percentage to 25 percent. That's in contrast to Republican bills that critics say would water down the renewable energy standard or do away with it altogether. GOP leaders t...
Brouhaha flares over partisan budget plans MATT GOURAS, Associated Press HELENA — The ongoing budget and revenue dispute between Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Republicans flared up Thursday, with the governor declaring he thinks in the end that GOP leaders will have to fund education and social services to levels he finds adequate. Republican leaders said they have no plans to bend to the governor's wishes. Schweitzer has been arguing for months with Republicans and their legislative staffers over how much money the state will h...
HELENA — Recently unsealed warrants shed some more light on the scope of this week's medical marijuana raids in Montana, naming seven medical pot businesses as targets of the investigation. The 26 search warrants and four civil seizure warrants executed as part of an 18-month investigation into large-scale trafficking and tax evasion were unsealed on Tuesday. The warrants say federal agents assisted by local authorities were searching for evidence related to a conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess marijuana. T...
HELENA— Republican lawmakers pitched new plans Monday to intervene in divorce, target abortion in the Montana Constitution and help parents deal with local sex education issues. The latest round of GOP-backed measures taking on social issues follows Friday's rejection on the full House floor of a plan to mandate doctors show women seeking an abortion an ultrasound before the procedure. Rank-and-file want abortion discussed Early in the session, Republican leaders holding big majorities in the Legislature largely left s...
MISSOULA — The head of a new marijuana industry association has stepped down because he's facing felony drug charges. Nathan Pierce, the former president of the Montana Cannabis Industry Association, was arrested during a February traffic stop. Deputy Missoula County Attorney Andrew Paul says searches of Pierce and his vehicle turned up items believed to be hallucinogenic mushrooms and hashish. Court records say he also had four expired medical marijuana cards naming him as caregiver. The Missoulian reports Pierce is c...
HELENA — Montana health officials say they will continue issuing medical marijuana cards even if Gov. Brian Schweitzer allows an overhaul bill to become law at midnight. The bill's author says that flies in the face of the measure's intent. The overhaul limits who can be a patient and who can be a pot provider. Schweitzer says he will let the Friday deadline to veto the bill pass. The bill immediately repeals Department of Public Health and Human Services' authority to register patients. The agency can register patients u...
Freight train derails near Glacier park HELENA (AP) — Nineteen cars of a freight train have derailed near Glacier National Park, forcing Amtrak to bus passengers around the blocked track. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway spokesman Gus Melonas says the derailment shortly before noon Wednesday started with the 33rd car of a 115-car train bound for Pasco, Wash. The train derailed near Essex, about 45 miles east of Whitefish, affecting cars carrying lumber, paper, plastics and boat products. No one was injured. Melonas s...
BILLINGS — Gray wolves in Montana and Idaho would be taken off the endangered list under the budget bill pending before Congress, two Western lawmakers said. Inclusion of the language to lift protections for wolves was confirmed by the offices of Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson on Saturday. "It's high time for a predictable, practical law that finally delists Montana's wolves and returns their management to our state — for the sake of our wildlife, our livestock, and for the jobs tha...
Proposal asks state to join health care lawsuit STEPHEN DOCKERY,Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A bill to require the state of Montana to join a lawsuit opposing federal health care reform is being discussed in a House committee after having successfully passed through the Senate. Senate Bill 106 would make the Montana attorney general join about two dozen other states in a Florida lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care overhaul. Supporters of the proposal say it's important for the state to challe...
Libby asbestos victims consider $43M deal MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press BILLINGS — More than 1,100 victims of asbestos contamination are nearing a $43 million settlement over claims that Montana health officials failed to warn miners about the hazards of a deadly vermiculite mine, documents from the case show. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands sickened following decades of exposure to asbestos from the now-shuttered W.R. Grace & Co. mine in the small northwestern Montana town of Libby. Claimant notices o...
HELENA — The attorney general's office asked the Montana Supreme Court on Monday to reject a climate lawsuit that seeks to force regulation of greenhouse gases, as a group of conservative state lawmakers said they want to intervene in the case. The developments followed a lawsuit, among other legal actions, filed last month by environmental groups in Montana and other states as part of a plan to force government intervention on climate change. Their goal is to have the atmosphere declared a "public trust" deserving special p...
GREAT FALLS — Officials at the History Museum in Great Falls have announced that a film featuring Walter Breuning costing $16 will be available on Tuesday. AP Photo/Mike Albans 114-year-old Walter Breuning stands under a portrait of himself in the lobby of his senior residence in Great Falls on Oct. 6. Officials at a Montana retirement home say the world's oldest man has died. Walter Breuning was 114, making him the oldest man and the second-oldest person in the world. Breuning was born on Sept. 21, 1896, in Melrose, Minn., a...
HELENA — A volunteer task force looking into ways to improve health care as well as relations between St. Peter's Hospital and the local community is calling for increased community oversight of the hospital. The Task Force on Local Access to Universal Health Care recommends that the City-County Board of Health begin a dialogue with the hospital in Helena. The board appointed the task force in 2008. County Health Officer Melanie Reynolds says the board will look at the recommendations in an upcoming work session before m...
