News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 2626 - 2650 of 2807
A federal judge has ruled that the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is arbitrarily excluding "critical habitat" that could be occupied by the elusive Canada lynx, which were listed a decade ago as threatened. U. S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled Wednesday the agency excluded large swaths of Western habitat from protection when it recommended in 2009 that 39,000 square miles in Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington be designated as critical habitat. He said in his ruling that tens of thousands of acres...
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer will request President Barack Obama to declare the flooding at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation a federal disaster, Schweitzer's communications director said this morning. "We are in the process of drafting (the request)," Sarah Elliot said shortly after 11 a.m. A federal team assessed the damage of the flooding late last week, and turned their findings over to the governor. Montana's junior U.S. senator, Jon Tester, toured Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation Saturday to see the damage caused by...
CANYON CREEK (AP) — Cooler weather with some rain helped firefighters in Montana make good progress Sunday on a pair of fires that had forced evacuations over the past few days, fire officials said. "We've had a really good day working in conjunction with Mother Nature," said Terina Mullen, spokeswoman at the Downing Mountain fire burning about three miles west of Hamilton. "I don't expect the fire to increase at all today," she told The Associated Press on Sunday. "There's very little fire growth. We do have a few i...
Ranchers differ on benefit of new antitrust rules CATHERINE TSAI,Associated Press Writer FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Meatpackers, feeders and hundreds of ranchers from around the country packed a workshop Friday to voice concerns about a proposed federal rule that aims to preserve competition in an industry increasingly dominated by a handful of corporate giants. Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack opened the daylong workshop at Colorado State University, one of five the administration set t...
A rare tornado tore through a farmhouse and killed two people inside, leaving nothing but the house's foundation and a few twisted vehicles as it swept through Montana's remote and sparsely populated northeastern corner. A teenage boy and a man in his 40s were killed on the farm when the tornado touched down Monday evening about 13 miles west of Reserve, Sheridan County Sheriff Patrick Ulrickson said. A 71-year-old woman was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Plentywood and will be transported to Billings, he said....
Montana State University-Northern is looking to start a national-level testing and education center that could bring hundreds — or more — new jobs to the area, its chancellor said Thursday. "It's huge, it could be huge," Frank Trocki said. No r t h e r n i s wo r k i n g wi t h Mississippi State University, which is looking to use unmanned aircraft for weather testing, and the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to try to set up a Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence. The center would research usi...
The Montana Board of Medical Examiners says doctors who staff mass medical marijuana clinics could be disciplined for providing substandard care. Board members unanimously approved a position paper Thursday that says recommending a course of treatment after a brief consultation and without any follow-up does not meet the standard of care expected of Montana physicians. The board does not take a position on treating medical disorders with marijuana, but the paper says the board "does have an obligation to protect the public by...
The members of Montana's congressional delegation have joined other senators and representatives in calling on the federal government to make sure Payment in Lieu of Taxes to counties go out as close to on schedule as possible. Local county officials, though, say they are not extremely concerned about a short delay. T h e U. S . I n t e r i o r Department h a s a n n o u n c e d that distribut i o n o f Payment in Lieu of Taxes, which normally are distributed by June 30, will be delayed. PILT is used to make up for lost...
Survivors of a tornado that tore into Montana's largest indoor arena and leveled several commercial buildings returned to a scene of devastation Monday — awestruck that a twister so destructive caused no major injuries. Under sunny, blue skies, owners of damaged businesses in Billings picked through the rubble of their storefronts, salvaging what they could from rain-soaked piles of debris. Local officials said a 12,000-seat arena that suffered extensive damage would have to be gutted and, if there is structural damage, possi...
Montana ranchers vow to fight national monument idea MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Writer LEWISTOWN — Ranchers in eastern Montana are digging in for what they said Friday would be a protracted fight against a tentative Interior Department proposal to designate more than a dozen new national monuments across the West. At a forum hosted by Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, rural landowners said the proposal threatened to fragment their communities and take away ranching opportunities. "Shouldn't we have the right to say no to a...
Baucus, Sebelius plan health care talk in Libby HELENA (AP) — Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Sen. Max Baucus will be in Libby on Monday to talk about health care coverage for people with asbestos-related illness. Baucus' office had earlier announced plans to host Sebelius in Missoula on Monday to discuss rural health care. On Friday, the Montana Democrat said that the pair will travel afterward to Libby, where victims exposed to asbestos are eligible for coverage under the health-care reform bill passed earlier this y...
A key union leader for Montana state and university employees says he will not bargain another salary freeze with the governor — drawing a line in the sand amid what is expected to be a very tight budget process. The gove rno r ' s o f f i c e responded by saying that tough economic times means everyone — including state employees — need to have reduced expectations. Budget Director David Ewer did not rule out the possibility of a pay freeze. Eric Feaver, the forceful voice at the legislature and elsewhere for an influ...
U. S. Sen. Jon Tester released some changes Thursday to his logging and wilderness bill, beating back a Washington, D.C.- based rewrite of the carefully crafted Montana compromise. Tester said the bill would die without the logging mandates a Senate committee removed from his plan. He has put them back in the bill, another step in what he characterized as a long road to declare the first new wilderness areas in decades. "The process to get a bill through, even if it is a simple bill, always takes time and there is always...
The Montana Land Board endorsed a plan Monday to use roughly $40 million from a settlement with PPL Montana to buy more state land, over the objections of some lawmakers who say only the Legislature can make such a move. The money comes from a state Supreme Court order that says PPL Montana needs to pay rent for the land its hydroelectric dams sit on. Part of that order included damages owed the state in excess of $40 million. The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation said the money would likely best be used by...
Hunger and internal parasites afflicted a grizzly bear that ma u l e d t h r e e c amp e r s n e a r Yellowstone National Park, but investigators said Monday those factors failed to explain such aggressive predatory behavior. The bear's late-night rampage through a crowded campground was the most brazen by a Yellowstone grizzly in a quarter-century. It left one man dead and two people with serious injuries. But after an in-depth investigation, wildlife officials on Monday produced a 70-page report that left unanswered a...
OZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Waded Cruzado has been sworn in as Montana State University's 12th president, becoming the first minority and first woman to hold the post at the 117-year-old school. At the ceremony on Friday she said she felt "gratitude, joy and humility," and that she intends to move mountains to build an even better and stronger university. "We attract the best and brightest, and we will continue to do so," said Cruzado, 50. But she said it's unacceptable that nearly a third of Montana State students drop out after t...
Panel sends tougher DUI measures to Legislature MATT GOURAS,Associated Press Writer HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Lawmakers hoping to change Montana's drinking and driving culture agreed Friday to send a series of tougher proposed laws to the full Legislature. Montana has long ranked among the worst states in drunken driving statistics. Lawmakers and policy leaders are increasingly deciding the time has come to crack down. Proposals approved Friday by the Law and Justice Interim Committee include efforts to reduce the number of m...
A judge's ruling to restore federal protections for the Rocky Mountain gray wolf has scuttled settlement talks between the parties involved in the lawsuit that had been scheduled for next week. Instead, organizers will likely have to wait until the furor has died down from U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy's Thursday ruling before gauging interest in trying again, people involved with the planning said Friday. Some are skeptical that there's not much point to the talks now. After Molloy's ruling, Idaho wildlife officials...
Mont. tea party removes leader after anti-gay post MATT VOLZ, Associated Press Writer HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The president of a Montana tea party group has been kicked out of the organization for an exchange on his Facebook page that appeared to condone violence against homosexuals. The Big Sky Tea Party Association's board of directors voted Sunday to remove Tim Ravndal from the group after members learned of the online conversation in July that began with a comment about an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit over r...
Medical marijuana applicants wi l l h ave t o prove they are Montana resid e n t s b e fo r e t h ey c a n b e added to the patient registry after health officials turned up several applications from people who live out of state. Starting Monday, new applicants and patients seeking renewals will have to provide a driver's license or state-issued identification number on their applications, state Department of Public Health and Human Services spokesman Chuck Counci l said Wednesday. Health officials decided to change their...
Lawmakers say gov's settlement offer won't work HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Lawmakers say they will still keep talking settlement options with the governor over his lawsuit, but indicated Monday his first offer won't work. The governor sued the Legislature earlier this month, saying a special bill dealing with spending unconstitutionally made a number of changes in law. He says the tactic made it more difficult for him to offer changes. Schweitzer offered a settlement requiring leading lawmakers to acknowledge the tactic would l...
Four finalists to interview for provost of MSU's Bozeman campus BOZEMAN — Four educators from around the country have been selected as finalists for the position of provost and vice president for academic affairs at Montana State University's Bozeman campus. Each finalist will visit campus for two days during September to meet with faculty, students, staff and administrators. Each candidate will also present at campus and public forums. Douglas Steele, MSU's vice provost and director of MSU Extension who serves as chairman o...
Roosevelt County officials arrested the Poplar police chief Tuesday for allegedly growing marijuana plants in a barn near his rural Culbertson home. Chad A. Hilde faces a felony charge of production or manufacture of dangerous drugs and a misdemeanor charge of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. He was arraigned before Justice of the Peace Bruce Waldhausen in Culbertson and was released after posting a $10,000 bond. Acting County Attorney Steven Howard filed an affidavit in District Court on Tuesday saying a female...
Helena teen accidentally texts sheriff to buy pot HELENA, Mont. (AP) — General rule of thumb: when looking to buy marijuana, don't text the sheriff. Authorities say a Helena teen sent out a text message last week in search of pot, but instead of contacting the drug dealer, he hit a wrong number and inadvertently sent the message to Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton. The text read, "Hey Dawg, do you have a $20 I can buy right now?" Dutton told the Helena Independent Record he initially thought it was a joke, but he qui...
Provost only finalist to replace UM president MISSOULA (AP) — University of Montana officials say Provost Royce Engstrom is the only finalist to replace outgoing president George Dennison, who announced his retirement in January after 20 years on the job. The UM presidential search committee intended to name three finalists, but two withdrew their names from consideration. One took another job and the other recently withdrew because he said the job was not in his best interest. But being the only finalist does not mean E...
