News you can use
News you can use
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HELENA (AP) — The state Board of Pardons and Parole is scheduled to meet at the end of the month to consider Barry Beach's application for clemency in the 1979 killing of a Poplar teen. Executive Director Fern Johnson tells the Great Falls Tribune (http://gftrib.com/1qsBRN1 ) the board is scheduled to meet April 29 in Deer Lodge to consider whether to accept Beach's application, which was filed in September. Beach is asking the board to reduce his life prison sentence and make him eligible for parole or a commutation from G...
HELENA (AP) — A conservative group is seeking donations again after appearing to fade away when a Montana judge ruled it disregarded state campaign laws by acting as a political committee while keeping its donors and spending confidential. American Tradition Partnership recently sent out emails seeking donations, blasting environmentalists and the Environmental Protection Agency, and urging people to sign petitions for President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, Lee Newspapers of Montana reported. One email ac...
HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock released an economic development plan Thursday that he said aims to attract and keep more businesses in Montana and train the state's workers in emerging technologies. The report, which the Democratic governor called the Main Street Montana Business Plan, is the product of 10 months of roundtables, surveys and one-on-one meetings with thousands of industry, labor, community and governmental leaders across the state. Its authors distilled the information they received to identify five key areas in w...
HELENA — The Montana commissioner of political practices said Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Art Wittich broke state campaign laws by coordinating with and failing to report contributions from a conservative group during his 2010 primary election campaign. Commissioner Jonathan Motl said he intends to have a judge weigh his findings and decide whether Wittich's actions merit removal from the 2014 election ballot. "That would be the big penalty," Motl said. "Is this significant enough to establish a public trust v...
BILLINGS — U.S. transportation officials rebuked the oil industry Friday for not giving up information regulators say they need to gauge the danger of moving crude by rail, after several accidents highlighted the explosive properties of fuel from the booming oil shale fields on the Northern Plains. Department of Transportation officials told The Associated Press they have received only limited data on the characteristics of oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana, despite requests lodged by Secretary Antony F...
BILLINGS — Federal officials say their investigations into drug crimes in the Bakken oil patch have led to the arrests of 11 people linked to a ring that trafficked methamphetamine from southern California. The U.S. Attorney's Office announced the arrests in Montana and California on Friday. The defendants will face drug conspiracy charges in Montana. The charges carry potential penalties of life in prison and fines of up to $10,000,000 each upon conviction. The defendants include four Montana residents, three from Los A...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — An order of nuns being sued by people who claim they were sexually abused as children at the Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatius is asking a federal judge to delay the proceedings while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena is in bankruptcy court. District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena halted sex-abuse lawsuits against the Ursulines and the diocese after the diocese filed for bankruptcy protection as part of a proposed $15 million settlement. Sherlock previously combined the proceedings in the two l...
BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — A sentencing date has been set for a Washington state man who pleaded guilty to beating and stabbing his 3-year-old son to death in a field in southwestern Montana, possibly while under the influence of an overdose of a prescribed stimulant. The Montana Standard reports Jeremy Cramer of Lacey, Wash., is scheduled to be sentenced on April 4 in District Court in Anaconda. Cramer pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide in December for the July 8 death of Broderick Cramer. The boy's body was found the next m...
HELENA (AP) — A flight from Canada to Mexico carrying about 150 passengers has made an emergency medical landing in western Montana after encountering extreme turbulence that injured a flight attendant. Sunwing Airlines spokeswoman Janine Chapman says the Boeing 737 landed around 7:30 a.m. Sunday at Helena Regional Airport. She says a medical team cleared the male flight attendant, and there are no other reported injuries. But Chapman says another aircraft is being sent from the company's headquarters in Toronto to pick up t...
BOZEMAN (AP) — A snowmobiler injured in an avalanche near Cooke City in western Montana has been airlifted to a hospital in Bozeman. The Park County Sheriff's Office says the 28-year-old man was with a group of 13 snowmobilers when the slide hit Saturday in an area between Wolverine Peak and Mount Abundance. Officials say the man wasn't buried by the avalanche but sustained significant injuries. He was flown to Bozeman Deaconess Hospital. His name hasn't been released....
HAMILTON — The FBI is investigating allegations made by the interim county treasurer that Ravalli County didn't maintain its files properly and allowed tax liens to be sold illegally, county officials say. The Ravalli Republic (http://bit.ly/1m7gqDo) reports that County Attorney Bill Fulbright and Sheriff Chris Hoffman on Friday confirmed the FBI investigation. On another front, retired District Judge Nels Swandal is also conducting an independent investigation into the allegations. Fulbright said he expects to receive t...
MISSOULA (AP) — A University of Montana student has denied charges he raped a fellow student in her dorm room in mid-February. KECI-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1cYJkmx) 18-year-old Timothy Eugene Schwartz of Bozeman pleaded not guilty Thursday to sexual intercourse without consent. The woman told police that Schwartz had been among a group of students who were in her dorm room drinking alcohol. Court records said when people started leaving Schwartz refused to go. Court records say the woman said she pretended to fall asleep a...
HELENA (AP) — Author Jon Krakauer is asking a judge to order the release of records in the 2012 rape case against University of Montana quarterback Jordan Johnson. Krakauer attorney Mike Meloy says in a petition filed Feb. 12 that the "Into the Wild" author is working on a new book that deals in part with how the university and the commissioner of higher education resolved a student complaint of sexual assault against Johnson. Krakauer is seeking records concerning any actions the commissioner's office took in 2012 f...
BILLINGS (AP) — ZooMontana in Billings closed Sunday due to flooding. Director Jeff Ewelt tells the Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/1ir9eBf) that none of the animal houses are in danger. He says the zoo has contingency plans to safely move the animals if needed. Musselshell County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Jeff Gates says rivers are above flood stage and he expects the water to get higher. Evacuations have been ordered for the Riverside Avenue area and the area off of Mine Avenue. Razor Creek Road in S...
NEW YORK (AP) — An 8-year-old western Montana boy who spent about an hour buried in the snow after a deadly avalanche roared into his backyard says he tried to "lick and bite" his way out before becoming tired and falling asleep. Phoenix Scoles-Coburn, of Missoula, told "Today" show host Matt Lauer on Friday that he doesn't remember the moment the Feb. 28 snow slide hit him. He was playing outside with his 10-year-old sister, Coral, when they heard a noise. "I looked back, and the tree was wobbling so I ran, and the next thin...
GREAT FALLS (AP) — The Montana Board of Regents have approved Montana State University's plans to spend the first part of a $50 million gift from a private donor to plan and design a new College of Engineering building. The regents voted unanimously Thursday to allow MSU to spend up to $5 million from the donation by Norm Asbjornson, the founder and president of heating and air conditioning manufacturer Aaon Inc. Asbjornson said he donated the money to provide more space for the college and help engineering students c...
HELENA (AP) — Former Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger says he will continue his campaign for U.S. Senate a month after saying he would probably drop out. The Helena Democrat said Friday he was convinced after making a speech in Butte Wednesday, when several people approached him and asked him to stay in the race. Bohlinger said in February he would "probably" drop his campaign after Democrat John Walsh was appointed to serve the remainder of former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus' term. Walsh, Bohlinger and Dirk Adams of Wilsall are vying for t...
HELENA - State Sen. Jason Priest's estranged wife feared her husband's anger would turn to violence when she picked up their young daughter last month, prompting her boyfriend to call for police assistance, according to a recording of the call released in a public records request. The call was made Feb. 1, soon before an encounter outside the Red Lodge Republican's home that led to criminal charges accusing Priest of shoving his wife, breaking her boyfriend's rib and throwing the 4-year-old girl. Priest, 45, has denied the...
HELENA — Two Washington, D.C.-based advocacy groups have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing a U.S. House candidate in Montana of illegally coordinating with the political-action committee he created. The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 allege television advertisements by Special Forces for America PAC that support Ryan Zinke's House bid include photographs that appear to come from the Zinke campaign. The groups say republishing campaign materials is an in-kind contribution that federal l...
HELENA (AP) - A Blackfeet tribal member carrying a bison heart in a plastic bag in protest of an Idaho tribe's hunt of pregnant bison was stopped outside Gov. Steve Bullock's office in the Montana Capitol. Police on Tuesday turned away James St. Goddard in the hallway outside the office of the governor, who was not there at the time, the Independent Record reported . However, police and governor's officials did allow St. Goddard to bring the heart into a meeting with the...
KALISPELL (AP) — Amtrak is busing its Empire Builder passengers between stations in Whitefish and Shelby due to the threat of avalanches on Marias (muh-RY'-us) Pass. Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Wednesday that passengers will ride buses between the two stops until at least Saturday, while the empty train will travel over the pass. Magliari tells the Flathead Beacon (http://bit.ly/P1fQK0 ) that BNSF Railway rules don't allow loaded passenger trains to run if there has been a recent slide. The rail line was closed l...
HELENA (AP) — A Helena attorney submitted a ballot initiative proposal Tuesday that would change Montana law to take away the governor's power to fill U.S. Senate vacancies and instead require special elections. The process was in the spotlight last month when Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock named his lieutenant governor, John Walsh, to replace longtime U.S. Sen. Max Baucus. Republican legislative leaders criticized Bullock's selection, saying it was done in secrecy and with no input from the public. The proposal by attorney J...
HELENA (AP) — A law enforcement sweep in Montana's most populous county located 95 sexual and violent offenders who were out of compliance with address registration laws, authorities said Tuesday. Fifteen of the people located during the operation in Yellowstone County were sex offenders and 80 were violent offenders, the state Justice Department said. After being located, they were brought into compliance with a state law that requires people convicted of certain crimes to register their address with local law enforcement a...
BOZEMAN (AP) — A man who graduated from Montana State University over 50 years ago is making a $50 million donation to the university's College of Engineering. Norm Asbjornson, a native of Winifred, announced the donation Monday morning in Bozeman. Montana State said the money will be used to build a laboratory and classroom facility called the Norm Asbjornson Innovation Center. University officials hope to break ground in two years. Asbjornson graduated from MSU in 1960 with a degree in mechanical engineering. In 1988, he f...
MISSOULA (AP) — A woman who was rescued about three hours after her house was destroyed by an avalanche in Missoula, has died at a hospital. Missoula police say Michel Colville died Sunday night at St. Patrick Hospital. Her husband, Fred Allendorf, remains hospitalized in serious condition. He was buried for about two hours before rescuers found him Friday night in an air pocket created by a fallen chimney in their house at the base of Mount Jumbo. Eight-year-old Phoenix Scoles-Coburn was buried in the snow for about an h...
