News you can use
News you can use
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HELENA (AP) — More than 50 priests in western Montana, most of whom are dead, will be named as sexual abusers of children if a legal settlement is approved, an attorney for plaintiffs suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena said. Meanwhile, two pending sexual-abuse lawsuits against the state's other Roman Catholic diocese, the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, have grown to include a total of 50 plaintiffs who say they were abused. The proposed settlement agreement between the Helena diocese and 362 people who claim they w...
BILLING (AP) — Advocacy groups said Friday that a yearlong investigation of Montana's corrections system found "systemic" mistreatment of mentally ill prisoners, including their placement in solitary confinement for months or even years and the routine denial of needed medicines. The findings were detailed in a letter to state officials from the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana and Disability Rights Montana. The ACLU warned it will sue the state if changes aren't made. ACLU attorney Anna Conley said the problems w...
BILLINGS (AP) — Attorneys for a former Montana teacher who raped a 14-year-old student argued Friday that his 30 days in prison were enough punishment, even as a judicial oversight panel sought the censure of the judge in the case over what it called an unlawful sentence. Prosecutors want to send freed rapist Stacey Dean Rambold of Billings back to prison. They say he should have served a minimum of four years after pleading guilty last year to sexual assault without consent. In a legal brief setting up their appeal, l...
HELENA — The Montana Judges Association wants to make it more difficult for people with cases before district courts to substitute one judge for another simply by filing a statement that they believe the judge would not be fair or impartial. The Copper King-era rule was enacted in 1903 to guard against judicial corruption but it has led to abuse in modern times, with 1,188 judicial substitutions from 2011 to 2012, the association's petition to the Montana Supreme Court said. Some attorneys have used the rule in an attempt t...
MISSOULA (AP) — Montana's attorney general is asking the U.S. Justice Department to send him the evidence in sexual assault cases the agency believes the Missoula County attorney's office should have prosecuted but didn't. Attorney General Tim Fox made the request in a letter to Montana U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter on Thursday, the Missoulian (http://bit.ly/1myLjlj) reported. DOJ spokeswoman Emily Pierce said Friday the agency has received the letter and is reviewing it. "All confidential or private information provided to t...
BILLINGS (AP) — A man who escaped from Montana police while being questioned about a reported sexual assault has been caught in Oregon. The U.S. Marshals Oregon Fugitive Task Force announced that Kevin Anthony Briggs was arrested in Portland on Friday night. The 28-year-old Briggs was wanted for escaping from the Bozeman Police Department on Feb. 1 after being arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault, attempted sexual intercourse without consent and assault on a peace officer. The FBI added a federal charge of unlawful f...
RED LODGE (AP) — State Sen. Jason Priest has denied charges that he, shoved his estranged wife during an argument, broke her boyfriend's rib, and threw his own 4-year-old daughter. Priest, 45, pleaded not guilty in District Court on Thursday to partner or family member assault, felony assault, misdemeanor assault and resisting arrest, The Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/1h10Kgu) reported. District Judge Blair Jones continued Priest's bond at $1,500. If convicted on the felony count, Priest could face up to five years in p...
BILLINGS (AP) — BNSF Railway Co. said Thursday it intends to buy a fleet of 5,000 strengthened tank cars to haul oil and ethanol in a move that would set a higher safety standard for a fleet that's seen multiple major accidents. The voluntary step by the Texas-based subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. comes as railroads in the U.S. and Canada are under intense pressure to improve safety for hazardous materials shipments. There's been a string of recent train accidents involving oil and ethanol, punctuated...
BILLINGS (AP) — A Roman Catholic high school in Montana isn't renewing the contract of an assistant softball coach because she took a job at Planned Parenthood, the coach and superintendent said. Tarn Duff, 26, said Billings Central head coach Coleman Rockwell informed her Monday morning that she would not be helping with the team this spring. She received about $1,500 for coaching hitters and outfielders during the 2013 season after serving as a volunteer coach in 2012. "The only reason they gave me was that I work at P...
HELENA (AP) — A Montana legislator who is defending himself against allegations that he took illegal corporate contributions has filed to run for another term. Republican Rep. Mike Miller of Helmville filed with the Montana Secretary of State's Office Wednesday to run for House District 80. Last month, Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl lodged a civil action against Miller in state court. Motl is asking a judge to uphold his findings that Miller took illegal contributions from and illegally coordinated with t...
BILLINGS — A Montana judge who said a 14-year-old rape victim appeared older than her chronological age has waived formal proceedings and asked the state Supreme Court to decide his punishment. District Judge G. Todd Baugh said in a court filing Tuesday that his actions appeared improper and failed to promote public confidence in the courts. He says he is waiving the pending proceedings before a judicial oversight panel. The Montana Judicial Standards Commission filed a complaint against the Billings judge earlier this m...
BILLINGS — Severe turbulence during a United Airlines flight from Denver to Billings sent five people to hospitals in Montana on Monday, an airline official said. Three crew members and two passengers were injured, United Airlines spokesman Luke Punzenberger told The Denver Post. The captain declared a medical emergency as the Boeing 737 approached Billings, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor told the Billings Gazette. Flight 1676 left Denver International Airport around noon and landed without incident j...
BILLINGS (AP) — At least 10 times since 2008, freight trains hauling oil across North America have derailed and spilled significant quantities of crude, with most of the accidents touching off fires or catastrophic explosions. The derailments released almost 3 million gallons of oil, nearly twice as much as the largest pipeline spill in the U.S. since at least 1986. And the deadliest wreck killed 47 people in the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec. Those findings, from an Associated Press review of U.S. and Canadian accident r...
HELENA — A U.S. House candidate in Montana is benefiting from a political action committee he created, leading at least one opponent and some experts to question the legality of the peculiar arrangement. Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL who is seeking the Republican nomination for Montana's lone congressional seat, created the Special Operations for America (SOFA) super PAC to back Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. The committee now backs candidates who support the military — and their first candidate is Zinke, a 52-...
BILLINGS (AP) — A visiting Yellowstone County judge said he will not apply a northwestern Montana judge's ruling last week that the state's 24/7 Sobriety Program for repeat drunken-driving offenders is unconstitutional. District Judge James Spaulding on Thursday said it would be more appropriate for the presiding judge, District Judge Mary Jane Knisely, to make any ruling on the 24/7 program. Attorney Jock B. West of Billings had asked Spaulding to uphold the Feb. 5 ruling in Lincoln County that the fees charged in the p...
MISSOULA (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday it found disturbing problems in the way the Missoula County Attorney's Office prosecutes sexual assault cases. Prosecutors are not adequately trained for sexual assault cases, they give those cases low priority and they often treat victims disrespectfully, the department said as it released a 20-page report after a nearly two-year inquiry. County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg disputed the allegations, telling the Missoulian (http://tinyurl.com/l39373u ) they were "...
HELENA (AP) — The FBI in Salt Lake City is seeking assistance in locating a 28-year-old Montana man who escaped from Bozeman police while being questioned about a sexual assault. Kevin Briggs faces a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and charges of aggravated assault, attempted sexual intercourse without consent and assault on a peace officer in Gallatin County. Briggs was being questioned about an assault on his former girlfriend early on Feb. 1, but walked out of the police station during a shift c...
HELENA - Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday he told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid it was "none of your damn business" who the Democratic governor appointed to fill Montana's vacant U.S. Senate seat. Refuting claims by state Republican Party officials that his appointment of John Walsh last week was a ploy to give Democrats an advantage in retaining the seat in November's election, Bullock said he spoke with no other senators, White House officials or political party...
HELENA (AP) — The father of a victim in the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings urged Montana lawmakers Thursday to pass legislation requiring the state to turn over records that would help prevent the mentally ill from buying guns. A panel of lawmakers is considering whether to recommend to the Legislature next year changing a law that prohibits the state from submitting the names of people involuntarily committed to mental facilities for federal gun background checks. Virginia now has a similar requirement to turn over those r...
MISSOULA (AP) — The Missoula County attorney is asking a federal judge to decide if the U.S. Department of Justice has the authority to investigate his office. In 2012, the DOJ announced it was opening an investigation into the way the city, University of Montana campus police and the prosecutor's office handled sexual assault cases. The law enforcement agencies reached settlement agreements with the DOJ last year calling for more training and policy changes. However, County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg has refused to c...
BILLINGS (AP) — State officials and a company spokesman say a small amount of oil has spilled into Montana's Yellowstone River from the Exxon Mobil refinery in Billings. Refinery spokesman Dan Carter said Wednesday that the Texas-based company was investigating the source of the spill after its discovery Tuesday afternoon. Carter says less than a gallon spilled. Absorbent boom was placed on the river to keep the product from going downstream. State officials say a sheen from the oil was seen along the Yellowstone where c...
MISSOULA (AP) — Police say they've found no indication a man who robbed a Motel 6 and a Taco Bell in Missoula is the person who escaped from the police station in Bozeman after his arrest on suspicion of sexual assault. The Missoulian reported Friday (http://tinyurl.com/mt4cs58 ) they found nothing to suggest the man who robbed the two businesses on Thursday was the 28-year-old Briggs. Bozeman police had said Briggs might be headed for Missoula, and Missoula police confirmed Briggs had been in their city Saturday, hours a...
HELENA (AP) — Former Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger says he will probably drop out of U.S. Senate race after his Democratic opponent was appointed to replace Sen. Max Baucus. Bohlinger said Friday he saw the handwriting on the wall when Gov. Steve Bullock picked Lt. Gov. John Walsh to fill Baucus' term. Bohlinger says he used to run track, and he knows he can't win the 100-yard dash when his opponent has a 40-yard head start. He says Walsh will get that head-start by being the incumbent. Walsh, Bohlinger and political newcomer D...
In a long-suspected move, Montana’s Democratic governor this morning appointed his lieutenant governor to fill a vacant Senate seat. “I introduce to you Sen. John Walsh,” Gov. Steve Bullock announced in a press conference shortly after 10 this morning. Bullock, after listing Walsh’s accomplishments including being a 33-year veteran of the Montana National Guard, appointed him to fill the seat vacated by 35-year U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, who was confirmed Thursday as ambassador to China. Baucus, a Democrat, stunned the politic...
BUTTE (AP) — An unmarried teacher at a Roman Catholic middle school in Montana who is a Havre native has been fired after getting pregnant, the Diocese of Helena confirmed. Patrick Haggarty, the superintendent of Catholic schools for Montana, said Tuesday that Butte Central teacher Shaela Evenson "made a willful decision to violate the terms of her contract," which requires her to respect the moral and religious teachings of the Catholic Church in both her professional and personal life. Evenson graduated from Havre High S...
