News you can use
News you can use
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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...
BILLINGS (AP) — A Montana judge has scheduled a two-day competency hearing to determine if a Colorado man charged with killing a high school teacher is fit for trial. District Judge Richard Simonton scheduled the hearing in the case of Michael Keith Spell for March 24 and 25 in Sidney. The 24-year-old defendant from Parachute, Colo. is charged with killing Sidney High School teacher Sherry Arnold while attempting to abduct her on Jan. 7, 2012. Spell's attorneys say he suffers from mental disabilities that render him unable t...
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — BNSF plans to invest $5 billion in its railroad this year, including $900 million to expand capacity in the Northern Plains where crude oil shipments are surging. The railroad said Tuesday its 2014 spending plan is roughly $1 billion higher than last year. BNSF says it's responding to significant volume growth. Some projects should help alleviate congestion near the booming Bakken oil field in North Dakota and Montana. Last week, the National Association of Railroad Passengers complained to officials t...
HELENA (AP) — The Montana Supreme Court says a legislative referendum to end Election-Day voter registration can go on the 2014 ballot. But the justices ruled in a 5-1 decision Wednesday the attorney general's office must first revise the ballot statement to clarify that the change is not required by the federal National Voter Registration Act. Montana has allowed voters to register or change their registrations on Election Day since 2005. The referendum approved by the 2013 Republican-led Legislature for the November b...
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...
HELENA (AP) — The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a federal judge's decision that allowed the U.S. Forest Service to renew a 10-year permit for a statue of Jesus that was placed on a northwestern Montana ski hill six decades ago. In its Jan. 28 brief, the group continues its argument that "a permanent Catholic shrine on public land" is prohibited under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that prohibits Congress from making any law regarding the e...
HELENA (AP) — The Office of Public Instruction says Montana's high school graduation rate has risen slightly to 84.4 percent. The numbers are from the 2012-2013 school year and marked an improvement from the 83.9 percent graduation rate a year earlier. It is the third consecutive year in which the graduation rate has risen. Superintendent Denise Juneau also said Tuesday that the dropout rate fell from 4.1 percent in the 2011-2012 school year to 3.6 percent last year. Juneau credited the Graduation Matters Montana i...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Foreign Relations committee has easily approved President Barack Obama's nomination of veteran Sen. Max Baucus to become ambassador to China. Baucus is a Montana Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees trade issues. The 72-year-old was first elected to the Senate in 1978. Baucus has said he wants to help build a better economic relationship with China. The U.S. trade deficit with China is far bigger than it is with any other country, and China is the largest f...
HELENA (AP) - Montana Senate President Jeff Essmann says he will ask a state senator to step back from his legislative duties after being arrested on allegations of pushing his wife. Republican Sen. Jason Priest of Red Lodge pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of partner or family assault and resisting arrest. He was arrested Saturday night and released Monday after posting $1,500 bond. Essmann says the allegations against Priest are a matter of serious concern. The Billings...
HELENA (AP) — A conservation group has filed a lawsuit seeking documents concerning Attorney General Tim Fox's joining other states in protesting Bureau of Land Management plans to regulate hydraulic fracturing on federal land. Lee Newspapers of Montana reports that the Montana Environmental Information Center filed the lawsuit against Fox late last week in state District Court in Helena. In August, Fox joined attorneys general in Alabama, Alaska and Oklahoma in sending a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell e...
WASHINGTON — The long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared a major hurdle toward approval Friday, a serious blow to environmentalists' hopes that President Barack Obama will block the controversial project running more than 1,000 miles from Canada through the heart of the U.S. The State Department reported no major environmental objections to the proposed $7 billion pipeline, which has become a symbol of the political debate over climate change. Republicans and some oil- and gas-producing states in the U.S. — as well as...
HELENA (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena planned to file for bankruptcy protection Friday as part of a proposed $15 million settlement for hundreds of victims who say clergy members sexually abused them over decades while the church covered it up. Diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan comes after confidential mediation sessions with the plaintiffs' attorneys and insurers, resulting in the deal to resolve the abuse claims. The settlement details are being worked out, b...
