News you can use
News you can use
Sorted by date Results 833 - 857 of 2820
BOZEMAN (AP) — A bull moose's walking tour of Bozeman ended when state wildlife officials tranquilized the animal and released it in the Gallatin National Forest. The moose wandered around the city Thursday morning with an entourage of Fish, Wildlife and Parks wardens, police officers and reporters trying to capture photos and video of the journey. The moose made appearances near Montana State University, Bozeman's law and justice building, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and a grocery store. Eventually, wildlife officials w...
Montana delegation blasts farm bill failure HELENA (AP) — The Montana congressional delegation is blasting the House for failing to advance a farm bill. The House rejected its version of a half-trillion-dollar farm bill on Thursday amid wrangling over food stamp cuts. The Senate overwhelmingly passed its version of the bill last week. Freshman U.S. Rep. Steve Daines called the bill's failure "unacceptable." He voted for House legislation he called "long overdue," and said it still needs to be passed. U.S. Sen. Max Baucus s...
HELENA — A retirement board was told Tuesday that a mistake in the Legislature's proposed pension fix for public employees could undo plans to balance the system in less than 30 years. The Public Employees Retirement Board is being asked to modify a rule in order to avoid a glitch that could leave the state's beleaguered pension system facing a huge shortfall. Lawmakers struggled mightily to agree earlier this year on pension system fixes that rely on contribution increases and a cut to inflationary increases. Democrats b...
BILLINGS (AP) — Defense attorneys for one of two men charged in the killing of a Montana high school teacher said Tuesday that they've asked a state judge to rule their client ineligible for the death penalty because he is mentally disabled and to relocate his trial. Twenty-four-year-old Michael Keith Spell faces charges including deliberate homicide in the January 2012 kidnapping and murder of Sherry Arnold, a popular teacher in the small Bakken oil patch town of Sidney. Spell and Lester Van Waters Jr., both of Colorado, hav...
BILLINGS — Defense attorneys for one of two men charged in the killing of a Montana high school teacher said Tuesday that their client should be ruled ineligible for the death penalty because he is mentally disabled. Twenty-four-year-old Michael Keith Spell faces charges including deliberate homicide in the January 2012 kidnapping and murder of Sherry Arnold, a popular teacher in the small Bakken oil patch town of Sidney. Spell and Lester Van Waters Jr., both of Colorado have pleaded not guilty to charges they grabbed A...
DEER LODGE (AP) — Montana State Prison inmate Barry Beach says he will continue to fight to prove his innocence in the 1979 killing of Kim Nees of Poplar, but he'll have to carry on those efforts from behind bars. Beach was released from prison in December 2011 after a state judge ordered a new trial in his case. Last month, the Montana Supreme Court overturned that decision and Beach was returned to prison to serve his 100-year sentence without the possibility of parole. Beach, 51, has asked the Supreme Court to r...
HELENA (AP) — The Blackfeet tribe's chief prosecutor says no decision has been made on whether to charge a state senator who fled a Glacier County sheriff's deputy who suspected him of drunken driving nearly three weeks ago. Prosecutor Carl Pepion said Thursday the investigation is ongoing and he is "waiting on some stuff." He said he had no further comment. Democratic state Sen. Shannon Augare of Browning was pulled over May 26 after deputies received a call of an erratic driver. Augare also is a Blackfeet tribal c...
HELENA (AP) — Blackfeet Tribal Law Enforcement is asking for help in locating three children who are missing and may be in danger. Tribal officials say 8-year-old Ivan Redhorn III, 4-year-old Cerista Bullbear and 1-year-old Ivanna Redhorn were taken May 27 by their non-custodial parents. Officials believe 31-year-old Ivan Redhorn Jr. and Angelina Bullbear could be in the Ronan or St. Ignatius areas and may be traveling in a 2006 Nissan with Montana disabled veteran license plate B0387. Redhorn is 6 feet, 1 inch tall and 1...
CHINOOK (AP) — A Kalispell man has been ordered to pay $8,000 in restitution for possessing the head and antlers of a trophy elk that was illegally killed in the Bears Paw Mountains south of Chinook. The state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks says 38-year-old Timothy W. Giardina was initially charged with five misdemeanors for his actions on a hunting trip last November. Officials say he shot a trophy elk without a license and later cut off its head and antlers, and illegally shot two other deer. FWP says Giardina p...
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A former Missoula County sheriff's deputy who was fired over an inappropriate relationship with a 17-year-old boy has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges. KECI-TV reports (http://bit.ly/18u3kKo ) Larry Mitchell Schwindt pleaded guilty Tuesday in Justice Court to official misconduct and attempted unlawful transactions with children. Charging documents say Schwindt put an ad on Craiglist as a female named 'Sarah' promising to have a sexual relationship with the boy if he first met Schwindt for a s...
HELENA (AP) — A state judge is hearing arguments in a lawsuit over physician-assisted suicide in Montana. A group called Montanans Against Assisted Suicide is suing the state Board of Medical Examiners over its policy on complaints filed against a doctor for providing "aid-in-dying." The board considers such complaints on an individual basis and does not pass judgment on the procedure one way or another. The group argues the policy is a backdoor attempt at legalizing assisted suicide. A hearing is scheduled Wednesday b...
GREAT FALLS (AP) — The family of a Great Falls eye doctor who disappeared at Lake Elwell in Liberty County last week is asking authorities to continue to investigate his disappearance, saying it's premature to assume that he drowned. The family of John Kumm, 50, released a statement Tuesday asking that the possibility of foul play not be dismissed, considering the timeline of events and Kumm's fishing routine. "While we agree that it is reasonably possible (that Kumm drowned), there is no conclusive evidence supporting the t...
GREAT FALLS (AP) — A 4-year-old male grizzly bear has been captured near the lower Marias River and relocated west of Glacier National Park after a family reported lambs and a calf had been killed. Fish, Wildlife and Parks grizzly bear manager Mike Madel tells the Great Falls Tribune (http://gftrib.com/13ApUfc ) that a family reportedGrizzly bear captured near Marias River, relocated last Friday that a couple of lambs had been killed and the next day they found a dead calf. Officials confirmed a grizzly killed the animals. T...
HELENA (AP) — Montana has collected more taxes than expected, but state spending also is going up. Legislative Fiscal Division analysts said Tuesday state revenue is nearly $1.8 billion with less than a month left in the fiscal year. That's an 11 percent increase compared to this time last year. The main drivers are individual income and corporate license taxes. Income taxes are up 15.3 percent to just over $1 billion, while corporate taxes are up nearly 37 percent to $156 million. Analysts say the state will spend nearly $...
On both pieces of legislation mentioned in this story, Resp. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, Rep. Wendy Warburton, R-Chinook, State Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy and Sen. Greg Jergeson, D-Chinook, voted to override Gov. Steve Bullock's vetoes. Rep. Clarena Brockie, D-Harlem, voted to sustain Bullock's vetoes. HELENA — Lawmakers on Monday upheld Gov. Steve Bullock's final 19 vetoes of the legislative session, including one bill for infrastructure improvements in eastern Montana and another to make one-time payments to providers who care f...
MISSOULA (AP) — The Missoula County attorney says he is willing to scrutinize the way his office handles sexual assault and rape cases, but will not cooperate with a Department of Justice probe he calls politically motivated. Fred Van Valkenburg spoke Monday at a City Club Missoula luncheon and blamed the Missoulian newspaper for unfairly creating a national story about rape in Missoula. He says he's never been told the number of sexual assault cases investigated and referred to his office are "unusual or out of p...
BOZEMAN (AP) — Will Deschamps has been re-elected to a third two-year term as party chairman by Montana Republicans, but the vice-chair changed hands and went to a favorite of conservatives. Lee Newspapers of Montana reports that delegates at the Republican Party state officers' convention selected Sen. Jennifer Fielder of Thompson Falls on Saturday and ousted Rep. Christy Clark of Choteau. "We do need to bring our platform to the center of our conversation, when we talk about who is a Republican and who is not," Fielder s...
BUTTE (AP) — The Montana Legislature authorized a state medal to honor military veterans who died or are missing in action. Gov. Steve Bullock held a ceremonial signing Tuesday in Butte for a bill that created the Montana Award of Valorous Service. The Montana Standard reports (http://bit.ly/11vqqek) the medal will be given to families of about 1,500 Montana servicemen and women who have died or are missing in action since 1941. Democratic Sen. Jon Sesso of Butte says state personnel will spend the next year identifying famil...
STEVENSVILLE (AP) — The mayor of a western Montana town has vetoed the portion of a weapons ordinance passed by the town council banning open and concealed carry in parks. The Ravalli Republic reports (http://bit.ly/18gHBW8 ) in a story on Saturday that Stevensville Mayor Gene Mim Mack says he vetoed that section because he wanted the town council to focus more narrowly on parks. The council on May 23 adopted an ordinance allowing open and concealed carry except in buildings owned by the town, at public assemblies, in s...
BILLINGS— The Obama administration on Friday proposed lifting most remaining federal protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that would end four decades of recovery efforts. State and federal agencies have spent more than $117 million restoring the predators since they were added to the endangered species list in 1974. Today more than 6,100 wolves roam portions of the Northern Rockies and western Great Lakes where protections already have been lifted. With Friday's announcement, the administration s...
HELENA — Five of Montana's seven American Indian reservations don't report drunken-driving convictions to the state, and county prosecutors say the information void poses a safety risk for both repeat offenders and other drivers. Tribal justice systems generally have jurisdiction over misdemeanor crimes committed by Native Americans on reservations, and a DUI becomes a felony in Montana only upon a person's fourth offense. That means the state has no ability to force tribal courts to share their misdemeanor DUI conviction rec...
BILLINGS (AP) — The Obama administration is proposing to end recovery efforts for gray wolves across most of the U.S. and return management to the states. Friday's announcement comes after wolves rebounded from widespread extermination during four decades on the endangered species list. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe says ending federal protections would let the agency concentrate on restoring Mexican wolves in the Southwest. Gray wolf protections previously were lifted in the Northern Rockies and western G...
HELENA (AP) — Blackfeet officials have yet to make a decision on whether to file charges against Democratic state Sen. Shannon Augare for allegedly fleeing a traffic stop. Blackfeet tribal prosecutor Carl Pepion said Thursday his office is still reviewing the case. He declined further comment. A Glacier County deputy pulled over Augare May 26 on U.S. Highway 2 nine miles west of Cut Bank and within the reservation's boundaries. The sheriff's office says the deputy identified Augare as a Blackfeet tribal councilman and o...
GREAT FALLS (AP) — A 16-year-old Malta boy has reached a plea agreement after being charged in Youth Court with negligently causing the death of a hunting companion in 2010, it was reported Thursday. The boy has agreed to plead "true" to a charge of negligent homicide in the death of Logan Wilson, The Great Falls Tribune (http://gftrib.com/186jWaQ) said. The Attorney General's Office will recommend that he be placed on probation until July 2017, when he turns 21. The agreement also calls for the boy to have no access to f...
HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock and state employee unions announced a deal Wednesday for across-the-board pay increases starting next month. The Montana Public Employees Association said that upon ratification, employees will get a 3 percent raise starting in July and another 5 percent raise in November 2014. The governor's office said that most employees have not had a pay raise since 2008. Union executive director Quinton Nyman said bargainers tried to get the largest raises possible as soon as they could with the money a...
