News you can use
News you can use
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HELENA — A Republican lawmaker is arguing it will take more money — not less — in politics to beat back the tidal wave of so-called dark money. Rep. Scott Reichner, of Bigfork, wants to increase the donation limits candidates can receive from various sources, for instance individuals could give $2,500 instead of $500 to a candidate for governor. There would be no limit on the amount of money political party or action committees could contribute. The Republican argues that the increase makes sense since the donations would...
HELENA — A panel of appellate judges has upheld as constitutional the 2011 federal raids on Montana medical marijuana businesses, warehouses and homes that pot providers claimed violated their right to operate under state law. The three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on May 15 affirmed U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy's dismissal of the lawsuit brought by 14 medical marijuana providers and associations. The appellate judges agreed with Molloy that the federal government did not overstep its authority when i...
BOZEMAN (AP) — A man suspected of breaking into a house, stealing three vehicles in the Belgrade area, and leading law enforcement officers on a daylong chase through southwestern Montana finally surrendered in the mountains west of Pony, Madison County officials said. About 25 deputies and state troopers were about to call off the search in the Tobacco Root Mountains when the man walked out of the woods Thursday evening with his arms in the air, said Madison County Deputy Steve DiGiovanna. Officers arrested him. "To have t...
BILLINGS (AP) — A federal judge will decide if almost 80,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Montana should be canceled after environmentalists sued over climate change worries. U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon took the case under advisement Friday after attorneys for the government and industry moved to have it dismissed. Plaintiffs led by the Montana Environmental Information Center say the Bureau of Land Management should have forced companies to address greenhouse gas emissions as a condition of sale for 120 leases at s...
HELENA — The governor lauded the Montana Board of Regents for its move Friday to freeze college tuition for the next two years. The regents unanimously voted in Great Falls on a plan to freeze college tuition for Montana residents at college campuses around the state. Gov. Steve Bullock said he worked with the university leaders early in the budget process to negotiate the tuition freeze. The Board of Regents has constitutional autonomy over the college system budget even though the Montana Legislature appropriates a large s...
HELENA (AP) — A proposed merger between nation's fourth-largest health insurer and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana has cleared a major regulatory hurdle and is now in the hands of a former state Supreme Court justice. William Leaphart, the hearing examiner in the merger between Blue Cross and Chicago-based Health Care Service Corp., will make a recommendation to Attorney General Tim Fox and Insurance Commissioner Monica Lindeen now that Lindeen's staff has given the nod to the proposal. Fox's staff previously recommended a...
HELENA — Montana lawmakers are considering a proposal to repeal an obsolete state law that criminalized gay sex before it was struck down by the courts in the 1990s. Two years ago, a similar proposal to repeal the law cleared the Senate only to die in the more conservative House. But since then, the Montana Republican Party has removed from its platform the position that the GOP seeks to make homosexual acts illegal. The party remains opposed to gay marriage. More than a dozen advocates told the Senate Judiciary Committee o...
HELENA — A Montana family and their accountant are accused of tacking $70 million in bogus charges onto customer phone bills nationwide, then funneling some of that money through a religious organization to buy land and pay for the husband's legal bills. Steven Sann, his wife Terry, son Nathan and accountant Robert Braach run a maze of nine companies engaged in "cramming, " or adding unauthorized charges to a customer's phone bill, according to a civil complaint filed this month by the Federal Trade Commission. When c...
AP Photo/Matt Gouras State Sen. Tom Facey, D-Missoula, right, tells the Montana Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday that it should remove an obsolete state law that criminalized gay sex before it was struck down by the courts. The Senate Judiciary panel listened to testimony on a proposal that would remove an obsolete state law tha criminalized gay sex before it was struck down by the courts. HELENA (AP) — Gay rights advocates said Monday they hope the Legislature will finally repeal an obsolete state law that c...
DENVER (AP) — Imagine a political change favored by an overwhelming majority of voters but mostly ignored by politicians. That's what campaign finance activists in Colorado and Montana are facing these days. They're scratching their heads at why politicians aren't talking more about campaign finance just two months after voters in both states, by wide margins, approved a ballot measure calling for federal changes to limit campaign spending. Activists gathered in the Colorado Capitol basement Friday to remind politicians of t...
BILLINGS (AP) — A Billings man has pleaded guilty to his 13th driving under the influence charge. The Billings Gazette reports that 55-year-old William Dean Grussing pleaded guilty Friday in district court. Grussing is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 12 for the DUI from last June. If he's designated a persistent felony offender, he could receive up to five years in state custody. Grussing also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of contempt of court....
HELENA — Lawmakers on Thursday were considering a renewed effort to test drivers suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana — a measure law enforcement agents said is necessary to deal with an increase in such cases. Republican Rep. Doc Moore of Missoula said his House Bill 168 provides a legal limit for the amount of THC — an ingredient of marijuana — that can be in a person's blood while operating a motor vehicle. He argued the measure is just aimed at enduring streets are safe, not at the debate over medical...
HELENA — Montana Senate Republicans held a pep talk Thursday for their members after documents detailing an internal power struggle publicly exposed a widening rift within the caucus — but the message was met with skepticism by at least one ousted leader. Senate President Jeff Essmann, appearing to offer a concession, told the caucus he will let the group decide policy goals collectively — including whether to back those coming from moderates. Essmann said his only personal goal is a conservative and balanced budget. AP Ph...
HELENA — Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf has been moved from a drug treatment center to the Montana State Prison for threatening a staff member and violating his treatment plan, a corrections official said Thursday. The former San Diego Chargers and Washington State Cougars quarterback was charged last spring with breaking into two houses and stealing prescription painkillers near his hometown of Great Falls. He pleaded guilty in May to burglary and criminal possession of dangerous drugs, and his five-year sentence called f...
A smile radiated from Sarah Laszloffy's face as she recited the oath of office on the floor of the Montana House of Representatives. At only 21 years of age, she became the youngest member of Montana's 63rd Legislature. "It was surreal," said the new Republican lawmaker from Laurel. "It's really humbling, and I can't believe that it's actually happening." Photo by Jacob Baynham/Community News Service, UM School of Journalism. Sara Laszloffy stands in hte Montana House on her first day in office. Laszloffy isn't the only...
MISSOULA (AP) — A 46-year-old Arizona man has been returned to Montana to face charges he raped a woman in Missoula in late 2003. Kenneth Edward Whatley is charged with sexual intercourse without consent. He was being held in the Missoula County jail with bail set at $250,000 and was to appear in Justice Court Monday afternoon. According to jail records, Whatley was returned to Montana on Sunday night. Court records say Whatley is suspected of breaking into a house on Dec. 5, 2003 and raping a woman. The State Crime Lab n...
HELENA (AP) — Montana lawmakers on Monday looked at a proposal that would require cities to help enforce anti-immigration laws, which supporters argue is necessary to prevent what has happened in other states. The measure from Republican David Howard of Park City would prohibit cities from establishing policies that they won't enforce illegal immigration. He told the House Judiciary Committee on Monday that House Bill 50 ensures local governments will enforce federal law. Howard said that cities elsewhere have made it a p...
HELENA (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jon Tester returned Monday to the place where he got his political start, urging state lawmakers to focus on bipartisan solutions and telling them the biggest challenge on the federal level will be balancing the budget. Tester is fresh off a bruising and expensive — but ultimately victorious — re-election campaign over Republican challenger Denny Rehberg. He said both sides need to put the sometimes bitter election process behind them and find common ground. Tester built on the emerging theme of coope...
HELENA (AP) — The Montana Supreme Court said Tuesday that a judge was wrong to release Barry Beach from prison two years ago and order a new trial in the 1979 slaying of a teenage girl. The Supreme Court's 4-3 ruling reversed a Lewistown judge's 2011 decision that found new evidence raised doubts about Beach's guilt. Beach had been in prison since the 1980s since his original conviction for the murder of a 17-year-old girl on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. A long list of advocates persistently argued he had been wrongly co...
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Opponents of a railroad that would open Montana's coal fields to new mining have asked federal officials to halt their review of the proposal, alleging it would be much larger than disclosed with impacts stretching to the West Coast. Backers of the Tongue River Railroad say it would haul up to 20 million tons annually from a planned Arch Coal, Inc. strip mine near the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. But opponents said Thursday they want to turn the spotlight on the potential for the $416 m...
HELENA — U.S. Sen. Max Baucus is announcing priorities that include more help for jobless veterans, energy development and renewed focus on fixing the nation's debt. AP Photo/The Independent Record, Dylan Brown U.S. Sen. Max Baucus addresses the Montana Legislature Thursday afternoon,in the House Chambers in Helena. Baucus also says his New Year's resolution is to bring the troops home from Afghanistan after 11 years fighting in that country. Baucus spoke to the Montana Legislature on Thursday. The state's senior senator i...
HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock's successful election campaign is announcing plans for the new governor's inaugural ball. Bullock took office Monday after beating Republican Rick Hill in November's election. Bullock takes office as lawmakers arrive in town to analyze his budget proposal. A release says that a celebration ball will be held Saturday, Feb. 9, at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds. Tickets are being sold online at the fairgrounds web site starting next week for $25 each. The ball is scheduled to run from 7 p...
0MISSOULA (AP) — A parolee suspected of running over a Missoula police officer who was trying to arrest her is being held under guard in the hospital where she is being treated for a gunshot wound, the Missoula County sheriff's office said Tuesday. Dawnette Eaton, 47, was shot when Lt. Rich Stepper fired at her car after she backed over another police officer, Deni Poling, on Monday night at a fast-food restaurant and dragged Poling under the vehicle, police said. Poling's injuries included a fractured hip, fractured leg and...
BILLINGS (AP) — A standoff ended with the death of a handcuffed burglary suspect who hit a Montana police officer with his own patrol car before the officer opened fire, authorities said. The 29-year-old man was in the back seat of the idling patrol car Sunday afternoon when he somehow climbed into the front seat and started driving, police said. "The suspect was able to slip out of his handcuffs or get them in front of his body, climb over the caged partition and into the driver's seat," Billings Police Chief Rich St. J...
HELENA — Steve Bullock says he is "incredibly humbled" to take office as the state's 24th governor. The former attorney general was sworn in Monday with his lieutenant governor, former National Guard commander John Walsh. Bullock replaces outgoing Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Both are Democrats. The 46-year-old governor says he plans to build on Schweitzer's legacy improving schools and the economy. But Bullock also says he plans to improve relationships with Republican legislative leaders taking office Monday to start work on t...
