News you can use
News you can use
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HELENA (AP) — The government shutdown is slowing the wheels of justice in federal courts by delaying civil cases, forcing prosecutors to operate with skeleton staffs and raising uncertainty about the system's immediate future if the stalemate continues past Thursday. That's when federal courts officials expect the reserve funds they have been using since the Oct. 1 start of the shutdown will run out. Criminal cases, which are required by law to go to a speedy trial, are still moving ahead, as are most bankruptcy cases and a... Full story
BOZEMAN (AP) — The number of Montana residents with concealed weapons permits has more than doubled since 2008. The Montana Department of Justice says that about 38,000 people have concealed weapons permits as of Oct. 5. That's up from about 18,000 in 2008. Applicants for a concealed weapons permit must be at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen and a Montana resident for at least six months. The permits don't allow concealed weapons to be brought into government buildings, financial institutions or where alcoholic beverages a... Full story
HELENA . (AP) — The rollout of an expensive, new computer program that will run complicated Montana Medicaid payments is behind schedule and has forced the lead contractor to seek an extension. Meanwhile, state officials — based on experience with software problems — negotiated a contract stating they don't have to pay Xerox until the $70 million program is finished and working. The Medicaid Management and Information System is scheduled to replace a system that is more than 30 years old. The old system is unable to keep... Full story
HELENA (AP) — Montana's largest union, and six retirees and current employees in the Teachers' Retirement System sued the state Friday over cost-saving cuts to their pension payments, a move retirees argue is unconstitutional. The lawsuit involving the Montana Education Association - Montana Federation of Teachers has long been expected. Another is expected against the major pension plan that covers public employees. The retirees warned lawmakers earlier this year that they would oppose any reduction in their guaranteed i... Full story
HELENA — Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Daines said Tuesday that he is not interested in talking about continued funding for the federal government until Democrats agree to talk about spending cuts. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, in an interview, countered that Daines and other House Republicans need to pass the funding resolution that is before the chamber and stop trying to make hostages of federal programs. The partial government shutdown is in its eighth day with little or no talk of a... Full story
JUSTIN PRITCHARD P and SOLOMON BANDA Associated Press ETHETE, Wyo. — American Indian tribes have been caught misappropriating tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, according to internal tribal audits and other documents. But federal authorities do little about it — due to a lack of oversight, resources or political will. The result? Poor tribes like the Northern Arapaho of Wyoming suffer. One Arapaho manager pocketed money meant to buy meals for tribal elders. Another used funds from the reservation's diabetes program to sub... Full story
ETHETE, Wyo. (AP) - American Indian tribes have been caught misappropriating tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, according to internal tribal audits and other documents. But federal authorities do little about it - due to a lack of oversight, resources or political will. The result? Poor tribes like the Northern Arapaho of Wyoming suffer. One Arapaho manager pocketed money meant to buy meals for tribal elders. Another used funds from the reservation's diabetes program to sub... Full story
HELENA (AP) — Before Tuesday's launch, Montana insurers and state officials weren't exactly sure what would happen when a key component of the nation's new health care law kicked in and people could sign up for insurance plans through a new online marketplace. Would there be a rush to enroll in the insurance exchange? Would people sit back and wait to see what happens? Would there be kinks in the system? All of the above, as it turns out. A crush of people jammed the federal government website that featured insurance plans f... Full story
BILLINGS (AP) — A Bridger-area woman who violated a requirement she not own any animals as conditions set in an animal cruelty case has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Billings Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/19q9SKq) that Teresa Martin was sentenced Friday in Carbon County District Court. Thirteen years of the sentence were suspended. Judge Blair Jones also ordered that Martin not be allowed to own any more animals, including goldfish. "If she's going to treat horses in the way she's treated them, she's forfeited a... Full story
BOZEMAN . (AP) — A Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton unearthed in Montana in 1988 looks like it'll be staying in Big Sky Country a little longer due to the government shutdown. The Wankel T. rex was scheduled to leave the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University in Bozeman next Friday and be trucked across the country to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., on a 50-year loan. The Museum of the Rockies had requested a Federal Express semitrailer to haul the fragile cargo. On Friday, the museums and the U.S. A... Full story
BILLINGS (AP) — A second case of the livestock disease brucellosis in just over a week has turned up in a Montana cattle herd, coinciding with new restrictions on animals exported to Texas because of worries that infections could spread beyond the region. Friday test results from a federal animal health laboratory confirmed the latest infection in a bull that came from a herd of about 550 cattle in southern Montana's Park County, state veterinarian Marty Zaluski said. Another case was confirmed in a Madison County cow S... Full story
HELENA (AP) — A federal judge says the U.S. government has the jurisdiction to prosecute misdemeanor driving offenses on Indian reservations. U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Strong said in a ruling Tuesday that the U.S. government and tribal government share jurisdiction in victimless crimes involving enrolled tribal members. Strong's ruling dismisses a request to throw out charges against Blackfeet tribal leader and state Sen. Shannon Augare. Augare is accused of drunken driving and fleeing a Glacier County sheriff's deputy d... Full story
MISSOULA (AP) — State wildlife officials say they still haven't confirmed why nearly 200 whitetail deer have died near Frenchtown but suspect epizootic hemorrhagic disease. "We've not found it out here before, and that's why we're really taking a close look at it," said Neil Anderson, a lab supervisor with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "It's usually found east of the Rocky Mountains. We haven't seen a (Montana) case west of the Rocky Mountain Front since records started in the 1990s." The disease is transmitted by b... Full story
NEW YORK (AP) — A tentative deal has been reached in a New York court fight over the will of an eccentric Montana copper mining heiress. A person familiar with the case tells The Associated Press on Saturday that Huguette (oo-GET') Clark's relatives have reached a tentative settlement with a hospital, a nurse and others over the distribution of her roughly $300 million estate. Clark's relatives will get about $34.5 million after taxes under the deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the settlement b... Full story
HELENA (AP) — One of the six people charged with embezzling money from a Blackfeet program for troubled youth has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Charlotte New Breast was the administrative assistant for the now-defunct Po'Ka Project. Under the agreement filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, she will plead guilty to theft from a tribal government receiving federal funds. The charge carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors plan to dismiss 23 charges of c... Full story
HELENA (AP) — A federal judge has ruled Montana's requirement that political committees disclose their campaign spending is constitutional. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen sided with the state Tuesday in a new decision. He wrote that the public's right to know who is financing political campaigns vastly outweighs the minimal burden imposed on committees required to report the information. The case stems from a lawsuit filed last year by the National Association for Gun Rights. The Virginia organization argued it w... Full story
HELENA (AP) — Former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot says he will not run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Max Baucus. The Republican said Monday said he has been discussing the idea with supporters over the past few months, but ultimately decided against running. Racicot said that he is encouraging U.S. Rep. Steve Daines to run for Montana's first open Senate seat since the 1970s. Racicot said he thinks Daines would "represent Montana exceptionally well." Daines has said he is considering a race that so far has no a... Full story
BUTTE (AP) — U.S. Sen. Max Baucus said Monday that his effort to revamp the tax code helped attract some of the business world's biggest names to Montana for a jobs conference that touched on taxes, energy development and many other issues. Baucus opened the Montana Jobs Summit in Butte — an old mining town almost a century removed from its heyday — with the leaders of companies such as Google Inc., Facebook, Ford Motor Co., FedEx Corp., The Boeing Co. and others. Several thousand business people, politicians, acade... Full story
BOZEMAN (AP) — Two people reported being raped in separate incidents at two Montana State University fraternity houses. The university emailed an alert to students, faculty and staff on Monday afternoon detailing the reports. MSU police responded to a report of a rape at the Sigma Chi fraternity at 1:24 a.m. Sunday. The victim was drinking with new friends at the house and reported being taken into a room and sexually assaulted by two unnamed men. At 3:45 a.m. Sunday, MSU police received a report from a woman who said she h... Full story
HELENA (AP) — Butte, a mining town almost a century removed from its heyday, is the unlikely landing spot this week for some of the business world's biggest names. Google's Eric Schmidt and Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg will be joined by CEOs from companies like Ford, Boeing, Delta Airlines, FedEx, electric super car-maker Tesla, ConocoPhillips and Hewlett-Packard. The glittering luminaries, drawn by the invitation of retiring Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, will be joined by other business leaders in an e... Full story
BOZEMAN (AP) — Montana State University has more than 15,000 students enrolled for the first time in the school's 120-year-old history. "The future is bright," said President Waded Cruzado. "There are many wonderful things happening." The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1620PJ1) that Cruzado made the comments during a speech Wednesday on the state of the university to more than 200 professors, staff and students. Cruzado said the university has hired more than 46 new faculty members, and that students have w... Full story
BILLINGS (AP) — Montana's general wolf season opens Sunday with much looser rules than in past years. State wildlife officials are seeking to reduce the predators' population in response to public pressure over livestock attacks and declines in some elk herds. Lower license fees, a five-wolf per person bag limit and a longer season top the list of changes put in place for the 2013-2014 season. The number of out-of-state hunters buying licenses is up sharply so far this year, with 370 purchased through this week compared to 5... Full story
HELENA (AP) — Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday it would be inappropriate for him to offer an opinion on Barry Beach's request to be set free before the process plays out. Beach's attorney sent an application for commutation, or a reduction of sentence, to members of the state Board of Pardons and Parole on Wednesday. Beach has served nearly 30 years of a 100-year sentence after being convicted in 1983 of the 1979 murder of Kimberly Nees in Poplar. Beach was released in 2011 for 18 months after a Lewistown judge ruled there was... Full story
MISSOULA (AP) — A U.S. District judge has upheld the release of a Montana newlywed accused of killing her husband by pushing him off a cliff at Glacier National Park. The Missoulian reports that Judge Donald Molloy determined Friday that 22-year-old Jordan Linn Graham does not pose a flight risk. Molloy said during a brief hearing that restrictions placed on Graham's release address concerns that she poses a risk to the community or herself. Authorities say Graham has admitted to shoving Cody Lee Johnson, 25, off a cliff i... Full story
HELENA (AP) — An attorney for a Montana State Prison inmate who is serving a 100-year sentence without the possibility of parole for a murder he says he didn't commit is asking the state parole board to recommend he receive a parole hearing. Attorney Peter Camiel tells the Great Falls Tribune (http://gftrib.com/1aFoeHT ) he sent an application for commutation, or a reduction of sentence, to members of the state Board of Pardons and Parole on Wednesday on behalf of Barry Beach. The application includes more than 200 letters o... Full story
