News you can use
News you can use
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HELENA — Former U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg isn't ruling out a run for the Senate seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus. The Republican is coming off a bruising loss last year to Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester. But an open Senate seat could entice Rehberg to run again in 2014. Rehberg said Thursday he has been receiving encouragement to take a serious look at the race. He wrote in a brief email to The Associated Press that he owes it to his supporters to "to keep listening and see how things develop." Rehberg is a c...
HELENA — Republican legislators left the Legislature even more divided then when they arrived, with warring factions promising a protracted fight for control of the direction of the Montana GOP. AP Photo/Matt Volz From left, state sensators Jon Sesso, Jason Priest, Cliff Larsen and Art Wittich discussing their dispute over a budget bill that delayed the end of the legislative session. Wittich and Priest lead one of the Republican factions that emerged during the 2013 session, hinting at a future battle for control of the poli...
HELENA — The Montana Legislature is wrapping up the 2013 session with leaders praising a relatively smooth budget deal, along with fixes to the pension system and other pressing issues. The House endorsed a measure Wednesday morning that reconciled small budget differences with Gov. Steve Bullock, and then voted to adjourn. The Senate was finalizing a few other measures and also preparing to approve the budget compromise that adds about $13 million to their $10 billion two-year spending plan. Both sides praised the smooth f...
HELENA — The Montana Senate has wrapped up the final day of the 2013 session after more in-fighting and maneuvering over a bipartisan budget deal. The Senate approved the deal and adjourned Wednesday — but only after stalling for several hours over whether to accept the compromise bill passed earlier by House Republicans. The Senate's conservative faction ultimately backed off its attempt to block the last-minute deal. The conservative Senate leaders have been on the losing end of several major votes this session. Dem...
HELENA — Former Montana Disaster and Emergency Services employees claim the division's chief of staff traded sex for favoritism with a subordinate, and that those who complained were met with hostility and ultimately forced out of their jobs. The result was a dysfunctional workplace in which the agency's emergency management mission was overshadowed by the intra-office tumult, and longtime employees were replaced by unqualified ones, according to multiple lawsuits filed over the past year. The most recent, filed in January by...
HELENA (AP) — The Montana Senate has endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment that would cut off lawmakers for good after 16 years in office. he amended version of House Bill 277 would tighten term-limit provisions to prevent a state legislator from switching from the House to the Senate and back again every eight years. The original House bill would have allowed a legislator who already has served 16 years to run again after sitting out another eight years. A Senate committee changed that provision to limit the total t...
HELENA — Even Shawn McQuillan's 88-year-old grandfather says his 20-year-old grandson drives too cautiously. The younger McQuillan, who says he has never been in a car accident or received a ticket, testified against a measure Friday that would allow some insurance companies to consider gender when determining Montanans' policy rates — a measure that he finds discriminatory. "If the bill before you is enacted, I would pay more simply because I am a male," McQuillan said. Presented by Rep. Wendy Warburton, R-Chinook, to the...
MISSOULA (AP) — A University of Montana study has found that more tourists visited Montana in 2012 and spent more money than in any previous year. The school's Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research estimates that 10.8 million people visited Montana last year and spent $3.27 billion. That's a 2 percent increase in visitors from 2011 and the money spent is about a 15 percent increase. "People are more comfortable than they were a few years back and it shows," Norma Nickerson, director of the institute, told the M...
HELENA — Two fixes for the state's pension systems are nearing final approval despite lingering concern from Republicans over the cost. Some Republicans joined Democrats on Saturday to advance the public employee's pension fix in a 55-45 vote. It is one more vote away from the governor's desk. The House also voted 53-47 not to negotiate differences with the Senate on the teachers' retirement fix. It faces two more House votes. The two bills ask both employees and their local and state public employers to pay more, while r...
MISSOULA (AP) — Taking over ownership and operations of Kerr Dam will be both a historic and legal triumph for the Flathead Reservation, according to a lawyer who's shepherded the deal through 10 tribal councils. "The Salish and Kootenai tribes are really at the forefront for asserting their authority over natural resources on their lands," Joe Hovenkotter told audience members at the University of Montana School of Law's Public Land Law Conference on Wednesday. Hovenkotter was legal adviser for the Confederated Salish and Ko...
HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday that he will apply whatever pressure he can to resurrect the plan to use federal money to help the working poor buy insurance. The governor's comments came on a day when backers said that defeat was near certain after a legislator accidentally voted the wrong way, and their coalition unraveled in a later do-over attempt. The compromise plan to use Medicaid money to expand health care coverage through private insurers has been lurching toward approval with the backing of Democrats and s...
MISSOULA (AP) — Former University of Montana wide receivers coach Shalon Jermaine Baker is facing charges alleging he assaulted his pregnant girlfriend. The Missoulian reports (http://bit.ly/15kVH6y ) Baker, of Missoula, was ordered held on $100,000 bail Thursday on charges including aggravated assault. Court documents say Baker's girlfriend told police the two argued on Thursday over whether he cheated on her. She says he strangled her and slapped her in the face. Baker was a receiver and punt returner for the Grizzlies f...
HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday that the state's next political practices chief could still influence regulation of so-called "dark money" despite the failure of legislation dealing with the issue. Bullock said he expects to name a new political practices commissioner next week. The position has suffered in recent years from partisan wrangling and high turnover. The governor has interviewed five candidates that were suggested to him by the Legislature, asking each about the increase in political contributions that a...
HELENA — A House committee is considering a measure that would prohibit employers from requesting job applicants' and employees' social media usernames and passwords. Democratic Sen. Anders Blewett of Great Falls presented the Senate Bill 195 Thursday to the House Business and Labor Committee. He says nothing in Montana law prevents employers from requesting the "keys to someone's personal information" on social media websites such as Facebook. Mark Baker, representing the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, says the measure w...
HELENA — Montana lawmakers said Friday they expect to seek changes to a recently completed plan to redraw the state's legislative map. The Districting and Apportionment Commission is submitting the proposal to the Legislature for comment. The proposal was nearly three years in the making, and crafts 100 new state House and 50 new state Senate districts to align with 2010 population numbers. The plan is set to take effect for the 2014 election. Commission Chairman Jim Regnier told a joint session of the House and Senate t...
HELENA (AP) — Flu outbreaks are spreading across Montana, with one death reported and 57 people hospitalized so far, a state health official said Friday. Influenza cases have been reported in all but 18 of Montana's 56 counties, and the number of cases is expected to increase for at least a few more weeks, said Department of Public Health and Human Services spokesman Jon Ebelt. "It does seem to be shaping up to be our worst flu season since 2009," he said. Montana is one of 47 states where flu is considered widespread, in w...
MISSOULA (AP) — A judge has sentenced a former University of Montana football player to 30 years in prison with 20 years suspended for raping a female friend in his apartment. Beau Donaldson pleaded guilty in September to sexual intercourse without consent after admitting to the 2010 rape in a phone call monitored by police. The Missoulian reports (http://bit.ly/13oJ5YG ) Donaldson began to cry as District Judge Karen Townsend handed down the maximum sentence sought by the prosecution. He will be eligible for parole after 2...
MISSOULA — Federal officials reached agreements with the University of Montana after a yearlong investigation into mishandled sexual assault reports on campus that require the university to revise its policies and adequately respond to allegations, federal officials said Thursday. University and Missoula police officials previously said they implemented new policies and training on sexual assault awareness and prevention even before the Justice Department investigation. The investigation began after 11 assaults involving u...
BILLINGS (AP) — Authorities in eastern Montana say a 38-year-old pilot died when his small plane crashed on private land in McCone County. The Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office tells the Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/Y6rqRx) that Darin Ray Brown's Cessna 182 crashed Saturday and that he died at the scene. Officials say Brown took off from a rural airstrip near Wolf Point at about 10:30 a.m. Saturday and was last heard from at about 11 a.m. while in the air. He was expected to arrive at a farm in Yellowstone County about 1...
HELENA – Jenny Kaleczyc sits at her desk on the third floor of a downtown Helena building with an overflowing inbox and fresh stack of folders – 10 more cases to add to her current workload of 75. "We lie awake worrying about what we couldn't get to, and wake up in the middle of the night making our to-do list for the next morning," the regional deputy public defender said. Community News Service/Amy R. Sisk Wade Zolynski, chief appellate defender for the Office of the State Public Defenders, testifies on a bill in front of...
SEATTLE — Mud, trees and rocks hit an Amtrak passenger train traveling through Washington state Sunday morning, causing several cars to derail, according to a railway spokesman. There were no injuries reported in the mudslide that knocked off the dining car and two coach cars, the last three railcars on the train, said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns the tracks. The train was travelling south from Everett on the way to Seattle when the slide hit around 8:30 a.m., Melonas said. The t...
HELENA — It's white, frothy and enthusiasts say it's udderly healthy — but the sale of raw milk is illegal in Montana. That could change if state lawmakers pass House Bill 574, which would legalize the purchase of unpasteurized milk directly from small, unregulated dairies. Critics and state regulators say it could expose Montanans to serious illnesses. Supporters of the measure say it is very much in line with a growing movement that encourages locally grown organic food, farmer accountability and personal responsibility, an...
HELENA — Lawmakers filled the Capitol building this week, marking the beginning of Montana's 63rd Legislature. The 90-day session convenes under a new governor, Democrat Steve Bullock, who previously served as Montana's attorney general. Republicans control both houses of the Legislature – leaving the legislative and executive branches split between the parties, just as it was in 2011. GOP lawmakers outnumber Democrats 29-21 in the Senate and 61-39 in the House. Photo by Amy Sisk The Montana State Capitol will be the sce...
HELENA — Gov.-elect Steve Bullock unveiled budget changes Friday that include increased education funding and keeping intact a proposed expansion of Medicaid under the federal health care law. Bullock released the changes to outgoing Gov. Brian Schweitzer's two-year budget proposal as lawmakers arrived in Helena in advance of next week's start to the Legislature. Bullock's proposal, which largely mirrors fellow Democrat Schweitzer's offering, faces a tough road through Republican-run legislative chambers. Bullock's o...
HELENA (AP) — A state judge has ruled that American Tradition Partnership violated Montana's state campaign-finance and election laws. Lee Newspapers of Montana reports that District Judge Jeff Sherlock of Helena on Friday ruled the group in 2008 acted as a political committee and must report its spending and donors. Sherlock cited the group's failure to turn over records requested by the court in making his decision. American Tradition Partnership claims tax-exempt status as a nonprofit social welfare organization that d...
