News you can use
News you can use
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BILLINGS (AP) — The mother of a 14-year-old girl who was raped by her teacher and later committed suicide appeared at a raucous Thursday protest against the judge who sentenced the man to a month in jail and said the victim was "older than her chronological age." The protest came as prosecutors considered an appeal of the sentence by Montana District Judge G. Todd Baugh, whose actions in the case have drawn condemnation from across the country. Joining in the backlash was Montana's governor, who said the judge's comments "... Full story
BILLINGS (AP) — The mother of a 14-year-old rape victim said a Montana judge was "covering his butt" after he apologized for saying her daughter was "older than her chronological age," as prosecutors said Thursday that the judge may have erred in giving the rapist only 30 days in prison. The comments from District Judge G. Todd Baugh in a case involving a teacher raping a student have drawn widespread condemnation from across the country. The 71-year-old judge attempted to q... Full story
BILLINGS (AP) — Montana prosecutors have asked a judge to keep the trial in the murder of a high school teacher in her hometown of Sidney, after defense attorneys sought to have the case moved because of fears of bias among potential jurors. In comments posted with newspaper articles about the 2012 murder of math teacher Sherry Arnold, some readers called for "Old West Justice" in the case and for the suspects to "hang from the nearest tree." But in court documents released Thursday, prosecutors argued to Judge Richard S... Full story
BILLINGS — A Montana judge apologized Wednesday for saying a 14-year-old rape victim was "older than her chronological age" and had as much control of the situation as the teacher who raped her — remarks that prompted protests and a petition for his resignation. District Judge G. Todd Baugh made the comments Monday while sentencing former Billings Senior High School teacher Stacey Rambold to a 15-year prison sentence then suspending all but 31 days and giving him credit for one day already served. Yellowstone County off... Full story
BILLINGS — A Richland County prosecutor is asking a judge to accept a confession from an illiterate man charged in the killing of a high school teacher. Defense attorneys have sought to suppress Michael Keith Spell's alleged confession to the 2012 murder of 43-year-old Sherry Arnold of Sidney. Deputy Richland County Attorney T.R. Halvorson said in court papers filed Friday that there was no evidence of police misconduct during interviews with Spell after his arrest. Halvorson says officers made sure Spell understood he did n... Full story
BILLINGS — A proposal to relax gray wolf hunting and trapping rules in Montana got a cool reception from Yellowstone National Park administrators who said Monday the move appears to be aimed at substantially reducing the park's population of the animals. Wolves regularly cross from the hunting-free safe haven of Yellowstone into Montana, where wildlife officials want to drive down pack numbers in response to complaints about the predators from ranchers and big game hunters. Montana wildlife commissioners are scheduled on W... Full story
BILLINGS (AP) — The Yellowstone County sheriff says a deputy shot and killed a man who escaped from Montana State Prison. Sheriff Mike Linder says an autopsy will be conducted to confirm that Dean Randolph Jess was the man killed. Linder says the man was stopped in a stolen Jeep Friday at an intersection near the Billings Walmart. Shots were fired when Jess refused to leave the vehicle and moved a handgun toward a deputy. Jess was working for the Deer Lodge prison's motor vehicle maintenance on a service call Monday when h... Full story
COLSTRIP (AP) — After several years of taking a beating from the poor economy, new pollution rules and a flood of cheap natural gas, the coal industry was on the rebound this year as mining projects moved forward in the Western U.S. and demand for the fuel began to rise, especially in Asia. But almost overnight, coal is back on the defensive, scrambling to stave off a dark future amid President Barack Obama's renewed push to rein in climate change. The proposal, with its emphasis on cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from n... Full story
BILLINGS — Flaws in how the government measures Yellowstone's grizzly bear population raise questions about whether the animals have recovered sufficiently to merit lifting federal protections, according to a new study. The study concludes that a major reason more bears have been counted in recent years is that more time is now spent counting bears. The authors argue that the region's bruin population could in fact be in decline, even as officials consider revoking the g... Full story
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... Full story
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... Full story
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... Full story
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... Full story
BILLINGS — Montana's state parks will be overseen by a board dedicated to parks and recreation matters under a new law that splits up the duties of the former Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission. Legislation signed Monday by Gov. Steve Bullock during a ceremony at Pictograph Caves State Park near Billings establishes a five-member commission over Montana's 54 state parks. Bullock and the bill's Republican sponsor, Rep. Duane Ankney of Colstrip, says that will allow the state to take adequate care of natural and historic a...
BILLINGS (AP) — Federal lawmakers are seeking to lift restrictions on hydropower development so more local irrigation districts could use water flowing through government-sponsored agricultural canals and pipelines to generate electricity. Proponents say hundreds of irrigation systems, the bulk of them in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, would be able to pursue small power projects under proposals from Western lawmakers. The measures seek to change laws that block or restrict hydropower projects on systems built by t... Full story
CROW AGENCY — Leaders of the Crow Tribe agreed Thursday to give a Wyoming mining company rights to lease an estimated 1.4 billion tons of coal beneath the tribe's land in southeastern Montana. The deal with Cloud Peak Energy involves more coal than the U.S. consumes annually, and revives stalled efforts to expand mining on the impoverished, 2.2 million-acre reservation. AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File A shovel prepares to dump a load of coal into a 320-ton truck at the Black Thunder Mine in Wright, Wyo. It is aimed at tapping i... Full story
BILLINGS (AP) — The chief executive of a Montana mining company urged shareholders on Wednesday to reject a takeover by a group that includes former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Stillwater Mining CEO Frank McAllister said a takeover could hurt the company's growth at a time when it's well-positioned to profit from anticipated increases in platinum and palladium prices. The comments came as the state's largest publicly traded mining company kicked off a six-week campaign to stall the takeover bid ahead of a May 2 annual shareholders...
BILLINGS — A Montana judge issued an injunction Friday allowing wolf trapping and hunting to continue outside Yellowstone National Park, as lawmakers in Helena advanced a measure to loosen restrictions on killing wolves statewide. Combined, the two actions pave the way for a further ratcheting up of Montana's efforts to curb gray wolf numbers less than two years after they came off the endangered species list. Friday's decision from state District Judge Brenda Gilbert came after state wildlife commissioners attempted to c...
BILLINGS (AP) — Some victims of asbestos exposure in northwestern Montana have asked a state judge to deny $4 million in fees and costs requested by attorneys in a legal settlement with chemical manufacturer W.R. Grace and Co. In letters submitted to state District Court Judge James Wheelis, about 20 people, including victims, said the money should instead be spent on medical care for those sickened by asbestos dust from a Grace mine near Libby. Three letter writers supported the fee request. Court officials said Monday t... Full story
BILLINGS — A Lewistown judge said he fears he's done a "soul-wrenching injustice" to a man he freed from prison after more than 27 years, only to see him ordered back behind bars by a higher court. AP Photo/Matt Gouras, File In this Aug. 2, 2011 file photo, District Judge E. Wayne Phillips, right, speaks to witness Susan Mohler in Lewiston during a hearing in the case of Barry Beach. Phillips says he fears he did a "soul-wrenching injustice" to Beach, a man he freed from prison after 27 years, only to see the man ordered back...
DECKER (AP) — From the time coal is scooped from the depths of the Spring Creek strip mine in Montana's wide-open Powder River Basin until it travels more than 6,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean to power plants in South Korea, the price can increase more than fivefold. Mining companies, however, are only paying government royalties on the price of the coal when it is mined from federal lands, not when it is sold for more overseas, saving them millions of dollars in the process. As the Interior Department investigates the i... Full story
BILLINGS— Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer told a gathering of union leaders Friday that he has not decided on a possible run for U.S. Senate in 2014, but indicated he would need their support if he does. The two-term governor is considering a bid to replace fellow Democrat U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, who is stepping down after six terms. AP Photo/Matthew Brown Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, left, speaks with union representatives at the Montana AFL-CIO annual convention in Billings on Friday. Schweitzer, who was e...
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...
BILLINGS — What happened to bear 726? That's the number researchers assigned to a collared grizzly bear that disappeared from an agricultural research station along the Montana-Idaho border. Citing the unsolved disappearance, environmentalists Thursday called for renewed efforts to find out if it was illegally killed and studies on whether the federal facility is harming the region's protected bears. Three weeks after the 392-pound male grizzly was last located, its tracking collar was found roughly a mile away. It had b... Full story
BILLINGS — Wolf hunting and trapping can resume near Yellowstone National Park after a Montana judge on Wednesday blocked the state from shutting down the practice. The restraining order from Judge Nels Swandal allows hunting and trapping to resume in areas east and west of the town of Gardiner. State officials closed the gray wolf season in those areas on Dec. 10 after several wolves collared for research were killed, drawing complaints from wildlife advocates. The closures prompted a lawsuit from sporting groups and a s...
