News you can use
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HELENA — Sen. John Walsh of Montana on Tuesday postponed at least two upcoming events as his campaign declined to answer questions about whether he planned to remain in the U.S. Senate race amid allegations that he plagiarized a research paper. The Walsh campaign notified Gallatin County Democratic party members that he would not attend a backyard meet-and-greet in Bozeman hosted by Women for Walsh that was scheduled for Wednesday or a Friday talk on public lands at the county party's new headquarters. The campaign did not gi... Full story
HELENA - The Department of Defense has taken the unusual step of overseeing a plagiarism investigation being conducted by the U.S. Army War College against Sen. John Walsh because the Montana Democrat is a member of Congress, the college's provost said Tuesday. The department will review the recommendations of the school's academic review board, Provost Lance Betros said. Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday the decision on whether punishment is... Full story
HELENA — The Department of Defense has taken the unusual step of overseeing a plagiarism investigation being conducted by the U.S. Army War College against Sen. John Walsh of Montana, the college's provost said Tuesday. Defense Department officials told the Carlisle, Pennsylvania, college that the department's inspector general's office will decide whether any discipline is warranted based on the recommendations of the school's academic review board, Provost Lance Betros said. Normally, that decision is reserved for the s... Full story
HELENA (AP) — A judge facing suspension for saying a 14-year-old rape victim appeared "older than her chronological age" says he believes the penalty isn't warranted. Judge G. Todd Baugh (baw) of Billings proposed Friday in a written response to the Montana Supreme Court that it withdraw its order for a 31-day suspension. But he added he won't remove the consent to judicial discipline he previously gave. Baugh says he found no other cases in which the Supreme Court went beyond the recommendations from the state Judicial S... Full story
HELENA (AP) — Montana utility regulators dropped a proposal Tuesday to spend $3,000 to hire a former University of Montana law professor known for his conservative views to point out any constitutional problems with proposed federal regulations to reduce carbon dioxide pollution from power plants. Public Service Commission member Roger Koopman said he believes the proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations are an overreach of federal power, but he doesn't specifically know how. Robert Natelson, who specializes in c... Full story
HELENA — Montana utility regulators on Tuesday approved a NorthWestern Energy request to boost electricity rates by 6.44 percent starting July 1 so the company can recover $32 million in underestimated supply costs. Public Service Commission members said it is an interim increase and whether it remains will be contingent on further study. The money can be returned if commissioners find the increase wasn't justified, commissioners said. NorthWestern officials say the company's rates don't reflect actual market costs over t... Full story
HELENA (AP) — Montana's parole board on Wednesday rejected a clemency application from Barry Beach, meaning he will continue to serve a 100-year prison sentence for the 1979 slaying of a high-school classmate on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. The decision from the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole marked the fourth time since 1994 that the panel has declined to hold a full clemency hearing for Beach. Beach has argued police in Louisiana coerced the 1983 confession used to convict him in the beating death of 1... Full story
HELENA — A Montana county attorney's office will change the way it responds to reports of sexual assaults under an agreement announced Tuesday that ends a federal investigation into whether gender bias played a role in deciding whether to prosecute rape cases. The changes by the Missoula County Attorney's Office will include training prosecutors, treating assault victims better, boosting investigation techniques and improving data tracking, communication and coordination, U.S. Department of Justice officials said. The a... Full story
HELENA — Montana voters set the stage Tuesday for a November election that will determine whether a U.S. Senate seat that has been in Democratic hands for a century will stay there after the resignation of six-term Sen. Max Baucus. U.S. Rep. Steve Daines is leaving his House seat to challenge incumbent Sen. John Walsh, who was appointed in February to replace Baucus. Both easily won their primary elections Tuesday. The GOP sees Daines as the best chance to win back a seat it hasn't held since 1907. "This would be historic f... Full story
HELENA — Republican candidates for Montana's open U.S. House seat took shots at one another Wednesday over their positions on abortion, gun rights, spending and health care in the final debate before Tuesday's primary elections. Many of the barbs were directed at former Sen. Ryan Zinke of Whitefish, who has raised more money than the four others contending for the GOP nomination. The debate in Kalispell included Zinke and: • State Sen. Elsie Arntzen of Billings • State Sen. Matt Rosendale of Glendive • Former state Sen. Co... Full story
HELENA — Laura Juarez is supposed to receive close to $1,200 as her share of a $3.4 billion settlement among hundreds of thousands of Native Americans whose land-trust royalties were mismanaged by the government for more than a century. The Bakersfield, California, notary public was going to pool that money with her husband's share, along with a portion of what was coming to her father's estate, to send her 17-year-old daughter to a student-ambassador program in Australia. But the money, which she expected in December, s... Full story
HELENA — Tribal law-enforcement officers Friday arrested a state senator and Blackfeet leader accused of not complying with the terms of a plea agreement for drunken driving, a charge he has called false and politically motivated. Sen. Shannon Augare was found in a home east of Browning on Friday afternoon after two weeks of avoiding arrest, Blackfeet Tribal Business Council member Paul McEvers said. The arrest was made because Augare did not pay his fine after pleading guilty to driving drunk and then fleeing a Glacier C... Full story
MISSOULA (AP) — More than 100 people carrying candles held a vigil Friday in the Montana city where a 17-year-old German exchange student was gunned down in a homeowner's garage. The gathering for Diren Dede brought scores of people to the Fort Missoula soccer fields, where balloons with German and American colors were displayed for the somber memorial. Dede was an all-state soccer player for Big Sky High School. He started playing soccer the day he arrived in Missoula in August and quickly made friends, said Kate Walker a... Full story
MISSOULA (AP) — The German consulate called for justice Wednesday after a homeowner fired four blasts from a shotgun into his garage, killing a 17-year-old exchange student who was inside. The investigation into the killing of Diren Dede of Hamburg should make clear that it is illegal to kill an unarmed juvenile just because he was trespassing, said Julia Reinhardt, spokeswoman for the consulate in San Francisco. "We consider what happened completely out of proportion to the probable risk," Reinhardt said. Dede's father, C... Full story
DEER LODGE - Montana's parole board has the chance to correct a mistake made when Barry Beach was sentenced to 100 years in prison without parole in the 1979 beating death of a high school classmate, his attorneys said Tuesday. Science and the courts had not yet realized that a juvenile criminal had capacity to change when Beach was convicted in 1984, attorney Terry Toavs told three members of the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole in a hearing in Deer Lodge. Beach and the... Full story
HELENA — An order of nuns facing child sex abuse lawsuits wants to bring the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena back into state court, saying the diocese should have to pay part of any judgment against the Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province. Attorneys for the Ursulines are asking a judge to lift a stay in legal proceedings that was granted to the diocese when it filed for federal bankruptcy protection earlier this year. A total of 362 people have sued the Ursulines and the diocese, alleging they were abused as children f... Full story
HELENA — The Montana Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an attempt by opponents of Medicaid expansion and Attorney General Tim Fox to rewrite the language of a proposed ballot initiative and void all the signed petitions that backers have gathered to date. The justices said in a unanimous decision that delaying signature-gathering for further court proceedings would have the effect of ruling for the plaintiffs because the sponsors have only until June 20 to gather 24,175 voter signatures to place Initiative 70 on N... Full story
HELENA — The Montana commissioner of political practices said Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Art Wittich broke state campaign laws by coordinating with and failing to report contributions from a conservative group during his 2010 primary election campaign. Commissioner Jonathan Motl said he intends to have a judge weigh his findings and decide whether Wittich's actions merit removal from the 2014 election ballot. "That would be the big penalty," Motl said. "Is this significant enough to establish a public trust v...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — An order of nuns being sued by people who claim they were sexually abused as children at the Ursuline Academy in St. Ignatius is asking a federal judge to delay the proceedings while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena is in bankruptcy court. District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena halted sex-abuse lawsuits against the Ursulines and the diocese after the diocese filed for bankruptcy protection as part of a proposed $15 million settlement. Sherlock previously combined the proceedings in the two l... Full story
HELENA (AP) — Author Jon Krakauer is asking a judge to order the release of records in the 2012 rape case against University of Montana quarterback Jordan Johnson. Krakauer attorney Mike Meloy says in a petition filed Feb. 12 that the "Into the Wild" author is working on a new book that deals in part with how the university and the commissioner of higher education resolved a student complaint of sexual assault against Johnson. Krakauer is seeking records concerning any actions the commissioner's office took in 2012 f... Full story
HELENA - State Sen. Jason Priest's estranged wife feared her husband's anger would turn to violence when she picked up their young daughter last month, prompting her boyfriend to call for police assistance, according to a recording of the call released in a public records request. The call was made Feb. 1, soon before an encounter outside the Red Lodge Republican's home that led to criminal charges accusing Priest of shoving his wife, breaking her boyfriend's rib and throwing the 4-year-old girl. Priest, 45, has denied the... Full story
HELENA — Two Washington, D.C.-based advocacy groups have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing a U.S. House candidate in Montana of illegally coordinating with the political-action committee he created. The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 allege television advertisements by Special Forces for America PAC that support Ryan Zinke's House bid include photographs that appear to come from the Zinke campaign. The groups say republishing campaign materials is an in-kind contribution that federal l...
HELENA (AP) — A Helena attorney submitted a ballot initiative proposal Tuesday that would change Montana law to take away the governor's power to fill U.S. Senate vacancies and instead require special elections. The process was in the spotlight last month when Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock named his lieutenant governor, John Walsh, to replace longtime U.S. Sen. Max Baucus. Republican legislative leaders criticized Bullock's selection, saying it was done in secrecy and with no input from the public. The proposal by attorney J... Full story
HELENA — The Montana Judges Association wants to make it more difficult for people with cases before district courts to substitute one judge for another simply by filing a statement that they believe the judge would not be fair or impartial. The Copper King-era rule was enacted in 1903 to guard against judicial corruption but it has led to abuse in modern times, with 1,188 judicial substitutions from 2011 to 2012, the association's petition to the Montana Supreme Court said. Some attorneys have used the rule in an attempt t... Full story
HELENA - Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday he told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid it was "none of your damn business" who the Democratic governor appointed to fill Montana's vacant U.S. Senate seat. Refuting claims by state Republican Party officials that his appointment of John Walsh last week was a ploy to give Democrats an advantage in retaining the seat in November's election, Bullock said he spoke with no other senators, White House officials or political party... Full story
