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News you can use
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WASHINGTON — The No. 2 Republican in the House leadership says he opposes a Senate-passed measure to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va., right, leaves a Republican caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday. Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House leadership says he opposes a Senate-passed measure to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor told reporters after a two-hour closed-door meeting Tuesday with his GOP lawmakers that he...
HELENA — A sharply divided Montana Supreme Court has ruled that forcing a Hutterite religious colony to pay workers' compensation insurance for jobs outside the commune is not an unconstitutional intrusion into religion. The 4-3 decision upholds a 2009 law requiring religious organizations to carry workers' compensation insurance, which the Legislature passed after businesses complained they could not outbid the religious workers. The Big Sky Colony of Hutterites in northwestern Montana sued, saying the law targeted its r...
WASHINGTON — The No. 2 Republican in the House leadership says he opposes a Senate-passed measure to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va., right, leaves a Republican caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday. Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House leadership says he opposes a Senate-passed measure to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor told reporters after a two-hour closed-door meeting Tuesday with his GOP lawmakers that he...
The Montana Department of Transportation plans to resurface U.S. Highway 87, likely next year, from just south of Box Elder to its intersection with U.S. Highway 2 west of Havre, and is seeking comments on the proposal. The proposal is to recycle the existing surface, place new asphalt over the recycled pavement and cover those with chip seal. The project also will resurface three bridges and adjust guardrails adjacent to the bridges. The MDT release says the 22-mile project will extend the life of the roadway and improve...
"I never bought a man that wasn't for sale," said former U.S. Sen. William Clark. One of Montana's first senators, Clark bought his way to Washington with $10,000 bribes to state legislators. We've come a long way since then, passing the Corrupt Practices Act in 1912 and enjoying a century of slow-but-sure progress toward cleaner, fairer elections. Recent developments in election spending, however, threaten that century of work. Twice during this year's legislative session, Montana legislators rejected a bipartisan proposal...
Whereas, the historical nature of man's existence on this earth has been one of servitude to a monarch, despot or benevolent government; and Whereas, collectivist thinking dictates that only by following an amalgamation of government agencies and programs can a vibrant future be attained via public private partnerships: and Rick Dow Whereas, the philosophy of Karl Marx which has given citizens of the United Soviet Socialists Republic, Cuba and North Korea (to name only a few) the individual freedoms that we as Americans have...
Having served nine sessions in the Montana Legislature, it's a real honor to represent my constituents and serve Montanans. As citizen legislators serving in a part-time capacity, we are able to stay in close contact with those we represent. Dave Wanzenried Over the years, in both my legislative and business interactions, one issue continues to rise above all others: access to affordable health care. Those who have health insurance complain about rising health care and insurance costs. Those without it forego routine,...
BOSTON — Three college friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev removed a backpack containing fireworks emptied of gunpowder from his dorm room at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth three days after the attack, according to charges filed Wednesday. Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev are charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. A third man, Robel Phillipos, is charged with making false statements to federal investigators. The affidavit says Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev agreed to get rid of t...
HELENA — A midnight court hearing in Kalispell helped a Montana prosecutor accused of assaulting a family member avoid spending last weekend in jail, but his attorney said there was no special treatment for the prosecutor and it was held out of concern for his safety. Flathead County Deputy Attorney Kenneth "Rusty" Park's attorney was arrested Friday night after a woman at his home in Kila called authorities. Park was charged with creating reasonable apprehension of bodily injury, which is a crime under the partner or f...
BILLINGS (AP) — A woman posing as a health care worker at a Billings hospital accompanied doctors on multiple patient checks, leading Montana health officials to warn employees at other facilities to be on the lookout for an impostor wearing scrubs or a lab coat. The woman has breached security at Billings Clinic an undetermined number of times, prompting Billings' other hospital, St. Vincent Healthcare, to circulate surveillance photos and a warning memo to employees. "She is a talented liar and will invent all sorts of s...
HELENA — Federal prosecutors say two Montana hospitals will pay $3.95 million to settle allegations they gave doctors incentive payments for patient referrals. The hospitals received reimbursements for those payments through Medicare, which is prohibited. The settlement released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice involves payments by St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings and Holy Rosary Healthcare in Miles City between 2003 and 2010. The hospitals are operated by Denver-based Sisters of Charity Leavenworth Health S...
The Montana State University-Northern golf teams wrapped up the 2013 season Tuesday afternoon at the Frontier Conference Championships in Missoula. The Lights and Skylights played a final 18 holes Tuesday in what was a windy, two-day tournament held at Larchmont Golf Course. The Lights wound up with a final team total of 979, which was good enough for sixth place among the eight-team field. Senior Jeremy Jensen was the top scorer for Northern, finishing with a 54-hole total of...
Severe spring storms dashed the hopes of local fans competing at the annual Top Ten track meet in Glasgow on Tuesday, but the poor weather only put a short pause on the action. The meet was postponed until Wednesday, and tonight, the Havre High Blue Ponies are ready to get back to action. Havre High senior Zach Plum clears the bar during the boys pole vault at the 2013 Cal Wearley Track Meet last month in Havre. Today, many Blue Pony athletes, as well as other Hi-LIne standouts will be at the Top 10 Meet in Glasgow. The meet...
The addition of men's golf at MSU-Northern gave Matt Hedstrom the chance he was hoping for Matt Hedstrom began his golfing career a long time ago. At an early age, he learned his craft like everyone else around these parts, on the windswept fairways of Beaver Creek Golf Course in Havre. Back then, Montana State University-Northern didn't have a college men's golf program, so Hedstrom didn't grow up imagining he would be a Light. And not even during a successful high school...
Russell O. Erickson Russell O. Erickson, 73, of Havre, passed away on Saturday, April 20, 2013, at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Wash., of congestive heart failure. Cremation has taken place, and memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 3, 2013, at First Presbyterian Church in Havre with Pastor John Chapman officiating. Committal services will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 4, 2013, at Hillcrest Lawn Mausoleum in Great Falls. Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with servic...
The odds look good that a second source of funding can be found to fully pay for a repair of the sewer systems for North Havre, Michele Turville said Tuesday during a public hearing on the project. Turville, director of community planning for Bear Paw Development Corp, said the application for Community Development Block Grant funds is due May 17. "You have a good grant story that I can write," she said. If the grant is approved, the project could move to at least the design stage by this summer, Turville said. The project...
Havre teenager Rory Milligan had to give up volleyball and gymnastics when she started getting headaches, losing her balance and feeling tingling in her fingers and feet. She has a condition called chiari malformation, and May 21, she will be in North Shore Hospital on Long Island in New York to undergo surgery that will hopefully rectify the problem. The hospital is a renowned center for treatment of the disease. Friends will be able to help her with medical bills Thursday by getting food from Pizza Hut. Twenty percent of...
Barbara P. Werk Barbara P. Werk, 66, of Hays, passed away at her residence on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, of natural causes. Wake services were scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Friday, March 29, 2013, at the Hays Boys & Girls Club and will continue until her funeral services, which were scheduled to be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 30, 2013, at the Hays Boys & Girls Club. Holland & Bonine Funeral Home has been entrusted with services and arrangements. Barbara was born on Jan. 4, 1947, in Chinook, to Cecil N. and Evangaline...
Members of a group working to rehabilitate the system that provides much of the water in the Milk River each year have a meeting set for Wednesday, April 10, in Havre to hear updates on plans to repair and upgrade the system. The St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group, co-chaired by Blaine County agricultural producer Randy Reed and Lt. Gov. John Walsh, will meet in the Large Conference Room at Bear Paw Development Corp. in the Ryan building from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A grassroots coalition started early last decade working on...
Havre and Hill County are planning how to spend the funds it expects to receive from the Montana Community Transportation Enhancement Program. Havre City Council will discuss tonight how to spend the funds, probably the last CTEP funds it will ever see. Hill County Commissioners held a hearing Friday to get ideas on how their money should be spent. The city has $128,813 to spend under the program, while Hill County has $186,000. The program, administered by the Montana Department of Transportation, can be used for historic...
Moving on from last week's column on the Indian Health Service and Israel, the question becomes, why does the United States support the relatively sophisticated reservation in the Middle East known as Israel, as opposed to the relatively crude reservations we created, for our own purposes, for the Indian in America? To quote the late Sen. Jesse Helms, Israel is "America's aircraft carrier in the Middle East." Since its founding in 1948, the state of Israel has been economically and militarily dependent on the United States...
A Texas district attorney and his wife were gunned down at their home Saturday night, another bitter reminder that law enforcement officials are in danger not just while they are on the job, but at all hours. There is a great deal of uncertainty about who might have committed the murder. Some speculated white militants were after the district and his deputy who was murdered two months ago. This comes just after Colorado's corrections director, Tom Clements, was shot to death when he answered his front door. It's easy to say t...
Earlier, this session, I had written about my concern about the high level of absenteeism among some members of the Senate, especially their attendance and participation at the committees to which they had been assigned. Particularly troublesome, to me, was the absentee record on the Public Health, Welfare and Safety Committee, of which I am a member. The chairman of the committee has barely attended half of the meetings of the committee he is chair of. The majority leader of the Senate is a member of the committee and is...
Northern Montana Hospital is setting a fine example for community leadership in undertaking a program in which it will match employees donations to the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line. The hospital will donate $1 for every dollar an employee donates to the club between now and April 15. The hospital hopes to raise $10,000 for the club during that time. The money will go to finance the $1.1 million expansion project, which will make improvements to the club so that more young people will be able to attend the club daily. It...
HELENA — The Montana National Guard brigadier general who ordered an investigation into the state's Disaster and Emergency Services was fired last year after he rehired a woman who was suing the state over her dismissal from the troubled agency. Brigidier Gen. Joel Cusker said he was given no explanation for his dismissal, but he concluded from meetings and conversations with then-Gov. Brian Schweitzer's chief of staff and Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger that it was over the decision to rehire a person who had shown such "...
