News you can use
News you can use
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HELENA — A U.S. House candidate in Montana is benefiting from a political action committee he created, leading at least one opponent and some experts to question the legality of the peculiar arrangement. Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL who is seeking the Republican nomination for Montana's lone congressional seat, created the Special Operations for America (SOFA) super PAC to back Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. The committee now backs candidates who support the military — and their first candidate is Zinke, a 52-...
HELENA (AP) — The father of a victim in the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings urged Montana lawmakers Thursday to pass legislation requiring the state to turn over records that would help prevent the mentally ill from buying guns. A panel of lawmakers is considering whether to recommend to the Legislature next year changing a law that prohibits the state from submitting the names of people involuntarily committed to mental facilities for federal gun background checks. Virginia now has a similar requirement to turn over those r...
HELENA (AP) — The Montana Supreme Court says a legislative referendum to end Election-Day voter registration can go on the 2014 ballot. But the justices ruled in a 5-1 decision Wednesday the attorney general's office must first revise the ballot statement to clarify that the change is not required by the federal National Voter Registration Act. Montana has allowed voters to register or change their registrations on Election Day since 2005. The referendum approved by the 2013 Republican-led Legislature for the November b...
BILLINGS (AP) — A judicial oversight board wants a Montana judge disciplined for saying a 14-year-old rape victim was "older than her chronological age" and sentencing her rapist to just one month in prison. The Montana Judicial Standards Commission filed a formal complaint Monday with the state Supreme Court against District Judge G. Todd Baugh (baw) in Billings. The complaint was released Tuesday. It says the 72-year-old Baugh eroded public confidence in the courts with his statements and the "overly lenient" prison s...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sweeping farm bill that Congress sent to President Obama Tuesday has something for almost everyone, from the nation's 47 million food stamp recipients to Southern peanut growers, Midwest corn farmers and the maple syrup industry in the Northeast. After years of setbacks, the Senate on Tuesday sent the nearly $100 billion-a-year measure to President Barack Obama. The White House said the president will sign the bill on Friday in Michigan, the home state of Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow. Th...
HELENA (AP) - Montana Senate President Jeff Essmann says he will ask a state senator to step back from his legislative duties after being arrested on allegations of pushing his wife. Republican Sen. Jason Priest of Red Lodge pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of partner or family assault and resisting arrest. He was arrested Saturday night and released Monday after posting $1,500 bond. Essmann says the allegations against Priest are a matter of serious concern. The Billings...
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Waiting to get their hands on the Lombardi Trophy, the Seahawks were surrounded by security guards in orange jackets. It was the first time anyone in that color stopped them all night. The Seahawks stayed true to their mantra to make each day a championship day. They made Super Bowl Sunday the best day of all with one of the greatest performances in an NFL title game — sparked by a defense that ranks among the best ever. The Seahawks won their fir...
WASHINGTON — The long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared a major hurdle toward approval Friday, a serious blow to environmentalists' hopes that President Barack Obama will block the controversial project running more than 1,000 miles from Canada through the heart of the U.S. The State Department reported no major environmental objections to the proposed $7 billion pipeline, which has become a symbol of the political debate over climate change. Republicans and some oil- and gas-producing states in the U.S. — as well as...
HELENA (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena planned to file for bankruptcy protection Friday as part of a proposed $15 million settlement for hundreds of victims who say clergy members sexually abused them over decades while the church covered it up. Diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan comes after confidential mediation sessions with the plaintiffs' attorneys and insurers, resulting in the deal to resolve the abuse claims. The settlement details are being worked out, b...
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's choice to become U.S. ambassador to China embraced several criticisms of that country Tuesday, agreeing that China wants to dominate Asia and is a regular violator of human rights. Speaking at his Senate confirmation hearing, Sen. Max Baucus said he wants to help the U.S. build a more equitable economic relationship with China while encouraging the Asian giant to act responsibly as it emerges as a global power. "I have become a firm believer that a strong geopolitical relationship can b...
BILLINGS (AP) — Republican state Sen. Elsie Arntzen on Saturday announced she's running for Montana's open U.S. House seat. The conservative lawmaker from Billings in a statement says she wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, balance the nation's budget, and restore a better America for future generations. The 57-year-old Arntzen has worked as a public school teacher for 21 years. She made her announcement at Burlington Elementary after being introduced by a 5th grader, one of her former students. Arntzen and her h...
HELENA (AP) — A long execution in Ohio that left the condemned inmate gasping and snorting illustrates the dangers of using untested drug combinations in lethal injections, said a civil-rights group suing Montana over its execution method. Montana last year changed its lethal-injection method from a combination of three drugs to two, but there hasn't been an execution in the state since the change and the combination of those two drugs is untested in the U.S., said American Civil Liberties Union of Montana attorney Anna Conle...
HELENA, Mont — A former Montana judge who was investigated for forwarding a racist email involving President Barack Obama sent hundreds of other inappropriate messages from his federal email account, according to the findings of a judicial review panel released Friday. Former U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull sent emails to personal and professional contacts that showed disdain for blacks, Indians, Hispanics, women, certain religious faiths, liberal political leaders, and some emails contained inappropriate jokes about s...
BILLINGS (AP) — An FBI spokesman says the agency is considering permanent agents in the Bakken oil patch of Montana and North Dakota as the drilling boom drives crime rates higher. That's sparked a dispute between the states' U.S. senators over where the agents should be located. Crime on both sides of the border has spiked as thousands of new workers arrive with drug traffickers following in their wake. Since July, two agents and an intelligence specialist have been stationed in Sidney, Mont. North Dakota Sens. Heidi H...
HELENA (AP) - Montana Rail Link says gusty winds caused a container train to derail on the Continental Divide west of Helena. The Helena Independent Record reports the derailment occurred at shortly before 5 a.m. Monday. The speed of the gust wasn't immediately available. The railroad says there were no hazardous materials in the containers and no one was injured. NorthWestern Energy reported numerous power failures blamed on the wind and said extra crews were called in to...
HELENA — The number of Montanans who signed up for health coverage through the online marketplace that is a key part of President Barack Obama's health overhaul increased nearly tenfold in December, according to new federal health data released Monday. From Oct. 1 through Dec. 28, a total of 13,151 Montana residents chose health plans through the federal exchange, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That is compared to the 1,382 people who had signed up in October and November, the period when p...
HELENA (AP) — Prosecutors are recommending no prison time for a Blackfeet woman who pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to defraud and embezzle from a federally funded program for troubled youth on the northwestern Montana Indian reservation. Charlotte New Breast is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Brian Morris on a charge of aiding and abetting theft from an organization receiving federal grant funds. New Breast, 53, was the administrative assistant for the now-defunct Po'Ka Project, which c...
HELENA nt. (AP) — The state Supreme Court has reversed an earlier ruling that made it difficult for individuals to file legal challenges against government agencies that ignore Montana's open meetings and open records laws. The 6-0 ruling Thursday says a person can sue an agency for violating the state constitution's right-to-know and right-to-participate provisions, even if that person doesn't have a direct personal interest in the matter. That undoes a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that required a person to first prove he w...
BILLINGS — The chancellor of Montana State University-Billings — and former interim chancellor at Montana State University-Northern — is retiring at the end of the school year. Sixty-seven-year-old Rolf Groseth said in a Thursday letter to students and faculty that he was retiring from the post for unspecified personal reasons. The Chicago native spent four years overseeing the 5,000-student school and more than three decades involved in the Montana university system. Before that, he was acting chancellor at Northern for 1...
CASSELTON, N.D. - Many residents evacuated a southeastern North Dakota town overnight after a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded, and officials warned that acrid smoke could blow into the area. No one was hurt in Monday's derailment of the mile-long train that sent a great fireball and plumes of black smoke skyward about a mile from the small town of Casselton. The fire had been so intense as darkness fell that investigators couldn't even get close enough to count...
HELENA — An estimated 17,000 small businesses in Montana will be exempt from paying the state's business equipment tax under a new law that takes effect on Wednesday. The reduction in the business equipment tax is one of a handful of bills passed by the Legislature last spring that become law with the new year. Starting Wednesday, businesses will be exempt from paying taxes on their first $100,000 in equipment. That means if a small business has less than $100,000 in equipment, it won't have to pay any of the tax. P...
HELENA (AP) — Federal prosecutors oppose a former medical marijuana lobbyist's request to be removed from probation so he can tend to his sick mother without restrictions. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thaggard said Thursday in response to Tom Daubert's request that early termination is reserved for rare cases of exceptionally good behavior. Thaggard says the health of Daubert's 83-year-old mother and his desire to resurrect his consulting career do not justify ending his five-year probation sentence after only one year. U...
HELENA - U.S. Sen. Max Baucus' surprise announcement that he will not seek a seventh term in 2014 was Montana's top news story of 2013, according to The Associated Press' annual poll of state editors. This year's list includes maneuvering ahead of the 2014 elections, the pushback against anonymous campaign funding and the headaches surrounding the nation's health care overhaul. It highlights crime-fighting efforts in Indian Country and in the oil patch, along with notable...
HELENA (AP) — Gov. Steve Bullock joined other Montana political leaders Friday in lauding Max Baucus' 35-year career in the U.S. Senate, but the Democratic governor deflected questions on a possible replacement if Baucus is confirmed as the next ambassador to China. Bullock Chief of Staff Kevin O'Brien acknowledged the governor will likely have to appoint a replacement for Baucus, but he shed little light about whom Bullock was considering. "Today is about Max, his commitment to public service and the state of Montana. It a...
BILLINGS (AP) — Former state Judge Susan Watters has been sworn in as Montana's first female U.S. District Court judge. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy swore in the 55-year-old Billings native in a Thursday ceremony at the federal courthouse attended by several dozen friends, colleagues and family members. Watters worked in private practice and as a prosecutor before becoming a state judge 15 years ago. She fills a vacancy on the federal bench created with the retirement of U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull. Other f...
