News you can use
News you can use
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HELENA (AP) — Brian Schweitzer's surprise announcement that he won't run for the U.S. Senate dealt a big setback to Democratic plans to retain Max Baucus' seat. However, party officials said Monday they still believe they are in a strong position to hold the seat even without the former governor. Attention shifted to Insurance Commissioner Monica Lindeen and Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau and others. Lindeen said Monday that she would like to make a decision before Labor Day. Other names being c...
HELENA — Popular former Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Saturday morning that he will not run for Montana's open U.S. Senate seat in 2014, an announcement that complicates Democratic efforts to retain their majority in next year's elections. Schweitzer told The Associated Press that he doesn't want to leave Montana and go to Washington, D.C. He had been considered the Democrats best candidate for holding onto the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus next year. Schweitzer said he felt compelled to consider the race only b...
HELENA (AP) — A survey of Montana students released Tuesday suggests that distracted driving risks and bullying problems persist, while some other common teen perils are on the decline. The Montana Office of Public Instruction said that the 2013 survey found some positive results in traditional risk areas. The number of students who reported smoking, drinking or using drugs continues to decline. For instance, the number of students who reported recently trying alcohol was at 37 percent this year, down from 58 percent in 1...
HELENA — Appointees of former Gov. Brian Schweitzer shared the governor's campaign address and received contributions from an organization that Schweitzer was involved in, even as the governor was bashing other such nonprofits for hiding from state disclosure laws. The same post office box address is listed on Schweitzer's website as he considers a run for the U.S. Senate in 2014. If he gets in the race, Schweitzer would be considered the Democrats' best chance of keeping the seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Max B...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — New commissioner of political practices Jonathan Motl said he expects to start issuing decisions soon on a list of complaints dealing with disclosure of money in politics. The issue surrounding so-called dark money has taken greater significance since a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that freed up campaign spending and ultimately was used to strike Montana's century-old citizen's initiative banning some corporate contributions. Court battles continue over the state's contribution limits, the r...
HELENA (AP) — Advocates want to take the question of Medicaid expansion straight to Montana voters. The Montana Legislature rejected proposals to use federal money to expand Medicaid to those making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. A provision of the federal health care law provides the bulk of the money for such expansion. Many Republicans opposed to implementation of the federal health care law argue the state could eventually be on the hook for the expansion. On Wednesday, a coalition of health and c...
HELEA (AP) — Advocates for same-sex couples say their case seeking legal domestic partnership recognition in Montana will be helped by a U.S. Supreme Court decision on a related issue. The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down a provision of a federal law denying federal benefits to married gay couples and cleared the way for the resumption of same-sex marriage in California. The decision did not alter Montana's constitutional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman or directly affect any of the state's l...
HELENA (AP) — A Jesus statue that has for six decades been a curiosity to skiers as they cruise down a popular run at a northwest Montana ski resort will not be evicted from federal land, a judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said the Flathead National Forest can re-issue a 10-year permit for the statue installed on the ski hill by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic men's organization. The judge disagreed with a Wisconsin-based group of atheists and agnostics that argued the Forest Service was u...
HELENA — Lawyers representing the state of Montana say two political consultants are trying to run from their own lawsuit to avoid a legal setback in the ongoing saga surrounding mysterious political documents connected to the conservative group American Tradition Partnership. The state attorney general's office has expressed confidence in its case and wants to force a ruling from a federal judge this week. The consultants, Christian and Allison LeFer, meanwhile, want their suit dropped, arguing that their constitutional righ...
HELENA — A retirement board was told Tuesday that a mistake in the Legislature's proposed pension fix for public employees could undo plans to balance the system in less than 30 years. The Public Employees Retirement Board is being asked to modify a rule in order to avoid a glitch that could leave the state's beleaguered pension system facing a huge shortfall. Lawmakers struggled mightily to agree earlier this year on pension system fixes that rely on contribution increases and a cut to inflationary increases. Democrats b...
HELENA (AP) — Former state legislator Ryan Zinke of Whitefish said Wednesday he might consider a U.S. Senate run if the Montana Republican Party's big names don't get in the race. The ex-Navy officer has been the focus of a recruitment effort by a political action committee called Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans for Congress. The group lauds his leadership in the famed SEAL Team Six and a biography that included a stint in the Montana state Senate. Interest in the race has sharpened since six-term U.S. Sen. Max Baucus a...
HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock and state employee unions announced a deal Wednesday for across-the-board pay increases starting next month. The Montana Public Employees Association said that upon ratification, employees will get a 3 percent raise starting in July and another 5 percent raise in November 2014. The governor's office said that most employees have not had a pay raise since 2008. Union executive director Quinton Nyman said bargainers tried to get the largest raises possible as soon as they could with the money a...
HELENA (AP) — Heavy rains east of the Continental Divide have dampened predictions for an early and active fire season in Montana, although the southwestern area of the state could face problems during late summer, the governor was told Monday. The forecast came as Gov. Steve Bullock kicked off wildfire awareness week with a briefing from more than a dozen state and federal land managers and fire experts. Bullock noted that half of all wildfires are caused by people. Activities around the state during the next week will h...
HELENA (AP) — A group of Republican lawmakers is launching plans for a ballot measure aimed at shedding light on so-called "dark money" in politics. The effort is led by legislators who have been billing themselves as the "Responsible Republicans" in ongoing battles with conservative foes in the GOP ranks. Some of the veteran lawmakers were targeted last year with attack mailers from anonymous groups in contentious GOP primary battles last year. State Sen. Bruce Tutvedt of Kalispell said Monday that voters deserve to know w...
HELENA — State Sen. Jeff Essmann of Billings said that he is dropping out of the crowded Republican primary, indicating his presence in the race could detract from the GOP effort to take back the governor's office. Essmann sent a letter to supporters, dated Thursday, saying Republicans need to be united in their financial support for the primary winner if they hope to defeat Steve Bullock, the Democratic attorney general running for governor. The letter was released to the public on Friday. Essmann told supporter that "the c...
HELENA — State Sen. Jeff Essmann of Billings said that he is dropping out of the crowded Republican primary, indicating his presence in the race could detract from the GOP effort to take back the governor's office. Essmann sent a letter to supporters, dated Thursday, saying Republicans need to be united in their financial support for the primary winner if they hope to defeat Steve Bullock, the Democratic attorney general running for governor. The letter was released to the public on Friday. Essmann told supporter that "the c...
HELENA — Political candidates in Montana reacted swiftly Monday to Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin's comments that women's bodies can prevent pregnancies if they are victims of "a legitimate rape." Attorney General Steve Bullock criticized his opponent's staunch anti-abortion stance after the issue made its way back into the spotlight. Bullock is running for governor against former congressman Rick Hill, who opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest. "I think from that perspective, the difference c...
HELENA — The Republican challenger in Montana's heated Senate race is calling for a ban on all out-of-state campaign donations. U.S. Rep Denny Rehberg's proposal also seeks a ban on advertising by all third-party groups. Earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester asked Rehberg to join him in barring third-party advertisements from the race for the Democratic incumbent's seat. Rehberg proposed Friday to take that idea much further. Rehberg is calling for each campaign to immediately return all money donated by PACs, lobbyists a...
HELENA — U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, a key figure in developing the federal health care law, is selling the program back home to a Republican-led Legislature openly hostile to what they derisively call "Obamacare." Baucus, speaking Friday afternoon to a joint session of Montana lawmakers, said he understands there are strong feelings but argued both sides should work to make it better in certain areas. Most Republicans in the room sat stoically through his speech. Made the Democrats' sales pitch Baucus reinforced the high points o...
HELENA— Republicans who have long blasted health care laws they feel put the government between doctors and patients are now backing a bill that orders doctors to perform an ultrasound before an abortion. Republicans backing the bill said they don't think such ultrasounds are a medical mandate but rather an attempt to prevent a procedure they feel should be illegal anyway. They argued it is not hypocritical to support the government intervention in cases of abortion. House Bill 280, the focus of a tense hearing Friday in t...
HELENA — The Montana House gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill banning illegal immigrants from receiving workers' compensation insurance benefits, the first of several bills expected to deal with either immigration or the beleaguered insurance program for injured workers. The measure was endorsed on a 60-40 vote Tuesday and faces a largely procedural final vote Wednesday before going to the Senate. Backers of the proposal argue it sends a message to those wrongly employing illegal immigrants. They said it would help, a...
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Lawmakers scheduled to look at long list of DUI proposals this week were told that juveniles that kill while driving drunk in some cases need to be tried as adults. Rep. Janna Taylor of Dayton told the House Judiciary Committee Monday that her house Bill 18 would let prosecutors try juveniles as adults for vehicular homicide while under the influence. She said prosecutors are currently getting around the problem by trying extreme cases where drunk minors kill others in a crash with a reduced crime of n...
HELENA — Eminent domain is again a hot topic at the Legislature. Lawmakers are taking their first look at a bill from landowners and ranchers who feel they have been treated unfairly under eminent domain laws. The landowners argue those behind big projects, such as the Department of Transportation or utilities building transmission lines, can unfairly force them to take bad offers. State Rep. Kelly Flynn of Townsend pitched his proposed fix to the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. It aims to give landowners more power i...
HELENA — A legislative measure making it illegal to kill an unborn child easily cleared its first committee vote Friday, despite being mired in the abortion debate. Supporters of the bill said it has nothing to do with abortion and noted the bill exempts "lawful procedures" from prosecution. But those supporters were unwilling to change the measure to clarify that the protected procedures specifically include abortion. "It has nothing to do with an abortion," said sponsor Rep. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell. "It places a value o...
HELENA (AP) — Republicans started scaling back state budget expectations Tuesday in order to pave the way for dramatic cuts despite objections that the move will hurt services for the elderly and disabled. The GOP starting point is 8 percent less than what Gov. Brian Schweitzer put in his proposal. Republicans don't like the way Schweitzer balances the budget by transferring money out of various state funds. The governor argues revenue will increase to match spending faster than currently projected thanks to an improving e...
