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The Montana Board of Regents put a framework in place Thursday that would allow for cuts of up to 5 percent in the university system, the first of the state agencies to publicly heed the governor's request to do so. The board decided unanimously during a conference call to honor Gov. Brian Schweitzer's request to start planning for such cuts, even though it has unique constitutional authority among executive branch agencies to establish its own budget. The board recognized the cuts are needed as Montana grapples with... Full story
The Board of Regents will evaluate budget cuts of up to 5 percent for the state's colleges and universities at a meeting this week. The regents have decided to join other state agencies that are drafting the proposed budget cuts following a request from Gov. Brian Schweitzer — even though the university system has the authority to establish its own spending priorities. "The regents want to be responsible leaders in the state and contribute as much as possible," Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns said of the effor... Full story
Medical marijuana advocates and opponents worked Wednesday to reach an agreement on fixing a law that has come under heavy scrutiny — even as a new initiative was in the works to repeal the measure altogether. A ballot initiative proposed a day earlier would ask voters to undo their 2004 decision legalizing medical marijuana. But it faces a strict mid-June deadline to qualify for the ballot by clearing legal review and completing the arduous task of gathering thousands of signatures in a short period of time. The medical m...
U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg said Monday that he could support U.S. Sen. Jon Tester's plan to expand wilderness and increase logging - but only with more assurances that the logging will occur. Rehberg, who has held 22 meetings on the measure, said he doesn't think Tester's plan accomplishes its intended goals the way it's written. Tester's bill would create more than 600,000 acres of wilderness, mostly in southwestern Montana's Beaverhead- Deerlodge National Forest, and mandate 70,000 acres of logging in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge...
U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg said Monday that he could support U.S. Sen. Jon Tester's plan to expand wilderness and increase logging - but only with more assurances that the logging will occur. Rehberg, who has held 22 meetings on the measure, said he doesn't think Tester's plan accomplishes its intended goals the way it's written. Tester's bill would create more than 600,000 acres of wilderness, mostly in southwestern Montana's Beaverhead- Deerlodge National Forest, and mandate 70,000 acres of logging in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge...
A hitchhiker originally sentenced to be executed for the 1951 killing of a Montana man who picked him up during a blizzard has been found running a wedding chapel under an assumed name in Arizona 38 years after he skipped out on parole. Frank Dryman was found after the victim's grandson hired an investigator who tracked the fugitive to his Arizona City notary and chapel business, where he was known as Victor Houston. Now 78, Dryman was awaiting extradition proceedings after his Tuesday arrest by the Pinal County sheriff's...
The state said Monday that three proposed initiatives received enough signatures of support from voters to qualify for the November ballot. Secretary of State Linda McCulloch said a fourth initiat ive, the cons t i tut ional l y required question on whether voters want a Montana constitutional convention, will also be on the ballot. Initiative 161 qualified for the ballot and seeks to change the way hunter-access programs are funded. Another, I-164, caps the interest rate that payday loan operators can charge. Constitutional...
A key union leader for Montana state and university employees says he will not bargain another salary freeze with the governor — drawing a line in the sand amid what is expected to be a very tight budget process. The gove rno r ' s o f f i c e responded by saying that tough economic times means everyone — including state employees — need to have reduced expectations. Budget Director David Ewer did not rule out the possibility of a pay freeze. Eric Feaver, the forceful voice at the legislature and elsewhere for an influ...
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is joining the federal government's fight to stop states that want to exempt themselves from national gun control laws, arguing the effort threatens public safety. The gun control advocates and the U.S. Department of Justice both filed new arguments Tuesday in the ongoing legal battle over federal gun control and states rights. The issue was sparked with the "firearm freedoms act" first enacted in Montana last year and subsequently in several other states, and is leading to a...
Mo n t a n a accepted Thursday a mining giant's $86 million bid for the rights to a vast tract holding a half-billion tons of state-owned coal — but not before environmentalist protesters briefly shut down the hearing and promised a long fight. Gov. Brian Schweitzer was joined by two other Democrats on the state Land Board in endorsing the deal with Arch Coal Inc. The governor said if developed, the state will get billions of dollars in taxes and royalties over the coming decades on top of the upfront cash to be delivered n...
U. S. Sen. Jon Tester released some changes Thursday to his logging and wilderness bill, beating back a Washington, D.C.- based rewrite of the carefully crafted Montana compromise. Tester said the bill would die without the logging mandates a Senate committee removed from his plan. He has put them back in the bill, another step in what he characterized as a long road to declare the first new wilderness areas in decades. "The process to get a bill through, even if it is a simple bill, always takes time and there is always... Full story
The Montana Land Board endorsed a plan Monday to use roughly $40 million from a settlement with PPL Montana to buy more state land, over the objections of some lawmakers who say only the Legislature can make such a move. The money comes from a state Supreme Court order that says PPL Montana needs to pay rent for the land its hydroelectric dams sit on. Part of that order included damages owed the state in excess of $40 million. The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation said the money would likely best be used by...
The aging Frank Dryman, a notorious killer from Montana's past, had hidden in plain sight for so long that he forgot he was a wanted man. In an exclusive jailhouse interview with The Associated Press, Dryman detailed how he invented a whole new life, with a new family, an Arizona wedding chapel business — and even volunteer work for local civic clubs. "They just forgot about me," said Dryman, in his first interview since being caught and sent back to the prison he last left in the 1960s. "I was a prominent member of the c...
A proposed sex education program that teaches fifth-graders the different ways people have intercourse and first-graders about gay love has infuriated parents and forced the school board to take a closer look at the issue. Helena school trustees were swamped Tuesday night at a hearing that left many of the hundreds of parents in attendance standing outside a packed board room. They urged the school board in this city nestled in the Rocky Mountains to take the sex education program back to the drawing board. The proposed...
Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Wednesday he wants ideas from the public on how the state can save money without reducing services, and he promises to implement the plan that gets the most votes. Schweitzer said ideas will be collected over the Internet through the end of March, then four finalists will be put up for a public vote on the state Web site. The person who submitted the top vote-getter will receive a palladium coin worth $400 donated by Montana's Stillwater Mine, Schweitzer said. There are some catches. The idea has...
Montana livestock agents are on track to push several hundred bison back into Yellowstone National Park by a Saturday deadline, despite the objections of advocates who want the bison left to roam outside the park. Workers are using helicopters, all-terrain vehicles and horseback riders to haze the bison, which ranchers don't want mingling in areas where domestic cattle will be grazing this summer. Advocates say roughly a third of the several hundred bison being pushed up to 10 miles or more are calves, some just a few days...
Doctors in Montana have helped at least one patient commit suicide since a state court ruled late last year it wasn't illegal, advocates said Friday, but authorities have no way of knowing how many others there may be, who is doing it or even how it is being done. The state Supreme Court ruled Dec. 31 that nothing in state law prevents a doctor from prescribing the lethal drugs to mentally competent, terminally ill patients, making Montana the third state to allow physicianassisted suicide. But the court didn't determine...
Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Thursday that legalization of medical marijuana has not worked out as voters planned and that the state needs a legislative fix. The medical marijuana law, passed with a 2004 ballot initiative, has become one of the hottest topics facing lawmakers as the state deals with an explosion in the number of medical marijuana patients, caregivers and growers. Montana has seen a fivefold growth in cardholders in just one year thanks in large part to traveling clinics that sign up hundreds of new patients at...
A new report shows that western Montana's forests are seeing near-record dry conditions so far this year — exactly 100 years after the Great Fire of 1910. The annual drought report, delivered to the governor Friday, warned that snowpack is about half of normal in some river basins in the west. That, along with millions of acres of forest land packed with trees killed by beetles, could lead to another bad fire season. "The potential for a very active fire year is out there," said Mary Sexton, director of the Department of N... Full story
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus is not shying away from his role in health care reform in a new television commercial airing in Montana. In the spot to start running Friday, Baucus acknowledges the legislation he played a big role in drafting may have come at a political cost. "Taking on a tough issue like health care may not have been the political safe thing to do, but it is the right thing to do for Montana," Baucus tells the audience. Baucus is not up for re-election until 2014 but has seen his approval rating drop after taking a... Full story
A state agency that sued The Associated Press over a request to see documents on alleged sexual misconduct of prison employees must hand over the records, a Helena judge decided in the constitutional right-to-know case. The issue stems from the resignation of four female Montana State Prison employees and the departure of one male employee after allegations surfaced of employee sexual misconduct with a male inmate in late 2008. The AP later sought the investigation documents — prompting the state to sue the news o... Full story
State budget cuts could be getting far more severe following an order Tuesday from the governor that agencies prepare contingency plans for 5 percent spending reductions, a move that surprised legislative leaders who were not told of the plans. Gov. Brian Schweitzer made the announcement following a string of reports showing the state budget picture is getting worse, not better. A report due out today is expected to make an even gloomier forecast. Schweitzer said state law gives him the authority to cut spending if projected...
The Montana Supreme Court said Thursday that nothing in state law prevents patients from seeking physician-assisted suicide, making Montana the third state that will allow the procedure. Patients and doctors had been waiting for the state's high court to step in after a lower court decided a year ago that constitutional rights to privacy and dignity protect the right to die. The Montana Supreme Court opinion will now give doctors in the state the freedom to prescribe the necessary drugs to mentally competent, terminally ill... Full story
Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Monday that efforts to track down tax cheats is leading to a big increase in audit collections at the Department of Revenue. Schweitzer said audit collections were close to $80 million over the past year, a new record and way up from previous years. Schweitzer indicated he may ask lawmakers to give the agency more enforcement tools. The governor said the increased collections come from a multiyear effort to find those not paying taxes, mostly nonresidents and out-of-state corporations. Schweitzer sa... Full story
Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Friday that Congress' failure to move energy legislation will slow investment in all types of coal projects — clean or dirty — but won't slow mining for the state's coal needed to supply current power plants. The U.S. Senate recently dropped plans to pass a broad energy bill after it was clear there wouldn't be enough votes to support a so-called cap and trade proposal, or even a more limited approach that focused on utility carbon emissions. The plan was slammed by Republicans as a tax, and it mad...
