Regents to consider suing state over lost land income

HELENA - The Legislature has unconstitutionally taken millions of dollars belonging to the Montana university system over the past four decades, and the Board of Regents ought to do something about it, the regents' attorney said Thursday.

LeRoy Schramm said some of the money raised through leasing of certain state lands has been diverted to cover administrative costs of managing the land, in violation of federal law and the Montana Constitution.

''We have to deal with this,'' he said. ''It's a problem you can't ignore.

''If we can get this practice stopped in the future, that in itself would b...