The Montana Department of Revenue will continue to fight a court ruling that money from a tax credit program can benefit religious schools. District Judge Heidi Ulbricht ruled in May that the department incorrectly excluded religious schools from the program, which is funded by donations that can be offset by up to $150 in nonrefundable Read More…
As many as 400 homes were told to evacuate late Wednesday night after the Lolo Peak fire blew up, forcing the closure of the previous shelter for evacuees, according to the American Red Cross. The former shelter at the Florence-Carlton Community Church is now in an evacuation area. The new shelter is at the University Read More…
For the first time this summer, Helena’s air quality briefly reached a level considered unhealthy for all groups Wednesday afternoon. Hourly reports from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality show the local air quality frequently reaches levels considered moderate and unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as people with asthma and other respiratory disease, as wildfire Read More…
BILLINGS — A federal appellate panel has reversed a lower court ruling that condemned a group of mining claims in northwest Montana owned by a group of investors including former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Schweitzer and other investors in Optima, Inc. sought $10 million from the owners of the proposed Montanore gold and silver mine as Read More…
Missoula authorities are searching for a woman who walked away from the Missoula Correctional Services’ Pre-Release Center Friday night. According to a news release, Jessica Stejer walked away from the center’s designated smoking area at 9:30 p.m. She was last seen wearing a tank top and blue leggings and was on foot. Stejer is a Read More…
Missoula authorities are searching for a woman who walked away from the Missoula Correctional Services’ Pre-Release Center Friday night. According to a news release, Jessica Stejer walked away from the center’s designated smoking area at 9:30 p.m. She was last seen wearing a tank top and blue leggings and was on foot. Stejer is a Read More…
National Guard troops were scheduled to arrive at the Lolo Peak fire Saturday to staff security checkpoints around the busy firefighting area. Highway 12 remains closed at Highway 93, but the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office issued a “rumor control” plea: “Please note, residents east of Travelers Rest are not under an evacuation order and Highway Read More…
More than half of Montana is in some stage of drought, according to weather data released Thursday. The U.S. Drought Monitor lists nearly all of Montana in drought or trending toward drought, with the exception of a sliver of the southwest corner of the state. Only 2.7 percent of Montana is experiencing normal conditions. Drought Read More…
In February 1979, western Montana and Helena in particular were in the national spotlight as a solar eclipse brought the region into temporary darkness. Hundreds of thousands of people will flock to the 2017 eclipse’s path of totality Monday, and similar events played out in Helena during the dreary winter months nearly four decades ago. Read More…
More than half of Montana is in some stage of drought, according to weather data released Thursday. The U.S. Drought Monitor lists nearly all of Montana in drought or trending toward drought, with the exception of a sliver of the southwest corner of the state. Only 2.7 percent of Montana is experiencing normal conditions. Drought Read More…
McDaniel worked as an FBI agent in Helena from 1985 to 1996 in a number of areas including bank robbery, narcotics and terrorism. He was among the team that arrested Unabomber Ted Kaczynski at his home in Lincoln. McDaniel describes The Order as a composite of white supremacist groups, including the Aryan Nation, Ku Klux Read More…
Members of the Berean Baptist Church in Helena are hosting a special dedication service on Sunday, Aug. 20, at 11 a.m., as they dedicate their new location to the glory of God. While the building at the corner of Wilder and Harrison turned 100 years old this year, the Berean Baptist Church family is excited Read More…
Former Montana legislator Wesley Prouse is out of jail after agreeing to release financial documents related to penalties from a political corruption lawsuit. Prouse has a week to produce financial documents showing whether he has the wherewithal to pay a $59,066 penalty owed to the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices. The Shepherd man was jailed Read More…
Former Montana legislator Wesley Prouse is out of jail after agreeing to release financial documents related to penalties from a political corruption lawsuit. Prouse has a week to produce financial documents showing whether he has the wherewithal to pay a $59,066 penalty owed to the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices. The Shepherd man was jailed Read More…
The Montana Department of Revenue will continue to fight a court ruling that money from a tax credit program can benefit religious schools. District Judge Heidi Ulbricht ruled in May that the department incorrectly excluded religious schools from the program, which is funded by donations that can be offset by up to $150 in nonrefundable Read More…
Confederate monuments are being removed around the country under pressure from those who say they honor a regime that enslaved African-Americans. The pace has increased, however, in the wake of last weekend’s deadly confrontation at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A look at monuments that have been removed, covered up or vandalized in Read More…
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has requested a reclamation and revegetation bond payment of $154,000 before it will issue an exploration license to Canadian-based Lucky Minerals to begin exploratory drilling in Paradise Valley’s Emigrant Gulch. Lucky Minerals has proposed drilling 46 holes an average of 1,000 feet deep over the course of two years. Read More…
A protester was arrested Friday morning as the city of Helena started removing a monument to Confederate soldiers that has been in a park in Montana’s capital city since 1916. Then a second protester was arrested at about 1 p.m. after crossing a temporary fence and approaching the monument. Calls for the removal of the Read More…
The Montana Department of Revenue will continue to fight a court ruling that money from a tax credit program can benefit religious schools. District Judge Heidi Ulbricht ruled in May that the department incorrectly excluded religious schools from the program, which is funded by donations that can be offset by up to $150 in nonrefundable Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. — A man is dead after crashing his all-terrain vehicle on a remote trail in southwestern Montana. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports a search that included two helicopters was launched after 76-year-old Stanley Hamilton’s wife reported him overdue Wednesday night. The Bozeman man had been riding his ATV in the Little Bear area Read More…
The Montana Supreme Court has declined to intervene in the case against a university student implicated in the overdose death of a Billings woman. Attorneys for Daniel McGrail had asked the state’s high court to intervene in the Gallatin County case and order a Bozeman judge to dismiss the felony drug distribution charge against him, Read More…
Some who have researched the history of the century-old Confederate monument prominently displayed in a Helena city park say local leaders are making a mistake by removing it. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to remove the monument,” Bruce Whittenberg, director of the Montana Historical Society, said the day after the Helena City Commission Read More…
Approximately 40 rail cars came loose and blocked a Helena Valley subdivision’s access route Thursday. Burlington Northern Sante Fe is storing the cars on tracks along Lincoln Road northwest of Helena. The reason for the cars coming loose is under investigation, said BNSF representative Ross Lane, who apologized on behalf of the company for inconveniences Read More…
Approximately 40 rail cars came loose and blocked a Helena Valley subdivision’s access route Thursday. Burlington Northern Sante Fe is storing the cars on tracks along Lincoln Road northwest of Helena. The reason for the cars coming loose is under investigation, said BNSF representative Ross Lane, who apologized on behalf of the company for inconveniences Read More…
As many as 400 homes were told to evacuate late Wednesday night after the Lolo Peak fire blew up, forcing the closure of the previous shelter for evacuees, according to the American Red Cross. The former shelter at the Florence-Carlton Community Church is now in an evacuation area. The new shelter is at the University Read More…
Turning a ship can take a while. So can turning a nonprofit that was headed for the shoals. It’s been all hands on deck for the past two years for the Holter Museum of Art’s staff and board, but sailing is getting a bit smoother these days. The board recently named Chris Riccardo, who has Read More…
Florence Crittenton is delighted to announce the seventh annual Support Our Girls event on Thursday, Aug. 17 at The Atrium at the Lewis & Clark Fairgrounds from 5:30-9:30 p.m. This event is where philanthropy and fashion meet, with food, fun, raffles, and a hilarious auction of fabulously decorated bras by our local bratists. Back this Read More…
North Dakota State University is providing drought-stricken ranchers a tool for estimating Livestock Forage Program payments. Based on the U.S. Drought Monitor, as of the Aug. 1, producers with livestock and pasture in 31 North Dakota counties, 27 South Dakota counties and 17 Montana counties may be eligible for some assistance on four months of forage Read More…
For the first time this summer, Helena’s air quality briefly reached a level considered unhealthy for all groups Wednesday afternoon. Hourly reports from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality show the local air quality frequently reaches levels considered moderate and unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as people with asthma and other respiratory disease, as wildfire Read More…
A Shepherd man charged in the New Year’s Eve death of a Glasgow woman has admitted to her killing under a plea agreement that calls for 70 years in prison. Jay Witkowski, 29, changed his plea Wednesday in the 17th Judicial District Court in Glasgow for deliberate homicide in the killing of 31-year-old Evelynn Garcia. Read More…
During a stop in Butte Wednesday, Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte said he wants Congress to “put funding back in” for the Environmental Protection Agency. One of the House of Representatives’ newest members, Gianforte sits on the House Committee on Natural Resources as well as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Travis Hall, Read More…
BILLINGS — A sprawling central Montana nature reserve has purchased a 46,000-acre (186-square kilometer) ranch bordering a federal refuge as it advances toward its goal of establishing a Connecticut-sized park where bison and other wildlife can roam freely. The American Prairie Reserve announced Wednesday it had purchased the Two Crow Ranch about an hour north Read More…
BILLINGS — A sprawling central Montana nature reserve has purchased a 46,000-acre ranch bordering a federal refuge as it advances toward its goal of establishing a Connecticut-sized park where bison and other wildlife can roam freely. The American Prairie Reserve announced Wednesday it had purchased the Two Crow Ranch about an hour north of Lewistown Read More…
BILLINGS — A federal appellate panel has reversed a lower court ruling that condemned a group of mining claims in northwest Montana owned by a group of investors including former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Schweitzer and other investors in Optima, Inc. sought $10 million from the owners of the proposed Montanore gold and silver mine as Read More…
Montana has missed its chance to weigh in on a Washington utility’s early plans for shuttering half of the Colstrip Power Plant, say lawyers for regulators overseeing the matter. In Washington, where Puget Sound Energy is laying out its multi-year plan for future rates and the shutdown of Colstrip Units 1 and 2, legal staff Read More…
BATON ROUGE, La. — A neo-Nazi website’s publisher said Wednesday that he has “effectively been completely banned from the internet” after mocking the victim of a deadly car attack at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. “Clearly, the powers that be believe that they have the ability to simply kick me off the internet,” Andrew Read More…
ENNIS — More trumpeter swans will be shipped to the Madison Valley throughout the next five years, as state wildlife officials continue to establish nesting pairs on a private ranch south of Ennis. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported Wednesday that market hunters decimated the trumpeter swan population in the region by the early 20th century, Read More…
Budget Cuts Are Coming August 16, 2017 In response to a revenue shortfall, the legislature is set to put into motion massive cuts to public health services funding. The proposed funding cuts include a decrease in reimbursement to mental health agencies of 41 percent for case management services, as well as 3.5 percent for all Read More…
The weather on the lake this past weekend, Aug. 12-13, provided sailors with a wide variety of conditions to compete in. At its most challenging, they battled 4-foot rolling waves as they attempted to harness winds that gusted to 30 miles per hour on Saturday. The strong wind and waves were difficult to handle for Read More…
Relay for Life 2017 – The Glasgow Courier Relay for Life 2017 August 16, 2017 Janice Shanks / For the Courier janice shanks / for the courier Dewey Doucette leads a group during the 2017 Relay for Life on Aug. 12. You might be interested in: Rendered 08/16/2017 10:08
FORT YATES, N.D. — Gov. Doug Burgum and Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II have signed a memorandum of understanding that directs state and tribal authorities on regulating an elk hunting season within the Standing Rock Reservation. The North Dakota Game and Fish Department and Standing Rock Game, Fish and Wildlife Department developed the Read More…
Supporters of community redevelopment, wildlife and public lands, energy efficiency and agriculture spoke out in Helena Tuesday against budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration. Clean Air Montana, a coalition of organizations pushing for conservation policy and climate action, held a press conference Tuesday morning as part of a three-city tour. Helena City Commissioner Andres Read More…
Montana’s first Navy Week came to Helena Tuesday with Great Falls native Rear Adm. Michael Holland receiving flags from Secretary of State Cory Stapleton commemorating construction of the U.S.S. Montana submarine. Each year the Navy selects 15 inland locations for Navy Week, similar to Fleet Week for coastal states, when the Navy holds public events Read More…
A tribal judge on the Crow Reservation has upheld the validity of the Crow Tribe’s 2001 constitution, ruling against Tribal Chairman Alvin “A.J.” Not Afraid’s effort to hold a reservation-wide referendum on the governing document. The vote went ahead as planned Saturday, however. Not Afraid’s senior policy adviser, former chairman Cedrick Black Eagle, said Tuesday Read More…