Montana is moving ahead with the idea of creating a reinsurance program for the state’s health insurance market. The program may reduce premiums between 10 and 20 percent, said Governor Steve Bullock and Department of Administration Director John Lewis. A bipartisan workgroup will evaluate new ways to address high insurance prices for Montana residents. The Read More…
HELENA — Montana Attorney General Tim Fox says there’s no sign of cancer in his body after four chemotheraphy treatments and the removal of part of his colon. The 61-year-old Republican told The Great Falls Tribune on Thursday that he is considering a run for governor in 2020, and that it’s a viable option because Read More…
Montana Magazine is folding after nearly 50 years of publishing stories and stunning images of the state’s people, geography, history and culture, owner Lee Enterprises announced. “Unfortunately, the dynamics of the publishing business have changed and the magazine has reached the end of its distinguished run,” general manager Matt Gibson wrote to subscribers on Tuesday. Read More…
In-home health care providers in Montana will likely see a pay increase in the next year after preliminary revenue projections are giving the state the green light to dole out money for the raises. A piece of legislation that called for the pay increase passed during the 2017 Legislature, but another bill, known as the Read More…
BOZEMAN — Kristina Anderson was 19 and a sophomore studying international relations when she was shot three times during the April 16, 2007, mass shooting at Virginia Tech. Thirty-two people were killed during the massacre, including Anderson’s French professor, Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, and 11 of Anderson’s classmates. At least 17 others were wounded. After spending the Read More…
Montana is moving ahead with the idea of creating a reinsurance program for the state’s health insurance market. The program may reduce premiums between 10 and 20 percent, said Governor Steve Bullock and Department of Administration Director John Lewis. A bipartisan workgroup will evaluate new ways to address high insurance prices for Montana residents. The Read More…
BOZEMAN — Montana State University continues to set enrollment records, with nearly 17,000 students this fall. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports the university in Bozeman saw its enrollment increase by 199 students over last fall, to 16,902 students — a 1.2 percent increase. School officials said Monday they’re doing a better job of encouraging freshmen students Read More…
A one-of-a-kind competition near Bigfork has been canceled, after the hoped-for number of entries failed to emerge. Last year, the Woods Bay Grill’s owners launched an essay contest with a unique prize: ownership of the family-style diner. They were ready to let go of the business, but wanted to use the essay contest to find someone who would Read More…
LIVINGSTON — A 23-year-old Montana man died in a weekend all-terrain vehicle crash near Livingston. The Park County coroner’s office tells the Great Falls Tribune that Caleb Alan Carroll of Great Falls died Saturday night. The Montana Highway Patrol says a side-by-side driven by a 20-year-old California woman was traveling too fast as it went Read More…
Helena’s city commission is considering proposals intended to help keep tobacco products out of the hands of minors and prevent smoking and vaping near indoor public places. Self-service sales/flavored tobacco While Montana law already prohibits those under age 18 from purchasing tobacco products, one of the proposals aims to make it harder for minors to Read More…
A 23-year-old Great Falls man died in an ATV rollover near Livingston Saturday night. The man, whose identity has not yet been released, was the passenger of a Polaris Ranger 500 side-by-side ATV, according to the Montana Highway Patrol. The driver, a 20 year-old woman from Modesto, California, was transported from the scene with injuries. Read More…
On Sunday afternoon, upwards of 2,000 people crowded into Memorial Park to participate in the 15th annual Montana NAMIWalk event in support of mental illness awareness and advocacy efforts. Put on by the Montana Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the event is NAMI’s primary fundraiser and awareness builder. “There’s so many people Read More…
The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed fewer than 30 years ago. And while accessibility is now legally enshrined, it can still be difficult to find. As part of the Walk a Mile disability awareness campaign, the Helena-based Montana Independent Living Project is challenging people to walk in the shoes of the mobility-impaired. Joel Peden, Read More…
Names and faces Dr. Cathy Lay has joined the St. Peter’s Health Medical Group. She will serve as a physician at St. Peter’s Health Medical Group Urgent Care. Lay earned her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. She completed her Family Medicine residency and internship at the Medical University Read More…
Montana has rich soil for growing a business, but the state’s size and rural DNA can be intimidating for brands looking to expand. Despite that, this fall two Montana-famous businesses have announced their plans to open up their first storefronts in Billings, generating some genuine excitement among residents and business leaders in town. A third Read More…
Four tribal college presidents say their institutions are trying new methods to preserve — maybe even expand — the number of people who can read, write or speak their tribal language. The four presidents — David Yarlott of Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency, Richard Littlebear of Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Carole Falcon-Chandler of Read More…
Montana’s state investigative agency will assist Custer County officials in looking into allegations made that a Custer County High School trainer sexually abused up to 100 boys. James Jensen, 78, worked at the school from the early 1970s to 1998. A lawsuit filed Friday says that Jensen groomed boys for “a structured, sophisticated system of Read More…
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Four Native Americans who claimed they were sexually abused while enrolled in a now-defunct Mormon church foster program decades ago filed paperwork to dismiss their cases after reaching financial settlements, a lawyer said. Allegations have been made against the church by more than a dozen tribal members from the Navajo Nation and Read More…
LIVINGSTON — Jose Luis Munoz Anco wears secondhand Wrangler jeans, which are too tight, so he leaves the button undone and the zipper about halfway and a belt keeps them up. He’s oblivious to his sacrifice for fashion. He wears a blue T-shirt from a college unknown to him, along with small, even stylish, rectangular Read More…
Colstrip Power Plant is operating fully again, after a summer of unit shutdowns due to air pollution problems. The four-unit coal-fired power plant’s biggest generators, Units 3 and 4, were forced to shut down in late June after failing to pass Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. The units account for 70 percent of Colstrip’s generating Read More…
MILES CITY — Downtown Friday night in Miles City in between the sounds of traffic are the sounds of football—music, cheers, cannon blasts for every Cowboy touchdown—carried over the loudspeakers from Connors Stadium and drifted down into the streets. A lawsuit filed earlier in the day alleged that a former employee of Custer County District Read More…
Montana State University Billings has named a new provost and second-in-command. Melinda Arnold was named as the new provost late Friday afternoon in a press release. She is the interim associate provost at the University of North Texas in Dallas, the same institution from which current MSUB Chancellor Dan Edelman was selected. She replaces former Read More…
It isn’t until A.B. starts thinking about his own two young children that he loses it. His sobs are convulsive before he quickly regains his composure. A.B. is not a crier. This is the first time he’s told anyone besides his wife and an attorney about the sexual abuse he said he suffered as a Read More…
HELENA — Montana Attorney General Tim Fox says there’s no sign of cancer in his body after four chemotheraphy treatments and the removal of part of his colon. The 61-year-old Republican told The Great Falls Tribune on Thursday that he is considering a run for governor in 2020, and that it’s a viable option because Read More…
Jensen also offered a denial. “I did masturbate some of the boys,” he said. “And I’m sorry for that. But, the lawsuit said there was also oral sex and anal probing, and that isn’t true.” The 78-year-old Jensen said he hoped his actions “didn’t do a lot of emotional or other trauma to the boys.” Read More…
After three terms in the state Legislature, The Friendship Center’s new executive director, Jenny Eck, is feeling the impact of some of the domestic violence laws she helped create. “It is really interesting having been on the policymaking end of things for six years, to being now on the receiving end of what all of Read More…
ExplorationWorks launches new exhibit ExplorationWorks’ newest installation is in place and ready to explore. Engineer It! is a hands-on exhibit that explores the many components of civil engineering. Test your design and building skills, learn about local engineering projects, and discover the role that engineering plays in the world around us. Some of the exhibit Read More…
A national anti-abortion group was in Helena Thursday to rally support for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as part of a tour through seven “battleground states.” About 30 men, women and children holding signs that read “I Vote Pro-Life” and “#ConfirmKavanaugh” joined representatives from Susan B. Anthony List for a brief demonstration outside Democratic U.S. Read More…
The owners of a therapeutic boarding school for teens located deep in northwestern Montana have agreed to pay nearly $1 million to families it shut out of the school with just two days’ notice in September 2017. Parents who sued the Monarch School in Heron accused the owners of treating Monarch, which charged more than Read More…
The Fort Harrison Veteran’s Affairs Hospital showed major improvements in several areas of patient care, according to a presentation at the facility on Wednesday. Fort Harrison has seen quality improvements in its Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning, a nationwide set of benchmarks designed to measure VA hospitals against each other. SAIL is designed to Read More…
Montana’s oil and gas drilling companies will soon have to disclose more about the chemicals they use to crack the earth, though as new rules are written, environmentalists and landowners say not enough public notice is being prescribed. At issue are the ingredients used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves cracking the earth and Read More…
Two Rivers Economic Growth will host Montana Conversations program “Montana Towns: Then, Now, Tomorrow” with storyteller Hal Sterns during the Annual Membership Meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the Cottonwood Inn and Suites in Glasgow. Social will begin at 5:30 p.m., with dinner at 6 p.m. and the program following at 7 p.m., followed by Read More…
On Sunday, Sept. 23, from noon until 5 p.m., at the Cottonwood Inn, SCORE.ORG will host a young entrepreneur workshop. This is an all inclusive workshop, serving pizza for dinner, that will aid in directing young people in effective startup and growth. Included but not limited to groups like 4-H, FFA, FCCLA and truly anyone Read More…
A.J. ETHERINGTON THE COURIER Glasgow-based, professional photographer Sean R. Heavey filed suit against Netflix in Federal Court in Great Falls, Mont. on Sept. 13. The suit alleges Netflix used Heavey’s copyrighted photo, dubbed the “Mothership,” numerous times in three separate “original” Netflix productions. According to the suit, Heavey registered the photograph with the United States Read More…
Helena’s first full-time Municipal Court Judge Bob Wood plans to retire in March after more than a decade on the bench, city commissioners learned Wednesday. Interim City Manager Dennis Taylor said the city commission will be asked to appoint a new judge to replace Wood, whose current term is set to expire at the end Read More…
Montana Magazine is folding after nearly 50 years of publishing stories and stunning images of the state’s people, geography, history and culture, owner Lee Enterprises announced. “Unfortunately, the dynamics of the publishing business have changed and the magazine has reached the end of its distinguished run,” general manager Matt Gibson wrote to subscribers on Tuesday. Read More…
A “joint investigation” determined the fire had been intentionally set, according to a press release issued Wednesday afternoon by BPD Lt. Dave Cardillo. Investigators eventually “identified, interviewed and subsequently arrested” a 12-year-old boy on suspicion that he started the fire intentionally, the release says. The case has been turned over to the Yellowstone County Attorney’s Read More…
HELENA — Two women who were sexually abused as children say the Jehovah’s Witnesses failed to report their abuser to authorities in Montana, and instead expelled him from the congregation as punishment until he repented. The Thompson Falls trial that begins Monday is one of dozens of lawsuits filed nationwide over the last decade alleging Read More…
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The U.S. Justice Department will double the funding it gives tribes for public safety programs and crime victims as it tries to tackle the high rates of violence against Native American women, a top official said. The department’s third-highest ranking official said more than $113 million in public safety funding will be Read More…
Teton County Fire Chief Steve Rose is encouraging rural homeowners who live in areas that abut the national forest to consider applying for cost-share revenue to help make their homes more resistant to fire danger. In collaboration, the Montana Disaster and Emergency Services program and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation are offering Read More…
Four Choteau women are asking community members to work with them to provide locally-grown beef for the Choteau Public Schools hot lunch program. Ranchers Cathy Campbell, Carli Neal and Misti Redland and former rancher Darlene Yeager are working to bring a locally-grown beef program to Choteau Public Schools, patterning this venture after a similar program Read More…
American Prairie Reserve has purchased the historic Power Mercantile Building in downtown Lewistown as the future home of its National Discovery Center, the group announced in a press release Wednesday. +3 The inside of the building has been refurbished. APR The center, located at 302 W. Main, will eventually serve as a gathering place where Read More…
Walking softly on four paws, eyes and ears alert, Ember calmly laid down on the cool grass in the shade and surveyed the park around her. Ember is 13 months old and learning to become a service dog. An English Labrador, she has been working with Helena resident Kris Brewer for 10 months to learn Read More…
It’s been a heck of a ride for “Mickey and the Bear,” the indie film that was shot in Anaconda this summer. The film, written and directed by Annabelle Attanasio and produced by Lizzie Shapiro and Taylor Shung, brought a crew of around 30 filmmakers to the Smelter City, enlisted the help of hundreds of local Read More…