The 2010 census created more than 600 temporary or part-time jobs throughout Montana, and recruiting for the 2020 count is now underway. “In 440 days the census count will begin,” said Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney, acting as chair of the Montana Complete Count Committee. “We encourage anyone interested to apply.” Many office jobs will open Read More…
UPDATE: 7:53 p.m. Two people are dead after a reported shooting on the west side of Helena Tuesday evening, police said. +4 Police respond to the scene where a reported shooting left two people dead on the west side of Helena. Thom Bridge,thom.bridge@helenair.com Around 6:30 p.m., police were called to a report of people being Read More…
Sen. Jon Tester announced Tuesday a new lineup of staff members to lead his D.C. and Montana offices, and two of the newly appointed senior officials have connections to the Butte and Anaconda areas. Pam Haxby-Cote, current director of the Montana Department of Commerce, will serve as Tester’s state director and will oversee the senator’s Read More…
One of the world’s largest cargo planes has been hanging out at the Billings airport during the past week, shipping massive loads of construction materials to a cluster of islands in the Pacific Ocean after a devastating typhoon struck in October. The Antonov An-124 transport plane is being used as part of a contract with Read More…
GREAT FALLS — A former Indian Health Service pediatrician convicted of sexually abusing young boys on Montana’s Blackfeet Reservation two decades ago will be sentenced in January. In September, a jury found Stanley Patrick Weber guilty of sexual abuse and attempted sexual abuse of children under age 14 when he worked in Browning between 1992 Read More…
Six semi-trucks have been stuck in different times and different places due to frigid road conditions Tuesday on Interstate 90 near Lookout Pass, according to Montana Highway Patrol. Semis driving without chains have been struggling just to make it over the pass, Sgt. Shawn Smally said. At one point both westbound lanes were blocked, backing Read More…
A Billings businessman who claimed he was abducted by a biker gang in Virginia is scheduled to admit charges of wire fraud, money laundering and lying to federal investigators, according to documents filed in federal court. Larry Wayne Price Jr., 38, would also be on the hook for $23 million in restitution under a plea Read More…
POLSON — Six months after Cassandra Harris was found dead on a Lake County road, a trial for one of the people allegedly involved in her death has been called off. Joseph Conko Parizeau Jr., 23, of Big Arm had faced one count of negligent homicide for allegedly throwing Harris out of a moving truck, and Read More…
On the surface, Father James Poole seemed like the cool priest in Nome, Alaska. He founded a Catholic mission radio station that broadcast his Jesuit sermons alongside contemporary pop hits. A 1978 story in People magazine called Poole “Western Alaska’s Hippest DJ . Comin’ at Ya with Rock’n’Roll ‘n’ Religion.” Behind the radio station’s closed Read More…
The human remains uncovered on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation last week have been shipped to a lab in Quantico, Virgina, where they will be analyzed in hopes of identifying them, a Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman said Monday. The remains were found Dec. 13, FBI spokeswoman Sandra Barker said in the email. That’s one day Read More…
HELENA — The publisher of a neo-Nazi website accused by a Jewish woman of orchestrating an anti-Semitic harassment campaign against her is asking a magistrate judge to push back their January trial date. Attorneys for Daily Stormer publisher Andrew Anglin said in a court filing Friday that requests for information between Anglin and plaintiff Tanya Read More…
HELENA — A 46-year-old Columbia Falls man has admitted overstating his disabilities to receive government payments for nine years. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says it will seek $830,000 in restitution from John Cicero Hughes, a Navy veteran who pleaded guilty Dec. 12 to theft of government money and Social Security disability fraud. Sentencing is set Read More…
In November, Montana’s Board of Public Education revoked the license of a former Ronan middle school teacher who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a high school student who was 18. It’s a devastating career impact for a teacher, effectively wiping out their ability to teach in Montana. But the state’s top school Read More…
The FBI is investigating reports of human remains found on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. In a Friday press release, the agency’s Salt Lake City Division announced that its Evidence Response Team was working to recover the remains and assess the location where they were found, in cooperation with Blackfeet Law Enforcement, the Bureau of Indian Read More…
Montana ranchers are heading into better economic territory in 2019, said Fred Wacker, newly appointed president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association. Wacker assumed leadership Thursday of Montana’s largest livestock organization as the group met for its annual convention and trade show in downtown Billings. Wacker said he expects cattle prices to rebound in the coming Read More…
The man who fired between 50 and 60 shots in Deer Lodge Monday before being shot by a police officer has been identified. Powell County Sheriff Scott Howard said the man is Timothy Wayne Sweet, 46. His address is the house where the Monday incident took place, on the 800 block of Higgins Avenue. On Read More…
BILLINGS — Federal investigators say tests results on a public water system serving 1,300 residents on Montana’s Crow Indian Reservation have indicated fecal material contamination that exceeds safety standards. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Inspector General said in a memo released Thursday that the contamination was found in tests conducted in April and May on the Read More…
PORTLAND, Ore. — Hemp is about to get the nod from the federal government that marijuana, its cannabis plant cousin, craves. A provision of the farm bill that received final approval in Congress on Wednesday removes hemp from the list of federally controlled substances and treats the low-THC version of the cannabis plant like any Read More…
Former long-time Miles City high school athletic trainer James Eric “Doc” Jensen was arrested Thursday and jailed in Custer County on 10 counts of possessing child pornography. Some of the pornographic images were of boys as young as age 9, the charges state. The 78-year-old Jensen is being held on $100,000 bail. “The criminal investigation Read More…