The Fort Peck Reservation this week is a case study in the inter-jurisdictional issues that shadow the medical marijuana trade. Lt. Patrick O’Connor of the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office was trying to clear up enforcement questions for a Wolf Point dispensary owner. At a meeting with Fort Peck Tribal Council members Thursday, he got his Read More…
Sen. Jon Tester spent the morning touring Red Oxx, the Billings-based travel gear company, ready to talk taxes. But what caught Tester’s attention after arriving at the Red Oxx company store Friday morning was the vintage Yellowstone National Park service van parked out back. “Does it run?” Tester asked. “We drive it every day,” said Read More…
With winds subdued and air resources pounding its flanks with water and retardant, the Reynolds Lake Fire didn’t grow at all on Thursday, remaining at 1,068 acres. If firefighters can manage to keep the fire from spreading Friday afternoon, when an expected small cold front could bring 20 mph winds to the scene, Bitterroot Forest Read More…
A businessman facing federal indictments in two states pleaded not guilty to wire fraud charges in a Montana courthouse on Thursday. Larry Wayne Price Jr. appeared in U.S. District Court in Billings and entered his pleas on six counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors allege that Price took $13.9 million in business investments and funneled them Read More…
A well-timed tip led to the late-night rescue of a 75-year-old Stevensville woman who had been missing from her home since morning. Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton said a deputy and member of the county search and rescue organization found the woman shortly after 10 p.m. on the Glen Lake trail about a mile and Read More…
Landowners hoping to keep the public locked out of Hughes Creek lost an appeal to the Montana Supreme Court this week. But that doesn’t mean the gate that’s barred access to the upper reaches of the Hughes Creek road for 40 years will come down anytime soon. “The gate is still up,” said Ravalli County Read More…
Strong winds pushed a fire burning in Ravalli County along the Montana-Idaho border to over 1,000 acres Wednesday. “We are in full-on suppression on this fire,” said Bitterroot National Forest spokesperson Tod McKay. “We are throwing everything we have at it.” There are currently 80 firefighters, including two Hotshot crews and three helicopters, assigned to Read More…
Two workers were exposed to dangerous chemicals and the unincorporated community of Norris, 36 miles east of Bozeman, was in danger of a lab explosion. The Madison County Sheriff’s Department evacuated the unincorporated town of Norris Tuesday while federal, state and county officials removed potentially explosive chemicals from Norris Labs. Two bottles of chemicals were Read More…
Two workers were exposed to dangerous chemicals and the unincorporated community of Norris, 36 miles east of Bozeman, was in danger of a lab explosion. The Madison County Sheriff’s Department evacuated Norris Tuesday while federal, state and county officials removed potentially explosive chemicals from Norris Labs. Two bottles of chemicals were so volatile they could Read More…
JEFFERSON CITY – Montana Department of Transportation will begin construction on I-15 to replace a culvert and rebuild the roadway south of Jefferson City starting the week of July 23. MDT intends to keep at least one lane open in each direction throughout the construction process, but drivers should plan ahead to allow extra travel Read More…
WASHINGTON — A survey of school districts around the country finds that less than half test their water for lead, and among those that do more than a third detected elevated levels of the toxin, according to a federal report released Tuesday. That number could be even lower in Montana, where the large majority of Read More…
HELENA — The Montana Supreme Court has ordered a new trial in a Billings homicide, ruling the defendant was wrongly denied the opportunity to question whether a key witness could accurately recall the details of the shooting because she may have been under the influence of methamphetamine. Joseph Polak II, 36, was convicted of deliberate Read More…
Lightning started two fires Tuesday in remote locations on the West Fork Ranger District in the Bitterroot Valley. The largest is the Reynolds Lake Fire, which measured 11 acres Wednesday morning but grew substantially due to gusty winds in the afternoon. The fire is burning on the border of the Bitterroot and Salmon-Challis National Forest Read More…
KALISPELL — Firefighters are attacking an apparently lightning-caused fire in northwestern Montana as the state is coming off a record fire season. The Zulu fire started Sunday in the Kootenai National Forest north of Libby and had expanded to 20 acres (8 hectares) by Tuesday. Forest spokesman Willie Sykes tells the Flathead Beacon about 80 Read More…
Vice President Mike Pence will speak in Billings at MetraPark at 9:30 a.m. July 24. Pence is coming to Billings to campaign on behalf of state Auditor Matt Rosendale, a Republican who is seeking to unseat U.S. Sen. Jon Tester this fall. The event is billed as a discussion on how the tax bill that Read More…
KALISPELL — Authorities say a suspected drunken driver hit two pedestrians after losing control of his car in northwest Montana. The Daily Inter Lake reports a couple from Marietta, Georgia, was hospitalized with serious injures Saturday after they were struck in downtown Whitefish. Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said 56-year-old Jim French was charged with Read More…
The farm-to-table movement has become a popular concept in recent years, but Butte resident Betty Kujawa says there are two sides of the coin when it comes to supporting local agriculture. There’s the food you eat, Kujawa says, but there are also the clothes on your body. And if those clothes involve a natural fiber, Read More…
Billings is no longer the site of the Indian relay circuit championship. The Horse Nations Indian Relay Council, which ran the event last year under a one-year contract with MetraPark, announced that it’s moving the show to Washington. “We are excited to announce we have signed Walla Walla, Washington, to host our Championship of Champions Read More…
What is cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrencies are currencies that are digital and are supported by blockchain technology. The technology relies on a network of computers to keep track of transactions rather than on a centralized authority like a bank. Cryptocurrencies do not have a physical form and exist only on the internet. What is blockchain technology? Blockchain Read More…
After CryptoWatt Mining LLC turned on its first servers in the MSE complex south of Butte, there has been a lot of talk about what bitcoin might mean for the Mining City. However, some folks in the technology sector say the greatest asset in the bitcoin phenomenon isn’t the cryptocurrency itself. Instead, it’s the underlying Read More…