Montana/Region

Judge: Anti-transgender birth certificate law violates order

Published on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 3:52pm

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho officials’ latest attempt to ban transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificates violates a court order issued two years ago, a federal judge said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale first ruled in 2018 that a law barring the birth certificate changes was unconstitutional, and she banned state officials from implementing it. Earlier this year, Republican lawmakers passed new legislation that did largely the same thing.

North Dakota starts mask campaign five months into COVID pandemic

Published on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 3:52pm

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Department of Health officials on Monday kicked off a campaign to convince residents to wear masks in an effort to reduce spread of the coronavirus, five months after the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the state.

Region Shorts

Published on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 3:51pm

Immigrants comprise 5% of North Dakota’s population

MINOT, N.D. (AP) — Data from the American Immigration Council shows North Dakota has a small but growing community of immigrants, with many coming from the Philippines.

The council’s latest figures from 2018 show 35,824 foreign-born individuals comprised 5% of the state’s population.

Immigrants made up 6% of the state’s workforce in 2018. Immigrants accounted for 13% of the state’s production employees and 11% of residents working in the manufacturing industry.

Arrests increase as Sturgis Rally moves into full throttle

Published on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 3:49pm

A man associated with graffiti at the Capitol Hill Organized Protest in Seattle was among those arrested during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Sturgis Police Chief Geody VanDewater said a man likely in his 20s was arrested Friday night for graffiti in downtown Sturgis. He said the man was probably charged with intent to damage, although he has not seen the report.

He said the suspect was intoxicated and his vandalism caused an estimated $10,000 in damage, including the Domino’s Mount Rushmore mural.

Wyo. landowners appeal permit for new coal mine

Published on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 3:49pm

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A landowners organization in Wyoming has filed an appeal last week challenging a decision by environmental regulators to grant a mining permit to a coal technology firm. 

The Powder River Basin Resource Council submitted the appeal to the state’s Environmental Quality Council, petitioning for a hearing after Ramaco Carbon was given approval to dig for coal at a former mine eight miles (13 kilometers) outside Sheridan, the Casper Star-Tribune reported.

Parents of Elijah McClain sue police over his death

Published on Tue, 08/11/2020 - 3:45pm
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DENVER (AP) — The parents of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after officers in suburban Denver stopped him on the street last year and put him in a chokehold, sued police and medical officials Tuesday.

With the federal civil rights lawsuit, the McClain family said they were seeking both accountability for the loss of a “beautiful soul” and to send a message that “racism and brutality have no place in American law enforcement.”

Rural neighborhood drew app-dependent Yellowstone Park tourists

Published on Mon, 08/10/2020 - 12:02am
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JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — “This is not it.”

Driver hospitalized after crashing truck into school

Published on Mon, 08/10/2020 - 12:00am

LAUREL (AP) — A pickup truck crashed into the Laurel Middle School, damaging the building and sending the driver to the hospital.

MSU opens $50 million dormitory

Published on Mon, 08/10/2020 - 12:00am
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BOZEMAN (AP) — Despite clouds of uncertainty hanging over higher education from the coronavirus pandemic, Montana State University took an optimistic step Tuesday by celebrating the completion of its new $50 million freshman student dormitory, Hyalite Hall.

In Short

Published on Mon, 08/10/2020 - 12:00am

Popular ‘Yellowstone’ series plans to be filmed in Montana