Montana/Region

Private treatment programs support and question proposed state rules

Published on Fri, 09/13/2019 - 1:38pm
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HELENA (AP) — Operators of private adolescent residential treatment programs in Montana say they welcome state oversight, but the regulations being proposed won’t meet the needs of such diverse programs.

The Department of Public Health and Human Services held a public hearing Thursday on the proposed rules , which are meant to create clear licensing requirements and establish minimum health and safety standards, said Erica Johnston, the agency’s operations services branch manager.

STATE SHORTS

Published on Fri, 09/13/2019 - 1:36pm

Montana AG backs opioid deal that’s opposed by some states

BILLINGS (AP) — Attorney General Tim Fox says Montana is among the states and local governments that have reached a tentative deal with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma in the opioid crisis.

Fox said Thursday the settlement would avoid a protracted legal fight and deliver money more quickly to treat a drug problem that has contributed to 400,000 deaths in the U.S. over two decades.

In small Alaska city, Native women say police ignored rapes

Published on Thu, 09/12/2019 - 4:33pm
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NOME, Alaska (AP) — There’s not much that scares Susie. As an Alaska Native woman, she thrives amid sub-zero winters in her village near the Arctic Circle, and camps with her family each summer at the Bering Sea, catching, drying and smoking salmon to put away for winter.

But Susie is afraid to return to Nome. The man who raped her, she says, is still there.

“Just scares me, and I’m scared to see him, and thinking what he might do,” she says. “But I’m not scared in the village, or any other villages, because I know he won’t come.

Sage grouse numbers stumble in Montana

Published on Thu, 09/12/2019 - 4:26pm
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BILLINGS (AP) — Montana’s greater sage grouse population has fallen more than 40% over the past three years, mirroring recent declines across the U.S. West for the bird species that federal officials rejected for protections in 2015.

State wildlife officials estimate there were about 44,000 ground-dwelling sage grouse in Montana this spring. The figure is included in a report to be delivered to state lawmakers later this month.

STATE SHORTS

Published on Thu, 09/12/2019 - 4:24pm

Montana officials urge residents to stop using e-cigarettes

HELENA (AP) — Montana health officials have asked residents to consider not using e-cigarettes while a national investigation into its implications is underway.

The state Department of Public Health and Human Services says serious lung-related illnesses are possibly linked to e-cigarettes, also known as vaping.

Health officials say 33 states have identified 450 potential cases of severe pulmonary illnesses possibly linked to e-cigarette use as of Sept. 6 including five deaths.

Likely tornado and high winds slam South Dakota’s largest city

Published on Wed, 09/11/2019 - 12:20am
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Severe weather, including a probable tornado, struck South Dakota’s largest city, leaving a trail of damaged buildings, downed power lines, fallen trees and some reports

US expands recreation at national wildlife refuges

Published on Wed, 09/11/2019 - 12:00am

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is expanding hunting and fishing in 77 national wildlife refuges in a move that critics contend is deferring management

State law barring robocalls struck down

Published on Wed, 09/11/2019 - 12:00am

HELENA (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Montana can’t ban political robocalls based on their content alone, marking the latest in a string of court decisions against

STATE SHORTS

Published on Wed, 09/11/2019 - 12:00am

BILLINGS (AP) — Montana’s Supreme Court has reversed a lower-court ruling that struck down a water pollution permit for a large coal mine near Colstrip. District Judge Kathy Seeley in

Exoneree and others urge the state to compensate wrongly convicted

Published on Wed, 09/11/2019 - 12:00am
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HELENA (AP) — Montana should offer financial compensation for people who are exonerated of criminal charges after spending years in prison, advocacy groups and exonerees told a legislative committee. “While