Montana/Region

Kid power brings solar power to a Montana middle school

Published on Tue, 05/30/2017 - 1:09pm
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BOZEMAN (AP) — The sun was shining brightly on Claire Vlases, an eighth-grade girl who led a student campaign to raise $118,000 so that solar panels can be installed at Sacajawea Middle School in Bozeman.

Claire, 14, started a year ago by asking the Bozeman School Board to put up solar panels as part of the school's $16 million expansion. She argued it "makes sense," environmentally and financially.

Trustees and architects commended her, but the district's building chief said solar didn't yet work economically.

Someday, he said.

Officer killed in Montana laid to rest in South Carolina

Published on Tue, 05/30/2017 - 1:06pm

SUMMERTON, S.C. (AP) — A police officer from Montana killed in the line of duty was remembered at his funeral in his native South Carolina on Tuesday as a family man who made it his life goal to help other people and gave legendary bear hugs.

Mason Moore was laid to rest in his hometown of Summerton, two weeks after he was shot by a man who court documents said was on a "suicide mission" to attack law enforcement.

Body found in Flathead Lake likely that of homicide victim

Published on Tue, 05/30/2017 - 1:04pm

KALISPELL (AP) — Flathead County officials say a body found in Flathead Lake is likely that of a homicide victim.

Sheriff Chuck Curry says boaters spotted the man's body on Monday evening, about 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) from the mouth of the Flathead River.

Curry believes the body is that of 34-year-old Andrew Walthers, who was thrown off a bridge and into the river on April 26.

The body has been sent to the state crime lab in Missoula for an autopsy and identification.

Drought concerns lessened in Montana

Published on Tue, 05/30/2017 - 1:02pm

BILLINGS (AP) — Montana farmers can expect to have minimal drought concerns for this year's growing season.

The Governor's Drought and Water Supply Advisory Committee says Montana's 2017 water year will be the best in several years and water supplies in excess of normal in the Flathead and Bighorn River basins.

Ada Montague is a water planner with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Montague tells The Billings Gazette that while there are slightly dry areas but the state continues to get timely spring rain to help the situation.

GOP Montana win may be blip in Democrats' anti-Trump hopes

Published on Fri, 05/26/2017 - 1:15pm
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BOZEMAN (AP) — A Montana Republican businessman won the state's U.S. House seat after being charged with assaulting a reporter on the eve of the election, a victory that may temper Democrats' hopes for a massive anti-Trump wave next year.

Greg Gianforte apologized late Thursday for attacking a reporter who had asked about the GOP health care bill.

"Last night, I made a mistake. I took an action I can't take back and I am not proud of what happened," he said.

Man whose body was found in Montana mine pit identified

Published on Fri, 05/26/2017 - 1:12pm

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rosebud County Sheriff Allen Fulton has identified a man found dead in a Montana mine pit.

The Billings Gazette reported Thursday that 58-year-old Shane Waples had been the man found dead on May 18.

Fulton says Waples did not work at the mine. His cause of death remains under investigation and a toxicology report is pending. Officials say the death does not appear to be of a criminal nature.

Montana teen charged with plotting to kill another teen

Published on Fri, 05/26/2017 - 1:11pm

BILLINGS (AP) — A southern Montana teenager is charged with plotting the death of a fellow student in a therapeutic educational program based at a mental health treatment facility.

The Billings Gazette reports the 14-year-old from Stillwater County was charged with attempted deliberate homicide on May 19 after a bus driver heard students talk about killing another student who attends Yellowstone Academy at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch.

Shooting death in Missoula ruled a suicide

Published on Fri, 05/26/2017 - 1:08pm


MISSOULA (AP) — An investigation has found a Missoula man shot himself in the head as police were trying to question him and three others about an earlier report of shots being fired.

Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton says 29-year-old Jacob Paul Nicklawsky died Monday afternoon of his injuries.

Tribes bash proposed Trump budget cuts to Native Americans

Published on Thu, 05/25/2017 - 3:28pm

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Dozens of Native American tribes in six Western states are bashing President Donald Trump's proposed budget cuts to American Indian programs.

Tribal leaders in Oregon, Washington state and Idaho speaking on behalf of the group said Thursday the proposed budget guts spending on Native American education, health care and environmental initiatives.

Mel Sheldon, a councilman from the Tulalip Tribes in Washington state, says it's the "worst attack on Indian Country in recent memory."

Contamination in Montana park; highest in kids' sand box

Published on Thu, 05/25/2017 - 2:17pm

BUTTE (AP) — Tests have found elevated levels of arsenic and lead in the children's sandbox at a Montana town's city park.

The tests conducted at the Benny Goodman Park in Anaconda found that the contamination was well above levels the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe.

Anaconda-Deer Lodge County released the test sampling to The Montana Standard on Wednesday.

Only four of the 55 test pits in the park were clean.

The area where the arsenic level was the highest in the park was the sandbox.