Montana/Region

Montana to test 1,400 unprocessed rape kits dating to 1995

Published on Thu, 09/29/2016 - 4:08pm

HELENA, Mont. — Montana will test 1,400 rape kits dating back to 1995 that weren't submitted to the state's crime lab by local law enforcement authorities, Attorney General Tim Fox said Thursday.

The state also will add personnel to track the kits, counsel victims and investigate when DNA from the kits result in rape suspects being identified.

Company: Crows knocked out power to 100,000 in 3 states

Published on Thu, 09/29/2016 - 4:04pm

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — A utility company says two crows triggered a power outage in mid-July that knocked out service to about 100,000 customers in three Western states.

Rocky Mountain Power spokesman David Eskelsen tells the Post Register newspaper in a Thursday story that an investigation shows the crows touched a capacitor bank — a device that controls voltage — at a substation in southwest Idaho.

Judge orders former real estate mogul to pay creditors $286 millilon

Published on Thu, 09/29/2016 - 4:02pm

BILLINGS, Mont. — A U.S. judge has ordered a former luxury real estate mogul to pay $286 million to the creditors of a Montana club for the ultrarich that he is accused of fleecing for personal gain before driving it into bankruptcy.

The order Wednesday from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph Kirscher is the latest turn in a yearslong hunt for assets of Timothy Blixseth, the founder of the Yellowstone Club, a private ski and golf resort near Big Sky with an elite group of members including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Yosemite chief retiring amid complaints of hostile workplace

Published on Thu, 09/29/2016 - 3:59pm

FRESNO, Calif. —€” The head of Yosemite National Park is retiring after employees complained that he created a hostile workplace by allowing bullying, harassment and other misconduct, allegations also raised in other popular national parks, officials said Thursday.

9 states to vote soon on expanding legal access to marijuana

Published on Wed, 09/28/2016 - 4:02pm
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SAN FRANCISCO — From California, with its counterculture heritage, to the fishing ports and mill towns of Maine, millions of Americans in nine states have a chance to vote Nov. 8 on expanding legal access to marijuana. Collectively, the ballot measures amount to the closest the U.S. has come to a national referendum on the drug.

Bozeman pushes for local sales taxes in Montana

Published on Wed, 09/28/2016 - 4:00pm

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The city of Bozeman is hiring a lobbyist to push for local sales taxes during the 2017 legislative session.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports that local sales taxes are not currently allowed under Montana law but smaller towns or unincorporated entities can collect sales tax in the form of a local option resort tax, an option used by places like West Yellowstone, Big Sky and Whitefish. Counties are also allowed to institute voter-approved gas taxes for road upkeep.

Montana lawmaker questions legality of Missoula ordinance requiring background checks

Published on Wed, 09/28/2016 - 3:58pm

MISSOULA, Mont. — A Montana legislator is asking the state's attorney general to review the legality of a city ordinance requiring background checks for private gun sales.

Speaker of the Montana House of Representatives Austin Knudsen said in a statement Wednesday that Missoula's new ordinance is in direct violation of state law, KGVO-AM reported. The Montana Code says a local government may not restrict or regulate the purchase, sale or transfer of a firearm.

Montana man pleads guilty in Miles City, Missoula killings

Published on Wed, 09/28/2016 - 3:57pm

MISSOULA, Mont. — A 38-year-old Montana man pleaded guilty to two counts of deliberate homicide for killing his former landlord and a Missoula motel worker in what authorities said was a meth-fueled, cross-state crime spree last December.

Scott Austin Price, a transient from Billings, entered the plea Monday to fatally stabbing 78-year-old Ed Martin in Miles City on Dec. 14.

Bataan Death March survivor, artist Ben Steele dies at 98

Published on Tue, 09/27/2016 - 3:37pm
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BILLINGS, Mont. — Ben Steele's hold on his sanity as a prisoner of war after surviving the Bataan Death March relied on hidden scraps of paper, stolen pieces of charcoal and his artist's memory of scenes from his home in Montana.

"I used to dream about Montana more than anything else, more than I did food — and I used to dream about food all the time," Steele once said.

"I was awful sick and I thought I was going crazy, so I had to do something to occupy my mind," he said.

Authorities ID man found dead in canyon near Bozeman

Published on Tue, 09/27/2016 - 3:34pm

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Authorities have released the name of a man who was found dead in a canyon near Bozeman.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports 27-year-old Jeffrey Theodore Baysinger, of Belgrade, was found dead in Hyalite Canyon on Friday after state troopers found his vehicle abandoned in a ditch the previous Wednesday.

An autopsy is planned, but Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin says it appears Baysinger died of exposure.