Montana/Region

Ted Cruz robocalls prompt complaints in Montana

Published on Wed, 04/20/2016 - 4:04pm
Article Image Alt Text

HELENA, Mont. — The Ted Cruz campaign may be chatting up Montanans for their vote, but the Texas senator's alleged robocalls are pushing the wrong buttons for some.

Such automated phone calls are illegal in Montana, and are prompting a few complaints.

Montana's Commissioner of Political Practices was alerted to the calls earlier this week but says he doesn't have the authority to enforce the state law that prohibits political robocalls. His office said they received complaints from at least three callers.

1-year-old girl found dead in northeastern Montana

Published on Wed, 04/20/2016 - 4:00pm

POPLAR, Mont. — The search for a 1-year-old girl who authorities believe was abducted from her home on a Montana Indian Reservation ended Wednesday with the discovery of her body and a suspect in custody, officials said.

Kenzley Olson was found dead in Poplar, on Fort Peck Indian Reservation, more than a full day after she was last seen Tuesday morning, the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on its Facebook page.

"Officers are on scene investigating and one subject is in custody," the statement said.

Oil company charged in 2011 spill that polluted stream

Published on Wed, 04/20/2016 - 3:59pm

HELENA, Mont. — An oil and gas company faces criminal charges for a 2011 oil spill that prosecutors said went unreported for a month, in which time the spill spread nearly a mile downhill and polluted a stream in northwestern Montana.

A federal grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday charged FX Drilling Co. and field supervisor Quay Geza Torok with negligent discharge of oil into waters of the United States and failure to immediately notify federal authorities of the spill.

Settlement reached in civil lawsuit over shooting death

Published on Wed, 04/20/2016 - 3:58pm

HELENA, Mont. — A settlement has been reached in a civil lawsuit filed by the wife of a man who was shot to death by a neighbor in a rural subdivision near Augusta.

Jackie Newman sued Joseph Campbell and his wife Tani Converse in 2013, alleging Campbell negligently caused Newman's death in October 2013 and the couple failed to render aid.

Campbell was later charged with deliberate homicide, but a jury was unable to reach a verdict in a trial that ended in early March.

Cameras around Lake Tahoe change fight against wildfires

Published on Wed, 04/20/2016 - 3:57pm

RENO, Nev. — A growing network of cameras trained on the mountains around Lake Tahoe is changing the way crews fight Western wildfires by allowing early detection that triggers quicker, cheaper, more tactical suppression than traditional war-like operations, experts said Wednesday.

The high-definition cameras can be operated remotely to pan, tilt and zoom in the search for the first wisps of smoke in remote areas, said Graham Kent, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory.

Montana to create rail safety plan after critical audit

Published on Tue, 04/19/2016 - 3:17pm
Article Image Alt Text

HELENA, Mont. — Montana's Public Service Commission hopes to come up with a rail safety plan within six months after a report criticized the agency for having never written one, even as the train traffic carrying volatile crude from the Bakken oil patch has increased.

The commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to complete a risk assessment and safety plan by November, which would give them enough time to request money from the 2017 Legislature to hire more inspectors, if necessary.

Gianforte releases tax proposal with maximum 6 percent rate

Published on Tue, 04/19/2016 - 3:13pm

CLANCY, Mont. — Montana Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte is proposing a simplified tax code, phasing out a business equipment tax over four years, freezing state spending and setting the maximum tax rate to 6 percent.

County attorney moves to dismiss juvenile rape charges

Published on Tue, 04/19/2016 - 3:12pm

MISSOULA, Mont. — The Missoula County attorney has filed a motion to dismiss the case against a man who was convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy at the county's juvenile detention facility in 2002.

Cody Marble, who was 17 at the time, has consistently denied the charge. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with 15 suspended.

On Tuesday, Kirsten Pabst said she'd reviewed the case and found the conviction lacks integrity. She notes that at least three witnesses later recanted their statements, including the accuser, and one clearly lied.

States seek ways to regulate steep air-ambulance costs

Published on Tue, 04/19/2016 - 3:11pm

HELENA, Mont. — The first time Jason Ebert needed an air ambulance, it saved his life. The second time, it nearly broke the bank.

Both times, Montana doctors ordered Ebert flown 150 miles from Bozeman to Billings for treatment. But while insurance covered the first flight, the hospital called a for-profit service the second time, and Ebert got stuck with a more than $27,000 bill.

"I can't even fathom the difference in price," said Ebert's wife, Mandy.

Court weighs law aimed at domestic violence on tribal lands

Published on Tue, 04/19/2016 - 3:09pm

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court Tuesday to uphold a federal law aimed at people who have been convicted of repeated acts of domestic violence on Indian lands.

The case argued at the high court tests whether the law and its stiff prison terms can be used against defendants who did not have lawyers in earlier domestic violence convictions in tribal courts.