Montana/Region

Teachers getting COVID-19 shots starting this week

Published on Mon, 03/08/2021 - 3:03pm

HELENA (AP) — Educators in Montana will begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines this week through a federal partnership with pharmacies, local health officials confirmed..

President Joe Biden announced the program earlier last week, with the goal of vaccinating all teachers and child care staff by the end of March.

The federal vaccine program is open to Montana educators even as the state has not made its vaccine allotment available to teachers. Montana was one of at least a dozen states that had not prioritized teachers as of Biden’s announcement.

North Dakota House expels lawmaker accused of misconduct

Published on Fri, 03/05/2021 - 3:44pm
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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota House on Thursday voted to expel a lawmaker accused of threatening and sexually harassing women at the Capitol, the first time in state history a lawmaker has been expelled.

Members voted 69-25 to expel Rep. Luke Simons, a Republican from Dickinson, for a pattern of behavior they said stretched back to soon after he took office in 2017. The expulsion came with strong support from Simons’ own party, which holds a supermajority in the chamber.

First cases of coronavirus variant detected in Montana

Published on Thu, 03/04/2021 - 3:34pm

HELENA (AP) — Three cases of a variant of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom were detected in Gallatin County, Montana officials said Wednesday. These are the first cases of the more contagious variant confirmed in the state.

Gallatin County health officer Matt Kelley said in a statement that the county is working with the state to investigate when and how the variant first arrived in Montana.

“Well over 40 other states have identified the virus, so it stands to reason that it is in Montana as well,” Kelley said.

Protester who refused to testify back behind bars

Published on Thu, 03/04/2021 - 12:00am

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A Dakota Access Pipeline protester who has refused to provide testimony to a federal grand jury is back behind bars.

GOP state lawmakers seek to nullify fed gun limits

Published on Thu, 03/04/2021 - 12:00am
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — With Democrats controlling the presidency and Congress, Republican state lawmakers concerned about the possibility of new federal gun control laws aren’t waiting to react.

Man pleads guilty in woman’s killing on Crow Reservation

Published on Thu, 03/04/2021 - 12:00am

BILLINGS (AP) — A man accused of fatally shooting a woman in front of her child on the Crow Indian Reservation in southern Montana has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Lenita Goes Ahead, authorities said.

First responder answers call to her home; son burned in fire

Published on Thu, 03/04/2021 - 12:00am

ENDERLIN, N.D. (AP) — A first responder in North Dakota was called to her own home where her 2-year-old son had been severely burned in a fire.

South Dakota House lawmakers leave AG impeachment in doubt

Published on Thu, 03/04/2021 - 12:00am

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota House on Wednesday left the impeachment of the state’s attorney general in doubt as lawmakers moved to delay evaluating whether he should be impeached until the conclusion of the criminal case against him for hitting and killing a man with his car.

Idaho lawmaker draws ire after saying moms belong at home

Published on Thu, 03/04/2021 - 12:00am

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A decision by Idaho lawmakers to reject a $6 million federal grant to improve early childhood education — and comments from one lawmaker who said mothers belong at home — raised the ire of women across the state.

House kills right-to-work bill as it finishes first half of session

Published on Wed, 03/03/2021 - 4:26pm
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The Montana state House ended the session’s 44th (and technically also 45th) day with a recognition of one lawmaker’s status as an elite dancer (Jonathan Windy Boy of Box Elder is the Michael Jordan of pow wow and grass dance, by some accounts), a group rendition of the state anthem (“M-O-N-T-A-N-A!”), and a brief attempt to reignite an argument from Tuesday morning on one of the right wing’s top legislative priorities.

It was, in other words, a fitting way to mark the halfway point of the 67th Regular Session of the Montana Legislature.