Montana/Region

NorthWestern ordered to refund Montana customers $8.2 million

Published on Tue, 03/29/2016 - 2:35pm

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana regulators have ordered NorthWestern Energy to refund customers $8.24 million that the state's largest power company charged when it had to buy electricity on the open market following a 2013 outage of the Colstrip coal plant.

On a 3-2 vote Tuesday morning, the Montana Public Service Commission said NorthWestern failed to take "prudent actions" to protect customers against the financial exposure from such a massive outage.

Jury to decide whether lawmaker took illegal contributions

Published on Mon, 03/28/2016 - 3:22pm
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HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A jury of seven women and five men will decide over the next five days whether a Montana legislator took illegal and unreported corporate contributions during his 2010 election campaign, a decision that could mean the lawmaker's removal from office.

Montana parents call for school intervention for bullying

Published on Mon, 03/28/2016 - 3:19pm

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Parents in eastern Montana are asking schools to intervene in cases of bullying following three recent suicides of several students.

The Billings Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1RmBNiV ) that a group of concerned parents and community members have requested the Laurel school district to change the way it addresses bullying after a recent student's suicide.

Montana man pleads not guilty to killing woman, stealing car

Published on Mon, 03/28/2016 - 3:18pm

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man has pleaded not guilty to allegations that he broke into his ex-girlfriend's house, shot her to death and stole her car less than three weeks after he had been served with a court order to stay away from her.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1UXsYgE) 35-year-old Anthony Tobias Fagiano pleaded not guilty Monday to deliberate homicide, aggravated burglary, theft and violating an order of protection.

Attorney: Domestic violence law discriminates against men

Published on Mon, 03/28/2016 - 3:16pm

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — A Gallatin County prosecutor is appealing a Justice Court ruling that found Montana's law on domestic violence arrests discriminates against men.

On March 18, Justice of the Peace Rick West dismissed a misdemeanor partner family member assault charge against a Big Sky man after the man's attorney argued the state law is unconstitutional.

Justices weigh constitutional claim in sentencing delay

Published on Mon, 03/28/2016 - 3:14pm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court considered Monday whether a delay in imposing a prison sentence violates the Constitution's right to a speedy trial.

The justices heard arguments in a case from Montana in which defendant Brandon Betterman waited in jail for 14 months before being sentenced on a bail-jumping charge.

The court seemed concerned about sentencing delays especially because so many criminal cases are resolved through plea bargains instead of trials.

Coroner identifies 2 found dead in apparent murder-suicide

Published on Mon, 03/28/2016 - 3:12pm

BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — The names of the two people found dead in an apparent murder-suicide at a home outside of Butte have been released.

The Montana Standard reports (http://bit.ly/1RAWqqD ) that Coroner Lee Labreche says 70-year-old Larry Farrell and his 48-year-old wife, Michelle "Rae" Farrell, were found dead in the Ramsay home Friday. Both died of gunshot wounds.

Autopsies on the couple will be performed Monday.

Wolves kill 15 elk, don't bother to eat

Published on Fri, 03/25/2016 - 4:59pm
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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — State wildlife officials said they've never seen anything like it: A pack of wolves killed 19 elk at a western Wyoming feeding ground and didn't even bother to eat.

They pointed to the kill as an example of the need to let the state rather than the federal government manage wolves.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department can do little to prevent such kills as long as wolves remain federally protected and not under state control, Game and Fish Regional Director John Lund said Friday.

More charges against Bozeman man charged with killing woman

Published on Fri, 03/25/2016 - 3:01pm

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — A Bozeman man who was charged with killing his girlfriend earlier this month faces additional charges for breaking into her house, stealing her vehicle and violating a restraining order.

Gallatin County prosecutors filed a motion Thursday to charge Anthony Tobias Fagiano with deliberate homicide, aggravated burglary, theft and violating an order of protection that had been served on him 17 days before the shooting, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1LMtxbJ) reported.

US Supreme Court takes up speedy-trial fight in Montana case

Published on Fri, 03/25/2016 - 3:00pm

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in a Montana criminal case on whether the constitutional right to a speedy trial ends with a conviction or continues through a defendant's sentencing.

Brandon Betterman, who waited 14 months in the Butte-Silver Bow Detention Center before being sentenced on a bail-jumping charge, argues that delay was a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a "speedy and public trial."