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Amtrak Considering Culbertson Stop
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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Amtrak plans to study the feasibility of adding a stop in Culbertson for people traveling to the Baaken region for work.
Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus requested the study to give oil field workers another transportation option. They note that the oil field jobs are drawing workers from all over Montana, but some are finding it difficult to make the long commute.
The senators' letter to Amtrak notes the Culbertson stop would be 54 miles east of Wolf Point and 43 miles west of Williston, N.D. It also points out that housing, an extended-stay motel and two other motels are being built in Culbertson to accommodate the increasing number of oilfield workers.
Culbertson Mayor Gordon Oelkers says the town has a building where the Amtrak stop could be located.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Bullock Signs New Child Abuse Bills Into Law
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GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) - Gov. Steve Bullock signed two bills aimed at preventing child abuse into law Tuesday in Great Falls, where five children have died at the hands of their abusers in the past five years.
One bill creates the crime of criminal child endangerment. It would punish those who drive drunk with a child in the car, fail to get medical care for an apparent life-threatening condition, place a child in the care of a known abuser, deal dangerous drugs with children in the home, or fail to provide proper nutrition. Someone found guilty could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to $50,000. The law takes effect immediately.
Bullock also signed a bill establishing an office of child and family ombudsman in the Department of Justice.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comment Period Extended on Grizzly Plan
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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Federal wildlife officials are extending the comment period on proposed changes to a recovery plan for threatened grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park.
Tuesday's announcement gives the public until June 20 to weigh in on a plan that calls for maintaining a minimum grizzly population of at least 500 animals. That compares to an estimated 600-700 bears currently living in the Yellowstone area.
The plan also would give the government more flexibility in determining if too many grizzlies are dying.
The comment extension was requested by Earthjustice, an environmental law firm representing Defenders of Wildlife, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club.
Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso says the groups' concerns about the government proposal will be detailed in an upcoming response.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Man Sentenced in Drug Case, Faces Assault Charge
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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A Poplar man has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for a federal drug charge filed after his arrest in a chase that endangered the life of a Roosevelt County deputy sheriff.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon of Great Falls sentenced 49-year-old Robert Belton in Great Falls on Monday. Belton pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Belton still faces charges in Roosevelt County related to his Sept. 5 arrest near Wolf Point.
Prosecutors say he deliberately crashed his pickup truck into a semitrailer to dislodge a deputy who had stepped onto his pickup's running board as Belton tried to flee a traffic stop. The deputy was thrown onto the highway. Belton's charges include assault on a peace officer and criminal endangerment.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Mental Health Defense Planned in Stabbing Death
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MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - The attorney for a Missoula man charged with stabbing a Dixon man to death in December says he plans to argue his client suffers from a mental disease or defect.
The Missoulian reports public defender Steve Eschenbacher told District Judge Kim Christopher on Tuesday that a court-ordered psychological evaluation completed at the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, as well as a second evaluation being completed, support that defense.
Nathan Lee William Calvert is charged with deliberate homicide in the Dec. 6 death of 61-year-old Doug Morigeau of Dixon and with attempted deliberate homicide for cutting the throat of Morigeau's wife, Cheryl.
Calvert told investigators he was high on synthetic marijuana, or "spice" at the time of the attack.
Christopher set a July 15 trial date.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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VA Hospital Plans Major Renovation
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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - The Veterans Affairs Montana Health Care System has announced plans for a major renovation of its hospital at Fort Harrison that could take up to 18 months and cost between $5 million and $10 million.
The Independent Record reports work could begin as early as August on a new six-bed intensive care unit and same-day surgery unit. The project also calls for completely renovating the third and fourth floors of the main hospital, making all the patient rooms private.
The hospital expects to close its operating room for a month, meaning urgent and emergency cases will be handled at St. Peter's Hospital in Helena.
VA at Fort Harrison spokeswoman Terrie Casey says it's not clear how many beds the hospital will have after the renovation is complete.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Browning Man Gets Life Sentence For Rape
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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A 49-year-old Browning man has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 51-year-old woman last year.
The Independent Record reports Donald Carl Salois was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon during a hearing in Helena.
Laura Weiss with the U.S. Attorney's Office sought the life sentence, saying Salois offered the woman a ride home in February 2012, but then took her outside a housing area and raped her.
Salois has previous convictions for sexually abusing one girl when she was 3 and another when she was 6. He served 10 years in state prison for those offenses.
Salois has been in custody since his arrest in August 2012. He was convicted of aggravated sexual assault in January.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Cabela's, Kohl's Planned For Missoula
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MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - The company that owns the former Kmart building in Missoula plans to raze it and construct buildings to house a Cabela's Outpost and a Kohl's Department Store.
The Missoulian reports the new tenants were announced in a memo about the project that Woodbury Corp. of Salt Lake City presented to the Missoula Redevelopment Agency board on May 15.
Woodbury project manager Darrin Smith says demolition is set to begin June 1, but he declined to confirm the names of the tenants.
The $24.5 million retail construction project will also include three smaller buildings while another building on the property will be renovated and broken into two smaller spaces. The tenants in two other leased spaces are expected to remain.
Woodbury expects the new businesses will create over 400 new full-time, part-time and seasonal jobs.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Court Denies Request to Block Bison Hazing
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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A federal appeals court has denied a conservation group's request to block the use of a helicopter to haze wild bison in southwestern Montana back into Yellowstone National Park.
A three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the injunction request Monday.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed the request as part of its legal challenge that low-altitude helicopter hazing harasses and displaces federally protected grizzly bears in the area.
The group is appealing U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell's ruling in March against its lawsuit.
Montana Department of Livestock spokesman Steve Merritt said Tuesday the annual bison-hazing operation appears to be wrapping up for the season.
He says state officials moved about 350 bison Monday from the Hebgen Basin west of Yellowstone.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Defendant Pleads Guilty in Crow Corruption Case
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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - The youngest defendant in a corruption case on Montana's Crow Indian Reservation has pleaded guilty after reaching a deal with prosecutors.
Twenty-two-year-old Martin Lloyd Old Horn pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he defrauded a company doing business on the reservation and submitted a false student-aid application.
Old Horn was accused of taking payments from an outside company but not doing the work as a monitor for historic sites.
Prosecutors will seek to dismiss charges of larceny and wire fraud under the plea agreement.
Old Horn's grandfather and two others have pleaded not guilty in a related case scheduled to go to trial in August.
Three other defendants reached plea deals.
Authorities say more than $500,000 from monitoring payments was diverted from the tribe as part of a broader conspiracy.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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EPA Looks to Add Ex-Smurfit Site to Superfund List
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MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - A federal agency has proposed adding the former Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. paper mill site in Frenchtown to the Superfund National Priorities List.
The 3,200-acre site is among nine that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed adding to the Superfund list Tuesday.
The public has 60 days to comment on the proposed listing, which would make the sites eligible for more cleanup resources.
The site near the Clark Fork River is contaminated with dioxins, furans, arsenic and manganese associated with the former mill's wastewater and sludge ponds.
The EPA says no private residential or municipal drinking water wells appear to have been affected.
Missoula County commissioners, the Tribal Council of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and former Gov. Brian Schweitzer have expressed support for the listing.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Intoxicated Transient Stabs Self in Billings
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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - Police in Billings say an intoxicated transient stabbed himself in the chest several times in front of law enforcement officers trying to take him into custody after officers with the U.S. Marshals Service removed him from the federal courthouse.
Police Chief Rich St. John says deputies with the Marshals Service called police because they believed the man might need to go to the Community Crisis Center.
Once outside, the man waved the knife at deputies, who drew their guns.
A police officer twice deployed a stun gun to shock the man, but the probes didn't go through his coat. St. John says the man then stabbed himself in the chest five times. He was taken to a Billings hospital.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Man Gets 10 Years For Convenience Store Beating
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MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - A 19-year-old man who pleaded guilty to beating a Missoula convenience store clerk during an attempted robbery has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The victim, Patrick Bendig, told Ture-Adon Thibodeaux that he forgave him for the January attack and thanked him for taking responsibility. Bendig told District Judge Karen Townsend he agreed with a five-year sentence with the Department of Corrections with a recommendation for boot camp.
But Townsend said a prison sentence is necessary as a matter of public safety.
Thibodeaux is one of five men charged in the Jan. 8 robbery at Jay's Mart. Court records say three men entered the store, two hit the clerk with baseball bats and they left with the store's cash register. Prosecutors say they used the money to pay rent.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Montana Tea Party Protest IRS Targeting
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HELENA, Mont. (AP) - About a half-dozen tea party activists have gathered outside the federal building in Helena to protest IRS scrutiny of conservative groups and to warn that the agency could target other organizations next.
The protest was one of several taking place at IRS locations across the nation Tuesday.
Big Sky Tea Party Association Ed Arganbright says everybody should be outraged by the Internal Revenue Service's targeting certain conservative groups.
Arganbright says if the IRS can do it to the tea party, it can do it to other groups of different political stripes.
He and the others held signs saying "Stop IRS Targeting" and "Audit the IRS."
IRS officials have acknowledged that some conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status were screened through searches for terms that include "tea party" and "patriot."
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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MSU Professor Dies in Landslide in Nepal
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BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - An associate professor at Montana State University has died in a landslide in Nepal, where she was leading a group of students taking an honors program course.
MSU spokesman Tracy Ellig says Betsy Palmer and 16 students were on an extended trek to a remote village in the Arun River Valley in the Himalayas when landslide hit. Palmer was airlifted to a hospital in Kathmandu, but died of her injuries Monday. None of the students was injured.
Palmer came to MSU in 2001 and taught statistics and research methods courses. She met her husband in Nepal in 2005. They have 5-year-old twins.
MSU officials were working to get the students and co-trip leader Anna Greenberg back to the United States.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Sheriff Investigating Horse Strangulation Death
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STEVENSVILLE, Mont. (AP) - The Ravalli County sheriff's office is investigating after a horse was strangled to death in its corral northeast of Stevensville over the weekend.
The Ravalli Republic reports Patricia Cregan awakened Saturday to find her riding horse, Cooper, dead with a piece of nylon rope tied around its neck. The corral is about 100 feet from her house.
Cregan says she had raised the horse since it was a foal and that it was 7 or 8 years old.
Sheriff Chris Hoffman is asking anyone with information to call his office.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Woman Charged With Kidnapping Niece Released
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POLSON, Mont. (AP) - A Hot Springs woman charged with kidnapping her niece over the weekend made an initial court appearance Monday and was released on her own recognizance.
Justice of the Peace Joey Jayne rejected a request by Lake County prosecutors to set a $5,000 bond for 34-year-old Jamie T. Finley.
Finley is charged with abducting her 2-year-old niece from a Polson home on Saturday night, prompting a statewide Amber Alert.
Public defender Steve Eschenbacher told the judge that Finley took the girl to protect her.
Several of Finley's relatives told the Missoulian after the hearing that Finley took the girl to keep her sister from taking the girl out of town with a boyfriend they say abuses both the mother and the girl.
(Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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KPQX regional and state news emphasizes quality and substance. Audio is utilized to ensure accurate reporting - no misquotes or misinterpretations because listeners hear the actual quote and audio from the people and events making the news. You interpret this significance of the report yourself.
Our regional news brings relevance to issues of importance - news coverage that relates to residents of North Central Montana. Accurate, timely information delivered in a prompt and cohesive manner. Regional and state news are developed through a working relationship with other radio stations throughout the region and state of Montana.
Expanded hourly updates are delivered at the top of each hour at 6, 7, 8 and 9 a.m. and every afternoon at 4 and 5 p.m. Headline news, breaking stories and updates available all other hours. "Montana at Noon" is a more in-depth review of the news starting daily at 12:15 p.m. daily.
Residents of North Central Montana have long recognized the quality and timeliness of our newscasts. Additional recognition of our news at the national, regional and state level comes from the Associated Press, Society for Professional Journalists, the Greater Montana Foundation and the Radio and Television News Director Association's prestigious Edward R. Murrow award.
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