HELENA — An attorney for a Missoula man who’s fought more than 12 years to overturn a rape conviction told the Montana Supreme Court this week the man should get a new trial — even though the victim took back an earlier statement that the rape didn’t occur.
HELENA — A board of irrigators on the Flathead Indian Reservation has sued the Montana Legislature and top state officials, asking a district judge to block Gov. Steve Bullock from signing the bill ratifying the Flathead tribal water-rights compact.
HELENA — The state House Monday endorsed a bill barring Montana governments from using license-plate scanners to gather data on vehicles on public highways, with supporters arguing the practice violates citizens’ privacy.
HELENA — A key budget panel began work Thursday on the 2015 Legislature’s major spending bill, which Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s budget director called “unacceptable” in its current form.
HELENA — Legislative Republicans Tuesday rolled out their proposals to expand health coverage for the poor in Montana and reform health care, saying the plan is focused on “getting the right services to the right people.”
HELENA — A state House panel Wednesday strongly endorsed a package of bills to beef up local mental health services in Montana, as a key Republican lawmaker said that’s the best approach to solve the state’s mental health crisis.
HELENA — A conservative group is targeting Republican state legislators — including Frank Garner of Kalispell — who won’t sign a pledge to oppose Medicaid expansion in Montana and is holding events this week in the lawmakers’ districts to publicize the no-pledge stance.
HELENA — The Montana House Wednesday endorsed a bill giving the governor power to overrule the Board of Pardons and Parole on clemency decisions for felons — a measure spurred in part the case of convicted murderer Barry Beach.
HELENA — Ohio Gov. John Kasich visited the Montana Legislature Wednesday to promote a federal balanced-budget amendment — but also got into why he supported expanding Medicaid in Ohio.
HELENA — The accuracy of Montana’s welfare system came under the microscope Monday at the Legislature, spotlighted by rare, under-oath testimony from state workers subpoenaed by Republican legislative leaders.
HELENA — Annette Russ told a legislative budget panel Thursday that when her son was released from Montana State Prison recently, he had a 10-day furlough and no medication for his schizophrenia — and quickly had a “psychotic episode.”
In perhaps the most expensive residential tax-appeal case in Montana history, a California real estate mogul is asking a state board to reduce the assessed value of his Flathead Lake island home by $32 million.
At least $1.6 million was spent on the Montana Supreme Court race between Justice Mike Wheat and challenger Lawrence VanDyke this year, records show, likely making it the most expensive judicial race in state history.
HELENA — From high-profile criminal cases to multimillion-dollar business decisions, Supreme Court Justice Mike Wheat has ruled many ways on some of Montana’s biggest cases since joining the court in 2010.
HELENA — Montana Supreme Court justice candidate Lawrence VanDyke has worked as a lawyer for a giant international law firm and Republican attorneys general in Texas and Montana, focusing on appellate law — experience he says makes him a good choice to serve on Montana’s high court, whose main job …
HELENA — Outside money has been pouring in to influence Montana’s Supreme Court race between Justice Mike Wheat and challenger Lawrence VanDyke — and political observers say Montanans might as well get used to it.
Progressive groups are putting money and shoe leather into defeating a Republican-sponsored ballot measure that would end Election Day voter registration in Montana.
HELENA — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Amanda Curtis, who’s been in the race just nine weeks, put up her first TV ad Thursday — less than three weeks before the Nov. 4 election.
While Flathead County is among the state’s most populous counties, Whitefish business owner Dave Fern says it’s a mistake to call it an urban county — and that’s one reason why it’s so reliably Republican.
HELENA — Just eight weeks before the election, an Oct. 4 debate between Montana’s U.S. House candidates is the only debate scheduled for any candidates in state congressional races — but another one appears likely to happen.
HELENA — The Bullock administration has approved rate increases of 15 percent to 27 percent and lower benefits for the 2015 state employee health plan, which covers 16,000 state employees and retirees.
Prices for health insurance policies sold on the “Obamacare” online marketplace in Montana for 2015 will increase by an average of 1.35 percent — significantly below what’s happening in many other states, the state insurance commissioner said Wednesday.
HELENA — A majority of the state Public Service Commission appears poised to vote Thursday to approve NorthWestern Energy’s proposed $870 million purchase of 11 hydroelectric dams — although it’s uncertain what conditions it may impose on the sale.
The Remington Arms Co. has confirmed it will offer to replace trigger mechanisms on millions of Model 700 bolt-action hunting rifles as part of a class-action lawsuit settlement.
The three members of Montana’s congressional delegation say they’re opposed to sending any additional U.S. troops or advisers into Iraq to help quell a Sunni Muslim-led insurgency.
The three members of Montana’s congressional delegation say they’re opposed to sending any additional U.S. troops or advisers into Iraq to help quell a Sunni Muslim-led insurgency.
Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer set off a media and social media firestorm Wednesday night, as a magazine reported his comments about his “gaydar” going off over recently ousted U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and equating U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein with a prostitute.
HELENA — U.S. Rep. Steve Daines, Montana’s only congressman, is trying to step up this year to the U.S. Senate — and the Republican primary election next month may be just a bump in the road on his path to the general election this fall.
DAILY INTER-LAKE | UPDATED 10 YEARS, 11 MONTHS AGO
Federal health officials released a huge database last week of Medicare payments to individual health-care providers, including $163 million paid in Montana in 2012 to nearly 3,300 providers.
One of the most controversial parts of the Affordable Care Act is its requirement that all Americans buy or have health insurance this year, or face a tax penalty — but, for many, the requirement may not apply.
As Max Baucus departs Congress after 39 years, none would disagree that the new ambassador to China has left an indelible mark on the state and the nation, on everything from health care to highway funds to tax policy.
HELENA — Conservative opponents of expanding Medicaid coverage for poor Montanans have launched a public-relations counterattack, including mailers criticizing the expansion as a plan to put more people on “government-controlled health plans.”
Chief executives at Montana’s largest hospitals pulled down salaries and bonus payments ranging from $250,000 to $580,000 for 2009 — although most had relatively small or no increases in a year marked by a faltering state and national economy.
