Latest Montana News

Two city police officers patrol the Navigli area, a popular evening spot of restaurants and pubs bordering canals in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. Authorities in regions including Italy's three largest cities have imposed curfews in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19, as many of the cases in Lombardy's surging outbreak have occurred in Milan. On Thursday, an overnight curfew takes effect in the city, known for its lively night-time bar scene, and the rest of the region, as authorities try to slow the spread of the contagion. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

The Latest: New cases in India below 60,000 for 5th day

Oct. 23, 2020 12:41 AM EDT

NEW DELHI — India has reported below 60,000 new coronavirus cases for a fifth day as the promise of a free COVID-19 vaccine turned into a key state election issue. The Health Ministry says 54,366 new cases have taken the overall tally past 7.7 million on Friday. It also reported 690 deaths in the past 24...

Members of the festival organizing team at the Kali Bari Hindu temple pray via live transmission on the first day of Durga Puja celebrations in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. Most of the festival festivities are being scaled down following the health officials warning about the potential for the coronavirus to spread during the religious festival season, which is marked by huge gatherings in temples and shopping districts. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

The Latest: UN chief urges G20 to unite on coronavirus fight

Oct. 22, 2020 10:24 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. chief says it’s “very frustrating” that leaders of the 20 major industrialized nations didn’t come together in March and establish a coordinated response to grapple with the coronavirus in all countries as he proposed. The result, he says, is every...

Dr. Tom Dean poses at his clinic in Wessington Springs, S.D., on Friday. Oct. 16, 2020. Dean is one of three doctors in the county, which has seen one of the nation's highest rates of coronavirus cases per person. He writes a column in the local newspaper, the True Dakotan, urging people to take precautions against the virus.(AP Photo/Stephen Groves)

Rural Midwest hospitals struggling to handle virus surge

Oct. 17, 2020 6:38 PM EDT

WESSINGTON SPRINGS, S.D. (AP) — Rural Jerauld County in South Dakota didn't see a single case of the coronavirus for more than two months stretching from June to August. But over the last two weeks, its rate of new cases per person soared to one of the highest in the nation. “All of a sudden it hit,...

Montana judge blocks actions by Trump’s former land boss

Oct. 16, 2020 11:04 PM EDT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A month after ousting the Trump administration’s public lands boss for being in the post unlawfully, a Montana judge on Friday blocked three land-use plans that would have opened most U.S.-owned lands in the state to energy development. The actions struck down by Judge Brian...

Gov. Roy Cooper listens as Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, answers a question during a briefing during a briefing at the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. (Ethan Hyman/The News & Observer via AP)

The Latest: NCarolina virus numbers head in wrong direction

Oct. 15, 2020 6:16 PM EDT

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s top public health official is warning that the state’s coronavirus numbers are heading in the wrong direction as the Democratic governor considers whether to tighten restrictions or reopen more of the economy. The governor’s decision, which is expected...

FILE - In this Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, file photo, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is sworn in before testifying during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the Postal Service on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. Postal Service agreed Wednesday, Oct. 14, to reverse changes that slowed mail service nationwide, settling a lawsuit filed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock during a pandemic that is expected to force many more people to vote by mail. (Tom Williams/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Postal Service agrees to reverse service changes

Oct. 15, 2020 12:36 PM EDT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service agreed Wednesday to reverse changes that slowed mail service nationwide, settling a lawsuit filed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock during a pandemic that is expected to force many more people to vote by mail. The lawsuit filed against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy...

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2020, file photo, taken at 11:18 a.m., is a dark orange sky above Crissy Field and the city caused by heavy smoke from wildfires in San Francisco. Wildfires that scorched huge swaths of the West Coast churned out massive plumes of choking smoke that blanketed millions of people with hazardous pollution that spiked emergency room visits and that experts say could continue generating health problems for years. An Associated Press analysis of air quality data shows 5.2 million people in five states were hit with hazardous levels of pollution for at least a day. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

Wildfire smoke in US exposes millions to hazardous pollution

Oct. 15, 2020 11:33 AM EDT

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires churning out dense plumes of smoke as they scorch huge swaths of the U.S. West Coast have exposed millions of people to hazardous pollution levels, causing emergency room visits to spike and potentially thousands of deaths among the elderly and infirm, according to an...

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2020, file photo, Gov. Steve Bullock, left, and U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., prepare their notes before the beginning of their televised debate at the KUFM-TV studio at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont. Political groups fighting for control of the U.S. Senate have poured more than $118 million into the contest between Bullock and Daines. For Montana residents, it means an unrelenting barrage of advertisements any time they turn on their computers, televisions and radios or open their mailboxes. (Ben Allan Smith/The Missoulian via AP, File)

US Senate high stakes spur astronomical spending in Montana

Oct. 14, 2020 10:37 PM EDT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Political groups fighting for control of the U.S. Senate have poured more than $118 million into the contest between Montana's Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock and Republican incumbent Steve Daines, a record shattering figure for the sparsely-populated state that dwarfs spending on a...

FILE - In this Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, file photo, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is sworn in before testifying during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the Postal Service on Capitol Hill in Washington. The U.S. Postal Service agreed Wednesday, Oct. 14, to reverse changes that slowed mail service nationwide, settling a lawsuit filed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock during a pandemic that is expected to force many more people to vote by mail. (Tom Williams/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Postal Service agrees to reverse service changes

Oct. 14, 2020 8:05 PM EDT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service agreed Wednesday to reverse changes that slowed mail service nationwide, settling a lawsuit filed by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock during a pandemic that is expected to force many more people to vote by mail. The lawsuit filed against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy...

Frontier Conference football schedule starts in February

Oct. 8, 2020 3:00 PM EDT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Frontier Conference has approved a conference-only football schedule with games beginning in late February, the league announced. The five Montana members of the NAIA conference had planned to play this fall until the season was postponed in mid-August due to the coronavirus...

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