Latest Montana News

Canal pipe breaks, threatening a northern Montana irrigation project and drinking water

Jun. 18, 2024 22:53 PM EDT

Two century-old steel pipes that help convey water from a river on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation to a river that helps irrigate northern Montana cropland have failed, causing local flooding and raising concerns about the availability of drinking water for at least 14,000 residents this summer,...

Which states could have abortion on the ballot in 2024?

Jun. 16, 2024 00:08 AM EDT

Deadlines are coming up between now and July 5 in five states where advocates are trying to gather enough voters' signatures to put abortion-related questions on ballots in November's elections. Measures that would enshrine the right to abortion in state constitutions are already on...

Much of US braces for extreme weather, from southern heat wave to possible snow in the Rockies

Jun. 15, 2024 20:29 PM EDT

After days of intense flooding in Florida, that state and many others are bracing for an intense heat wave, while the Pacific Northwest will experience unseasonably cold weather and there is a potential for late-season snow in the Rocky Mountains early next week. The chaotic weather...

Many Senate Republicans were done with Trump after Jan. 6. Now they want him back in the White House

Jun. 15, 2024 00:18 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three years ago, Donald Trump had few friends left in the Senate. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell declared in a speech that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by spreading “wild...

Move over grizzlies and wolves: Yellowstone visitors hope to catch a glimpse of rare white buffalo

Jun. 14, 2024 17:09 PM EDT

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — Standing at the edge of a bluff overlooking the Lamar River in Yellowstone National Park, TJ Ammond stared through binoculars at hundreds of buffalo dotting the verdant valley below. Tan-colored calves frolicked near their mothers while...

New initiative tests nonpartisan observation in Missoula primary

Jun. 14, 2024 11:43 AM EDT

ARLEE, Mont. (AP) — More than a dozen trained volunteers fanned out across 19 of Missoula County’s 22 polling stations on June 4, fixing their eyes not on the results of inter-party primary battles but on the election process itself. Their presence constituted the trial run of the Montana...

Reported birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone park fulfills Lakota prophecy

Jun. 13, 2024 23:27 PM EDT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe who cautioned that it’s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its...

Backers say they have signatures to qualify nonpartisan vote initiatives for fall ballot

Jun. 13, 2024 13:12 PM EDT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Backers advancing a pair of constitutional initiatives that would overhaul how Montana voters elect state and federal candidates say that they have collected enough signatures to have the measures placed on the November ballot. The first initiative, CI-126,...

Montana man gets 2 months in a federal prison for evidence tampering after killing grizzly bear

Jun. 11, 2024 18:46 PM EDT

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — An 80-year-old northwestern Montana man was sentenced Tuesday to two months in a federal prison, fined $10,000 and ordered to forfeit a rifle and scope he used to kill a female grizzly bear on his property in November 2020, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. ...

Republican challenger to Tester leans into his outsider status in Montana US Senate debate

Jun. 09, 2024 19:41 PM EDT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy embraced his status as an outsider who came to Montana to start a business as he sought on Sunday to fend off concerns over wealthy newcomers driving up property taxes during the first debate in a contest that could tip the...