Latest Billings News

Judge orders US to decide if wolverines need protection
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge has given U.S. wildlife officials 18 months to decide if wolverines should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, following years of dispute over how much risk climate change and other threats pose to the rare and elusive predators. ...

Montana bars birth certificate changes, even with surgery
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte's administration says transgender people can not change their birth certificates even if they undergo gender-confirmation surgery, in defiance of a court order that temporarily blocked the Republican state's bid to restrict transgender rights. ...
Montana man killed after allegedly pointing gun at officers
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man was shot and killed by police after he allegedly assaulted a woman, led officers on a lengthy car chase through the state's most populous city and then pointed a pistol at them, authorities said Tuesday. Police responded to a hotel in Billings...

Billings hospital uses virtual reality to aid rehabilitation
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Dr. Jose Ortiz counted the minutes he spent in the back of an ambulance transporting him from Red Lodge to Billings. Timely treatment is imperative to saving one’s life or quality of life during a stroke. And Ortiz had at least a 60 minute drive before he would be...

Biden forest plan stirs dispute over what counts as "old"
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Joe Biden's order to protect the nation’s oldest forests against climate change, wildfires and other problems devastating vast woodlands is raising a simple yet vexing question: When does a forest grow old? Millions of acres are potentially on...
Montana state senator and U.S. House candidate dies
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Democratic Montana state senator and U.S. House candidate has died. The family of 62-year-old Mark Sweeney of Philipsburg in a statement Saturday said he died at home on Friday night. No cause was given. The Montana Democratic Party in a...

Canada lynx protections deal sealed by US, environmentalists
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. wildlife officials have agreed to craft a new habitat plan for the snow-loving Canada lynx that could include more land in Colorado and other western states where the rare animals would be protected, according to a legal agreement made public Tuesday. ...
Authorities ID man who was shot, killed outside Montana bar
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Authorities on Tuesday identified a 29-year-old Billings man as the victim of a weekend shooting outside a bar in the eastern Montana city. A single gunshot wound to the torso killed Domonic Shawn Dale Morgan, Yellowstone County Coroner Rich Hoffman told the...

EXPLAINER: Can climate change be solved by pricing carbon?
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — As climate change bakes the planet, dozens of nations and many local governments are putting a price tag on greenhouse gas emissions that are increasing flooding, droughts and other costly catastrophes. Pennsylvania on Saturday becomes the first major fossil...

Judge blocks Montana's transgender birth certificate law
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge on Thursday temporarily blocked enforcement of a law that required transgender people to have undergone a “surgical procedure” before being allowed to change their sex on their birth certificates. The law was part of a growing list of...
