Animal recaptured without harm, local outlet reports, and is safe with handlers after escaping Jordan World Circus
An elephant escaped from the circus and ambled through the streets of Butte, Montana, before being recaptured without harm, local news reported.
NBC Montana showed a video of the enormous pachyderm walking across a busy multi-lane street in front of stopped cars and gawping drivers. A later picture showed the elephant standing on a suburban house’s lawn.
Continue reading...Arthur Schubarth, 80, pleads guilty to trafficking in ‘audacious’ and unlawful scheme to cross-breed sheep for lucrative sale
A Montana rancher illegally used tissue and testicles from wild sheep killed by hunters in central Asia and the US to breed “giant” hybrid sheep for sale to private hunting preserves in Texas, according to court documents and federal prosecutors.
Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, of Vaughn, Montana, pleaded guilty to felony charges of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to traffic wildlife during an appearance Tuesday before a federal judge in Great Falls.
Continue reading...James Bond star in hot water for stepping out of bounds at hot springs area in US national park – and must appear in court
Pierce Brosnan, whose fictitious movie character James Bond has been in hot water plenty of times, is now facing heat in real life, charged with stepping out of bounds in a thermal area during a recent visit to Yellowstone national park.
Brosnan walked in an off-limits area at Mammoth Terraces, in the northern part of Yellowstone near the Wyoming-Montana border, on 1 November, according to two federal citations issued this week.
Continue reading...In a preliminary injunction on Thursday, Judge Donald Molloy said first-of-its-kind ban violates free speech rights of users
A US judge has blocked Montana’s first-of-its kind state ban on the use of short-video sharing app TikTok from taking effect on 1 January, saying it violated the free speech rights of users.
In a preliminary injunction on Thursday, US district judge Donald Molloy said the law “oversteps state power and infringes on the constitutional rights of users”.
Continue reading...About 60% of oil and gas operations protected from protest due to money spent on lobbying, says Greenpeace USA report
Fossil fuel companies have spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign donations to state lawmakers who sponsored anti-protest laws – which now shield about 60% of US gas and oil operations from protest and civil disobedience, according to a new report from Greenpeace USA.
Eighteen states including Montana, Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, West Virginia and the Dakotas have enacted sweeping anti-protest laws which boost penalties for trespass near so-called critical infrastructure, that make it far riskier for communities to oppose pipelines and other fossil fuel projects that threaten their land, water and the global climate.
Continue reading...Expert says Senate candidate Tim Sheehy’s estimate wildly off as there are 1.12 million people in state and ‘nowhere close to that number of bear’
In the compendium of false claims, an offering from Tim Sheehy, a Montana 2024 Republican Senate candidate, is readily disprovable.
In an interview with Breitbart, the former Navy Seal observed that the state, which he referred to as “flyover country”, did not typically have much in political power – a situation that could change with the balance of power in the US Senate races next year.
Continue reading...Alicia Navarro, who police said had not been harmed and does not face charges, disappeared days before her 15th birthday
When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her home in a Phoenix suburb, days before her 15th birthday, she left a signed note promising she would return.
“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”
Continue reading...Bear tracks found at scene investigators say, as Montana sees increase in grizzly sightings
A woman has been found dead in Montana after coming into contact with a grizzly bear on a trail west of Yellowstone national park.
The state’s fish, wildlife and parks department said the woman was found deceased on Saturday on a trail near West Yellowstone, a Montana town nestled in the Custer Gallatin national forest just west of Yellowstone national park.
Continue reading...Head wounds, broken ribs and other injuries were reported after the second-story deck of the Briarwood country club collapsed
More than 30 people were injured when a deck collapsed at a country club overlooking Montana’s largest city, police said on Sunday.
The second-story patio floor of Billings’ Briarwood country club broke and gave way Saturday evening. The collapse caused head wounds, broken ribs and other injuries as people landed atop each other and debris and scraps of food scattered over the grass next to the club’s golf course.
Continue reading...Environmental agency officials said workers are cooling the gooey material with river water and putting it into garbage bags for recycling
Globs of asphalt binder that spilled into Montana’s Yellowstone River during a bridge collapse and train derailment could be seen on islands and riverbanks downstream from Yellowstone National Park a week after the spill occurred, witnesses report.
Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency said cleanup efforts began on Sunday, with workers cooling the gooey material with river water, rolling it up and putting the globs into garbage bags. It will probably be recycled, said Paul Peronard with the EPA.
Continue reading...The EPA, which is working with the state rail authority on the cleanup, has not detected any toxic gases downwind of the site
Authorities on Sunday were testing the water quality along a stretch of the Yellowstone River where mangled cars carrying hazardous materials remained after crashing into the waterway following a bridge collapse.
The seven mangled train cars that were carrying hot asphalt and molten sulfur when they fell Saturday morning remained in the rushing river on Sunday near the town of Columbus, about 40 miles (roughly 64km) west of Billings. The area is in a sparsely populated section of the Yellowstone River valley, surrounded by ranches and farmland.
Continue reading...Officials shut down drinking water intakes downstream after train cars carrying asphalt and sulfur submerged in Yellowstone River
A bridge that crosses Yellowstone River in Montana collapsed early on Saturday morning, causing portions of a freight train carrying hazardous materials to plunge into the flooded river below, officials said.
The train cars were carrying hot asphalt and molten sulfur, said David Stamey, Stillwater county’s chief of emergency services. Officials shut down drinking water intakes downstream while they evaluated the danger. An Associated Press reporter witnessed a yellow liquid pouring out of tank cars.
Continue reading...Ruling could take weeks to emerge in trial for Held v Montana, which is the first constitutional climate trial in US history
A groundbreaking climate trial came to an early close on Tuesday as lawyers on each side presented a very different picture of who can be held responsible for the climate crisis.
Attorneys representing the lawsuit’s young challengers said Montana officials and agencies must be held accountable for exacerbating the crisis, and thereby violating the plaintiffs’ state constitutional rights. But the defense argued that climate change is a global problem, and that if Montana is contributing to it, plaintiffs should work to change that through the legislature.
Continue reading...Montana teen Mica is one of 16 plaintiffs in historic trial, alleging state has violated residents’ right to healthy environment
Mica, aged 15, learned about climate change when he was just four, when his parents showed him the documentary Chasing Ice.
“I understood it more than my parents thought I would,” he testified in a groundbreaking trial on Tuesday. “I just knew something bad was happening, but I didn’t know exactly what it was.”
Continue reading...The plaintiffs note that Montana’s constitution pledges a healthy environment ‘for present and future generations’
The US’s first-ever trial in a constitutional climate lawsuit kicked off on Monday morning in a packed courtroom in Helena, Montana.
The case, Held v Montana, was brought in 2020 by 16 plaintiffs between the ages of five and 22 from around the state who allege state officials violated their constitutional right to a healthy environment by enacting pro-fossil fuel policies.
Continue reading...Last week, Greg Gianforte, the governor, had signed into law a bill that prohibits app stores from offering the video-sharing platform
TikTok has filed a federal lawsuit against Montana over the state’s new law banning the short-video app.
In the suit filed on Monday, the company argues the ban violates first amendment rights of both the company and its users.
Continue reading...Greg Gianforte, the governor, signed legislation prohibiting mobile app stores from offering the video-sharing platform by next year
Montana has became the first US state to ban TikTok after the governor signed legislation prohibiting mobile application stores from offering the app within the state by next year.
The move is among the most dramatic in a series of US escalations against TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance. TikTok has come under increasing scrutiny over its ties to China, amid concerns that such links could pose a national security threat.
Continue reading...David Gianforte, who uses he/they pronouns, said they urged father Greg to stand up against ‘unjust, immoral’ legislation
The son of the Republican governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, met their father in his office to lobby him to reject several bills that would harm transgender people in the state, the Montana Free Press reported.
David Gianforte told the paper they identify as non-binary and use he/they pronouns – the first time they disclosed their gender identity publicly. They told the outlet they felt an obligation to use their relationship with their father to stand up for LGBTQ+ people in the state.
Continue reading...Zooey Zephyr will be able to vote remotely, however the decision has drawn protests that brought the legislature to a halt
Montana Republicans have barred the transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr from the statehouse floor for the rest of the session after she told colleagues they would have “blood on your hands” if they voted to ban gender-affirming medical care for trans children.
Under the terms of the punishment, Zephyr will still be able to vote remotely but will be unable to participate in debates for the remainder of the 90-day legislative session. The Democratic representative had been forbidden from speaking for the past week over her comments, which Republicans said violated decorum.
Continue reading...Zooey Zephyr hasn’t been allowed to speak on house floor since taking a stand against bill that would ban gender-affirming care
Protesters gathered outside the Montana state house on Monday over Republican legislative leaders’ decision to prevent a transgender lawmaker from speaking after she told colleagues they would have “blood on their hands” if they banned gender-affirming medical care for trans youth.
Zooey Zephyr, a Montana state representative, hasn’t been allowed to speak on the state house floor since Thursday because of her remarks.
Continue reading...