Category Archives: Montana

Montana park ranger says Senate candidate Tim Sheehy lied about combat wound

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Sheehy has claimed he was wounded in Afghanistan, but ranger says he investigated accidental shooting in 2015

A former Montana park ranger has now publicly accused Tim Sheehy – a Republican running for a US Senate seat in the state – of lying about getting shot while at war in Afghanistan.

In an interview with the Washington Post published on Friday, 67-year-old Kim Peach went on the record about how Sheehy – a former US navy seal – actually shot himself on a family trip in 2015 at Glacier national park. Peach’s account explicitly contradicts Sheehy’s claim that he was shot in the arm during military combat, a story that the Republican candidate has shared throughout his US Senate campaign.

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US man, 81, sentenced to six months for creating giant hybrid sheep for hunting

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Arthur Schubarth of Montana used tissue and testicles from Marco Polo sheep to clone animal and create hybrid

An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced on Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in central Asia and the US to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.

The US district court judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana. He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the Earth.

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Trump-backed Senate candidate caught on tape disparaging Native Americans

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Tim Sheehy, locked in tight race with incumbent Democrat John Tester, repeatedly referred to Crow tribe at fundraisers

A Republican candidate in a race that could decide control of the US Senate made disparaging comments about Native Americans at campaign fundraising events, according to recordings disclosed in local media.

Tim Sheehy, a wealthy cattle rancher who has been endorsed by Donald Trump in his bid to become senator for Montana, made the remarks repeatedly at a series of gatherings where he boasted of cultivating ties and bonding with members of the Crow Reservation, the official home of the Indigenous Crow tribe.

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Body of man who drowned in Montana national park may have been found

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Glacier national park rangers believe they have recovered remains of Siddhant Vitthal Patil, who fell into creek in July

Glacier national park rangers believe they have recovered the body of a man who drowned over the July 4 weekend, park officials in Montana said.

Siddhant Vitthal Patil, 26, of India fell into Avalanche Creek on 6 July, but the creek was running too fast to recover his body.

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Rare white buffalo sacred to Lakota not seen in Yellowstone since birth

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Park staff say they have not been able to locate calf, who fulfilled Lakota prophecy and is named Wakan Gli

A rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone national park has not been seen since its birth on 4 June, according to park officials.

In a statement released on Friday, the National Park Service (NPS) confirmed that a white buffalo calf was born in Lamar Valley earlier this month, adding that the park’s buffalo management team had received numerous reports of the calf on 4 June from park visitors, professional wildlife watchers, commercial guides and researchers.

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Heatwaves and wildfires strike across US as tropical storm forms in gulf

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Tropical storm due to form in Gulf of Mexico, adding to extreme weather as north-east and midwest bake

Potential Tropical Cyclone One – a slow churning system of low atmospheric pressure in the Gulf of Mexico – was badgering the Texas coast but had not fully developed, meteorologists said on Wednesday.

The storm, which will be named Tropical Storm Alberto when it forms fully, is set to unleash powerful winds, heavy rain and flood threats across the entire southern US, Mexico and Central America. Storm-force winds, which stretch more than 400 miles (640km) from the storm’s center, are already affecting southern Texas.

This article was amended on 19 June 2024 to correct a quotation from Bill Nye.

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Rare white buffalo born at Yellowstone prompts Lakota Sioux celebration

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The birth, not yet confirmed by park officials, holds special significance to tribe as ‘both a blessing and warning’

A rare white buffalo has been born in Yellowstone national park, with the arrival prompting local Lakota Sioux leaders to plan a special celebration, with the calf representing a sign of hope and the need to look after the planet.

The white calf was reportedly spotted shortly after its birth, on Tuesday last week, by park visitor Erin Braaten, a photographer. She took several shots of the wobbly baby after spotting it amongst a herd of buffalo in the north-eastern corner of the large park, located in Wyoming and a small slice of Montana.

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Andy Kim wins Democratic primary in race for Bob Menendez’s Senate seat

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Congressman bids to replace Menendez, who plans to run as independent despite being charged with accepting bribes

Democratic congressman Andy Kim has won New Jersey’s Senate primary, putting him in strong position for the general election in the blue-leaning state, though the win comes a day after Democratic senator Bob Menendez filed to run as an independent amid his federal corruption trial.

Menendez, who has denied allegations that he accepted bribes to promote the interests of the Egyptian government, has chosen not to seek the Democratic Senate nomination. Kim’s win comes after a bruising battle that led New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy to withdraw from the race in March.

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Mammoth mayhem: elephant escapes circus and roams Montana streets

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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.

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US rancher used tissue and testicles to breed ‘giant’ sheep to sell for hunting

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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.

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No license to stroll: Pierce Brosnan cited for off-limits walk at Yellowstone park

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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.

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US judge blocks Montana’s TikTok state ban: ‘oversteps state power’

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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”.

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Fossil fuel firms spent millions on US lawmakers who sponsored anti-protest bills

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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.

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‘Not accurate’: Republican wrong to say Montana has more bears than people

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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.

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Mystery surrounds case of US teen who re-emerged after going missing in 2019

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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.”

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Woman found dead after apparent grizzly bear attack near Yellowstone national park

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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.

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Deck collapse at Montana country club injures dozens

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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.

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EPA begins to clean up black globs of asphalt from Yellowstone River train derailment

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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.

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Montana officials testing Yellowstone River water at site of rail bridge collapse

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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.

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Montana bridge collapses causing train carrying toxic materials to fall into river

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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.

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