Daily News Roundup
July 10, 2024
‘Land is Kin’: Old Salt Festival Celebrates Local Food and Open Landscapes
By Isabel Hicks for Montana Free Press HELMVILLE — Sitting on hay bales in the bed of an old pick-up truck, Montana rancher Cooper Hibbard looked out to a crowded pasture. Standing in between sagebrush, people ate lamb raised on Hibbard’s ranch and smoked over a fire that morning.
Federal Review Prompted by New Mexico Wildfire Warns of Staffing Shortfalls for Future Prescribed Burns
By Patrick Lohmann for States Newsroom As the U.S. Forest Service plans to greatly increase prescribed burns to protect communities from devastating wildfires, a government report prompted by the state’s biggest-ever fire found “gaps in some key areas” in the federal agency’s strategy.
Montana Abortion Petition Group Alleges Secretary of State Wrongfully Tossing Signatures
By Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, the group behind the petition to get an amendment enshrining abortion access in the state constitution, accused the Montana Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday of inappropriately discarding signatures from registered, but inactive, voters and is threatening legal action.
Federal Regulator: Pharmacy Middlemen Appear to be Raising Prices and Hurting Patients
By Marty Schladen for States Newsroom The federal trade watchdog on Tuesday released an interim report saying that sprawling health care conglomerates are driving out competition in the pharmacy sector and appear to be increasing prices in the process.
United By Their Objections to Trump, Congressional Dems Largely Close Ranks Behind Biden
By Ashley Murray, Jennifer Shutt, Shauneen Miranda and Lia Chien for States Newsroom WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats appeared to quell some inner tumult over supporting President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, after highly anticipated internal meetings Tuesday showed the president retained considerable support from the Congressional Black Caucus and other lawmakers in public statements.
New Mexico Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing Items From Montana Historical Society
By Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan A New Mexico author who has written several books on Montana pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing several items, including letters from C.M. Russell’s wife, from the Montana Historical Society during the course of a year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Man Shot in Yellowstone National Park Had Threatened ‘Mass Shooting,’ Park Says
By Keila Szpaller for the Daily Montanan The person who died after being shot by law enforcement rangers in Yellowstone National Park on the Fourth of July had been shooting a semi-automatic rifle toward a dining facility at Canyon Village, the park said Tuesday in a news release.
Yellowstone County Inches Closer to Laurel Power Plant While Residents Fume
By Darrell Ehrlick for the Daily Montanan As temperatures outside climbed toward triple digits in Billings, the comments directed at the Yellowstone County Commissioners and the state’s largest public utility, NorthWestern Energy, were every bit as hot.