Latest Montana Headlines

All the headlines from our Montana Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Jury Awards Montana Company $28.4M in Software Lawsuit

Dec 10 2012 // A federal court jury has awarded a Missoula company $28.4 million in a lawsuit against a national bus company over the licensing of software that helps school districts more efficiently plan and run bus routes.Education...

Mediation In Montana Church Abuse Lawsuits Set For April

Dec 6 2012 // Attorneys for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, a Montana order of nuns and hundreds of alleged sex-abuse victims said this week they will try to hammer out a settlement during a mediation conference in April,...

Missoula County Wants Montana Mill Site On Superfund List

Dec 3 2012 // Missoula County commissioners have sent a letter to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer asking him to support putting the former Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. mill site in Frenchtown on the Superfund National Priorities...

NAIC Elects 2013 Officers; Louisiana’s Donelon Elected President

Dec 3 2012 // Members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has elected its 2013 officers: President: Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon President-Elect: North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Adam...

Montana Woman Fights DUI With Date-Rape Drug Defense

Nov 27 2012 // The Montana Supreme Court has ruled that a Missoula woman charged with drunken driving should have the opportunity to present evidence she was given a date rape drug and that her actions were involuntary.Leigh...

Snag In Montana Church Abuse Lawsuit Negotiations Over Policy Dispute

Nov 26 2012 // Settlement negotiations between hundreds of alleged sex abuse victims and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena may have hit a snag with the church’s insurers refusing to cover the claims.The insurers and the diocese...

State Elections Wrapup: Some Partisan Realignment; 5 Incumbent Insurance Chiefs Win

Nov 8 2012 // Neil Alldredge has been searching for the unifying “theme” in the results of Nov. 6 state elections around the country but he says it has not been easy to identify one.As senior vice president for state and...

State Elections to Decide Insurance Commissioner, Ballot Initiatives, Court Contests

Nov 5 2012 // For the insurance industry, there is more at stake in the Nov. 6 election than who goes to or stays in the White House and Congress.The insurance industry will be watching who wins the gubernatorial races in 11 states,...

Montana School District Settles Rape Lawsuit

Nov 1 2012 // The Billings school district in Montana and its insurance carrier have agreed to pay nearly $91,000 to the family of a former Billings Senior High student who committed suicide in February 2010 after a former teacher was...

Montana Commissioner Orders Man to Pay $168K, Sold Fake Surety Bonds

Oct 26 2012 // Montana’s insurance commissioner has ordered a North Dakota man to pay $168,000 in fines and restitution for selling fake surety bonds for a construction project on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. The...

Man Charged With Ninth DUI In Montana

Oct 16 2012 // Authorities in Billings say a 51-year-old Montana man has been charged with his ninth drunken-driving offense.The Billings Gazette reported that James Alan Tate was arrested Wednesday and is being held in the Yellowstone...

EPA Pushes Tough Asbestos Standard for Mont. Town

Oct 1 2012 // A proposed standard for federal cleanup of asbestos contamination in a Montana town concludes that even a tiny amount of the material can lead to lung problems, a benchmark far more rigorous than any in the past and one...

Montana Legal Group Gets $1.2M From Settlement Over Insurance Fees

Sep 21 2012 // State insurance officials say a Montana legal services charity will receive $1.2 million from a law firm that represented plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit over insurance fees.Montana Securities and Insurance...

Former Montana Mill Eyed As Possible Superfund Site

Sep 18 2012 // The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the former Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. pulp mill in Frenchtown has potentially dangerous levels of dioxins, heavy metals and other hazardous chemicals, a finding that could...

Government Declares Disasters In 4 Mont. Counties

Sep 7 2012 // The U.S. Agriculture Department has declared Broadwater, Gallatin, Jefferson and Silver Bow counties disaster areas, making farmers and ranchers there eligible for low-interest emergency loans. The assistance is meant to...

Montana DUI Program Reaches Milestone

Sep 4 2012 // Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock says 100,000 alcohol breath tests have so far been conducted under the state’s year-old drunk driving enforcement program.The 24/7 Sobriety Program forces repeat DUI offenders...

Montana Accounting Firm Settles Lawsuit Over Investments

Aug 9 2012 // A Montana accounting firm has reached settlements with six current and former farm and ranch owners who said they lost millions of dollars in real estate investments they say the firm advised them to make.The lawsuits...

Montana Agent Pleads Guilty to Stealing Premiums

Aug 6 2012 // An insurance agent from Butte, Mont., who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $7,200 of his client’s premiums has been given a three-year deferred sentence and ordered to pay restitution. State Insurance...

Environmentalists To Sue Colstrip Over Pollution in Mont.

Jul 27 2012 // Environmentalists filed notice Wednesday that they plan to sue the six companies that co-own eastern Montana’s Colstrip power plant over alleged pollution violations.The Sierra Club and Montana Environmental...

Dead Cattle, Devastation In Wake Of Western Fires

Jul 27 2012 // Cecil and Delores Kolka thought they escaped the worst of the Ash Creek Fire when the 390-square-mile blaze spared their home and several pastures as it ripped through the couple’s Montana cattle ranch.But when the...