Archives for December 2018

Q2 reports a body found Friday on the Northern Cheyenne reservation near Lame Deer has been confirmed to be that of Henny Scott, missing since earlier last week. According to Northern Cheyenne Tribe Vice President Conrad Fisher, F.B.I forensic investigators notified her family at 7 p.m. Friday night. On Thursday, authorities released a missing person advisory for Scott, a 14-year-old Busby girl believed to be injured and headed toward Hardin. The advisory was later canceled.

Drug problems in Montana will be addressed by the 2019 Montana Legislature. Attorney General Tim Fox plans to bring several proposals to legislators designed to fight drug abuse, targeting methamphetamine, prescription opioid pain-killers and drunk driving. The state auditor’s office has a plan to stop drug-benefit managers and the pharmaceutical industry from withholding information that can help consumers. Get more online at KTVQ.com.

Montana Senator Jon Tester appeared Sunday morning on Face the Nation to discuss the ongoing federal government shutdown and the ramifications of the political deadlock between a divided Congress and President Donald Trump’s White House. Tester said Trump had not been consistent in his funding requests for the border wall, saying “What did happen this last year is the president asked for one point six billion dollars in his budget proposal,” Tester said the Appropriations Committee agreed to that bipartisan request. Trump said he’d sign it and Republican Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell voted for it. The president now wants five billion dollars. Tester also addressed the ‘trade war’ with China, saying it continues to hurt American farmers, narrowing margins and can be easily affected when the country sees a loss in exports. Get the whole story at; KTVQ.com.

On New Year’s Day, Billings Clinic and thousands of other hospitals in the U.S. will be required to post an online list of the cost of their services. The list must be machine-readable, however, Billings Clinic’s Director of Reimbursement and Healthy Policy JJ Carmody explained that CMS has not said what fields are required or what format the list of standard services needs to be in and the list of services that Billings Clinic will post will be more detailed. There still might be some issues with the new rule. Carmody said “We really do feel like posting the Charge Master isn’t the most helpful way to go about that. Of course, we will post our Charge Master just for reference. It’s going to be over 30,000 items out there for the public,” Get the whole story on kulr8.com.

Q2 reports a Richland County Montana judge has called for the end of a recount for the Musselshell County sheriff’s race, finding the challenger and county elections officials didn’t follow state laws governing recount procedures. Following a Thursday hearing, Judge Katherine Bidegaray said unsuccessful write-in candidate Ronnie Burns failed to advise the court that Shawn Lesnik was not served with an application for a recount as required by Montana law, among other improprieties. Also listed in the ruling, Burns is said to have failed to guide the court through the procedural requirements of Montana law concerning recounts. He reportedly violated a Montana law designed to protect the rights of elected candidates and failed to pay a cash deposit for the probable cost of the recount. The recount came after a close Musselshell County election. Get more at KTVQ.com.

The Billings Gazette reports there are more than $5 million in claims filed in Montana against Westmoreland Coal as the owner of three Montana mines works its way through bankruptcy. County governments, fallen miners and even dentists are among those trying to collect from the coal company, which disclosed $1.4 billion in debt when it filed for bankruptcy in October. Westmoreland is the sixth-largest coal company in the United States, operating the Absaloka, Rosebud and Savage mines in Montana.

A workshop on solar panels for faith-based buildings will happen at 10 a.m., Saturday, January 12th, at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church on 24th St. West in Billings– with information about solar generation, net metering and available subsidies and savings– along with information about legislation to create a program for no-money down loans for energy efficiency retrofits. Read more at; billingsgazette.com.

27-year-old Skyler Littlelight is in custody after stealing, then crashing, a 2002 Jaguar on the Billings West End. Littlelight was arrested Thursday following a chase where he fled from police at around 4:25 p.m., according to Lt. Brian Krivitz of the Billings Police Department. Q2 reports BPD initially mistook the man for a dangerous and wanted felon, then pursued the vehicle. It ran a red light at the intersection of South 24th Street West and Monad Road and then crashed into a work truck, according to Sgt. Krivitz. The truck then reportedly spun around and hit a Nissan Xterra. Littlelight allegedly fled and tried to get into another vehicle, but was apprehended by Billings Police. One person was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. No law enforcement officers were injured. Get the whole story at; KTVQ.com.

The Cascade County Sheriff’s Office is reportedly under investigation after the county auditor noticed some accounting “irregularities.” KFBB/KHBB News Director Megan Lewis reports the County Auditor told the Board of County Commissioners about recent purchases made by the sheriff’s office and the board then consulted the County Attorney’s office. Numerous Cascade County officials declined to comment on what those irregularities might be. However, Cascade County Attorney Joshua Racki referred the incident to the Division of Criminal Investigation. Get more at; kulr8.com.

Democratic State Representative Jacob Bachmeier of Havre would like to see the 2019 session of the Montana State Legislature declare the “Hippy Hippy Shake” Montana’s official rock and roll song. The iconic tune was written in 1959 by Billings’ own Chan Romero when he was a 17-year-old student at Billings Senior High School. Read more online at; billingsgazette.com.

The United States Department of Interior’s Inspector General, published a report December 11, 2018, that the Bureau of Indian Affairs requested an audit of the Crow Tribe’s methamphetamine initiative program. Crow Tribe officials were unable to account for a $150,000 grant given in 2015 toward the program. The report also claims they could not perform the audit because the tribe didn’t provide the necessary documents. The Crow Tribe released a statement saying: “The missing money went to the re-election campaigns of the current Crow Tribe Vice Chairman, Vice Secretary, Secretary, and former Chairman, Darrin Old Coyote. The audit in question was during the time of a previous administration. The current Chairman, AJ Not Afraid, is forthcoming about more audits of the Crow Tribe and we expect more audits to come in the future.” Get the whole story at; kulr8.com.

Put down that glazed donut, Billings; Missoula has earned the distinction of being one of the most fit communities in the country. According to five key metrics from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Garden City ranks high on the percentage of residents who bike or walk to work, the number of fitness professionals per capita, the number of gyms and fitness establishments and the best average hourly wages of personal trainers. In fact, SmartAsset.com ranked Missoula as the second-most fit community in the U.S., behind only La Crosse, Wisconsin. SmartAsset looked at other metrics that indicate healthy lifestyles. Only 36 percent of all restaurants in Missoula are classified as fast food restaurants, a relatively low number compared to other cities. The company looked at data on 332 metro areas in the U.S. Read the whole story online at; billingsgazette.com.

With Christmas trees coming down, Q2 reports the city of Billings and local nonprofit Bright ‘n’ Beautiful are once again conducting their annual recyling program. They’ll handle disposing of the tree, as long as you remove all ornaments, tinsel and other decorations. Billings drop-off locations are at Hanser’s Automotive, ZooMontana and Scnitzer Steel. Locations are also available in Lockwood, Shepherd, Huntley and Laurel. The program runs through January 21st.

Billings Police report car windows have been shot out in a Billings South Side neighborhood, with residents angry and concerned at the recent rash of vandalism. Kelsey Spieler told Q2 she woke Sunday morning to find her boyfriend’s truck’s vandalized, saying the windows were shattered. It turns out others were hit with similar crimes. Some reported tires were slashed in the area along Miles Avenue. Get the whole story at; KTVQ.com.