If you've always wanted to be a human popsicle, you should head down to Spring Meadow Lake this Saturday, February 13th.

It's the 11th annual Passion Plunge.

Sponsored by local law enforcement agencies, the money raised goes directly to the Special Olympics.

This year there's a chicken coop.

Those reluctant to jump in the water can still raise money and be "chickens" in that coop.

Of course, if you're braver, take the plunge.

Special Olympics Spokesperson Jason Davis says, "everybody says we're crazy for wanting to jump into Spring Meadow Lake, in the middle of winter, but everybody who does it has a soft spot for the special olympics and are awesome athletes."

Registration is at 10:30am and the plunge starts at noon.

Davis says anyone can do it... companies, individuals, maybe even news anchors!

In Helena, Ryan Whalen, Beartooth NBC.
[Posted:   5:32 PM, Mon Feb 8  ]        Back to top

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As lawmakers study DUI laws in Montana, they got front-row seats to mock, field sobriety tests performed Monday at the capitol...

As a test, a group of volunteers consumed various amounts of alcohol over a two hour period.

Afterward, law enforcement officers administered field sobriety tests to help legislators understand the exact process officers go through.

Some lawmakers say this will be a key issue in the upcoming session.

(D) Shannon Augare of Browning says, "my guess is we're going to put together a package that makes sense for DUI laws and basically upgrading what has been neglected for quite a long time."

The Law and Justice Interim Committee will discuss and possibly decide what bills they want to introduce in 2011 to help curb driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

In Helena, Brooke Boone, Beartooth NBC.
[Posted:   6:20 PM, Mon Feb 8  ]        Back to top

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HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Federal officials have rejected a proposal by Bresnan Communications to use $70 million in federal stimulus money to expand high-speed Internet services to the state's Indian reservations.
The Bresnan proposal had been criticized by small rural telephone companies and cooperatives, saying it would duplicate long-distance fiber-optic lines that already exist. They and the Public Service Commission said it would not increase critical "last-mile" high-speed lines that go directly to homes and businesses.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Indian tribes had supported Bresnan's proposal, saying it eventually would lead to faster, cheaper high-speed Internet service to many rural areas.
Bresnan and the 1,400 other applicants nationwide that were
rejected last week were encouraged to apply for a second round of funding. Spokesman Shawn Beqaj (buh-KAI') says the company hasn't decided if it will.
Beqaj says Bresnan's application was rejected because it did not offer a 20 percent match of its own funds to help finance the project. It offered $6 million.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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[Posted:   10:44 AM, Mon Feb 8  ]        Back to top

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HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Jon Tester is making changes to his plan that aims to both increase logging and wilderness area in Montana.
He says the changes are the result of concerns raised since the bill's introduction last summer.
The bill would still create more than 600,000 acres of wilderness, mostly in southwestern Montana's Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, and mandate 70,000 acres of logging in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge.
But the revised plan offered Friday contains provisions that would allow the logging mandate to continue past 15 years. That change is aimed at critics who said the wilderness would last
forever -- while the logging mandate would end in 15 years.
The senator accepted plenty of other suggestions -- but not one from U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg asking that creation of wilderness areas would be phased-in as logging actually occurs.
Tester says there is no way he could get that provision through the U.S. Senate.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-05-10 1614MST

[Posted:   5:50 PM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- A former Helena woman has pleaded guilty to wire and bank fraud for making at least $50,000 in unauthorized purchases on credit cards belonging to the business where she worked.
Kimberly Palmer, now of Gresham, Ore., entered her plea Thursday in federal court in Billings. She is scheduled to be sentenced on May 6.
Palmer, formerly Kimberly Deford, was office manager at Valley Metal Buildings in Helena from January 2006 through February 2009. As part of her job, she was responsible for bookkeeping, purchasing, inventory, and handling all accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll.
The daughter of the business owner found ripped up credit card receipts in an office waste basket, leading to an investigation of Palmer. Court records say when the owner confronted her, she admitted stealing about $50,000.
A private audit revealed that Palmer's schemes resulted in actual and attempted losses totaling more than $157,000.
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Information from: Independent Record, http://www.helenair.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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[Posted:   9:40 AM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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As they prepare for their Helena debut, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar is putting on the finishing touches.

The national chain is set to open February 15th.

As a grand opening special, the restaurant will give away free wings for a year to the first one-hundred customers.

Wild wings will also bring more than 120 jobs to Helena.

General Manager Billy Brewer says the restaurant has a lot to offer.

"For Helena it's something new, a place where families can come and catch the sports. Mom and dad can enjoy that while the kids play some of the video games around the edge. If you're not into sports we have trivia and we have great prices on beer and wings."

Brewer says management has already hired about 100 workers.

They have 20 more positions open.

Brewer says they have received over 600 applications!

In Helena, Ryan Whalen, Beartooth NBC.
[Posted:   5:03 PM, Tue Feb 2  ]        Back to top

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GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) -- Law enforcement officials are searching for an inmate they say walked away from the Great Falls Pre-Release Center.
Police say 37-year-old Steven Monroe left the center Sunday afternoon and didn't return. He was last seen wearing bleached blue jeans, white tennis shoes, a black parka and a black stocking cap.
Monroe is described as being 6 feet tall and 170 pounds.
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Information from: Great Falls Tribune,
http://www.greatfallstribune.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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[Posted:   11:11 AM, Mon Feb 8  ]        Back to top

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GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) -- Great Falls fire officials say an employee at Montana Refining Co. was injured in a fire.
Oil plant manager Dana Leach says the fire was contained to an area between two propane tanks and was quickly extinguished Thursday night. The injured man, a refinery operator, was being treated for first- and second-degree burns at a Great Falls
hospital.
Leach says damage from the fire was minimal.
Fire Marshal Doug Bennyhoff says the cause of the fire is under investigation.
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Information from: Great Falls Tribune,
http://www.greatfallstribune.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-05-10 1129MST

[Posted:   12:55 PM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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A Roosevelt Elementary school teacher and her husband are accused of stealing thousands of dollars and prescription drugs from the Great Falls school.

Rori and Mark Brubaker appeared Thursday in district court on charges of burglary, theft, possession of dangerous drugs, possession with intent to distribute and criminal endangerment.

Prosecutors say the couple stole between $1,500 and $2,000 from the school's carnival funds sometime between late October and early November of last year.

Don Dunwell, Beartooth NBC.
[Posted:   12:13 PM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Montana land officials will open at least one bid Monday from an entity that wants to lease more than a half-billion tons of coal near the Wyoming border.
In December, the Montana Land Board said it would take offers on the state-owned Otter Creek coal tracts near Ashland. Bids were due by 5 p.m. Monday.
The state wants at least $143 million up front and annual royalty payments that could approach $1 billion.
St-Louis-based Arch Coal Inc. the nation's second largest coal mining company already has leased adjoining tracts that hold an estimated 731 million tons of the fuel.
Arch paid less than half what the state wants, raising speculation that no one would bid for the Montana coal.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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[Posted:   5:37 PM, Mon Feb 8  ]        Back to top

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HAVRE, Mont. (AP) -- The Montana Department of Transportation says ridership on Amtrak's Empire Builder in Montana fell in 2009 for the first time in five years.
The number of passengers getting on or off the Empire Builder in Montana fell by more than 16,000 from 164,551 in 2009 to 148,019 in 2009. The numbers dropped at all 12 Empire Builder stops in Montana.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says the recession led to the loss of travelers nationwide. Magliari noted that 2008 was a record year because of the price of gasoline and that nationally, ridership in 2009 was still more than it was in 2007.
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Information from: Havre Daily News,
http://www.havredailynews.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-08-10 1214MST


[Posted:   2:44 PM, Mon Feb 8  ]        Back to top

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Jury selection has begun in the case of a
Billings man accused of killing three of his neighbors in 2006.
Jury selection in the case against 47-year-old Richard Covington had started three weeks ago, but was postponed when prosecutors announced they had found new DNA evidence linking Covington to one of the victims.
Jury selection is expected to take all week.
Covington is charged with killing Patti Hubbert, Norman Leighton and Gerald Morris. Covington is serving a 40-year prison term for armed robbery.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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[Posted:   2:42 PM, Mon Feb 8  ]        Back to top

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Police in Billings are investigating after a local man was stabbed at a public park.
Police say the 28-year-old told investigators he was walking in Rose Park Sunday afternoon when two men approached him, one hitting him in the head and the other stabbing him in the chest with a knife.
The man says he drove himself to St. Vincent Healthcare, where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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[Posted:   11:09 AM, Mon Feb 8  ]        Back to top

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- A bronze statue to be used as part of a soldier memorial at Fort Benning in Georgia is modeled after a photo of a Montana soldier that appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
The photo of Staff Sgt. Cody Hoefer of Ballantine appeared in the magazine almost six years ago.
His mother, Dawn Hoefer, says she was Googling her son's name when she learned about the statue.
Army officials want to build a memorial for the soldiers of the 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry in Fort Benning, Ga., which is the training ground for the infantry. The statue is complete and they're seeking donations to build the rest of the memorial.
Hoefer is on his fourth tour of Iraq.
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On the Net: http://1-22infantry.org/current/memorial.htm
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Information from: KTVQ-TV, http://www.ktvq.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-07-10 1013MST
[Posted:   1:07 PM, Sun Feb 7  ]        Back to top

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By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press Writer
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Researchers say small packs of gray wolves introduced to national parks and other sites across the country could curb oversized elk and deer herds that are eating up parklands.
Keeping the predators on target would be a tricky prospect: They breed prolifically, roam hundreds of square miles and easily pick up a taste for cows and sheep.
The proposed solution, outlined in a paper for the journal BioScience: Neuter the wolves, fence them in, fit them with shock collars and add a tracking device so they can be hunted and killed if they get too far afield.
Wolves were wiped out across most of the country last century, letting big game herds balloon from the Adirondacks to the Sierra Nevada. That led to overgrazing in many parks and protected areas.
The researchers, led by a National Park Service biologist in the Midwest, propose using wolves as park "stewards" that could the way back to ecological balance.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-07-10 0530MS
[Posted:   1:01 PM, Sun Feb 7  ]        Back to top

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BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) -- Solar physicists at Montana State University helped design four telescopes that are scheduled to be launched into space Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in
Florida.
MSU research professor Piet Martens and associate research professor David McKenzie plan on being in Florida for the launch, scheduled for between 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Mountain.
McKenzie and Martens helped design the ultraviolet telescopes with partners at the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
They've been working on the project for about six years.
The telescopes will spend about three years collecting ultraviolet images from the sun's atmosphere to help scientists understand the physics behind the activity on the sun's corona, which drives space weather.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-06-10 1036MST
[Posted:   10:27 PM, Sat Feb 6  ]        Back to top

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BUTTE, Mont. (AP) -- Montana Tech is offering a new class in video game design.
Instructor Lori Shyba says the class aims to teach students about the cultural, economic and industrial significance of video games.
She says she also wants to make sure that artists and designers and programmers know how to talk to each other.
Senior Dustin Gibson says he has a great idea for a game, and he's in the new class to learn out to create it. Students taking the class must design a game.
In addition to entertainment, Shyba says games can have a practical purpose. She helped design a game for the Calgary, Alberta police called "Booze Cruise," which simulates drunken driving with its delayed reaction times and blurry vision.
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Information from: The Montana Standard,
http://www.mtstandard.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-06-10 1027MST
[Posted:   10:23 PM, Sat Feb 6  ]        Back to top

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HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Bids are due Monday on a vast tract of coal in eastern Montana that the state is considering leasing out for a mine.
The state-owned Otter Creek coal tracts near Ashland hold an estimated 572 million tons of the fuel.
The Montana Land Board in December said any would-be developer would have to pay a $143 million upfront "bonus bid."
That's a high price -- more than double what Arch Coal Inc. paid for adjacent tracts in November. State officials will find out today if that was enough to discourage interest in the lease sale.
Members of the Land Board, five Democrats led by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, said they set the price high to ensure the state gets the best possible price for the coal.
Any bids offered by Monday will be considered at the board's Feb. 16 meeting.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-06-10 1014MST
[Posted:   10:19 PM, Sat Feb 6  ]        Back to top

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MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) -- A University of Montana economist says alcohol-related injury crashes cost the state economy $131 million a year.
Steve Seninger says adding that total to a colleague's earlier estimate of the economic cost of alcohol abuse in the state brings the total to $642 million.
A report by Patrick Barkey in 2009 said lost work productivity, alcohol treatment costs and health care costs of alcohol-related vehicle fatalities cost the state economy $511 million.
Seninger's report argues alcohol-related injury crashes should be included in the overall costs.
Seninger's report is included in information being given to the Legislature's Law and Justice Interim Committee as it seeks to draft bills addressing the state's drunken driving rate. The committee is meeting Monday and Tuesday in Helena.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-05-10 1404MST

[Posted:   3:57 PM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) -- A 21-year-old Flathead County man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for a sexual assault on a 9-month-old boy.
Shane Nickerson was convicted in October of sexual assault, aggravated assault, criminal endangerment and assault on a minor for the August 2008 attack on his girlfriend's son.
District Judge Stewart Stadler sentenced Nickerson on Thursday to 50 years for sexual assault and concurrent terms of 20 years for aggravated assault, 10 years for criminal endangerment and five years for assault on a minor.
Court records say the baby suffered on his head, a bloody mouth, injuries consistent with sexual abuse and severe brain injuries due to partial asphyxiation.
Nickerson must complete sex offender treatment before becoming eligible for parole and was designated a Level III sex-offender, one with a high risk to re-offend.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-05-10 1040MST

[Posted:   12:53 PM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) -- The Montana Supreme Court has upheld an $80,000 fine against a former Bankers Life and Casualty Co. agent in Troy who defrauded two elderly women.
The court affirmed the penalties imposed on Martin O. Bower in a
news release recently issued by commissioner of Securities and Insurance Monica Lindeen.
The Commissioner's Office fined Bower $80,000 for violating the
Montana Securities Act and banned him from becoming licensed to sell insurance for five years.
The agency also prohibited Bower from seeking any securities registration or a license.
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Information from: Daily Inter Lake,
http://www.dailyinterlake.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-05-10 0839MST


[Posted:   12:21 PM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Two Billings women have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a cocaine ring involving former players of the Billings Outlaws football team.
Tara Rauschendorfer was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison and four years of supervised release. She lived with former defensive back Shon Flores and is accused of shuttling cocaine and
drug money to Flores.
Athena Beaumont was sentenced to two years and three months in prison and four years of supervised release after pleading guilty to selling drugs she obtained from Flores.
Flores has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine
and is awaiting sentencing, along with former player Andy Petek and former player and assistant coach Chase Raynock.
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Information from: KULR-TV, http://www.kulr8.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-05-10 0746MST

[Posted:   12:18 PM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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BUTTE, Mont. (AP) -- State biologists have culled 28 bighorn
sheep from a herd near Philipsburg in western Montana to determine
the extent of a recent pneumonia outbreak.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Ray Vinkey says more than 25 percent of the sheep in the Upper Rock Creek herd were sick and "there's strong potential for higher rates of infection." He says FWP employees counted 170 bighorns, and 46 showed signs of illness.
Some of the bighorns were first observed coughing last week. That makes the herd the fourth in western Montana this winter to contract the disease. Three were killed Saturday, followed by 28 Wednesday.
Bighorn sheep usually die within a few weeks of contracting pneumonia.
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Information from: The Montana Standard,
http://www.mtstandard.com
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-02-05-10 0314MST

[Posted:   9:36 AM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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The Natural Resources and Conservation
Service says Montana's mountains have experienced a third straight month of below average precipitation.

In a report released Thursday, the NRCS says precipitation in mountains west of the Continental Divide was 57% of average in January, and it was 60% of average in the east. The agency also predicts below average stream flows in the spring due to the low precipitation and snowpack.

NRCS Water Supply Specialist Roy Kaiser says moisture is worst in the Bitterroot and Clark Fork river basins, and best in the Smith, Judith and Musselshell river basins.

He also says the state is two-thirds through seasonal accumulation of snowpack, and a few big
winter storms could improve conditions. With this winter being labeled an "El Nino" winter, chances are we will continue to see things on the current trend of mild and dry.

Last year we went into spring with below average levels. Remember the major late April snowstorm? Even though we recieved tons of snowfall from that event, we still were barely average.

Erin Yost, Beartooth NBC.
[Posted:   12:15 PM, Fri Feb 5  ]        Back to top

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