Free Republic

So, in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, with temperatures forecast at 6 degrees below zero, will there still be a long pre-dawn line for wristband passes to Sarah Palin’s book signing? “You betcha,” say Palin fans, who will vie for a limited number of slots to the former Republican vice presidential nominee’s noon appearance Dec. 8 at Borders Books in Billings. “We’re going to probably have that big Kodiak pickup flagged up around midnight,” said Eric Olson of the conservative group Montana Shrugged. “The doors open at 9 a.m. to get the rubber bands.” Clutching copies of the politician’s...

8 a.m. update: Some 350 people, some who waited since 9 p.m. Monday in sub-zero cold, were in line waiting for wristbands as Borders opened today.

BROWNING — An official says the Blackfeet Tribe in northwestern Montana has signed the largest oil exploration agreement in the tribe’s history. Oil and Gas Manager Grinnell Day Chief says the tribe on Thursday signed an agreement with Houston-based Newfield Production Co. to allow test wells in the middle of the reservation. Day Chief says the company will be drilling horizontal wells into the Bakken Formation and other formations. New drilling technology has made the Bakken Formation one of the nation’s hottest oil exploration areas in recent years. Day Chief declined to give the dollar amount of the agreement. But...

Not bad, for a home office staffer....

Her parents redecorated the bedroom soon after she left for college, as sure as everyone else in Missoula that Melissa Meyer would not be moving back. They took down the photos of Melissa meeting the Dalai Lama and laughing alongside Vice President Joe Biden, placing them in the closet. They packed away dozens of high school honor certificates – valedictorian, class president, outstanding chemistry student – and stored them in plastic boxes under the bed. Melissa had always been too big for this town, her father liked to say. She was editor of the school newspaper, intern in the United...

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., issued a statement Saturday regarding the revelation that he had nominated his girlfriend for the job of top federal prosecutor in Montana. Baucus disputed reports that he was having an affair with Melodee Hanes, saying he and Hanes were both separated from their spouses when their relationship began

“She was recommended for the [U.S. attorney] position because of a very close and personal relationship with Max Baucus and she withdrew because of a very close and personal relationship with Max Baucus,” Thomas Bennett, the ex-husband of Hanes, told Main Justice

Republicans seized on revelations that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) nominated his girlfriend to a U.S. attorney position, calling for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation. Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele called for an official investigation into Baucus, who allegedly flagged Justice Department lawyer Melodee Hanes for a U.S. attorney nomination while engaging in a romantic relationship with her. Hanes eventually withdrew her name from consideration. "Today's report that Senator Max Baucus used his Senate office to advance a taxpayer funded appointment for his staff-member girlfriend raises a whole host of ethical questions," Steele said in a statement. "This issue...

We're guessing the Baucus Plan is toast now. ----- AP: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was romantically involved with his current girlfriend when he recommended her for U.S. attorney, a spokesman said. The Montana Democrat and his former state office director Melodee Hanes began their relationship in the summer of 2008, after Baucus separated from his wife, Ty Matsdorf told The Associated Press late Friday. Baucus nominated Hanes for the U.S. attorney post in Montana in March. But she later withdrew, saying she had been presented with other opportunities she couldn't pass up. Don't miss: Everything you need to...

Max Baucus, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, recommended that the White House nominate his girlfriend as a U.S. attorney in Montana, his office announced late Friday night. Earlier this year, Baucus recommended that the White House consider Melodee Hanes and two other names for the U.S. attorney post – at the same time that the senator was carrying on a romantic relationship with Hanes, who had been his state director. Baucus was separated with his wife at the time when the two began their involvement, according to a source familiar with the situation, and now the two are...

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Max Baucus says the Montana Democrat was in a romantic relationship with the woman he nominated for U.S. attorney. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was already involved with his girlfriend and former staffer when he recommended her earlier this year to become the next U.S. attorney for Montana, a spokesman said. The Montana Democrat and his former state office director Melodee Hanes began their relationship in the summer of 2008, after Baucus separated from his wife, Ty Matsdorf told The Associated Press late Friday. Baucus nominated Hanes for the U.S. attorney post in...

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus’ office confirmed late Friday night that the Montana Democrat was carrying on an extramarital affair with his state office director, Melodee Hanes, when he nominated her to be U.S. attorney in Montana. According to a source familiar with their relationship, Hanes and Baucus began their relationship in the summer of 2008 – nearly a year before Baucus and his wife, Wanda, formally separated in April. The Senator has since divorced his wife. Hanes ended her employment with Baucus in the spring of this year. Hanes, who is divorced and now lives with Baucus in the...

From the Senate Republicans’ Web site: SEN. MAX BAUCUS (D-MT): “Just for a second — health care reform, whether you use a ten-year number or when you start in 2010 or start in 2014, wherever you start at, so it is still either $1 trillion or it’s $2.5 Trillion, depending on where you start…” (Sen. Baucus, Floor Remarks, 12/2/09) This is, of course, what opponents of the various Democratic bills have been pointing out all along: Starting the new taxes a few years before the benefits begin is the only way these bills get a cost estimate of “just” $1...

Montana state law says that guns made and shot in the state are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and that the federal should not tread on state law. Montana District 61 representative Joel Boniek sponsored House Bill 246, the bill says state law trumps federal law when it comes to gun laws. Firearms that are made and stay in Montana do not fall under the interstate commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution and is not in Congress' jurisdiction, according to Boniek who spoke Wednesday at the Big Sky Pachyderm luncheon. His law is in court at the...

With gold reaching record high prices as recently as Tuesday there is an increasing demand for the precious metal, and there is a new group preparing to go in after it. According to Timberline Resources of Idaho and Butte Highlands LLC, ore sample testing suggests more gold is likely to exist in the Butte Highlands Mountain area than initially thought. But that can't truly be known until the mine is fully operational. Project manager Henry Bogert says he hopes the state can provide a permit to enable the mine to start producing gold in just over a year. In the...

<p>Contact your Senators and let them know what you think!</p> <p>U.S. veterans or subsidies for United Nations (U.N.) bureaucracy.</p>

U.S. Sen. Max Baucus' approval rating is taking a dip following a high profile push for health care reform. A survey released Monday shows that just 44 percent approve of the job performance ... That is down from two years ago when the same Montana State University-Billings poll showed Baucus with a 64 percent approval rating. The poll also found that a vast majority support the hunting of wolves in the state — and that most oppose any effort to legalize marijuana in the state.

A landmark health care reform bill narrowly cleared the House over the weekend with a 220-215 vote and now the measure heads to the Senate where its future seems much more uncertain. The House plan calls for 36,000,000 uninsured Americans would get coverage. The bill would cost $1.2 trillion over 10 years, but it will cut $400 hundred from Medicare expenses. While some are very pleased with the newly passed plan, others are still finding faults, with one Montana legislator saying that the state can't afford the measure.

A Troy man shot and killed a grizzly in the Cabinet Mountains and state wildlife officials say he did it in self defense. Fish, Wildlife and Parks reports the man was hunting mule deer on Dad Peak on last Friday. He told officials he spooted two grizzlies about 50 yards ahead of him. The man said he yelled at them and waved his gun. But he says the bears started to move toward him. That's when the man realized there were three bears. He said he yelled again and hoped the animals would run off. But the larger bear reportedly...

The Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum, which opened its doors earlier this year, boasts this country’s second-largest set of displayed dinosaur remains. The record is still held by the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. Both are located in Montana near a rich cache of world-famous fossils. The Glendive Museum stands apart, however, in that it presents dinosaurs as having been drowned and their remains preserved in the massive worldwide flood described in the Bible. This view has prompted reactionary comments from mainstream scientists ...

A jury on Wednesday found that the maker of Louisville Slugger baseball bats failed to adequately warn about the dangers the product can pose, awarding a family $850,000 for the 2003 death of their son in a baseball game. The family of Brandon Patch argued that aluminum baseball bats are dangerous because they cause the baseball to travel at a greater speed. They contended that their 18-year-old son did not have enough time to react to the ball being struck before it hit him in the head while he was pitching in an American Legion baseball game in Helena in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, today released the following statement following the introduction of H.R. 3962, Speaker Pelosi’s new Health Care Bill. The 1,990-page bill was introduced this morning, and Rehberg posted it on his website, inviting Montanans to join him in reading it.

House Democrats unveil a new health care reform bill Thursday, prompting Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg to call an emergency Town Hall meeting for Saturday in Billings. Rehberg's office says Montanans have a right to know what's in the new House bill and what's missing.

Michael Hilton, the mysterious figure at the center of a failed plan by American Police Force to take over the vacant 464-bed detention center in Hardin, did not show up for a scheduled court hearing today in California. Hilton had been ordered by a judge in Superior Court of Los Angeles to appear in court and to disclose his assets to a plaintiff who has a civil judgment of almost $700,000 against him. The judge issued a bench warrant for Hilton, who is now subject to arrest for his failure to appear, said Cris Armenta, an attorney representing the plaintiff,...

HELENA, Mont. -- A jury on Wednesday found that the maker of Louisville Slugger baseball bats failed to adequately warn about the dangers the product can pose, awarding a family $850,000 for the 2003 death of their son in a baseball game. The family of Brandon Patch argued that aluminum baseball bats are dangerous because they cause the baseball to travel at a greater speed. They contended that their 18-year-old son did not have enough time to react to the ball being struck before it hit him in the head while he was pitching in an American Legion baseball game...

Montana this month issued its first license for an industrial hemp-growing operation to a woman who said she wants to develop a domestic market for the plant despite federal law barring its cultivation. Laura Murphy, of Bozeman, was the first to apply for the two-year license since the state Legislature approved hemp's commercial cultivation in 2001. Federal law prohibits such activity, but the license issued by the Montana Agriculture Department on Oct. 14 could challenge whether the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is willing to override the state. Hemp is similar to illegal marijuana but without the mind-altering ingredient of the...

Earth First! made headlines with its tree-spiking in the 1980s, but the guy who helped make the anti-logging tactic famous didn't invent it. Mike Roselle even titled one chapter of his new book "Why I Quit Spiking Trees." In it, the co-founder of Earth First!, the Rainforest Action Network and the Ruckus Society described how the practice brought old-growth timber cutting to national awareness, but became a public relations disaster for the protesters. "I think the Wobblies can take credit for it if they want, but it's been around as long as logging," Roselle said, referring to the Industrial Workers...

Sebelius Says U.S. Will Donate Part of H1N1 Vaccine Supply to Foreign Nations Before Meeting This Nation’s DemandThursday, October 22, 2009 By Chris Neefus      ....... Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) asked Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebilius why the United States should get vaccinations ahead of people in other countries, including those in countries that are producing the vaccine for the United States. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)When Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) had his turn to question Sebelus, he raised the issue of whether the United States was "entitled" to the vaccine more than other nations. "Why should we be more entitled, the U.S. be more   entitled to...

When Obama first started his presidential campaign... I really didn’t believe that the American People could be hoodwinked into following someone with basically nothing more to offer than raw emotion, a gift for public speaking, and a thinly veiled socialist agenda... How could that possibly work in America? I understand the discontent with the previous administration, but, this seemed to be a little extreme. Then I noticed that the Children of America were following the Pied Piper of Hamlet playing his magic flute from behind the teleprompter and it caught my attention... Where is this guy leading them? So, I...

Link only - Baucus Ballistic, According to ABC News

The Dillon ranchers who lost more than 120 buck sheep in an August wolf attack last week lost 23 lambs from the same area when wolves struck again. Kathy Konen said this week that despite the presence of a herder and guard dogs, wolves struck the herd sometime in the early morning hours Oct. 17. She and husband Jon Konen lost 23 weaned lambs. "They're in the area, and they've killed once," she said of wolves. "We knew they would come back and kill again." The Konens in August lost 122 sheep to wolves in the same pasture in the...

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Three U.S. states said on Tuesday they plan to sue FedEx Corp, accusing the second-largest U.S. package delivery company of violating labor laws by illegally classifying drivers as independent contractors rather than employees to save money. The attorneys general of New York, New Jersey and Montana intend to begin litigation against FedEx Ground Package System Inc after October 27, saying the unit of Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx has caused a "serious injustiice."... Anne Milgram and Steve Bullock, the attorneys general of New Jersey and Montana, joined Cuomo in the litigation threat. In a statement, FedEx said it...

LIVINGSTON, Mont. -- A hunter attacked by a grizzly bear in southern Montana also had the misfortune of being shot in the arm by a companion trying to stop the attack. The incident last Saturday resulted in the bear being killed, the attacked hunter surviving and no charges against the companion for shooting his friend. Park County Sheriff Allan Lutes says his office looked into the shooting of the hunter and found no negligence, with the other hunter trying to save his friend and killing the bear. "It doesn't point to anything but an accident," Lutes said. However, the U.S....

A convicted con artist from California who roiled a southeastern Montana community with his unlikely bid to take over its empty jail says he intends to return to the state to pursue a military training center. *snip* The company struck a deal last month with unwitting officials in rural Hardin, Mont. to take over its never-used, 464-bed jail. The plan unraveled after media revelations about Hilton's criminal past sparked an investigation by Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock. In his first interview since the jail proposal's collapse, Hilton tells The Associated Press that his intentions had been honest but his "tainted"...

BILLINGS, Mont. - Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock has dropped his investigation into a California company following its attempted take over of an empty Montana jail. The company, American Police Force, had missed a Monday deadline to provide documents sought by Bullock's office after revelations that company founder Michael Hilton had a lengthy criminal background. But because American Police Force has since pulled out of its bid to take over a 464-bed jail in rural Hardin, Bullock said Tuesday he was ending the investigation. Bullock said Hilton's failure to answer questions about the project "speaks volumes about his company's legitimacy."

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine said Tuesday that she'd support a sweeping Senate Finance Committee bill overhauling the U.S. health-care industry, giving Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., a sought-after Republican vote on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. In highly anticipated comments on the $829 billion, 10-year bill, Snowe said the bill wasn't all she wanted. "Far from it," she told fellow senators during what is likely to be the committee's last work session on Baucus's bill. "But when history calls, history calls, and I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress...

What if you, and every member of your family, had the chance to save $4,000 each?. Would you be interested? Under the terms of what's being called "the Baucus bill" -- Washington-speak for the bill the Senate Finance Committee will vote on tomorrow -- that is how much you could save by dropping your health insurance. People might have thought that health care reform would lead to an increase in the number of people getting health insurance coverage. Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office claims the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill will reduce the number of uninsured in 2019 by...

When two brand new, shiny black Mercedes SUVs bearing a "Hardin Police Department" logo drove through the main thoroughfare of Hardin, Mont., last week, people took notice. "How many police forces have Mercedes?" said Charlene Warren, a local business owner who has lived in Hardin for more than half a century. "That threw up a red flag." And speaking of flags, it did not go unnoticed that the emblem on the sides of the SUVs bore a strong resemblance to the Serbian national flag. Furthermore, those "police department" cars were rolling through Hardin, a small southeastern Montana town of 3,600...

We welcome anyone to visit our town! There are no commandos in the streets. There is no fence or gate being built around Hardin. People are free to come and go as they please. APF is not running our town or our police force.

If you think it's cold now in Montana and the Dakotas, just watch what happens! Friday, an even stronger surge of cold air will come down from the Arctic, sending temperatures plummeting to unprecedented levels for this time of year. In Montana and the western Dakotas, temperatures will not rise out of the 20s Friday and Saturday which is roughly 35 degrees below normal.

After trying in vain for two years to fill a 464-bed jail, it appeared deliverance was finally at hand for officials in this remote Montana town. They had struck an agreement with a California company to take over their never-used facility. But those plans have been placed on hold following news that Mike Hilton, lead figure of the newly minted American Police Force, of Santa Ana, Calif., has a history of fraud that includes several years in jail and three civil judgments against him for more than $1.1 million. "We won't move forward. I don't think any of us want...

HELENA - Michael Hilton, the self-styled "Captain Mike" and California felon who founded the private security firm seeking to run an empty jail in Hardin, has been summoned back to court in California over an unpaid judgment in a fraud lawsuit. California Superior Judge Andrew Kauffman on Friday ordered Hilton, who has also gone by more than a dozen aliases, to appear at an Oct. 29 Los Angeles County hearing where he's been asked to provide a stack of financial documents, including details of who has paid for his recent trips to Hardin. Hilton and several of his former associates...

As Montana bars dealt with their first smoke-free weekend since the state’s indoor smoking ban went into effect, ingenuity ruled. In Missoula, according to a great piece by Michael Moore in the Missoulian, the Rhino Bar gave smokers their very own place to light up: a Butt Hutt, created by Dave Golden of Well Done Welding and Jim Bell, a general contractor. Moore describes the hut as a 4-by-8-foot “metal smoking dugout” in the alley behind the Rhino in Missoula. The no-smoking laws spark the type of debate that never seems to get extinguished. Pro-smokers argue that the bans hurt...

The healthcare reform bill apparently poised to clear the Senate Finance Committee would raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 and thereby violate President Obama’s campaign promise to protect middle-income Americans from tax increases, asserted Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Cornyn, a member of the Finance Committee, on ABC's "This Week,” told host George Stephanopoulos “the president can’t keep his promise under the bill that’s currently pending in the finance committee or any of the other bills that are currently in front of us.” Committee Democrats last week cleared the way for the healthcare reform bill sponsored by Chairman Max...

A sobbing spokeswoman for the secretive company occupying the Hardin jail welcomed an investigation by Montana's attorney general Friday and expressed concerns for her own safety amid rumors about her company. Becky Shay, in a 45-minute, wide-ranging press conference during which she occasionally broke into tears, said the California-based American Police Force welcomed an information request made Thursday by Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock. Meanwhile, an attorney involved in the project cut ties with APF Friday and a second company, once named as a subcontractor, denied any involvement. Shay said she hadn't been formally served papers by the attorney...

BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Second Amendment Foundation today joined with the Montana Shooting Sports Association in a federal lawsuit filed in Missoula to validate the principles and terms of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act (MFFA), which takes effect today, Oct. 1 Lead attorney for the plaintiffs' litigation team is Quentin Rhoades of the Missoula firm of Sullivan, Tabaracci & Rhoades, PC. The MFFA litigation team also includes other attorneys located in Montana, New York, Florida, Arizona and Washington. "We're happy to join this lawsuit," said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, "because we believe this issue should be decided...

A Montana lawsuit filed on Thursday challenges federal authority to regulate guns manufactured and sold within the state, an argument that would effectively invalidate federal firearm laws in Big Sky Country if adopted by the courts. The lawsuit arose out of a state law signed by Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer that took effect on October 1. It says that firearms, ammunition, and accessories manufactured entirely inside Montana are not subject to federal regulation, including background checks for buyers and record-keeping requirements for sellers. They would remain subject to state regulation, and machine gun manufacturing is not permitted. This is part...

In this Friday, Sept. 24, 2009 picture, Albert Peterson with the Two Rivers Authority stands outside an empty jail that Hardin, Mont. built for $27 million. The authority wants a California security company, American Police Force, to take over the facility. Michael Hilton pitched himself to the city as a military veteran turned private sector entrepreneur - a California defense contractor with extensive government contracts who promised to turn the rural city's empty jail into a cash cow. But now a much different picture of Hilton is emerging from public documents and interviews with his associates and legal adversaries. (AP...

HARDIN, Mont. (CBS/AP) This is the strange story of how American Police Force, a little known company which claims to specialize in training military and security forces overseas, has seemingly taken control of a $27 million, never-used jail, and a rural Montana town's nonexistent police force. After arriving in this tiny city with three Mercedes SUVs marked with the logo of a police department that has never existed, representatives of the obscure California security company said preparations were under way to take over Hardin's jail, which has no prisoners.

In this Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 picture, Michael Hilton stands outside the city offices after meeting with Hardin, Mont. officials. Hilton pitched himself to the city as a military veteran turned private sector entrepreneur - a California defense contractor with extensive government contracts who promised to turn the rural city's empty jail into a cash cow. But now a much different picture of Hilton is emerging from public documents and interviews with his associates and legal adversaries. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown) (Matthew Brown, AP / September 25, 2009)BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Michael Hilton showed up in Hardin, Mont., last week, presenting...