The Montana Democratic Party filed a lawsuit late yesterday seeking to remove Green Party candidates from June primary ballots, arguing they didn't gather enough valid signatures. A federal judge in Missoula heard arguments this afternoon on whether a neo-Nazi website publisher has a First Amendment right to unleash a, quote, "troll storm" of anti-Semitic and threatening messages against a Jewish woman and her family. The Interior Department is backing down from a plan to impose steep fee

Montana Green Party officials say they sought the public's help in gathering voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, but they are unaware of anybody being paid to do so. Workers face an even bigger job than usual as they begin the annual task of clearing snow from roads in Glacier National Park, where snow depths on both sides of the park are well above average. The University of Montana has hired a new executive vice president and Provost. Dr. Jon Harbor is currently at Perdue University,

Women and girls in Indian country go missing and are involved in homicides at a far greater rate than any other demographic of people in Montana. Glacier County officials have vacated a county office in Browning following a dispute over a new lease agreement on the space. Beaverhead county has agreed to upgrade a small community drinking water system after securing $588,000 in grants. Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality has opened a one-month public comment period on the proposed

Prosecutors have filed juvenile felony charges against the 17-year-old student accused of driving his car at a school resource officer, who in turn fired at his fleeing vehicle. The Montana Democratic Party is accusing a company of breaking state campaign laws by gathering signatures for a petition that qualified the Green Party for this year's elections.

U.S. District Judge Brian Morris has ruled U.S. government officials must consider reducing coal mining to fight climate change when writing regional plans for the future of the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. A former Montana Democratic Party chairman appears to be laying the groundwork for a possible challenge to the secretary of state's certification of the Green Party for the ballot in this year's state elections.

Three subsidiaries of Hecla Mining are suing Montana over its decision that Hecla's president is a "bad actor" who should pay for past cleanup costs before pursuing new mines. A second man has been charged in a double homicide at a residence north of Helena. Hundreds of thousands of students are calling for stricter gun control measures at “March For Our Lives” rallies across the country Saturday. But in Montana’s state capitol, counter protesters are organizing a “March For Our Guns.”

Four Republican candidates competing for the chance to take on incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester this fall are meeting for the first time in a debate at 7 o’clock tonight in Bozeman. Idaho officials have started the process of opening a grizzly bear hunting season this fall that would allow the killing of one male grizzly. Montana's Republican Senator Steve Daines said yesterday there's good news for the Treasure State in the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that the House passed

There will be no more so-called fire-borrowing from the U.S. Forest Service budget if the big federal spending bill Congress is working on passes. The U.S. Department of the Interior says Montana will receive more than $29 million in funding for critical state conservation and outdoor recreation projects. Montana has paid $485,000 to settle claims that a program to ensure a fair share of highway contracts goes to disadvantaged businesses discriminated against a company for being too white and

Lewis and Clark County officials say foul play is suspected in the deaths of a married couple whose bodies were found in a residence just north of Helena. Bail was set at $20,000 for a 17-year-old Montana high school student who was arrested for violating his probation after reportedly trying to run over a school resource officer at Big Sky High School in Missoula. An advisory council to the governor is considering a change to the state’s law on predicting drought conditions in the state

Geologists believe the tallest geyser in the world, Steamboat Geyser, erupted last week in Yellowstone National Park. Great Falls dentist Brett Bruggeman, who only began mushing a few years ago, finished 39th in Alaska's Iditarod sled-dog race.