Sports betting will soon be available in Montana, and this week, the Montana Lottery Commission approved the types of bets people can make on professional and collegiate sporting events. The Hardin City Council approved a new city police department on Tuesday, voting 5-1 for the proposal. U.S. Interior Department officials released a new set of environmental studies Friday. They hope the studies will bolster their case for easing restrictions on energy development, mining and grazing in seven

Health officials have conducted a report evaluating air quality in a southwest Montana neighborhood to determine if material in the air exceeded permitted quality standards. The parent company of Montana’s largest utility appeared in federal court in Missoula today fighting claims it blocked a shareholder’s proposal to withdraw from coal-fired power. Yellowstone National Park has unveiled a major initiative to upgrade employee housing, which park officials say is long overdue.

Two of the state's Veterans Affairs clinics were renamed to honor prominent local World War II veterans. Utility regulators have agreed to shield details of a coal supply contract for the Colstrip Power Plant for now. A Billings police officer who suffered a leg injury when struck by a car during a traffic stop has been released from the hospital.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission has rejected a proposal by wildlife managers to extend the wolf hunting and trapping seasons in northwestern Montana. A Montana reservoir that had a suspicious result in testing for invasive mussels in 2016 has been cleared. Bozeman fly fishing guide Josh Sec-kin-ger has announced he is seeking the Democratic nomination in Montana's U.S. Senate race.

Montana Public Radio Evening Newscast for Feb. 14, 2020.

The Environmental Protection Agency today unveiled a final cleanup deal for Butte - marking a crucial turning point in the decades-long Superfund saga of Montana’s Mining City. A Montana state senator has requested a three-month extension for nonprofit groups to appeal to more vehicle owners to purchase specialty license plates supporting their organizations. Glacier National Park will continue offering free shuttle rides for visitors around the park in 2020.

Much of downtown Missoula was on lockdown today after a police officer reported his patrol car was fired upon. The two candidates in the Democratic party’s primary race for governor are meeting in their first forum of the campaign tonight in Billings. Montana officials have given conditional approval to plans to inject clean water underground and flush out water reserves polluted by coal ash from the Colstrip power plant.

Montana authorities have arrested two of three men who escaped from the Big Horn County Detention Center in Hardin last week. Great Falls Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a suspect they say likely placed a bomb threat on a local elementary school early Monday morning. A Montana agency Monday released a cleanup plan for waste ponds at two of the Colstrip power plant’s four units.

Officials say Montana hunters will be able to submit meat for chronic wasting disease testing within the state by the next hunting season. Montana has recorded four flu-related deaths this season, according to the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. The Trump administration has disbanded its advisory board created to help boost trophy hunting and relax federal rules for importing the heads and hides of African elephants, lions and rhinos.

The state health department is reporting another new case of vaping-related lung illness in Montana. Five people were hospitalized overnight in Helena after being exposed to carbon monoxide at a hotel. The Montana Supreme Court is set to hear arguments this April, in the case of a physician appealing his negligent homicide conviction over the overdose deaths of two patients.