An athletic trainer at a Montana high school sexually abused at least 18 student athletes decades ago under the guise of boosting their athletic performance, according to a lawsuit filed Friday. The University of Montana aims to bring down roughly half of its $10 million budget shortfall this fiscal year. A black bear, apparently sleeping off a honey binge, was removed from a Bozeman yard and released out of town.

Montana saw the biggest growth in median household income of any state in 2017, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released last week. Forensic testing has confirmed that the grizzly bears killed by Wyoming wildlife managers are the ones involved in the mauling death of a hunting guide last week. Montana has created a bipartisan working group to reduce premiums for people who buy health insurance on the federal marketplace.

Wildfire season is slowing down and trending well below average in the number of fires, acres burned and cost to the state budget. Lee Enterprises announced it is closing Montana Magazine after nearly 50 years. U.S. Senate candidate Matt Rosendale's campaign is seeking a new venue for a Bozeman rally after a restaurant manager said he didn't know about the booking and wants to stay politically neutral.

The state Land Board has approved two deals that put more grazing and forest land under state control. A University of Montana associate professor of Buddhism and yoga is charged with misdemeanor assault for reportedly punching a bouncer at a country music concert. Donald Trump Junior is returning to Montana to campaign for Republican U-S Senate Candidate Matt Rosendale next week.

A campaign finance watchdog group has filed a complaint against U.S. Senate candidate Matt Rosendale of Montana and the National Rifle Association's lobbying arm. Glacier National Park officials have re-opened the full length of the Going-to-the-Sun Road to private vehicle traffic as crews work to contain the fire that closed it. A Missoula County Sheriff’s deputy is now on paid administrative leave after briefly forgetting her service weapon in a faculty bathroom of a public school last week.

State wildlife officials say a freight train struck and killed a 2-year-old grizzly bear near West Glacier on Monday. U.S. government officials say the Fort Peck tribes owe $435,000 after mismanaging grant money meant to help poor people pay for their home energy use. Montana officials may never know who bankrolled the effort to qualify the Green Party for the 2018 ballot.

Montana University System leaders are looking at ways to help encourage more students to attend college, make the campuses more efficient and help students save money. A former Montana prison inmate has filed a lawsuit after a beating he suffered while in custody resulted in a brain injury. The first grizzly bear hunt in Wyoming and Idaho in more than 40 years has been delayed until at least the end of the month while a federal judge in Missoula decides if Yellowstone-area grizzlies should be

A once-contaminated creek flowing into Yellowstone National Park may be clean enough to be removed from the impaired waters list. Two major Democratic political groups have announced a $21 million digital ad buy targeting Senate races in November as the party tries to banish the ghosts of 2016, when Donald Trump's Republican campaign ran circles around it online. A University of Montana football player is charged with misdemeanor assault for a fight outside a Missoula bar in May in which the

Lee Enterprises has shut down the Missoula Independent nearly a year and a half after buying the alternative weekly newspaper. Montana lawmakers will consider changing how their pay is calculated when they meet in January, which would result in a 69 percent pay raise if approved. Montana emergency responders and political leaders marked the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks with a ceremony in the state Capitol today.

Native American tribes in Montana and South Dakota say the Trump administration unlawfully approved the Keystone XL oil pipeline without considering potential damage to cultural sites. Officials say visitation to Yellowstone National Park was down last month but 2018 is still on par with the park's three busiest years. A southwestern Montana sheriff is charged with evidence tampering and perjury in a case that led to a meth trafficking conviction.