Montana Insurance Commissioner Matt Rosendale says he's finalized next year's rates for companies that sell health insurance policies through the Affordable Care Act's federal exchange. Governor Steve Bullock gave his support to a group of 35 unionized employees of the talc milling plant in Three Forks who have been locked out of their jobs for a week. A brief pursuit of a reported reckless driver near Libby ended in a fiery crash that killed a 31-year-old Missoula man yesterday.

The departing Yellowstone National Park superintendent says park service officials told him he wasn't being forced out of his job over a disagreement with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke over bison management. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes say a grizzly bear cub was euthanized Thursday after its mother and siblings were killed in a vehicle collision on U.S. Highway 93 south of Ronan in late July. The people evacuated from one house due to the Garden Creek Fire north of Hot Springs

An Oregon man who was arrested after causing disturbances in three national parks, including harassing a bison in Yellowstone, must stay in jail until his bench trial later this month. Campfires, smoking and off-road driving will be prohibited in west-central Montana, beginning at noon Friday, due to wildfire danger. Montana's commissioner of political practices says state law allows voters to take 'ballot selfies' in polling places on Election Day.

A Red Lodge woman has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1.4 million from a wildfire suppression company where she worked. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has added New Hampshire to his schedule of trips to early-voting states this month as he explores a possible 2020 presidential bid. The state health department says it won't issue new medical marijuana dispensary licenses in Billings after the city passed an ordinance that says licensed businesses must obey federal law.

Montana wildlife officials are proposing to maintain the largest grizzly bear population in the Lower 48 states at its current level of about 1,000 animals even if the population loses its federal protections The trial of a pediatrician accused of sexually abusing young boys on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation two decades ago has been delayed. Police in Kalispell are investigating after a 31-year-old man was found dead of possible stab wounds at an apartment in the northwestern part of the city

An Oregon man who was caught on video harassing a bison in Yellowstone National Park was arrested in Glacier National Park last night. A Montana legislative candidate is disputing a determination by the state campaign regulator that a $3,000 loan is an illegal campaign contribution that must be returned. Rail traffic has resumed after a dozen loaded grain cars derailed just east of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

The National Weather Service says fire-weather conditions now exist across much of Montana, with high temperatures, low humidity and strong wind gusts forecast through tomorrow. Montana's Democratic Party is asking a state judge to stand by his decision to disqualify Montana Green Party candidates from the general election ballot while the ruling is being appealed to the state Supreme Court. Billings area law enforcement agencies say a recent visit from Vice President Mike Pence cost their

An Idaho teenager fell to his death yesterday in Glacier National Park while exploring a culvert in a steep mountain roadway. Governor Steve Bullock's budget director and health director heard from health and human service providers and others today as they decide where to restore millions of dollars in funding that had been cut to fill a budget shortfall. A five-acre fire started around 4 p.m. today near Alberton.

Hecla mining company says it’s halting reclamation work at the closed Troy silver and copper mine amid a legal fight with state regulators over cleanup expenses at other sites. Since yesterday one new fire has been discovered in the Kootenai National Forest. The Ten Mile Fire is burning 15 to 20 acres in the Rexford and Fortine Ranger Districts. Smoke from fires in California and Oregon is visible in Western Montana today, bringing air quality in many areas to “moderate.”

Over the weekend, the parties involved in Anaconda’s Superfund cleanup reached an “agreement in principle”, meeting the deadline set by the Environmental Protection Agency just in the nick of time. Authorities say a Yellowstone River rescue effort for a teenager whose family's boat capsized near Livingston is shifting into a recovery operation. A judge says NorthWestern Energy is not entitled to collect $8.2 million from customers to cover the cost of an outage at the Colstrip power plant. A