KCTR: We’re Montana’s Own » Politics

Media Shield Law

The Breakfast Flakes — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:35:15 +0000

U.S. Senator Max Baucus is joining the call for a federal media shield law in the wake of the Justice Department’s seizure of journalists’ records. The Obama administration has in recent weeks acknowledged seizing portions of two months of phone records from The Associated Press. The Justice Department also read the emails of a Fox [...]

Duty to God and Country…Nothing Wrong With That!

The Breakfast Flakes — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:47:12 +0000

A boy’s ability to tie a proper clove hitch is certainly not dependent upon his sexual orientation. So for many across the country, the vote scheduled for Thursday by the Boy Scouts of America National Council on whether to lift its long-standing ban prohibiting openly gay youth from participating in Scouting will be a defining [...]

It's Complicated

The Breakfast Flakes — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:09:25 +0000

The White House says President Barack Obama opposes a House bill that would speed approval of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. The White House said Tuesday that the bill “seeks to circumvent longstanding and proven processes” by removing a requirement for a presidential permit. The legislation also says no new [...]

Friends In Low Places

The Breakfast Flakes — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:46:35 +0000

The three-decade fight for freedom by a Montana man convicted of the 1979 slaying of a teenage classmate appeared to slam shut this week, when the Montana Supreme Court ordered him back to prison and took away his brief taste of normal life. But from the time he confessed to out-of-state police four years after [...]

Jail Dangerously Overcrowded

The Breakfast Flakes — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:05:51 +0000

Yellowstone County officials are considering creating a work program to ease overcrowding at the jail as it is dangerously over crowded. The Billings Gazette reports that Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder recently presented the idea to Yellowstone County commissioners, the county attorney, public defender and judges. Linder says representatives from the sheriff’s department and jail [...]

Ted Turners New Love

The Breakfast Flakes — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:45:59 +0000

Billionaire Ted Turner gets to keep his Yellowstone National Park Bison calves. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports that Gallatin County Judge Holly Brown dismissed a request by wildlife advocates to overturn an agreement Turner made with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The agreement transferred dozens of Bison to Turner’s private ranch to [...]

University More Concerned With Image Than Students

The Breakfast Flakes — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:43:48 +0000

A deal has been reached in the University of Montana sexual-assault probe, University of Montana president Royce Engstrom says independent monitors will ensure the school follows through on promised reforms after a federal investigation into mishandled sexual assault reports on campus. Justice Department Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roy Austin Jr. says investigators heard from women [...]

Fraud On the Rez

The Breakfast Flakes — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:23:37 +0000

The Chippewa Cree tribe in northern Montana has suspended two leaders charged with stealing federal stimulus money. Tribal council member John Chance Houle and Chippewa Cree Construction Corp. CEO Tony Belcourt were arraigned Tuesday on 17 fraud, theft and money laundering counts! Four others, including Belcourt’s wife Hailey, have also been charged; they are accused [...]

My Oh My–71 Vetoes!

The Breakfast Flakes — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:17:12 +0000

A legislative session that began with promises of compromise ended with a whole bunch of vetoes from Governor Steve Bullock.The gov’ wrapped up action on bills Tuesday when he let 10 measures become law without his signature. Late Monday, he issued 27 vetoes that brought his total to 71 for the session — just shy [...]

Montana Youth Allowed to Hunt

The Breakfast Flakes — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:56:53 +0000

A 15-year-old southwest Montana boy charged with bringing two guns to school in January because he wanted to show people “you don’t need an assault rifle to shoot up a school,” has reached a plea agreement that calls for treatment and probation. However, he will still be able to go on family hunting trips. The [...]

Welcome Home!

The Breakfast Flakes — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:14:43 +0000

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis is returning from an eight-month deployment to her homeport in Bremerton on Friday, carrying several soldiers from Montana.Friends and family members will be at Naval Base Kitsap to greet the nearly 3,000 sailors as they return from an eight-month deployment to the U.S. 5th and 7th Fleet [...]

Birth Control Out Of Control?

The Breakfast Flakes — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:35:10 +0000

ABC News is reporting this morning on a decision, announced yesterday by the United States Food and Drug Administration, to approve the sale of Plan B One Step emergency contraceptive pills to young women ages 15 and over WITHOUT a prescription! Until now, the drug could only be sold to those aged 17 and older.

According to the FDA, the pill will not be sold to any

Crow Corruption

The Breakfast Flakes — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:36:51 +0000

Three defendants in a corruption case on Montana’s Crow Indian Reservation have been sentenced to probation after taking money meant to pay for monitoring historic sites. U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull sentenced Larkin Troy Chandler, Mark James Denny and Frederick Deputee, Jr. Wednesday to five years’ probation each. They also must pay restitution — $73,045 [...]

A Sea of Oil

The Breakfast Flakes — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:18:49 +0000

The sea of oil and natural gas underneath North Dakota is far larger than first thought. There are 7.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the western part of the state and extending into Montana according to the latest estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey. That is huge!!! That’s more than twice the

Easing Immigration

The Breakfast Flakes — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:02:43 +0000

Tens of thousands are expected to rally in dozens of cities from New York to Bozeman, Montana today in what has become an annual cry for easing the nation’s immigration laws. The rallies carry a special sense of urgency this year, two weeks after a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill that would bring [...]

University Hosts Campaign Manager

The Breakfast Flakes — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:49:27 +0000

President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager will speak at the University of Montana’s graduation ceremony next month. Jim Messina is a Boise, Idaho, native and attended UM from 1988 to 1993. He worked for U.S. Sen. Max Baucus and other members of Congress until 2008. He was Obama’s national chief of staff for the 2008 [...]

What Parent Wouldn't Want To Know?

The Breakfast Flakes — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:28:32 +0000

Governor Steve Bullock on Thursday allowed an abortion bill to become law without his signature, a strategic gamble that anticipates a successful legal challenge of the measure and kills an identical referendum that would have gone to voters in 2014. House Bill 391 and its companion referendum, House Bill 521 would require girls younger than [...]

Another Wake Up Call

The Breakfast Flakes — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:09:42 +0000

In this March 12, 1984, file photo, President Ronald Reagan gets some instructions on computer operations while visiting the Congress Heights Elementary School in Washington. The White House has taken on the school as one of their projects in its operation. U.S. students are falling behind their international rivals. Young people aren’t adept at new [...]

Relax Max!

The Breakfast Flakes — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:02:51 +0000

U.S. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana is outlining an ambitious agenda as he announces his plan to retire at the end of his sixth term. In a written statement, the Democrat said the country and Montana are facing enormous challenges including “rising debt, a dysfunctional tax code, threats to our outdoor heritage and the need [...]

Daily Poker Tournaments In Montana Are Coming Soon!

Andy West — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:29:37 +0000

If you’re a fan of live poker tournaments like I am then you owe a debt of gratitude to Rep. Pat Noonan, D-Ramsay, who introduced House Bill 141 on behalf of the Gaming Advisory Council on January 15th. That bill was recently passed. Part of the bill, aimed at increasing pot-limits in cash poker games, allows [...]