Regional - The Rapid City Post

FILE - The national office of the NCAA in Indianapolis is shown on March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

Montana changes course, opts in to NCAA’s House settlement for this year

July 3, 2025

The University of Montana is changing course and will opt-in this year to the NCAA’s House settlement. The recent settlement means athletic programs across the country are free to start paying millions to their athletes in the biggest change in the history of college athletics. The deadline for schools around the country to opt out was Monday. Montana was originally planning to opt-in during the 2026-27 academic year. The school explained that it switched after rosters were grandfathered into the final approved settlement so that roster cuts weren’t necessary.

FILE - U.S. Rep. Pat Williams, (D-Mont), left, fields questions while seated next to Col. Murray Sanders during a news conference on Japanese World War II germ warfare experiments on American POW's on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 6, 1985. (AP Photo/John Duricka, File)

Former Montana US Rep Pat Williams, who won a liberal- conservative showdown, dies at 87

June 26, 2025

Pat Williams, a New Deal-style Democrat who won Montana’s great liberal-conservative showdown of 1992 to become the state’s lone voice in the U.S. House of Representatives, has died. He was 87. He died in Missoula of natural causes, a family spokesperson said. John Patrick Williams represented the western half of Montana from 1979 to 1997. When the 1990 census eliminated one of the state’s two House seats, he captured the new statewide district in a bruising race against a longtime conservative lawmaker. Williams was an unabashed liberal, a staunch advocate for organized labor and a believer in the potential of government to help people.

Oil field disposal plant in eastern Montana explodes, no injuries

June 26, 2025

Authorities say a fiery explosion at a storage and disposal plant in the oil fields of eastern Montana was felt by people 10 miles away but caused no injuries or fatalities. Richland County Emergency Manger Brandon Roth says no one was on site when the explosion happened Wednesday night. The fire continued to burn Thursday. Roth says emergency crews were waiting to approach the site when it becomes less dangerous. Several storage tanks burned and Roth did not immediately know what they contained.

Protester carries an upside down American flag during a protest against U.S. strikes on Iran, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)

Americans react to US strikes on Iran with worry as well as support for Israel

June 24, 2025

Across the U.S. Americans are expressing a mixture of support, apprehension and anxiety over President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb nuclear sites in Iran. Administration officials say the strikes give Iran the chance to return to negotiations over its nuclear program. Yet if the conflict spirals, it could test Trump’s foreign diplomacy skills and his support at home. At Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the B-2 bombers that participated in the weekend strikes returned home on Sunday. Nearby retired Air Force veteran Ken Slabaugh said he was “100% supportive” of Trump’s decision.

FILE - A firefighter carries a drip torch as he ignites a backfire against the Hughes Fire burning along a hillside in Castaic, Calif., Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Trump moves to merge wildland firefighting into single force, despite ex-officials warning of chaos

June 12, 2025

President Donald Trump has told government agencies to consolidate their wildland firefighting into a single program. Thursday’s executive order comes after former federal officials warned that such a consolidation could be costly and increase the risk of catastrophic blazes. The move is meant to centralize duties now split among five agencies and two Cabinet departments. Officials have not disclosed how much the change could cost. The Trump administration in its first months sharply reduced the ranks of firefighters through layoffs and retirement offers. The personnel declines and reshuffling of agencies come as global warming makes fires more severe and destructive.

FILE - A view of the suburbs of Las Vegas from atop the Stratosphere tower looking west down Sahara Ave., towards the Spring Mountains, Feb. 9, 2005. (AP Photo/Joe Cavaretta, File)

Utah Republican proposes sale of more than 2 million acres of US lands

June 12, 2025

More than 2 million acres of federal lands would be sold to states or other entities under a budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee. The draft provision in the GOP’s sweeping tax cut package comes after after a similar proposal was narrowly defeated in the House. Montana Sen. Steve Daines said in response that he opposes public land sales. Lee says the sales would target isolated parcels that could be used for housing or infrastructure. Conservation groups reacted with outrage, saying it would set a precedent to fast-track the handover of cherished lands to developers.

FILE - A sign is set up ahead of President Joe Biden's visit to the Chuckwalla National Monument, Jan. 7, 2025, to the Coachella Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

US Justice Department says Trump can cancel national monuments that protect landscapes

June 10, 2025

Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration say he has the authority to abolish national monuments meant to protect historical and archaeological sites. That includes two monuments in California created by former President Joe Biden at the request of Native American tribes. A Justice Department legal opinion released Tuesday disavowed a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous president can’t be revoked. The finding comes as the Interior Department under Trump has been weighing changes to monuments across the nation as part of the administration’s push to expand U.S. energy production.

Montana Supreme Court declares 2021 abortion restrictions unconstitutional

June 10, 2025

Montana’s Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional several laws restricting abortion access. Among the laws that the court ruled on Monday was a ban on abortions beyond 20 weeks of gestation. They were challenged by Planned Parenthood of Montana and had been blocked since 2021 when a judge issued a preliminary injunction against them. While the case has been pending, voters passed an initiative that explicitly protects abortion rights under an amendment to the Montana Constitution.

Pat Thiele connects a hose to a water tank as he fills a trough used by his cattle in the Bull Mountains, on May 21, 2025, near Roundup, Montana. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

Trump’s push to save coal faces a new hurdle: his own trade war

May 28, 2025

Mining company Signal Peak Energy sits atop a billion-ton coal reserve beneath Montana’s rugged Bull Mountains and ships 98% of the fuel it mines to Japan and South Korea. Congressional Republicans last week advanced a plan to approve a long-stalled permit for the mine, just as President Donald Trump looks to further boost coal exports. Yet Trump’s own tariffs make more exports an iffy proposition for most U.S. coal. Countries retaliating against tariffs might price U.S. coal out of competition altogether. In effect, an escalating trade war could undermine Trump’s goal of saving coal.

A dirt road in Sweet Grass County leading into the Crazy Mountains is seen Saturday, May 10, 2025, near Big Timber, Mont. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

National Guard helicopter crew landed on Montana ranch and trespassed to take antlers, citations say

May 16, 2025

Three Montana Army National Guard members face trespassing charges after authorities say they landed a Black Hawk helicopter in a mountain pasture on a private ranch to take elk antlers before flying away. A sheriff says Thursday that a game warden tracked down the guardsmen and they turned over two antlers and an elk skull with antlers attached. Authorities say a witness saw the May 4 landing and the property owner later reported it to officials. Elk antlers grow and drop off male animals annually and can be sold and collected. A Montana National Guard official says the case is under investigation and that misuse of military equipment erodes trust with residents.

FILE - Hikers look up at a fast moving storm as it makes its way through Zion National Park outside of Springdale, Utah, July 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Sandy Huffaker, File)

A Republican push to sell public lands in the West is reigniting a political fight

May 11, 2025

Congressional Republicans say their plan to sell or transfer 460,000 acres of public land will generate revenue and offer space to build houses in Western cities. Without clear details on how it will work, skeptics worry it could be a giveaway for developers and mining companies. For some rapidly growing western cities, owning the adjacent federal land would be a boon. Conservationists, on the other hand, fear the loss of public lands and environmental destruction. And while housing advocates are hopeful at the opportunity, they remain wary that enough affordable housing will be built. The legislation passed by the House Natural Resources Committee last week, part of the Republicans’ sweeping tax cut package.

FILE - Respiratory therapist Vernon Johnson, left, conducts a pulmonary test at the Center for Asbestos Related Disease, Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Libby, Mont. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

Asbestos clinic forced to close in Montana town where thousands have been sickened by dust

May 8, 2025

An asbestos screening clinic in a Montana town where thousands have been sickened dust from a nearby mine has been shuttered by local authorities. The move follows a Wednesday court order to seize the clinic’s assets in order to pay off a judgment to railroad BNSF. Courts in Montana have said BNSF contributed to the asbestos pollution in Libby when it brought contaminated material through town. But the railway prevailed in a 2023 lawsuit alleging the clinic fraudulently made some patients eligible for government benefits when it knew they were not sick. The railway says it’s owed $3 million.

Driver of Ctour Holiday van involved in Idaho crash was licensed in California

May 3, 2025

Idaho State Police say the driver of the tour van involved in a deadly collision with a pickup truck was licensed in California and the company that organized the trip was Ctour Holiday LLC. It’s a large tour operator that provides international travel services. The pickup truck driver and six people in the Mercedes van were killed in the crash. It happened Thursday evening on U.S. Highway 20 near Henry’s Lake State Park in eastern Idaho. Police have identified the pickup driver as 25-year-old Isaih Moreno of Humble, Texas. The tour group was headed to Yellowstone National Park. Police did not say whether the driver of the van was among those killed.

Regional.