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Turah man pleads guilty to final charge in DUI crash that killed 2 girls, injured 2 go to article

A Turah man pleaded guilty Thursday to the final charge related to a drunken driving crash that killed two teenage girls and injured two others near East Missoula the day after Christmas.

Black Crowes' show canceled after rain 'fries' equipment go to article

Fans of Southern rock band the Black Crowes were left crowing their disappointment on Wednesday night after the band's concert at Ryan Creek Meadows was abruptly canceled, more than an hour after its

Cool weather should help bowhunters, Montana wildlife official says go to article

Bowhunters heading for the woods this weekend could have better-than-expected luck this year.

Appeals court: Billings man must pay $3,000 to child in pornography case go to article

BILLINGS - A federal appeals court has upheld that a Billings man convicted of receiving child pornography must pay $3,000 in restitution to one of the children in the collection.

Judith Basin coal tract likely needs underground mine, CEO says go to article

BILLINGS - The chief executive of a Denver company that bought a large Montana coal tract says any development of the reserve would likely involve an underground mine and require a rail spur.

Schweitzer finalizes $16.5M deal for state to buy 27,000-acre Rock Creek Cattle Co. go to article

HELENA - Gov. Brian Schweitzer says a $16.5 million deal has been finalized for the state to buy a big ranch near Deer Lodge that is home to prized elk habitat.

Five Ways Cyclists Can Defuse Road Rage go to article

Two days ago on my morning trip down to the coffee shop to get a little wisdom at the ORG (Old Retired Guys) Table, a driver blasted right through a stop sign and almost made it my last day on a bicycle. So what did I do? Two things. First, since I ended up about five feet from the driver's window, I did not yell or make obscene gestures, not even any dagger eyes, Instead, I waved and smiled and tried to give him my best "no worries, we all make mistakes" look. Second, I decided to write this commentary--and the "other side" for next week. I've already written several columns about the prickly relationship between cyclists and motorists sharing our public roadways, but today, I'm talking directly to cyclists, not motorists. 

University of Idaho Student's Poem to Run in the New Yorker go to article

Raise your hand if you've ever taken a creative writing class.  Keep your hand raised if you ever wrote a poem while in class that ended up being published in the New Yorker. Everyone's hands should have gone down now except for that of one very talented University of Idaho MFA poetry student, Ciara Shuttleworth. Robert Wrigley recently asked his MFA poetry students to study sestinas, which, according to Wikipedia, are "highly structured poem(s) consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a tercet (called its envoy or tornada), for a total of thirty-nine lines." Sounds complicated, but Ms. Shuttleworth and probably Eminem can do it. Wrigley assigned his class to read a sestina by Lloyd Schwartz that consisted of only six words repeated in different patterns. After the class moved on to another poem, Shuttleworth wrote her own sestina, which also uses six words repeated seven times each.  She revised her poem, sent it into the New Yorker, and the editors accepted it for publication this fall.  I am curious to read it, so I'll look out for it and let everybody know when it turns up in the magazine. • Benjamin Percy recently announced on Twitter that Iowa State's MFA program in Creative Writing and the Environment just hired Rick Bass as affiliate faculty.  Percy, who also teaches at Iowa State, reported, "He'll visit each year, serve as thesis advisor, and host students in Yaak." Also in the Roundup: The Tattered Cover in the news, how to read New West's book page on your Kindle, and the new issue of Alaska Quarterly Review features some western writers.

Land Legacy: In the Potomac Valley, Ranchers Back Transferring to the State Important, Grazed Acres go to article

Not a lot has changed in Montana's rural Potomac Valley over the years. And that's just fine for many of the multi-generational ranching families whose livelihoods are tied to this expanse of waving grass and trees drained by the lower Blackfoot River northeast of Missoula. Today, just as it was nearly a century ago, the Potomac is a working landscape. But faced with the possibility of large-scale changes sweeping across this broad valley and on to the low and rounded Garnet Range to the south, the valley's ranchers did something that may surprise some. They got behind the transfer of tens of thousands of private acres in the Garnets--lands they've grazed their cattle on and cut timber from for decades--to the state of Montana. The Potomac ranchers faced a stark set of choices. Either accept a future where their access to prime grazing lands is threatened by residential development or embrace an alternative that keeps the landscape whole. So, in a place where politics generally fall on the conservative side of the spectrum, they backed the state's purchase of most of the range's north-facing slopes. The handwriting was on the wall, said Denny Iverson, a longtime rancher and logger from the Potomac. 

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State's first warden stirs up debate as a 'father' of modern prisons go to article

Ranchers Back Transferring to the State Important, Grazed Acres go to article