Good morning; on the Beacon today, four dancers in the Northwest Ballet School and Company will perform together this season in their last production of the Nutcracker. Fight Force’s Kalispell Kombat at the Majestic Valley Arena is tonight. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the event begins at 7:30 p.m. The state Department of Revenue is defending the property reappraisal system, saying it’s working so far. And Mick Holien celebrates the Griz seniors approaching the close of their college careers.
A judge says the government must keep Yellowstone-area grizzly bears on the list of threatened and endangered species, denying an attempt by federal officials to reverse an earlier court ruling. Hunters will have three more months to hunt wolves in Idaho. A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Yellowstone County should not be held responsible for the legal defense provided to a former Billings man, Jimmy Ray Bromgard, who spent 15 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. The last of three people, Jennifer Anne Larson, charged in the death of a 3-year-old Billings boy was given a 10-year suspended prison sentence Thursday for criminal endangerment and must pay about $10,000 in restitution. The Missoulian’s Vince Devlin report on how a Ronan woman who says she was repeatedly denied a prescribed medication while pregnant and serving time in the Lake County Detention Facility for traffic violations has sued the county, Sheriff Lucky Larson, chief detention officer Luke Mathias and Dr. Stephen Irwin, the jail’s medical doctor. A bill written by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., passed the Senate on a unanimous vote Thursday, keeping what he described as America’s promises to its veterans, particularly those living in rural America. Two of Montana’s main business lobbies are taking aim at health care reform before Congress, saying it could drive up costs for businesses by increasing taxes or insurance costs. Bankruptcy papers filed by Moonlight Basin Wednesday afternoon paint a dire financial portrait of Montana’s newest ski resort. A new report says Montana’s children are healthier than the national average, but many live in poverty.