Page 25 - Flathead Beacon // 2.10.16

“The citizens of Montana have the right to make their own choices when it comes to health care. The government should not be making those decisions for us. Under Obama/Laslovich, that is exactly what has happened.”
The state auditor oversees insurance and securities in Montana. The current auditor, Democrat Monica Lindeen, is campaigning for secretary of state.
HELENA
5. Victims’ Rights Initiative Gathers
Steam in Montana
Backers of a ballot measure to expand rights for crime victims and their fami- lies say they have enough signatures to put the Marsy’s Law initiative before vot- ers in November.
Montana is one several states where national victims’ rights advocates hope to build momentum for expanding the measure into more states.
In 2008, voters in California were the rst to pass the law. A similar measure went into e ect in Illinois last year. And e orts are now also underway in Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Nevada, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The law is in honor of Marsalee “Marsy” Nicholas, a University of Cali- fornia, Santa Barbara, student who was stalked and killed in 1983 by a former boyfriend. The national e ort is bank- rolled by her brother, high tech billion- aire Henry Nicholas.
Just a week after the college student was murdered, Henry Nicholas and his mother crossed paths with the suspect while in a grocery store. They were never informed that authorities had released the suspect on bail.
The law would amend the state consti- tution to require prosecutors to inform victims or their families of key develop- ments in a case and accord them the right to be heard in proceedings.
HELENA
6. Montana U.S. House Candidate
Acknowledges She is Gay
By some accounts, the sexual orien- tation of Montana’s superintendent of schools, Denise Juneau, was an open secret.
Juneau’s sexuality was already com- mon knowledge within Montana’s polit- ical circles, and it was hardly a topic of conversation during her two previ- ous campaigns for the O ce of Public Instruction.
But her sexual orientation became a topic for public fodder in her bid for U.S. Congress when she introduced her female partner to an assembly of Dem- ocrats at a Bozeman political fundraiser in January. By doing so, Juneau became the state’s rst openly lesbian candidate for Congress.
Juneau, considered a rising star within the state’s Democratic Party, is the rst Native American to hold statewide o ce in Montana.
Juneau declined a request for an inter- view from the Associated Press, but her o ce released a statement via email Wednesday afternoon.
Her statement made no reference to her sexual orientation. It was in response to a question about how she might use her own experience and public o ce as a bully pulpit to address the challenges some Montana youth face over identity.
“I believe that every student in Mon- tana, regardless of who they are or where they’re from, deserves a top-notch pub- lic education, free of bullying, prejudice, or hate,” Juneau said. “That’s something I’ve worked toward my entire adult life — rst as a teacher, then as a lawyer, and now as Montana’s top education o cial.”
Juneau’s is running to unseat Repub- lican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke.
BOZEMAN
7. Montana State Student Dies While
Backcountry Skiing
A Montana State University student from Alaska was found dead after failing to return from a backcountry ski trip in the Hyalite Canyon south of Bozeman.
The Gallatin County sheri ’s o ce says the girlfriend of 20-year-old Nathan- iel “Alex” Wright reported him missing at about 10:45 p.m. on Feb. 4. Searchers found his body at about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 5.
Sheri Brian Gootkin said it appeared Wright had an equipment malfunction that led to a series of events that ended with his death. He had been skiing alone.
An autopsy was planned to determine his cause of death.
BILLINGS
8. Washington Puts a Price on
Closing Oldest Colstrip Units
Shutting down and cleaning up the two oldest units at the Colstrip power plant in southeast Montana would cost $130 million to $200 million, according to the Washington utility that owns most of the plant.
Puget Sound Energy, which owns half of Colstrip Units 1 and 2, says the two coal- red power plants can be shuttered and dismantled for $49.7 million. Clean- ing up the contaminated water and coal waste at the site will take another $85 million to $142.7 million.
The Billings Gazette reports that this is the rst time since the debate about shuttering Colstrip began that real num- bers have been put to paper.
However, the cost to electricity cus- tomers to complete the proposed shut- down has not yet been determined.
The Colstrip Power Plant is the nation’s 15th-largest producer of green- house gases, emitting 13.5 million met- ric tons annually, according to the EPA. Units 1 and 2 are its oldest and biggest polluters.
A bill before the Washington Leg- islature would authorize Puget Sound Energy to le a plan to decommission Colstrip’s two oldest units, and to allow the utility to buy additional ownership in one of the two newer units.
Concern has been expressed about what the impact of shutting down the units would be for the 2,300 residents of the company town of Colstrip.
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FEBRUARY 10, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
25
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