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previous incidents of the bear approach- ing the residence.
5. Montana Health Insurers Ask for Double-digit Rate Hikes
HELENA— Insurance companies in Montana are requesting double-digit rate increases next year for the health plans of more than 77,000 people covered through the online exchange created by President Barack Obama’s health law.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana is asking state regulators to approve an average increase of about 22 percent over the rates approved in 2015 for its individ- ual plans. PacificSource is asking for an average 32 percent increase. The Mon- tana Health Cooperative is requesting an average 34 percent increase.
The companies found the claims they paid out in 2014 were much higher than they expected when the online market- place launched in 2013. For all three com- panies, the claims paid exceeded the pre- miums they took in that year, the first year the Affordable Care Act was in effect.
State Auditor Monica Lindeen has final say over whether to approve the requests, and her office has 60 days to review the proposals and send the com- panies objections.
If the rate increases are justified, they will be accepted, Lindeen said. Dou- ble-digit rate increases were the norm in the years leading up to the Affordable Care Act.
After the law passed, the companies had to set rates for a new marketplace without any history to base them on, she said.
“Not only were they shooting in the dark, they were competing with each other for business,” Lindeen said. “Obvi- ously they were going as low as they could without it being unsustainable.”
6. Police: Deer Lodge Man Kills Wife, 3 Children Then Self
BUTTE – A Montana man shot and killed his wife and three children, set a fire in the family’s remote cabin and then killed himself, officials in Anacon- da-Deer Lodge County said.
The shootings happened the morning of June 7 at a cabin in the forest about 15 miles southeast of the town of Deer Lodge, Police Chief Tim Barkell said.
Barkell was withholding the names of the victims and the shooter until other relatives could be notified.
Coroner Jerry Thomas told The Asso- ciated Press on June 8 that the children’s ages were 5, 4 and 1. The mother was 37, and the father was 59.
The shooter called a friend in Deer Lodge at about 10 a.m. Sunday to say he was going to kill his family and himself, Barkell said. The friend called 911.
Authorities responded from another nearby town, Anaconda, and it took them a while to find the cabin where the family lived, Barkell said.
“It appears he (the shooter) set the house on fire before killing himself,” Barkell told The Montana Standard. “We could not enter because of the smoke and the heat inside. We had to wait for the fire
departments.”
The fire was contained within the
cabin, he said.
Thomas transported the bodies to
the state crime lab in Missoula on Sun- day afternoon. All five were shot with a handgun, Barkell said.
He knew nothing about the family, saying the shootings were the “first deal- ings we’ve ever had with them.”
7. Yellowstone Urges Tourist Common Sense Amid Bison Attacks
YELLOWSTONE — A pamphlet draw- ing of a man being gored and flung into the air graphically warns tourists in Yellow- stone National Park not to get too close to bison: They’re wild animals and can be very dangerous.
Rangers distribute the flyer to people as they enter the park, but some visitors still aren’t getting the message. Bison have gored two people in the Old Faithful area within the past three weeks.
The latest attack Tuesday was an espe- cially violent scene, as a bison charged a 62-year-old Australian man and flung him into the air several times.
A male American bison can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, bigger than a Smart car. They have horns that aren’t just for grub- bing around for tasty shoots.
Bison often behave much like cattle, lumbering about and lazing in the sun- shine. But when they get a mind to, they can run up to 40 mph, or almost twice as fast as Usain Bolt’s world-record speed in the 100-meter dash.
“I just don’t think people realize how fast bison move. They’re big animals, but they move quickly. And so when a bison becomes agitated, it doesn’t take him long to cover that short distance,” Yellowstone spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said.
The unidentified Australian was flown by helicopter to a hospital where he was treated for serious injuries and released.
The attack happened as a group of people crowded near the bison as it lay on grass near a paved trail. The man was tak- ing photos of the shaggy beast from just a few feet, but the whole crowd was much too close, park officials said.
8. Oil Drilling in Montana Taps Out
BILLINGS – Montana has been with- out a single major oil drilling rig since April, and industry observers attribute the inactivity to low oil prices that have slowed drilling across the country.
Montana drilling has been very lim- ited during the Bakken oil boom, but it’s been decades since the state was without a single drilling rig.
State Board of Oil and Gas officials sus- pect that Montana might have been with- out a drilling rig in 2009, though Rep. Tom Richmond, R-Lockwood, said it’s been much longer since the state experienced a drilling drought. Richmond was Board of Oil and Gas director before retiring.
“We might have got close in 2009, but I’m thinking it was probably some time in the 1990s when it was zero,” Richmond told The Billings Gazette.
It’s possible there are a few very small operators who go uncounted.
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