Crime & Courts

A special committee of Montana lawmakers released a draft report Thursday detailing concerns that members of the judicial branch deleted public records and fell short of ethics rules.

A years-long, undercover investigation dismantled a Butte drug trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. The investigation led to the conviction of 18 Montana residents.

House Bill 702 had barred employers from mandating vaccines or requiring employees share their vaccine status. U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled that it was unconstitutional and conflicted with federal law.

The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday sent a legal challenge to a law banning vaccine mandates back to a lower court on a technicality. The decision is part of an ongoing legal battle over House Bill 702, which bans workplace vaccine requirements and discrimination based on vaccination status.

Blackfeet tribal traditionalists and conservation groups on Wednesday appealed a federal court decision that reinstated a controversial oil lease in the Badger-Two Medicine area.

Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s allegations against recent courtroom rivals was dismissed as “frivolous.”

Starting Oct. 31, all in-person visitation to the State Prison will be suspended until further notice.

Environmental organizations and residents near a planned natural gas plant in Laurel are fighting to stop its construction even as it proceeds.

Marijuana dispensary owners in Great Falls have won a lawsuit against the city.

A police officer shot and wounded a woman in the Billings Clinic emergency department Sunday evening while responding to a report of an individual with a “loaded gun” threatening to shoot herself.