07 Feb 2013
Posted by Larry Kline 
Editor's note: The government reports used as the basis for this series of articles were compiled by the nonprofit online newsroom ProPublica as part of an ongoing series of investigations into the nation's nursing homes. Below you will find information about four local nursing homes: Cooney Home, Big Sky Care...
Read more → 22 Jan 2013
Posted by Shane Castle 
A Montana state legislator seems to be cultivating a signature political tactic: he proposes a piece of legislation, then a nearly identical backup reframed as a veto-proof referendum. Rep. David Howard (R-Park City) bucked tradition in 2011 when he first doubled-up on a piece of immigration legislation....
Read more → 18 Dec 2012
Posted by Shane Castle It was 10 o’clock on Monday night. The city commission meeting had been in progress about four hours but the chambers were still packed with some 150 people. Dozens more spilled out into the hallway and two nearby rooms rigged with TVs and speakers. Almost fifty people had just finished testifying,...
Read more → 14 Dec 2012
Posted by Shane Castle 
Boeing generated record revenues of $68.7 billion and net earnings of $4.1 billion. CEO Jim McNerney’s total compensation package was about $23 million that year. But according to a recent study by Citizens for Tax Justice, once you account for subsidies and tax loopholes, Boeing paid an effective...
Read more → 01 Nov 2012
Posted by Shane Castle 
The city of Helena is poised to start the public-hearing process for a local anti-discrimination ordinance. That simple sentence was 10 months in the making, but for some interested parties, it’s been more like decades. The ordinance would make it illegal for people to discriminate against lesbian,...
Read more → 01 Nov 2012
Posted by Shane Castle 
On Sunday June 11, 1995, about 500 people marched through downtown Helena, some toting bright signs or banners, others walking arm in arm with a loved one – women with women, men with men. It wasn’t the first gay-pride parade in Montana, but it was the capital city’s first. Many of those involved...
Read more → 02 Aug 2012
Posted by Lacey Middlestead 
Ebony clouds billow up above the trees of the hillside. The setting sun in the backdrop burns red through the haze. The summer air is tainted with ash and smoke and burns the throat when inhaled. Suddenly an object appears through the smoke, moving slowly just above the tree line. It’s an MT 205 helicopter...
Read more → 02 Aug 2012
Posted by Shane Castle 
When the firefighter told David and Kathy Coey of Miner’s Trail Rd. they needed to leave, Kathy said, “I’m not leaving without my horses.” They have seven. The firefighter had them sign a release effectively saying they’d been warned. This was Monday afternoon, just after the Corral...
Read more → 05 Apr 2012
Posted by Liz Reiman 
It was 7:30 PM on a typical Saint Patrick’s Day. As if Saint Patrick’s Day is anything but typical. In our room, my roommate and I were getting ready to celebrate this famed holiday in two very different ways. She was straightening a green dress covered with dancing leprechauns and black ribbons,...
Read more → 02 Feb 2012
Posted by Larry Kline 
An exclusive analysis done by the city’s accountant for the Vigilante shows Helena’s business sector has sustained some bumps and bruises in the past few years, as the national recession’s delayed effects finally arrived statewide toward the end of 2009. But some local retailers say the downturn...
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