GREAT FALLS - A Harlem man accused of sexual abuse on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation admitted to charges on Monday July 7, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said. The defendant, Ross Vincent Dale, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse. Dale faces maximum penalties of life imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and five years to a lifetime of supervised release. Chief U.S. District Court Judge

A Dodson man accused of strangling a woman on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation recently admitted to charges, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said. The defendant, Skychief Chiefstick Lewis, 29, pleaded guilty to strangulation. Lewis faces 10 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Brian M. Morris presided and will determine any

Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction has apologized for a “lapse in judgment” that led to her being arrested and charged with driving under the influence in late June. Republican Susie Hedalen, who was elected to the statewide office for the first time last November, was pulled over in the early hours of Sunday, June 22, by a Belgrade police officer, according to court filings.

With a flurry of bill signings and vetoes, Gov. Greg Gianforte finalized Montana’s next two-year budget last week, striking hundreds of millions of dollars approved by legislators in what he described as an effort to eliminate unnecessary spending. Among the spending nixed by Gianforte’s veto pen, applied to standalone bills and specific items in the state’s main budget bill, were higher