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Nov 19, 2024 | 
startribune.com | Christina A. Cassidy |John Hanna |AMY BETH HANSONThe
HELENA, Mont. — Terry Thompson had an election to run for voters in Cascade County, Montana. Why then, she thought, was her office in Great Falls being sent mailed ballots completed by voters in places such as Wasilla, Alaska, Vancouver, Washington, and Tampa, Florida? It was only about a dozen ballots total from voters in other states. But she said it still raised concerns about the ability of the U.S. Postal Service to deliver election mail and whether the errant ballots would ever be counted.
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
startribune.com | AMY BETH HANSONThe
HELENA, Mont. — A state judge in Montana heard arguments Thursday over policies that block transgender people from changing the sex designation on their birth certificates and driver's licenses. District Court Judge Mike Menahan did not immediately issue a ruling on the request for a preliminary injunction to block those prohibitions while the case moves through the courts.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
startribune.com | Hannah Schoenbaum |AMY BETH HANSONThe
She has since become a leading voice for transgender rights across the country, helping fight against a torrent of anti-trans rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail from Donald Trump and his allies. Her campaign season has been split between Montana and other states where Democrats are facing competitive races. Zephyr said she views her case as one of several examples in which powerful Republicans have undermined the core tenets of democracy to silence opposition.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
startribune.com | Matthew Brown |AMY BETH HANSONThe
Federal Defender Andrew Nelson also disputed the restitution amount, saying it was too high for the eagles and the hawks should not be counted. Branson has no prior criminal history, according to Nelson. Because of the criminal charges, he lost his job as a maintenance supervisor for the Kalispell Tribe in Washington, Nelson said, and the defendant suffered a stroke in April.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
startribune.com | AMY BETH HANSONThe
At least 12 mailed ballots were stolen in a rural Colorado county and then sent in with fraudulent votes, three of which slipped past county election officials and were counted in next month's general election, state officials said Thursday.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
startribune.com | AMY BETH HANSONThe |Amy Hanson
The judicial panel noted that Knudsen acknowledged during a hearing earlier this month that a lot of things should have been done differently in representing the Legislature over the extent of its subpoena powers. ''If I had this to do over, I probably would not have allowed language like this — so sharp — to be used,'' Knudsen testified. However, the panel also noted that Knudsen repeatedly refused to admit that any of his actions or language in court filings violated professional conduct rules.
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Oct 9, 2024 | 
startribune.com | AMY BETH HANSONThe
Republicans have long accused Montana judges of legislating from the bench when the courts find Republican-passed laws regulating abortion or gun rights to be unconstitutional. The alleged misconduct by Knudsen occurred in 2021. At the time, Montana lawmakers were working on a bill to eliminate a commission that reviewed potential judges. Lawmakers learned a Supreme Court administrator used state computers to survey judges about the legislation on behalf of the Montana Judges Association.
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Oct 4, 2024 | 
startribune.com | AMY BETH HANSONThe
A rural Colorado county courthouse beefed up security Friday after threats were made against staff and a judge who sentenced former county clerk Tina Peters to nearly nine years behind bars and admonished her for her role in a data breach scheme catalyzed by the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.
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Oct 3, 2024 | 
startribune.com | AMY BETH HANSONThe
A Utah woman has been arrested for investigation of murder after she told a confidential informant that she shot her estranged husband in his sleep and buried him in a shallow grave but did not disclose the location, police said. Jennifer Gledhill, 41 of Cottonwood Heights, was arrested Wednesday and is jailed in Salt Lake County without bond, according to court records. The body of Matthew Johnson, 51, had not been found as of Thursday, police said.
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Sep 30, 2024 | 
startribune.com | AMY BETH HANSONThe
HELENA, Mont. — An 81-year-old Montana man faces sentencing in federal court Monday in Great Falls for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in Central Asia and the U.S. to illegally create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota. Prosecutors are not seeking prison time for Arthur ''Jack'' Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana, according to court records. He is asking for a one-year probationary sentence for violating the federal wildlife trafficking laws.
