Sign in Subscribe

prison

Helena man sentenced to 45 years in prison for sexually assaulting young girl

A Helena man was sentenced Wednesday to 45 years in the Montana State Prison, with a requirement he not be eligible for parole for at least 25 years, after a jury convicted him last year of sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl. Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge

Say no to the yes-men | Mary Sheehy Moe

Here we are again — drowning in post-Citizens United swill. Every other TV commercial has this candidate touring a factory, that one standing on a mountaintop in his plaid flannel shirt, yet another firing her gun to display her Second-Amendment bona fides — or put her dog down, maybe. Every

Texas man given probation for buying poached Flathead eagle parts

A Texas man was sentenced to five years of probation Tuesday morning for buying multiple hawk and eagle parts that were poached on the Flathead Reservation. John Butler, 71, pleaded guilty in December 2025 to one count of conspiracy to commit a crime, two counts of unlawful trafficking of bald

When immigration detention becomes a system of concentration: Lessons from research on 150 historical cases

When immigration detention becomes a system of concentration: Lessons from research on 150 historical cases

The phrase “concentration camp” is freighted with dark historical meaning. Most people hear it and instinctively think of concentration camps used by the Nazis to exterminate Jews and other minority populations during the Holocaust. But the use and name of concentration camps originated far earlier. In the late 1800s, Spanish

Helena man sentenced to 100 years in prison for involvement in 2022 shooting after retrial

A Helena man was sentenced to 100 years in the Montana State Prison this week after being convicted of felony attempted deliberate homicide and other felonies in Lewis and Clark County District Court. Jory Jerae Songer was found guilty by a jury for a second time on all four of

Paying it forward | Mary Sheehy Moe

Twenty springs ago, Montana school boards presented 73 requests to local voters to increase funding for their elementary schools. All but two (97.3%) passed. The same year 52 such requests were made for high schools. All but three (94.2%) passed. Ah, those were the days — before the recession

Fresh paint, careful choreography as pope visits African prison

Fresh paint, careful choreography as pope visits African prison

The walls around Equatorial Guinea's notorious Bata prison were freshly painted salmon-pink for Pope Leo XIV's visit Wednesday, but inside there was no masking the acrid smell of sweat and urine. Shouting "freedom" in the pouring tropical rain, hundreds of inmates jumped in