Rural Air Service/ Tongue River Railroad Coal

Billings Gazette: Congress rejects effort to ground rural air service
H.R. 2557: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016
Essential Air Service
“The Essential Air Service (EAS) program was put into place to guarantee that small communities that were served by certificated air carriers before deregulation maintain a minimal level of scheduled air service.”

Missoulian: Many voice opposition to Tongue River Railroad
Tongue River Abstract
“On October 16, 2012, Tongue River Railroad Company, Inc. (TRRC) filed a revised application with the Surface Transportation Board (Board). TRRC intended to construct and operate an approximately 83-mile rail line between Miles City, Montana, and two ending points, one near the site of the previously planned Montco Mine near Ashland, Montana, and another at the proposed Otter Creek Mine in the Otter Creek area east of Ashland, Montana. On December 17, 2012, TRRC filed a supplemental application with the Board in which TRRC changed its preferred alignment from the 83-mile Tongue River Alternative to the 42-mile rail line between Colstrip, Montana and the Ashland and Otter Creek areas of Montana.”

Tongue River Railroad Environmental Impact Statement

Zinke Forest Bill/ Elder Abuse

Missoulian: Zinke forest bill would require lawsuit bonds, reduce timber-sale analysis
H.R.2644 :  To expedite certain forest management activities on National Forest System lands derived from the public domain when the activities are developed through a collaborative process of interested

Missoulian: Missoula Aging Services: As Montana grays, elder financial abuse rises
Adult Protective Services
“Adult Protective Services are provided by the Senior and Long Term Care Division of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS), to reduce or remove the risk of physical or mental harm that has occurred or is occurring to a person, as a result of abuse neglect or exploitation.”

Brownfields Grant/ NSA and Phone Records/ Facebook Threats

Missoulian: EPA awards city of Missoula $400,000 Brownfields grant
EPA provides $400K to advance the cleanup

Missoulian: Either way, no more NSA collection of US phone records
HR.2048: USA FREEDOM Act of 2015
“Sec. 101) Amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to establish a new process to be followed when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) submits an application to a FISA court for an order requiring the production of business records or other tangible things for an investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a U.S. person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities. (The FBI currently uses such authority to request FISA orders requiring telephone companies to produce telephone call records to the National Security Agency.)”

Missoulian: High court throws out conviction for Facebook threats
 Elonis v. United States
“After his wife left him, petitioner Anthony Douglas Elonis, under the pseudonym “Tone Dougie,” used the social networking Web site Facebook to post self-styled rap lyrics containing graphically violent language and imagery concerning his wife, co-workers, a kindergarten class, and state and federal law enforcement. These posts were often interspersed with disclaimers that the lyrics were “fictitious” and not intended to depict real persons, and with statements that Elonis was exercising his First Amendment rights. Many who knew him saw his posts as threatening, however, including his boss, who fired him for threatening co-workers, and his wife, who sought and was granted a state court protection-from-abuse order against him.”