Bent track a factor in Amtrak crash that killed 3 in Montana en route from Chicago to Seattle
Investigators probing a fatal 2021 Amtrak derailment in Montana disclosed Tuesday that the railroad track was bent along a curve near the accident site, and the problem got worse as freight trains traveled over the area before the crash.
chicagotribune.comFBI Finds New Information About Chinese Spy Balloon
We’re learning new information about the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said the balloon was able to collect communications and data via a satellite and had “multiple antennas” in addition to other equipment used “clearly for intelligence surveillance,” Axios reported.
news.yahoo.comMontana bill would allow students to misgender classmates
More than two dozen Republican Montana lawmakers are co-sponsoring a bill that would allow students to misgender and dead-name their transgender peers without punishment, a move that some argue would further the bullying of kids already struggling for acceptance. The proposal would declare that it’s not discrimination to use a classmate’s legal name or refer to them by their birth gender and would prevent schools from adopting policies to punish students for actions that aren't discriminatory. Opponents of the bill said students are not being disciplined for the accidental use of a wrong pronoun or a student's former name, but refusing to acknowledge a transgender student's preferred name and pronouns amounts to bullying that schools should address.
news.yahoo.comUS, states weigh farmland restrictions after Chinese balloon
As U.S.-China relations cool amid trade disputes and espionage fears stoked by the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the Atlantic Coast, lawmakers in Congress and at least 11 statehouses are weighing legislation to further limit foreign ownership of farmland.
US military cautious that Chinese spy flight had 'potential for explosives to detonate and destroy' balloon
As the U.S. military recovers debris from the Chinese spy flight that was shot down on Saturday, officials are cautious of the "potential for explosives to detonate and destroy the balloon," NORAD chief Gen. Glen VanHerck said.
foxnews.comMississippi lawmaker sparks outrage for racist meme on suspected Chinese spy balloon
A Mississippi state senator has come under fire on Twitter after posting a racist meme referencing the suspected Chinese spy balloon that breached U.S. airspace last week. Sen. Joel R. Carter, Jr., a Republican who represents the 49th District, shared an image of a weather balloon superimposed with the words “Weather Barroon” and “Totary NOT For Spying.” In the tweet, he wrote: “Biden Administration currently.”
news.yahoo.comEyes on the sky as Chinese balloon shot down over Atlantic
Eyes were locked on the skies Saturday as a suspected Chinese spy balloon passed over the U.S. Eastern Seaboard — where local authorities warned civilians against taking potshots with rifles — before it was shot down when it drifted over the Atlantic Ocean. It was shot down off the Carolina coast Saturday afternoon and an operation was launched to recover the debris. The Biden administration had previously hesitated to shoot the balloon because of risks to people on the ground from falling debris.
news.yahoo.comMontana judge to decide on wolf hunting limits
A Montana judge said he would decide Tuesday whether to continue temporary limits on wolf hunting in the state or to restore quotas and hunting methods before a trial over whether the public was given an adequate opportunity to weigh in on changes in the way the state estimates the size of the wolf population.
Grizzly bear returns, kills woman camping in her sleep after she scared it off an hour earlier, wildlife officials
A California woman who was fatally mauled by a grizzly bear in western Montana last summer was the victim of a rare predatory attack by a bear that had learned to seek out human food and was likely attracted scents near her tent and others left behind from recent Independence Day picnics, wildlife officials said.
Outside Yellowstone, flooded towns struggle to recover
With Yellowstone National Park pushing to re-open to tourists more quickly than anticipated after record floods pounded southern Montana, some of those hardest hit in the disaster live far from the famous park’s limelight and are leaning heavily on one another to pull their lives out of the mud.
Yellowstone flooding forces 10,000 to leave national park
Yellowstone National Park officials say more than 10,000 visitors have been ordered out of the nation’s oldest national park after unprecedented flooding tore through its northern half, washing out bridges and roads and sweeping an employee bunkhouse miles downstream.
Deadly Colorado blaze renews focus on underground coal fires
Authorities investigating the cause of a wildfire that destroyed more than 1,000 buildings last month in Colorado are looking at the possibility that the blaze is linked to underground coal fires have long smoldered at old coal mines in the area.
Montana advances grizzly bear plans that could allow hunting
Montana wildlife officials have advanced plans that could allow grizzly bear hunting in areas around Glacier and Yellowstone national parks if states in the U.S. northern Rockies succeed in their attempts to end federal protections for the bruins.