No sexual assault nurse examination program exists east of Billings, meaning victims and survivors of sexual abuse often have to drive several hours to get an examination completed.
Lawsuit against Montana s SOS was forecast by legislative concerns montanafreepress.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from montanafreepress.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Lawmakers on Thursday heard three bills that would bolster the state s response to the missing and murdered Indigenous persons crisis, with backing from the new Montana Department of Justice administration.
Rep. Sharon Stewart-Peregoy, D-Crow Agency, presented the legislative package to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning. House Bill 98 would extend the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Task Force at the Montana Department of Justice, a House version of the same proposal Sen. Jason Small, R-Busby, pitched to a Senate committee a week earlier, but with an extension of the program s current grant funding mechanism.
In Montana, Native Americans make up roughly 7% of the state population but account for roughly 26% of the missing persons cases. Native Americans are four times as likely to go missing than non-Natives. Of those Natives who were reported missing between 2017 and 2019, nearly 80% are teenagers younger than 18 years old. Reported numbers are presumably l
Montana Republican Attorney General-elect Austin Knudsen on Thursday named several senior-level staff in his upcoming administration.
Thursday s announcement follows Knudsen s release earlier this week of the Montana Department of Justice division administrators. Major Steve Lavin of the Kalispell division of the Montana Highway Patrol was announced as the new chief of that division Dec. 16.
The list of senior officials in Knudsen s Department of Justice draws from former legislators, staff for past Republican officials and those with experience from other state agencies. Four of the nine senior officials named in Thursday s release were members of Knudsen s transition team. Knudsen will be sworn into office Jan. 4, replacing two-term Republican Attorney General Tim Fox.