|
|
 |
| Jul 29, 2010 - 06:41 PM |
Queen City News - Helena's FREE Weekly Newspaper |
Helena, Montana |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Helena City Commission voted Monday night to annex more than 220 acres on Helena’s northwest boundary into the city. Those acres include the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds, the Woodlawn-Dunbar neighborhood, and the Laborers Union training facility on Horseshoe Bend Road.
The area, which has been plagued in recent years by failing septic systems and a high water table, was connected to city water and sewer services this past year.
KGLT’s local signal down
As some public radio fans may have noticed, KGLT 98.1 FM is currently off the air in Helena due to equipment malfunctions at the station’s translator site on Hogback Mountain.
New equipment is ordered and should have the station up and running again in early
December, said KGLT Marketing Director Ron Craighead. “KGLT would like to thank our Helena listeners for their patience during this down time, and we look forward to rocking the airwaves in the Capital City again soon,” he said.
No garbage pickup Thursday
The city’s Solid Waste Division will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and will not pick up garbage that day. If your garbage is normally picked up on Thursday, you will need to put containers out for collection by 7 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 27.
The City of Helena Transfer Station will also be closed on Thursday, Nov. 26, for the holiday.
State employees contribute
Montana’s 14,000 state workers donated $527,739 this year to the annual State Employees’ Charitable Giving Campaign, which is $23,000 more than 2008. The campaign provides a way to donate to any of 425 non-profit organizations of the employee’s choice through payroll deduction. United Way of Lewis and Clark County and Montana Shares usually receive the most contributions.
Lt. Gov. John Bohlinger will draw a $1,000 top prize and other prizes for donors at an end-of-campaign celebration Friday, Dec. 4, from 12:30-1 p.m. in the Capitol Rotunda.
Hunters’ luck down again
Harvest of elk and deer was below the five-year average during the fifth weekend of the 2009 general big game season in southwest Montana, reports the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Overall, 8.5 percent of hunters checked game through the six check stations with 82 elk, 57 mule deer, and 32 white-tailed deer. About 2,050 hunters stopped at a southwest Montana check station.
Although hunter numbers and percent of hunters with game are up compared with 2008, FWP said those figures are down from the five-year average of 2,394 and 10.1 percent, respectively. Elk and mule deer harvest were quite a bit lower than the five-year averages of 124 elk and 84 mule deer, and the white-tailed deer harvest was slightly above the five-year average of 32.
The 2009 general big-game season ends a half-hour after sunset this coming Sunday, Nov. 29.
Tester supports brief
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., helped to organize a bipartisan message from Congress on Monday to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding an upcoming gun rights case. He teamed up with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and U.S. Reps. Mark Souder, R-Ind., and Mike Ross, D-Ark. to write a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of gun rights in the upcoming McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court case.
Their 59-page brief was delivered to the U.S. Supreme Court with signatures from 309 senators and representatives, which Tester’s office said was more members of Congress than any friend-of-the-court brief in U.S. history.
McDonald v. Chicago will ultimately determine whether local governments have the right to pass their own laws restricting firearms. It is similar to last year’s landmark Heller v. District of Columbia case, which overturned the longstanding ban on firearms Washington, D.C.
Meeting set on Hwy. 284
The Montana Department of Transportation has scheduled a public meeting on an upcoming project planned for Secondary Highway 284. The proposed project will involve a 10.4-mile chip seal from milepost 23.4 to milepost 33.8 and a rehabilitation project 2.3 miles long from milepost 33.8 to milepost 36.1.
The public meeting will start at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009, at the Townsend Public School Community Room, 201 N. Spruce St., in Townsend.
The rehabilitation improvements include widening the road, flattening the side slopes to current standards, and improving the sight distance near the south end of the project by re-grading a portion of the road. The purpose is to enhance safety, extend the service life of the highway and take a cost-effective action to preserve and maintain the existing highway.
The project is tentatively scheduled for construction in 2011, depending on availability of funding and completion of design.
New right-of way and relocation of utilities will be required. MDT staff will contact all affected landowners prior to doing survey work on their land. Staff will again contact landowners prior to construction regarding property acquisition and temporary construction permits.
Opinions, comments and concerns may be submitted in writing at the meeting or by mail to Joe Olsen, Butte District Preconstruction Engineer, at MDT's Butte district office at P.O. Box 3068, Butte, 59602-3068. or online at www.mdt.mt.gov/mdt/comment_form.shtml.
Indicate comments are for project CN 4474 and submit comments by Jan. 4, 2010.
Governor wants Superfund designation for smelter site
Gov. Brian Schweitzer has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to add the AMC Great Falls Smelter and Refinery Site in Cascade County to the National Priority List (NPL) of Federal Superfund sites. His action comes partly in response to local community support for the Superfund designation.
“This designation will allow access to resources that will contribute to both the environmental and economic health of the Great Falls community,” Schweitzer said.
The AMC site in Black Eagle is contaminated with heavy metals from the copper smelting operation between 1893 and 1980. Recent investigations show elevated levels of lead and arsenic exist in the soil at 375 residences. The governor asked EPA to consider training local residents for employment in the cleanup.
If the EPA accepts Montana’s NPL listing proposal, the agency could publish its recommendation in the Federal Register, which starts a 60-day public comment period. After that, the site could be added to the NPL within the next six months.
There are 15 Federal national priority list Superfund Sites in Montana. AMC would be the second site in Montana added to the NPL in recent months. In September, the Flat Creek IMM associated with the Iron Mountain Mine and Mill in Superior became an NPL site.
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Queen City News is published every Wednesday in Helena, MT, by Mossback Media, LLC.
Contents are copyrighted and cannot be used in any form without prior permission from the QCN.
Copyright © Queen City News, 2002
Logo by Internet Navigating
Design and development by Pure Development
Best discount software.
|
|
|
