Montana News Roundup: Paving over, Missoula Airport reopens

The Missoula Montana Airport is back in business after contractors finished a massive, week-long project to repave the facility's runway.

It's a project that only happens once every 20 years. But Airport Director Brian Ellestad says the contractors did a great job, working around the clock to not only repave the runway, but also install new electrical systems and other safety enhancements.

Shellinger Construction is just knocking it out of the park," Ellestad told me Friday. "They're managing 300 people per day just out here, choreographing everything, but just doing a great job. 6 o'clock in the morning, everybody gets together, lays out to plan for the day, and real professionals out here just doing their job."

      One of the objectives was also to strengthen the runway surface to handle today's larger aircraft.

Smaller starts, but fire season is dwindling

Firefighters will be welcoming the cooler weather after a weekend of hard work on the state's remaining fires.

Crews now have 14% containment on that stubborn Windy Rock Fire in Powell County, which is now just over 5300 acres and the largest active fire in the state. Evacuation orders remain in place for homes close to the fire southwest of Helmville.

     There were 10 new fires started yesterday, in both Western Montana and also in the open country south of Billings.

Weather change chasing the smoke

Fire smoke remains spotty across the state as the weather shifts. The Flathead Valley, Cutbank, and Great Falls were all still dealing with air that's "unhealthy for sensitive groups" well into last night. But other locations like Missoula, Helena, Bozeman, Billings, and Miles City had improved to "moderate" air quality after a weekend when regional fire smoke was much worse than forecast, largely because of a northwesterly flow bringing heavy smoke out of British Columbia.

Shooting north of Great Falls under investigation

The Cascade County Sheriff's Department is continuing to investigate a weekend shooting that sent a young woman to the hospital with serious injuries.

Family members have identified the victim as a 17-year-old high school senior. Sheriff Jesse Slaughter says detectives are still working what he calls a "complex case" and are hoping to hear from anyone with video that might help them sort out the details.

Prosecutors gear up for Missoula "Mother's Day" murder trial

Missoula County prosecutors are preparing for a two-week murder trial where a local man is accused of killing his mother two years ago, on Mother's Day weekend.

21-year-old Miles Miller is charged with killing his 68-year-old mother, Taeko "Teri" Miller, with a knife and then attempting to cover up the evidence. Miller is known to have called 9-1-1 to report her death, but claimed he hadn't seen her since the evening before.

     Miller faces life in prison, which may or may not include parole.

Congressional delegation presses to resolve outstanding tribal water claims

Senators Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, and Representatives Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing are joining some of their Western states colleagues in calling for completion of an important water rights settlement for the Crow Tribe. The Northern Montana Water Security Act would resolve the last outstanding tribal water settlement in Montana.

The Act would make "technical adjustments" to the Crow Tribe Water Settlement Act, first approved in 2009, giving the tribe some flexibility in implementing the agreement. The delegation says that would allow the tribe to not only provide clean water to tribal members, but also complete some energy development projects without reopening the original settlement.