Regional Briefs

Officers remove three tribal leaders

BROWNING — Federal officers, including one from the Department of Homeland Security, entered a northern Montana Indian tribe’s headquarters to remove three councilors at the center of a factional impasse.

The Flathead Beacon  reported Saturday officers with military-style rifles acted on a tribal judge’s order to remove Blackfeet councilors Bill Old Chief, Paul McEvers and Cheryl Little Dog.

Turbulence has plagued the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council since at least 2012 when Old Chief, McEvers and Little Dog were suspended.

Two weeks ago, these bitter divisions on the 1.5-million-acre Blackfeet Indian Reservation led to a temporary government shutdown.

One dead, another

jailed in shooting

ANACONDA — One man is dead and another jailed following a fatal shooting early Saturday.

The Montana Standard reports Dylan Jess, who is 21, was in the Anaconda jail facing a homicide charge.

Police say a shotgun blast killed another man, but they aren’t releasing his identity until family members have been notified.

The shooting happened at a home in this mining town in western Montana.

Jess apparently knew the man who was killed.

His body has been taken to the crime lab in Missoula for forensic analysis.

An investigation continues.

Bridge resurrects

tragic accident

HIGHWOOD — A new bridge in central Montana has been completed, making the walk for students at a nearby elementary school safer.

The Great Falls Tribune reported Saturday the Wendell Mee Memorial Bridge was named after a student who died here in 1952 along Montana Highway 228 as he was walking home from school.

As a 4-year-old Tobias Wilson crossed the bridge on his tricycle following a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Wendell Mee’s former classmates recalled how his tragic death more than a half-century ago affected their lives.

Ron Long, one of those who has been raising money for the project, always worried something similarly awful would happen to somebody else.

Rivers confluence

is made public

MISSOULA — A 200-acre parcel of land surrounding the confluence of a river and a creek near Missoula has become public land.

The Missoulian  reports that the state purchased the former ranch where Rock Creek meets the Clark Fork River from Five Valleys Land Trust. The trust bought the land last year for $1.6 million, and Gov. Steve Bullock approved spending $400,000 from the state’s Natural Resource Damage Program settlement funds to purchase the property. The remainder of the price came from several organizations and private donors.