Montana News Roundup: Names Released in Bitterroot Murder

The Ravalli County Sheriff is reporting it was a California man who was shot and killed during an altercation south of Hamilton Tuesday afternoon.

The victim is 52-year-old David Earl Conners of Simi Valley, California. Deputies have arrested 55-year-old Scott Paul Peratis of Hamilton on homicide charges.

     Holton is thanking people for information that's helping the investigation.

Another grizzly shot and killed in NW Montana

For the 14th time this year, a landowner shoots and kills a grizzly bear, this time after the bear approached him on his property.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the shooting, which happened July 10th along Foothill Road east of Kalispell, but is just now being reported by Montana FWP.

Wardens say this was another case where the property owner heard a disturbance outside in the night, came outside, and discovered the bear was in his chicken coop. He shot and killed the grizzly as it approached him.

RELATED: Feds Approve Plans to Stop Railroad Grizzly Deaths

Warnings come with Pride flag approval

Even though Bozeman is joining Missoula and Butte in resuming display of the controversial "Pride" flag by working around state law, some leaders are being warned that it could create ramifications down the road.

Bozeman City Manager Chuck Winn warned the city commission during their meeting Tuesday that, given the current political climate, approval of the flag MAY have repercussions down the road.

"In light of current efforts in the federal government to draw attention to certain initiatives of the city, or funding that we have received of may receive in the future, that we do not know what adopting the Pride flag, or flying the pride flag as an official flag of the city may have on those opportunities," Winn told the commissioners.

     🏳️‍🌈 The split vote gives the mayor an option of flying the flag, but doesn't replace the official Bozeman flag.

Drugs, alcohol, and speed were involved in latest fatality

Montana Highway Patrol reports a 73-year-old woman from Saltese is now the 92nd person who's lost their life on a Montana highway this year, after a fatal crash in Lake County.

Troopers say the driver was northbound on U-S 93 near St. Ignatius on Tuesday morning. The victim lost control of her Mercedes, going off the side of the road before it went airborne and rolled over. As in so many of these crashes, MHP says she wasn't wearing her seatbelt and was ejected, adding speed, drugs, and alcohol were also factors.

Knudsen wades into latest climate change suit

The fight by young adults to use the courts to counter climate change is moving into a different arena, with Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen leading other states' GOP Attorneys General in an effort to defend federal environmental policies.

The competing legal claims are in the aftermath of the landmark Held v. Montana case, where young adults successfully argued that the state's climate policies are violating their constitutional rights.

Knudsen and the other AGs are hoping to intervene in the latest suit, Lighthiser v Trump, where 19-year-old Eva Lighthiser of Livingston claims the Administration's environmental orders are violating the constitutional rights of she and her co-defendants.

     📚 The AGs are arguing that the states have the experience, and also expertise, and standing to be involved in the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula.

More "hoot owl" fishing restrictions added to the list

Regardless of the "why", the "where" right now of the ongoing drought and another hot, dry summer in Montana is bringing additional "hoot owl" fishing restrictions to protect trout as water temperature climbs into the mid-70s.

Montana FWP is adding more afternoon and evening fishing closures this afternoon. The entire Big Hole River, the East Gallatin from Penwell Bridge down to the West Gallatin near Manhattan, the main stem Gallatin from Amsterdam Road to Three Forks, and the Lower Shields River from Brackett Creek Road down to the Yellowstone are all on the new list.