Tuesday Buffet: Rivers Rising, Obama at Crow Agency, Mexican Donkey Jailed

By Dan Testa, 5-20-08

Good morning. Today is the anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's lift-off to fly across the Atlantic for the first time.

On the Beacon this morning flood warnings are increasing across Western Montana, with minor flooding already occurring in some areas. A Lincoln County judge has slashed the amount of damages the Wilderness Club has to pay adjacent landowners from $1 million to $25,000. Actor Kal Penn was in Kalispell over the weekend to stump for Sen. Barack Obama. And on the Police Blotter, someone in Evergreen was spraying pink graffiti everywhere.

In a tour around Montana yesterday, Obama told the Crow tribe he would improve relations between the federal government and Native Americans. Ben Arnoldy of the Christian Science Monitor writes about a new collaboration between conservationists and ranchers to designate Wilderness in Idaho. The state Land Board has given the go-ahead to appraise the value of the Otter Creek coal tracts. And a top federal government lawyer calls invalid Wyoming's request to dismiss Montana's case against its neighbor to the south over water on the Tongue and Powder Rivers.

And finally, in Mexico a donkey was thrown in jail after it turned ornery and bit two people. The donkey will remain in jail until its owner can pay the victims' medical bills. Have a happy Tuesday. [End of article]