Tuesday: Semitool, Baucus Ratings, Wolf Season Over

By Molly Priddy, 11-17-09

Good morning, on the Beacon today, California-based Applied Materials, Inc., will acquire Semitool of Kalispell for $364 million - be sure to check back throughout the day for updates on the deal from Beacon reporter Dan Testa. Approval ratings for Montana's Sen. Max Baucus are down 20 points after taking heat from both liberals and conservatives during his push for national health care reform. Officials at the Flathead County Planning and Zoning office say they have not been contacted during the third-party investigation into their department and county commissioners report that the investigation's fieldwork is complete. Montana's first wolf hunting season shut down on Monday after hunters reached the 75-wolf quota. Prosecutors say a Missoula woman embezzled $240,000 from an architect firm. State Attorney General Steve Bullock is suing BNSF for failing to live up to a 1984 agreement that the state says requires the company to pay some grain shipping costs in central Montana.

Sarah Palin plans on promoting her book, "Going Rogue," in Billings on Dec.8. The Montana Land Board delayed their decision on whether or not to lease vast state-owned coal tracts. Federal officials plan to spend $11.7 million for about 5,000 acres of private land in national monuments, forests and recreation areas in three Western states. A 24-year-old Missoula man received his fifth DUI only nine days being sentenced for his fourth. A 25-year-old Deer Lodge man was shot and killed in what officials say was a hunting accident while on a camping trip. A medical marijuana facility in Helena is hoping to make the business more legitimate now that the federal government has taken legal pressure off licensed producers.

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