BOZEMAN (AP) -- A Belgrade woman accused of stealing more than $7,000 in cookie money from local Girl Scout troops pleaded no contest to felony theft in District Court Friday.

Stacy Noorlander, 31, denied taking the money from the 2001 cookie drive, but said she couldn't ''prove beyond a reasonable doubt that I didn't."

Noorlander, who had pleaded innocent in April, changed her plea as part of deal that requires her to pay restitution but calls for four years of probation, and no jail time.

District Judge Mike Salvagni still has to agree to the terms and is scheduled to sentence Noorlander on Feb. 25.

Noorlander was a service unit manager for three Girl Scout troops near Big Sky in February 2001, when the alleged crime occurred. She was to deposit $7,176 in proceeds from the cookie sales in the bank, but prosecutors allege she kept the money.

After months went by and Noorlander still hadn't deposited the money, Susan Hunter, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Big Sky Council in Great Falls, decided to press charges.

Noorlander has maintained that she deposited the money into the troops' bank account and mailed the deposit slip to the Girl Scouts state headquarters in Great Falls. Court records show the bank has no record of the transaction.

Former county attorney files suit against assistants

BIG TIMBER (AP) -- A former Sweet Grass County attorney filed suit in District Court Wednesday accusing two of his former assistants of libeling him and invading his privacy.

Richard Malagisi, whose resignation was announced Monday by county commissioners, has been embroiled in recent weeks in a dispute with his two former assistants, who accused him of being volatile and threatening.

They obtained a temporary restraining order against him last month. During a hearing in District Court in Helena, the women dropped their request to continue the restraining order if Malagisi agreed to stay away from them.

In announcing his resignation, Malagisi said he was leaving because of an upcoming tour with the U.S. Army, probably in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said he wanted to file the case against Jami Moody and Arlene Yost as quickly as possible.

The suit accuses the women of libel for portraying him as ''a mentally deranged and emotionally volatile individual who explodes on the slightest of provocations."

He also accuses the pair of invading his privacy by going through his work files, accessing his personal computer network directory and providing information to the county commissioners dealing with personnel matters.

Snow year off to a better, wetter start than 2003

HELENA (AP) -- The season's first snowpack measurements, greatly aided by heavy snow in many places over the holidays, show a big improvement over last year and a slight improvement over normal, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service said Wednesday.

Overall, statewide snowpack contains 63 percent more moisture than at this time a year ago.

However, news of the good start comes with a note of caution that's become routine over several years of drought.

While the moisture content is up over 2003 levels, it's barely above average for this time of year, and the state will still need a lot more snow to maintain average levels through April, the typical end to Montana's snow season, officials said.

The agency found snowpack about average on both sides of the Continental Divide, with most river basins slightly above average. Almost all showed at least half-again the moisture they held at this time in 2003.

Pipe breaks, pours water into Alberton High School

ALBERTON (AP) -- Water from a broken pipe poured into the superintendent's office at Alberton High School for nearly six hours as school and town officials frantically tried to figure out how to shut the water off.

''We were calling people, trying to find maps to the streets that would show where the shut-off valve was," said Gary Webber, Alberton's technical coordinator and a former superintendent himself.

There is a shut-off valve for the entire school, but the broken pipe -- once an external connector for fire hoses -- was not a part of it.

Officials finally located the shut-off valve Tuesday, half a block away and under the street. They brought in a backhoe, dug it up and got the water turned off at 9:30 p.m.

The damage was limited mostly to Superintendent Jim Baldwin's office, including a hole cut in the wall to drain the water when it reached 10 inches in depth.

He estimated the damage at $5,000 and commended high school principal Carl Denny for coming up with the idea of cutting the hole in the wall that kept the flood from spreading into other parts of the school.

Timber sale south of Livingston stopped by environmentalists

LIVINGSTON (AP) -- The U.S. Forest Service's Northern Region office in Missoula has halted a proposed sale of 4.5 million board feet of timber in grizzly bear habitat south of here, environmentalists announced Wednesday.

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Park County Environmental Council, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council and two individuals all appealed the planned Windmill sale.

Becki Heath, Gallatin National Forest supervisor, said Wednesday she isn't sure what will happen next.

The Gallatin could alter its plans or drop the entire thing.

As proposed, the sale was likely to lose $376,000, the latest environmental impact statement said. And that number, which could vary, doesn't include the estimated $230,000 already spent on planning and writing an EIS.

''We've got a sizable investment" already and dropping the sale would be a tough decision, Heath said.

The sale was originally planned five years ago to raise money for land swaps with Big Sky Lumber.

The project called for logging 690 acres of occupied grizzly bear habitat in the Mill Creek drainage, about 24 miles south of Livingston and adjacent to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Car thieves find cars running, ready to go

BOZEMAN (AP) -- A spare key could be the difference between a warm car and a ''hot" car, police say.

Car thieves are finding more and more easy scores, as area residents start vehicles and leave them unattended to warm up during the cold weather, police say.

''We've had a lot of vehicles stolen the last couple of days," said Bozeman Police Officer Greg Lannon.

People are making it easy for crooks by leaving cars unlocked, with the keys in the ignition and often running, he said. A spare key would solve much of the problem, he said.

Since Jan. 1, eight vehicles have been stolen here and half of them were unlocked with keys in the ignition, according to police reports.

''Just don't leave your car unlocked," said Deputy Police Chief Marty Kent. ''Especially, don't leave your car unlocked with the keys in the ignition."

Man pleads guilty to Social Security fraud

BILLINGS (AP) -- A Billings man pleaded guilty to Social Security fraud for collecting nearly $30,000 in payments while working and claiming he was unemployed.

On Thursday, Ralph Lee Jack, 45, admitted that from August 1999 until April 2003, he knowingly made false statements on a form applying for Supplemental Security Income payments.

Assistant U.S. attorney Kurt Alme said Jack received $29,939 to which he was not entitled.

Jack faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull set sentencing for April 15 and continued Jack's release.