Livestock testing to start May 15

BILLINGS (AP) -- Beginning May 15, Montana livestock producers around Yellowstone National Park will have to test their cattle for brucellosis before they can move the animals out of the region.

Brucellosis can cause pregnant cows to suffer miscarriages. The disease has been wiped out nationwide except in wildlife in and around Yellowstone.

The Montana Department of Livestock will require the tests as part of its plan to regain the state's brucellosis-free designation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The state lost that status last year after two herds of cattle became infected, likely through contact with elk.

Testing will be required in seven counties -- Beaverhead, Carbon, Gallatin, Madison, Park, Stillwater and Sweet Grass. Some livestock owners oppose the plan because they fear it will create a stigma for cattle in the Yellowstone area.

Neptune not flying this week after crash

MISSOULA (AP) -- Neptune Aviation of Missoula isn't flying its planes this week to give employees time to mourn the deaths of three members of a flight crew in a plane crash in Utah.

Neptune safety officer Mike Pfau says the "safety stand-down" will be reviewed today to see if more time is needed.

The company is not concerned about the safety of its nine P2V retardant tankers. Pfau says there's no indication of any malfunction causing last Saturday's crash near Salt Lake City.

The crash killed tanker pilot Tom Risk of Littleton, Colo., co-pilot Mike Flynn of Alamogordo, N.M. and crew chief Brian Buss of Alberton. The three were en route to New Mexico to fight a wildfire.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer ordered all flags on state property to be flown at half-staff today to honor the memory of Buss, whose funeral is scheduled this afternoon at the Alberton Community Church.

Appeals court affirms 15-year meth sentence

A federal appellate panel has affirmed the 15 1/2-year prison sentence of a Ventura, Calif., man convicted on a methamphetamine charge in Montana.

Robbin Parks was sentenced July 1 of last year by U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon in Great Falls. Parks had earlier pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with the intent to distribute.

The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 188-month sentence in a terse opinion Wednesday.

The court said: "Parks contends that his sentence is greater than necessary and that it fails to take into account his prospects for rehabilitation. We conclude that Parks' sentence is substantively reasonable."

The 47-year-old Parks is an inmate at a medium-security federal prison in Victorville, Calif. His projected date of release is May 17, 2021.

-- Associated Press