Montana
Montana lawmaker: There’s a religious right to abortion
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Abortion rights teams are difficult abortion bans in some states by arguing the bans — supported by sure non secular rules — violate the non secular rights of individuals with totally different beliefs.
Conservative Christians for many years have argued that life begins at conception and abortion must be unlawful and 47 states have legal guidelines that permit well being care staff to decide out of offering abortions if that violates their non secular beliefs or morals.
In Montana, a state lawmaker who’s an ordained Jewish rabbi argues non secular freedom legal guidelines that defend well being care staff’ non secular beliefs also needs to defend abortion rights for individuals who belong to religions that help such rights.
“Evidently each side must be permitted to have equal protections for his or her non secular conscience,” stated Rep. Ed Stafman, a Democrat.
States have been creating their very own abortion legal guidelines after the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade ruling final summer season. Abortion legal guidelines in Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Utah and Wyoming have confronted challenges on the premise of non secular freedom, in line with the Kaiser Household Basis. None of these instances have been resolved.
The Montana invoice faces unsure prospects within the state’s Republican-controlled legislature, however Stafman famous that a number of members of the Home Judiciary Committee that heard testimony on the invoice on Friday are members of the Montana Freedom Caucus, a gaggle of conservative lawmakers whose key points embrace non secular freedom.
Montana’s Home Judiciary Committee, together with the Home itself, have already handed a invoice this session increasing the state legislation to permit well being care staff to say no to take part in any medical procedures that violate their conscience or non secular beliefs.
Stafman’s invoice doesn’t say how the state would decide if non secular safety must be granted, however well being care services can ask for workers to submit in writing their non secular or ethical refusals to take part in abortions.
The Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid type for these looking for an exemption from a required COVID-19 vaccine requires only a signature and no rationalization. Below federal legislation, a person can search a spiritual exemption no matter whether or not the non secular beliefs, observances or practices are frequent or non-traditional and no matter whether or not they’re acknowledged by any organized faith.
Republicans on the committee questioned how far the proposed legislation might go in defending actions claimed as non secular beliefs, together with whether or not it ought to defend infanticide or the killing of people that violate non secular tenets.
“Do you admit then {that a} non secular exemption for killing a baby that has been born … exists beneath your premise behind this invoice?” Republican Rep. Lee Deming requested.
“No,” Stafman replied. “There’s no non secular exemption to kill a baby that’s been born beneath my invoice.”
There are limitations to non secular protections, “when there’s a very, very broad public consensus on morality like there may be round polygamy and definitely round homicide,” Stafman stated.
“On this case, the case of abortion, there actually isn’t any consensus,” he stated. Polls present society is split, as are totally different non secular communities, he stated.
Some non secular teams, together with the Roman Catholic Church, Assemblies of God, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Southern Baptist Conference, oppose abortion rights, with few to no exceptions, in accordance the Pew Analysis Heart.
The Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Methodist Church help abortion rights, with some limits. Conservative and Reform Judaism, the Presbyterian Church, Unitarian Universalist and the United Church of Christ help abortion rights with few or no limits, Pew stated.
Islam, Buddhism, the Nationwide Baptist Conference and Orthodox Judaism maintain no clear place on the process.
Judaism has an amazing respect for all times, Stafman stated, and it differentiates between a girl as a life and a fetus as a possible life.
Stafman stated he respects the non secular beliefs of those that got here to testify towards his invoice, quoting the Bible and scripture.
“These are honest non secular beliefs, however so are mine,” he stated.
BOZEMAN: A 41-year-old Montana man was charged with murder Friday in a brutal slaying at a remote campsite that had been initially reported as a possible bear mauling by people who found the victim’s body.
The suspect allegedly told authorities that he arrived at the campsite northeast of Big Sky, Montana, on Oct 10 intending to stay the night but found it occupied by 35-year-old Dustin Kjersem.
Kjersem, who didn’t know the suspect, welcomed him to the campsite and offered him a beer, according to Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer.
But sometime later the suspect driven by an unknown motive hit Kjersem with a piece of wood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver and hit him with an axe, Springer said.
The victim’s girlfriend and another friend found his body Oct 12 and reported it as a possible bear attack. It turned into a homicide investigation after wildlife agents found no sign of a bear in the area.
After DNA found on a beer can from the campsite was matched with the suspect’s DNA, he was tracked down this week and arrested in Butte, Montana, Springer said.
He was being held on $1.5 million bail, according to sheriff’s department records.
Montana Lottery players lined up for a chance to win $1 million on Friday morning.
The lottery announced that ticket sales for the annual Montana Millionaire drawing would start at 5:30 a.m on Nov. 1.
The lottery game had 500,000 tickets available for purchase. Within three hours, tickets were sold out.
“The demand for Montana Millionaire this year has been absolutely incredible,” Bob Brown, the director of the Montana Lottery, said in a statement. “We knew tickets would sell fast, but under a 3-hour sellout for 500,000 tickets is truly unprecedented.”
On the lottery’s Instagram page, players are seen in long lines for a chance to try their luck at the million-dollar game. Only four people can win the grand prize.
To have a chance at winning a prize, interested players paid $20 to play the game, the lottery said.
“The Montana Millionaire lottery is back, and this year is the biggest yet!” Three Amigos Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, a retailer for the Montana Millionaire tickets, wrote in a Facebook post. “With 500,000 tickets up for grabs and FOUR massive $1 million grand prizes, 2024 could be your lucky year.”
Montana Millionaire players could also win ‘Quarter Million Monday’
Players will also have a chance at winning $250,000 in the “Quarter Million Monday” drawing on Dec. 2, the lottery said.
All players that purchased a ticket on Nov. 1 are eligible for the “Quarter Million Monday” drawing on Dec. 2 and the “Grand Prize” drawing on Dec. 26, the lottery said.
Montana Millionaire game sold out quickly in 2023
The Montana Lottery said that tickets for the 2023 game sold out in five hours.
In 2024, the lottery added 120,000 more tickets for players to purchase.
What are the odds of winning Montana Millionaire?
The overall odds of winning a prize in Montana Millionaire are 1 in 73.5, the lottery said.
Here is a table that shows the odds of winning for each drawing.
Can’t see the table? Click here to view it.
The lottery said that the odds for the “Quarter Million Monday” drawing Prize will depend on how many tickets are sold before the drawing deadline.
How to play Montana Millionaire
To play Montana Millionaire you must purchase a $20 ticket. Tickets can be purchased at any Montana Lottery retailer (i.e. convenience stores, bars/taverns, grocery stores, and casinos), the lottery said. In addition, players can purchase tickets at all of the lottery’s self-service terminals throughout the state.
Unlike traditional lottery games, Montana Millionaire does not have a play slip or numbers for players to choose, the lottery explains. Instead, every player that buys a ticket will be given a number that ranges from 000001 to 500000.
The deadline for the limited-ticket game was originally set for Dec. 25 at midnight, the lottery said. However, once tickets are sold out they are gone.
Ahjané Forbes is a reporter on the National Trending Team at USA TODAY. Ahjané covers breaking news, car recalls, crime, food recalls, health, lottery, and public policy stories. Email her at aforbes@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter) @forbesfineest.
A Montana man found slain in his tent this month welcomed the suspect in his killing, a stranger, to his campsite and offered him a beer, the Gallatin County sheriff said Thursday.
Daren Christopher Abbey, 41, was arrested this week and charged with deliberate homicide in the killing of Dustin Kjersem, 35, whose body was found in his tent near Big Sky on Oct. 12, officials said.
It was a “chance encounter” at the campsite on the night of Oct. 10, and Abbey did not know Kjersem, Sheriff Dan Springer said at a news conference.
Abbey had planned to camp at the site, but when he arrived that night he found Kjersem was already there, with a wall tent, beds and a stove, Springer said.
Abbey in a confession to detectives, “stated Dustin welcomed him to the campsite and offered him a beer,” Springer said.
“At some point, this individual struck Dustin Kjersem with a piece of solid wood, stabbed him in the neck with a screwdriver and ultimately hit him with the ax,” Springer said. “The motives of this attack are still unknown.”
The state crime lab matched DNA from a beer can found in the tent to Abbey, Springer said.
Abbey was arrested Saturday in Butte, around 80 miles northwest of Big Sky. He was interviewed by sheriff’s detectives and Montana Justice Department investigators Tuesday and confessed to the killing, Springer said.
Kjersem planned to spend the weekend at the campsite with his girlfriend. He set up the camp on Oct. 10, a Thursday, and he planned to pick his girlfriend up from work the next night, Springer said.
Kjersem never arrived. The girlfriend and a friend drove to the campsite on Oct. 12, a Saturday, and found Kjersem dead in the tent, Springer said.
Kjersem’s injuries were such that the person who reported discovering his body suspected he had been attacked by a bear, the sheriff’s office has said. An autopsy confirmed it was homicide, not an animal attack.
Abbey had been living in a couple of different areas but most recently had a residence in Basin, Montana, a small community in the mountains northeast of Butte, Springer said. He had been employed in the Big Sky area at various times, Springer said.
Abbey was arrested on a probation violation in Butte but is charged with deliberate homicide in Kjersem’s death, the sheriff’s office said.
State Corrections Department records show Abbey was on conditional release after a prison sentence for a 2020 repeat driving under the influence case.
Abbey was being held in custody Thursday night without bond, jail records show. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
The investigation could take months more. Springer said detectives will work to put together more pieces of what occurred, including what motive Abbey might have had.
“We have a bit of his story, but we don’t really know what the true story is,” Springer said. “We have a story — we just don’t know if it’s accurate.”
Springer said that after he killed Kjersem, Abbey removed items he may have touched or which could connect him to the crime, including a cooler and the ax. He returned the next night and took more items, Springer said.
The sheriff’s office previously said an ax, a Yeti cooler, a shotgun and a revolver were missing from the campsite.
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