The Billings Gazette from Billings, Montana • 1

Safe flights: Past 3 years have been some of safest in American aviation history, Nation 2A i Rahv with hito Industrial Light fcr Magic vtiv Snicket movie. Vv Technology 1B i 1 1 1 11 nil i. The Source IDCALEDmON Today's briefing Ranchers given recourse for wolves 1 authorization by landowners, grazing permittees, guides and outfitters. .41 CTTYMAN SENTENCED: A Billings man was sentenced Monday to seven years In the Department of Corrections, with four years suspended, as part of a plea agreement after admitting he killed a pedestrian with his car along Interstate 90 and failed to stop. 2C wolves in Idaho and portions of Montana in the Yellowstone ecosystem.

Wyoming was not included because it has not come up with a wolf management plan acceptable to the New laws permit ranchers, landowners to intercede; protect investments gered species list are stalled. "These regulations provide a logical transition until the wolf population can be delisted and states can assume full management responsibility," Secretary of Interior Gale Norton said in a telephone conference with reporters Monday. The rules are expected to be published in the Federal Register in the coming days and enacted 30 days later. Although federal officials provided an outline of the rules, a complete copy was not available to the press or public Monday. The new rules apply only to By MIKE STARK Of The Gazette Staff In about a month, Montana ranchers and other property owners will be able to kill wolves that are attacking or are poised to attack livestock and other domestic animals, according to new federal rules announced Monday.

The rules, intended to give landowners and state officials more authority over wolves, are seen as an intermediate step for transferring management to Montana and Idaho while efforts to remove wolves from the endan NORTON Wolves that are posing a risk to livestock by chasing or harassing them could also be killed, federal officials said. In that case, a "reasonable person" would have to believe that wolves are preparing to attack, said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the FWS. The mere presence of a wolf isn't enough to allow it to be shot, he said. "This is not just a wolf walking by a bunch of cattle," Bangs said. Please see Wolves, 8A US.

Fish and Wildlife Service. Under the new rules, wolves that are attacking livestock or other domestic animals on private land or public grazing allotments could be killed without prior Mm ma mm GOP cooks up a coup I 'if Not everybody bolls a porcupine skull on the stove or stores a dead bat In the fridge. But that's second nature for Orty Bourquln, 63, a South African naturalist who relocated to the Columbus area two years ago.1C MAD COW CONCERNS: Cattle producers and industry leaders in the region said Monday that the federal government is moving too quickly in allowing cattle and expanded beef product imports from Canada, where another case of mad cow disease was recently discovered. 1C EX-OFFICIAL SENTENCED: A former finance director of the Crow Tribe will spend time in federal prison for conspiring to bilk thousands of dollars from the tribe to pay the legal bills of ex-chairman Clifford Birdinground, who was convicted of bribery. 1C By CHARLES S.

JOHNSON Gazette State Bureau HELENA Defying tradition, every House Republican voted with three Democrats Monday to catapult Rep. Gary Matthews, D-Miles City, over the Democrats' preferred choice to the top job of speaker. Matthews emerged the win 4 1. GEORGE LANElndeoendent Record MATTHEWS ner over Rep. Dave Wanzenried, D-Missoula, 53-47, in the House, split 50-50 between the two parties.

The new speaker picked up the votes of fellow Democratic Reps. Jim Keane of Butte and Emelie Eaton of LaureL plus his own. Bylaw, Democrats are entitled to organize the tied House because Gov. REVERSE COURSE: House Republicans suddenly reversed course Monday, deciding to retain a tough standard for lawmaker discipline and reinstate a rule that would force Majority Leader Tom Delay to step aside if indicted by a grand jury. 2A FREEWAY SUIT: In a case with broad national implications, the Sierra Club wants to stop the widening of a freeway in fast-growing Las Vegas until the government proves the health of people living nearby wont be harmed by the automobile exhaust 3A Gov.

Brian Schweitzer takes the oath of office Monday from Supreme Court Chief Justice Karla Gray. Schweitzer became the 23rd governor of Montana. Fanfare, drums mark ceremony World WANZENRIED Gov. Brian Schweitzer, left, sits and drums with members of Montana's American Indian tribes after he was sworn In. Standing behind is LL Gov.

John Bohlinger. GEORGE LANE Independent Record IRAQI DEAD: Insurgents pressed their bloody campaign to sabotage Iraq's Jan. 30 elections with three car bombs and a roadside attack Monday, one near the prime minister's party headquarters in Baghdad and others targeting Iraqi troops and a US. security company. 5A REBEL FIGHT: Soldiers carrying automatic weapons moved closer to a police station seized by paramilitary nationalists over the weekend in the remote Andean town of Andahuaylas, Peru.5A a iA in iina-i if hum awn I Tribal musicians, Hibernian pipers take part in swearing in By JENNIFER McKEE Gazette State Bureau HELENA Amid the bleating of Irish bagpipers and the beat of an American Indian drum, Brian Schweitzer was sworn in Monday as Montana's 23rd governor.

Speaking shortly after the inauguration, Schweitzer, 49, invoked the memories of his Irish and Ukrainian great-grandparents who homesteaded in Montana almost a century ago, arriving with little more than their dreams and faith in God. "They dreamed of being at the front of the line," Schweitzer said. "Let's remember that we take care of every Montanan, those Montanans who will not make it to the front of the line, the Montanans who can only dream about the next generation." Schweitzer, a fanner-rancher from Wbitefish, is the first Democratic gov- Brian Schweitzer is a Democrat Wanzenried had been the House minority leader in 2003 and was the solid choice of nearly all of the House Democrats to become speaker or presiding officer. For at least the past three decades, one party in the Montana Legislature has respected the other party's caucus picks for leaders and not undercut them The move Monday left some Democrats fuming and some Republicans smiling wryly and raised questions about how smoothly the two parties will work together in the split House. Shortly after winning the speaker's job, Matthews insisted that an impromptu House Rules Committee he appointed give Please see Coup, 8A ernor since Ted Schwinden left office in 1989.

He picked Republican John Bohlinger, a state senator from Billings, as his running mate for lieutenant governor. The ceremony, which included the inaugurations of 10 other state officials including Bohlinger, took place in the Capitol rotunda, and the crowds fi 1 1 Surplus being used up, 3C Senate leader calls for unity, 3C Natives take part in event, 3C Cloudy at Montana PUMICU Weill IU WdU ClllU ijsh.a vw -a from balconies two stories overhead. Legislature Legislature 2005 High 17 Lev -7 Please see Schweitzer, 8A Chance of snow. 8C 6C 3B Movies Classified Relief flows to devastated areas 4A 3D Opinion Comics ID Deaths 5C.7C.8C Sports Local 1C Tecfinokwv IB Markets 6A TV 4D 2005 The Billings Gazette, a Lee Newspaper; 119th year, No. 247 Survivors of the tsunami use an elephant to pull a vehicle from the destroyed village of Lam Jamek, Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, on Monday.

ftyytafrKl Pre from American shores, it is now spearheading the international relief effort and delivering more supplies than any other nation. A US. warship strike group carrying thousands more Marines was headed in to help. "Look at that, look at that! Ifs so big!" shouted a 6-year-old girl, Khairunisa, as a US. Hercules cargo plane roared over Banda Aceh, the capital of Sumatra island's devastated Please see Relief, 5A Get news updates online at Find out more at biliingsgazette.com To see additional photos from the earthquake and tsunamis that have left tens of thousands dead across Asia ami Africa, see the photo gallery link in this story.

cartons of food and water on Monday. Although the United States was not among the first at the scene after last week's natural disaster thousands of miles U.S. troops deliver supplies, medical care to victims KARIM RAJIA, Indonesia (AP) US. helicopters rescued dozens of desperate and weak tsunami survivors, including a young girl clutching a stuffed Snoopy dog, as the American military relief operation reached out to remote areas of Indonesia with WWW.DiinnybytutriLc.uuin r'l w-. i f'rt a.S-jWJv.l..

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