Butte

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Escaped Circus Elephant Goes Exploring in Montana Town

Viola the Asian elephant, spooked by a car backfire, was later reunited with her mate

(Newser) - An elephant literally wandered the streets of Butte, Montana, on Tuesday before she was returned to the circus from which she escaped. The pachyderm had quite the adventure, carefully treading across multi-lane roads, visiting the parking lot of a casino, leaving what NBC Montana calls "a surprise" on a...

Overflowing Toxic Pit Kills 3K Birds
Overflowing Toxic Pit
Kills 3K Birds
Jan 24, 2017 10:16 AM CST

Overflowing Toxic Pit Kills 3K Birds

Tainted water of Berkeley Pit to hit critical level in 2023

(Newser) - It was an unusual and unfortunate confluence of events: A larger-than-normal number of geese was making a later-than-normal migration over Montana when a snowstorm blew in at the wrong time and sent them soaring to the wrong place, reports the AP . The throngs of white birds splashed down in a...

With Nowhere to Land, Geese Descend, Die On Toxic Water

Their usual landing site, several others were mostly frozen

(Newser) - A "perfect storm" of a late migration and a snowstorm left thousands of snow geese dead in the toxic waters of an old mine pit in Montana last week, authorities say. A spokesman for the Montana Resources mine company says witnesses described the scene as "700 acres of...

Fist-Sized Gold Nugget Goes Up for Sale

Unidentified owner selling nugget found in Butte County in July

(Newser) - Is $11 million in rare gold coins too much for your pocketbook? Perhaps dealer Don Kagin can interest you in his newest treasure up for sale: a giant, 6.07-pound gold nugget. Found on public land in California's Butte County mountains this summer, the "Butte Nugget" is believed...

FAA Issued Safety Directive on Montana Plane

(Newser) - A new wrinkle has emerged in the investigation of the plane crash that killed 14 people in Montana Sunday, ABC News reports. Just two weeks ago, the FAA issued a directive ordering operators of the Pilatus PC-12 model to check for a potential problem with a control mechanism. The directive...

Mont. Plane Didn't Report Trouble: NTSB

All passengers died when turboprop plane crashed in Butte

(Newser) - The plane that crashed yesterday in Montana, killing all 14 aboard, gave no indication to air traffic controllers that the aircraft was experiencing difficulty when the pilot asked to divert to an airport in Butte, a federal safety official said today. There was "no indication of any trouble when...

Unlikely GOP Candidate Runs for Montana Senate Seat

85-year-old wants a British-style parliament

(Newser) - Montana senator Max Baucus looks certain to win reelection this November, writes the New York Times, but his Republican challenger is gaining some attention for his unorthodox proposals. Bob Kelleher, 85, wants to nationalize oil companies, end the Iraq war to fund cancer research—and, most shockingly, eliminate the separation...

Cancer Cures Hiding in Poisonous Lake

Scientists fish new microbes out of a toxic soup that kills

(Newser) - Two scientists may be fishing cancer cures out of an abandoned, poisonous lake, Wired reports. Don and Andrea Stierle are finding microbes in the green goup of an old Montana pit lake that don’t exist anywhere else – and happen to make compounds that inhibit a lung cancer and...

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