Top news links, courtesy of Headwaters News.

Interior Department to release new plan for oilshale work in 3 western states
The Interior Department and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will release a new, scaled-back plan for commercial oilshale development in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah that cites concerns about water use and effects of the development as a reason for reining in the work.
Denver Post; Feb. 3

"We earnestly hope that you will put women’s health before partisan politics and reconsider this decision for the sake of the women who depend on both your organizations for access to the health care they need," the letter reads.

Komen for the Cure abruptly ended its decade-long partnership with Planned Parenthood in the name of improved grant-making procedures. Immediately after the news was announced, Komen for the Cure faced a backlash from longtime supporters who believe the decision is politically motivated. Planned Parenthood provides family planning and abortion services in hundreds of clinics across the country.

The New York Times quoted a current board member explaining that "Komen had become increasingly worried that an investigation of Planned Parenthood by Representative Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida, would damage Komen’s credibility with donors." Instead, Komen's getting hit with what the Times described as "rising dissension in its own ranks and a roiling anger on the Internet showing the power of social media to harness protest."

The letter signed by Tester and Baucus was addressed to Nancy Brinker, Komen’s founder and CEO.

“It would be tragic if any woman — let alone thousands of women — lost access to these potentially life-saving screenings because of a politically motivated attack,” the letter reads. “We earnestly hope that you will put women’s health before partisan politics and reconsider this decision for the sake of the women who depend on both your organizations for access to the health care they need.”

UPDATE: Komen issued an apology this morning "for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” and will allow Planned Parenthood to reapply for grants.

Top news links, courtesy of Headwaters News.

EPA 'stymied' about sandy flow in Montana creek
Montanans who live along Prickly Pear Creek in Montana think the thick layer of sand that now coats the bottom of the creek near East Helena believe that work done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Asarco's smelter, including lowering the water levels in the man-made Upper Lake, is responsible for the sand, but EPA officials said the absence of sand immediately downstream from the dam makes it unlikely that the work is the source of the sand.
Helena Independent Record; Feb. 2

Just look at this image of linebacker Jeremiah Kose, shot by photographer Sam Oldenburg. Earlier today, Kose (and his hair) officially committed to play football at the University of Montana.

Aside from the hair, Kose is a pretty darn good player. The 6-2, 225-pound linebacker comes from the junior college ranks, where he was an All-Southern Conference and All-Country first team selection last season at Palomar. He had 88 tackles and led the team with five sacks.

You can see more of Kose's hair in a highlight reel posted on the Griz website, as well as find more info on the rest of the 2012 recruiting class.

Image courtesy of Sam Oldenburg. Visit his website to see more of his excellent work.

There haven’t been any gnarly accidents this afternoon, Jan. 29. One guy lost a ski after the second jump, a few others lost the rope near the finish line. Then a horse loses its rider and gallops out of the arena, disappearing into the parking lot. Wranglers scramble to round it up. From his seat in the cab of a white Ford Super Duty, event organizer Scott Ping looks on with a smile.

Welcome to the World Skijoring Championships in Whitefish. Try not to get horse crap on your ski boots.

• Alex Sakariassen

Montana's Livestock Loss Board, which reimburses ranchers if wolves kill their cattle, announced its own specialty license plate yesterday. Proceeds from the sale of the plate will go toward the board's wolf depredation efforts.

This means Montana now has approximately 28,000 specialty plate options.

Not really, but it certainly seems that way.

The MVD website lists more than 150 different specialty plates for Montana drivers to choose from. For comparison, Idaho has 39. Oregon has 31. California? 11.

The MVD breaks it down by category:

Top news links, courtesy of Headwaters News.

Montana county commission hearing on wolf bounty prompts lively discussion
At a meeting of the Jefferson County Commission in Boulder on Tuesday, hunters urged the county commission not to move forward with a proposal to institute a bounty system for wolves and mountain lions, but Commissioner Leonard Wortman said if 51 percent of the ranchers in the Montana county approved a tax to fund the bounty, the commission would be required by state law to put the system in place.
Helena Independent Record; Feb. 1

Find Rob Brezsny's "Free Will Astrology" online, every Wednesday, one day before it hits the Indy's printed pages.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Sad but true: A lot of people seem to be perpetually in a state of wanting what they don’t have and not wanting what they actually do have. I’m begging you not to be like that in the coming weeks, Aries. Please? I’ll tell you why: More than I’ve seen in a long time, you will have everything going for you if you want precisely what you do have—and are not full of longing for what’s unavailable. Do you think you can you manage that brilliant trick? If so, you will be amazed by the sublimity of the peace that will settle over you.

The images that jump out the most show a drill pad located a half-mile from the new Browning High School, adjacent to residential homes and the Lodgepole Gallery and Tepee Village, and with Glacier National Park in the background. There's an aerial shot that puts the proximity of the pad in perspective. Two on-the-ground photos put Glacier's Summit and Littledog peaks firmly in the backdrop.

You can see these images—as well as many others—on a new interactive project created by East Glacier-based photographer Tony Bynum. In 2010, Bynum started to document where drill sites and fracking activity popped up across the reservation. The pads would go up for a couple weeks at a time, then disappear. Before they were gone, Bynum would take a shot—and take the time to set up the shot to show just how close the drilling was to surrounding landmarks.

"There's really no other way to show, and no one else showing, the rest of the country and those who care about this place, what is happening here," he said in an interview last week.

Top news links, courtesy of Headwaters News.

Montana county commission to consider bounty on predators at meeting today
Ranchers in Jefferson County have been reporting an increase in wolf and mountain lion attacks on their livestock, and that county's commission will consider a measure at a meeting today that would allow livestock owners to impose a tax upon themselves to fund a bounty program for removing wolves and mountain lions, a measure that is allowed by state law that is in conflict with other state and federal laws.
Helena Independent Record; Jan. 31