ACROSS the BIG SKY

The Mine Safety Health Administration early Saturday lifted an evacuation and closure order for the Stillwater mine near Columbusa day after the mine was evacuated when smoke was reported at the underground platinum mine.

Amy Louviere with the Mine Safety Health Administration said the mine has reopened.

All of the miners made it to the surface on Friday, and no injuries were reported. Louviere said a mine rescue team reached the source of the smoke and found a broken hydraulic hose that sprayed fluid on a piece of machinery.
Hamilton man charged with stealing tiger pelt from Daly Mansion

HAMILTON — An 18-year-old Hamiltonman who police said broke into a historic mansion and stole a tiger pelt has been charged with felony burglary.

Authorities said police matched shoe footprints at the Daly Mansion with shoes being worn by Mitchell James Gouse. He was charged Friday.

Authorities said that they later recorded a phone call in which Gouse confessed the burglary to his father.

Gouse is scheduled to appear in district court in mid-July.

The Daly Mansion is the former home of 19th century industrialist Marcus Daly. It was purchased by the state of Montana in 1986 and is open for public tours.
Washout closes Yellowstone road

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — A road in Yellowstone National Park's Lamar Valley has been closed after some 30 feet were partly washed out by high water.

Park officials said rushing waters at the confluence between the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek damaged a section of the eastbound lane of the park's Northeast Entrance road just west of Soda Butte.

Visitors still can travel into the Northeast Entrance of the park from Red Lodgeor Cody, Wyo., over the Beartooth Highway or the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway.

The National Park Service closed the road late Friday evening. A spokesman said it's unclear how long it may take to reopen the road.
Idaho city trims trees for megaloads

MOSCOW, Idaho — Officials in the northern Idaho city of Moscow have issued a permit to trim trees along the route of two oil refinery equipment shipments belonging to Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil.

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports that the city's Parks and Recreation Department issued the permit Friday for the trimming of 18 trees which planned to start Sunday.

Parks and Recreation Director Dwight Curtis said the oil refinery loads will move down Washington Street.

The oil company earlier this month received permits from the Idaho Transportation Department to transport two modules through Moscow on U.S. Highway 95 and then to Interstate 90 starting Monday.

More than 200 of the oversized rigs are slated to travel through Idaho and Montana over the next year to the Kearl Oil Fields in Alberta, Canada.