Hello and welcome to News Now, I’m your host Taylor Inman. We’re going over the week’s biggest headlines and what’s coming up for northwest Montana.

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Two students and a coach were injured from a lightning strike during soccer practice on the Glacier High School athletic field Monday evening.

The soccer players, both underclassmen, and the coach were transported to Logan Health Medical Center. One of the students is in the intensive care unit, according to a statement from Glacier Principal Brad Holloway posted to social media.

Superintendent …

Hello and welcome to News Now, I’m your host Taylor Inman. We’re going over the week’s biggest headlines and what’s coming up for northwest Montana.

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Two students and a coach were injured from a lightning strike during soccer practice on the Glacier High School athletic field Monday evening.

The soccer players, both underclassmen, and the coach were transported to Logan Health Medical Center. One of the students is in the intensive care unit, according to a statement from Glacier Principal Brad Holloway posted to social media.

Superintendent Kalispell Public Schools Matt Jensen said they are hoping for a quick release and are praying for the student who is in the ICU.

Jensen said an on-site athletic trainer and a coach administered CPR to the student who is in the intensive care unit. Jensen expressed gratitude for the athletic trainer’s quick response.

Officers with the Kalispell Police Department arrived at the athletic field about 5:47 p.m., according to Patrol Capt. Chad Fetveit. He said Kalispell emergency medical services were also present.

Fetveit offered no further details about the lightning strike.

Officials with the Kalispell Fire Department did not return requests for information prior to the Inter Lake’s press deadline.

Jensen said policies and procedures were followed as a late afternoon storm rumbled across the Flathead Valley but declined to detail them. He also declined to discuss specifics surrounding the incident.

According to the high school’s handbook, the district superintendent can order closure of schools in the event of extreme weather or other emergency in compliance with established procedures for notifying parents, students and staff. Notification is made through local radio stations and district phone, text and email systems.

Soccer season began last Friday. A home scrimmage is set for Aug. 22, according to the season schedule.

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Results from last week’s Northwest Montana Fair are posted on the Dailyinterlake.com, along with great beat-by-beat coverage of the festivities. See fair photos, stories of livestock judging, baking competitions and more on our website, dailyinterlake.com.

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Kalispell City Council approved Monday a $180.7 million budget for fiscal year 2025.

Though the fiscal roadmap calls for tax hikes, the bulk of the property tax increases stem from the public safety levy voters approved in March, according to city officials. The levy added 58.43 mills to the city’s general levy that amounted to $3.9 million in the general fund.

The city’s general fund was authorized at roughly $16.5 million.

For property valued at $100,000, the calculated property tax will be around $267, an $82 increase from fiscal year 2024, according to budget documents. Property valued at $300,000 will be taxed around $801, an increase of $247 from the previous year. Properties valued at $600,000 will see a $494 increase to around $1,601.

The health insurance levy was authorized at 19 mills, amounting to around $1.5 million in the general fund.

While 60.9 mills were authorized for the public safety levy, 2.47 mills were shunted to the public safety fund within the permissive health levy to cover insurance costs for additional fire and police personnel.

Council approved 197.69 mills as the total city levy, with a general city levy of 120.26 mills. The figure is based on the mill value calculation provided by the Montana Department of Revenue. The general city levy stands at 10 mills less than the amount Council was authorized to adopt.

The budget approved by Council was an increase from the 2023 budget of $140 million. And the finalized budget stands at $300,000 more than the preliminary budget adopted in March.

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A health clinic in a Montana town that was polluted with deadly asbestos will ask a federal appeals court on Wednesday to reverse almost $6 million in fines and penalties after a jury determined it submitted hundreds of false claims on behalf of patients.

The jury verdict came last year in a lawsuit brought by Texas-based BNSF Railway, which separately has been found liable over contamination in Libby, Montana, that's sickened or killed thousands of people. Asbestos-tainted vermiculite was mined from a nearby mountain and shipped through the 3,000-person town by rail over decades.

After BNSF questioned the validity of more than 2,000 cases of asbestos-related diseases found by the clinic, a jury last year said 337 of those cases were based on false claims, making patients eligible for Medicare and other benefits they shouldn't have received.

Asbestos-related diseases can range from a thickening of a person's lung cavity that can hamper breathing to deadly cancer. Exposure to even a minuscule amount of asbestos can cause lung problems, according to scientists. Symptoms can take decades to develop.

BNSF alleged the clinic submitted claims based on patient X-ray evidence that should have been corroborated by a health care provider's diagnosis, but were not.

Clinic representatives argued they were acting in good faith and following the guidance of federal officials who said an X-ray reading alone was sufficient diagnosis of asbestos disease.

Judge Dana Christensen ordered the clinic to pay $5.8 million in penalties and damages. BNSF would get 25% of the money because it brought the lawsuit on behalf of the government. Federal prosecutors previously declined to intervene in the false claims case and there have been no criminal charges brought against the clinic.

Clinic attorney Tim Bechtold said in court filings that the judge overseeing the lawsuit gave the seven-person jury erroneous instructions, essentially pre-determining the verdict. Attorneys for BNSF urged the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm last year's ruling.

Arguments from the two sides were scheduled for 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday in Portland, Oregon.

The judgment prompted clinic officials to file for bankruptcy, but the bankruptcy case was later dismissed at the request of government attorneys. They said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was the main funding source for the clinic but also its primary creditor, therefore any costs associated with the bankruptcy would come at taxpayers' expense.

The clinic has certified more than 3,400 people with asbestos-related disease and received more than $20 million in federal funding, according to court documents.

BNSF is itself a defendant in hundreds of asbestos-related lawsuits. In April, a federal jury said the railway contributed to the deaths of two people who were exposed to asbestos decades ago by tainted mining material was shipped through Libby.

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