NEWS

This week's top stories: March 21-27

Tiffany Aldinger
taldinger@greatfallstribune.com

That's a wrap!

The week is coming to an end, which means it's the perfect time to take a look back at what made the news. So before you head out to enjoy the sunshine, take a minute to catch up on the week that was.

Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, reads over the text of a bill during a Senate floor hearing in March.

'Massacre of the Indian bills': Hope and angst mark this session of the Montana Legislature for the Indian Caucus. "We call it the massacre of the Indian bills," said Rep. Rae Peppers, D-Lame Deer. Carolyn Pease-Lopez, D-Billings and minority caucus chair, said particularly during the House budget discussion, Democrats "feel stonewalled. There hasn't been any discussion. We're chucking the budget to the Senate, and we (the House) risk becoming irrelevant."

Dolana Clark was killed in 1988.

Cable network to air program on Great Falls murder: On Sunday, the cable television program "Unusual Suspects" will premiere "Little Girl Gone," an episode detailing the murder of 9-year-old Dolana Clark, who disappeared from Great Falls in 1988. "Little Girl Gone" will air at 7 p.m. Sunday on the Investigation Discovery network (ID channel) program "Unusual Suspects."

Big Belts airplane crash kills 1, injures another: A pilot from Canada was killed and his wife was injured Thursday when their plane crashed into the Big Belt Mountains near Hidden Lake, officials said.

Family members placed flowers, balloons and a candle near the site where Ramona Albert, 52, was killed Saturday night after she was struck by a vehicle.

Coroner identifies pedestrian killed Saturday: The pedestrian killed Saturday night has been identified as Ramona Albert, 52. She was killed when she was struck by a vehicle around 9:30 p.m. Albert's son, Neal Albert, told the Tribune that he and other family members have placed photos, flowers, candles and other tokens at the site of the incident as a small shrine to his mother. "It's a tragic thing that took place," he said.

Legislative stories bookend our list this week, with a feature on Rep. Randy Pinocci rounding out our wrapup.

Randy Pinocci (Republican, House District 19) listens to testimony on a bill during the 2015 Legislative Session.

Pinocci chafing under constraints of session: Rep. Randy Pinocci's voice vibrated with frustration as he described the legislative session now in the homestretch with just more than a month to go. "I don't have enough time to go through each issue," he said. "They don't give us enough days. We can't do a good enough job with the time they give us."