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Mid-Day Top Stories From Across Montana For Friday, January 27, 2012

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- A look at weather conditions across the Treasure State.

- With the new year comes the deadline to file income tax returns, and some of the early-bird filers have reported delays in receiving their tax refunds this week. Teresa Clark of H&R Block reports that because the IRS is experiencing unanticipated delays in federal tax processing this year, it could take one to two weeks after returns are accepted for refunds to be delivered. Clark says that the IRS is working to remedy this situation, which is affecting taxpayers no matter what filing method they used, and adds that the delays are not limited to H&R Block clients.

- A 21-year-old Kalispell man has been arrested after his 2-year old son was found unattended in the middle of the road. Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry says the incident happened earlier this week when temperatures dropped to 15 degrees. A woman found the toddler barefoot and crying and told authorities the child had no jacket on. The Flathead County Sheriff's Department followed the boy's footprints in the snow to a house. Inside, they found a 10-month old girl and 21-year old Russell Flanigan, who was asleep. Authorities also found several marijuana plants in the garage.

- U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta discussed DoD budget plans in Washington D.C. on Thursday, and among the projected cuts is the C-27J cargo aircraft. Four of those aircraft were set to come to the Montana Air National Guard in Great Falls to help fill the void of the departing F-15's. The Air Force will divest the fleet of 38 C-27 cargo planes, leaving the Montana Air National Guard in the dark for future missions. The Central Montana Defense Alliance says they have been assured the F-15's will be replaced with another flying mission.

- The annual "Point In Time" homeless survey is being conducted nationwide, including right here in Montana. The survey is conducted to try to account for every homeless person it can on one particular day. Officials in charge of counting those with no permanent housing in Lewis & Clark, Broadwater, and Jefferson counties say the problem appears to be growing. Joe Wojton of God's Love shelter in Helena noted, "Last year counted approximately 615, and we're expecting that number to stay the same or definitely go up this year."

-The Hamilton City Council is considering new rules governing the sales of medical marijuana to reflect the latest changes in state and federal laws. Hamilton had an interim zoning ordinance two years ago, when all the cities in Montana were seeing an explosion of medical marijuana shops. But since then, the Legislature overturned the state law, sending that issue to the Supreme Court. And last week Judge Donald Molloy ruled federal marijuana laws still trump state laws when it comes to controlling the drug. That landscape of legal turmoil has Hamilton leaders trying to cover the city's bases. Hamilton City Attorney Karen Mahar gave the city council earlier this week a run-through of a new medical marijuana ordinance staff has been developing since last fall.