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Montana Free Press
Lawmakers muse about health coverage for Montanans disenrolled from Medicaid
This story is adapted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. For more than a year, Montana’s state health department has been embroiled in a sweeping effort to “unwind” the state Medicaid program, conducting a mass eligibility review of every person enrolled in the public health program, which provides health coverage for many lower-income residents.
Supreme Court rules that COVID-era law doesn’t exclude Great Falls officials from city-county health board
The Montana Supreme Court earlier this month ruled in favor of the city of Great Falls in a yearslong dispute with Cascade County over the makeup and powers of the city-county board of health. The dispute stems from COVID-era legislation that sought to give elected officials greater power over these...
Abortion rights group says it has signatures to qualify initiative for ballot
Despite legal delays and a persistent opposition movement, organizers of an initiative to enshrine a right to abortion in the Montana Constitution say they have gathered enough signatures to put the proposal on the November ballot. The group behind Constitutional Initiative 128, Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights, said in a Friday...
Cryptocurrency lobby targets anti-regulation contingent in Congress
This story is excerpted from Capitolized, a weekly newsletter featuring expert reporting, analysis and insight from the reporters and editors of Montana Free Press. Want to see Capitolized in your inbox every Thursday? Sign up here. It wasn’t long after the crypto crash of 2022 that U.S. Sen. Jon Tester...
Montana Reps vote to Re-Memorialize Confederacy in Arlington
Get an insider’s look into what’s happening in and around the halls of power with expert reporting, analysis and insight from the editors and reporters of Montana Free Press. Sign up to get the free Capitolized newsletter delivered to your inbox every Thursday. June 20, 2024. Let’s just...
Cascade County hires former Alluvion CEO to lead finance office
Cascade County has hired the former CEO of Alluvion Health as its chief financial officer, a position that replaces the former budget officer role. Trista Besich started on June 3. “I am excited to be back at the county,” Besich said. “I’ve got about 12 years of finance background, so...
‘How do we keep this around?’
WILSALL — In a pasture thick with yarrow, sagebrush and wheatgrass, Montana Audubon’s Peter Dudley scribbled all the plant species he could identify onto his data sheet. It was just before 5:30 a.m., and the grassland had a dull orange tinge as the sun rose over the Crazy Mountains. Dudley was about to start his mid-June bird survey on North Bridger Bison’s ranch, about 45 minutes outside Bozeman.
FWP employee fired three months after being cleared of hunting-without-permission charge
Longtime Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks employee Michael Volesky, of Helena, is alleging that the department’s recent decision to fire him is politically motivated. Volesky, who most recently served as chief of operations for FWP, told Montana Free Press the department had no defensible cause for terminating his employment last week, especially after a county attorney dropped the hunting-without-permission charge that purportedly led the department to place Volesky on extended administrative leave in October.
Great Falls commissioners reappoint library board member who opposed library levy
Great Falls city commissioners reappointed Noelle Johnson to the Great Falls Public Library Board of Trustees by a split vote Tuesday night during a lengthy public meeting. Johnson was serving the remainder of a term that ends on June 30. Her initial appointment was controversial because she publicly opposed the public library levy that passed in 2023. Johnson’s supporters have touted that factor as an alternative voice for the board, a viewpoint that Commissioner Rick Tryon shared.
Teacher retention, wages hot topics at meeting of state education officials
Discussing likely areas for future policy improvement in Montana’s K-12 school system at a meeting in the state Capitol Monday, officials with the Office of Public Instruction highlighted teacher retention as a continued challenge across the state, noting that Montana public schools lost 2,039 educators to attrition during the 2021-22 academic year.
Fulfilling a mission for Missoula
In the 50 years since volunteers started a soup kitchen in downtown Missoula, the Poverello Center has grown to a leading nonprofit in the community, operating two emergency shelters and serving more than 120,000 meals annually. The Poverello Center — commonly known as the Pov — has expanded its footprint,...
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