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Montana Free Press
Western House district set for Zinke, Tranel rematch
President Joe Biden versus former President Donald Trump will not be the only rematch on Montana voters’ ballot this November. Tuesday’s primary cemented a long-expected rematch in the western Montana U.S. House district between Republican incumbent Rep. Ryan Zinke and Democrat Monica Tranel. While Tranel ran unopposed for...
Gianforte, Busse to square off for governor’s seat
Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Gianforte and Democratic challenger Ryan Busse both bested opponents in their party’s respective primaries Tuesday, setting up November’s general election contest for the Montana governor’s seat. With roughly 52% of votes counted shortly before 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Gianforte led his Republican opponent...
Jon Tester, Tim Sheehy win their U.S. Senate primaries
Democratic incumbent Jon Tester and Republican Tim Sheehy have both easily won their respective primary elections in the race for U.S. Senate in Montana this year, according to the Associated Press. With 55% of ballots counted as of 10:20 p.m.Tuesday evening, Tester, who is running for his fourth term, defeated...
Montana’s 2024 primary election results
More than 60 candidates for state and federal offices are on ballots for consideration by voters across Montana as the state conducts its June 4, 2024, primary election, which selects party nominees to advance to the November general election. Once polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Montana Free Press staff...
Providing childcare in Montana, for love and money
Montana Free Press recently investigated the challenges facing working families and childcare providers in Montana, in collaboration with the national news nonprofit Open Campus. The following portrait provides a deeper view into the experience of one of the sources crucial to that reporting, offering readers another lens through which to understand how childcare issues are impacting everyday Montanans.
What to expect from MTFP on Primary Night 2024
Montana’s primary election is today, Tuesday, June 4. The primary, where voters select party nominees to advance to the November general election, isn’t the final step in this year’s political process, but it is an essential decision point, especially in political districts that tilt strongly toward a particular party. The primary winners in those districts on Tuesday will cruise into November with strong if not overwhelming winds at their backs.
How Dutton schools solved their teacher shortage: by opening a daycare
This school year, Montana, a state with fewer than 8,000 teachers, had 1,000 unfilled teaching positions. Meanwhile, Dutton-Brady Public Schools, a rural district about an hour from the Canadian border, easily filled its three vacancies. Administrators credit a blue-hued room strewn with toys and highchairs: Little Diamondbacks Daycare, which is...
Jambalaya to the weeknight rescue
Wide Open Table is a bi-monthly Montana Free Press column on all things food and cooking. Sign up for this newsletter here. Emeril Lagasse helped to educate a lot of Americans outside of Louisiana about the delicious cuisine from that area. He certainly got my attention more than a quarter-century ago with his colorful Cajun and Creole dishes. In the eyes of this kid from Billings, they may as well have been from a foreign country.
Sharing with the Associated Press
The MT Lowdown is a weekly digest that showcases a more personal side of Montana Free Press’ high-quality reporting while keeping you up to speed on the biggest news impacting Montanans. Want to see the MT Lowdown in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. Like a lot of...
One Montana woman’s childcare travails
Montana Free Press recently investigated the challenges facing working families and childcare providers in Montana, in collaboration with the national news nonprofit Open Campus. The following portrait provides a deeper view into the experience of one of the sources crucial to that reporting, offering readers another lens through which to understand how childcare issues are impacting everyday Montanans.
Committee puts $240k behind moderate Republicans in legislative primaries
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. A political action committee with a mix of national and state money has spent...
Around Cascade County, married couples seek two districts for one household
Coming into the 2021 Montana legislative session as a freshman member of the House, state Rep. Steven Galloway already had a woman on the inside. “I think it’s beneficial in the fact that, for me coming in, I already understood the process from being able to see her work,” he said. “That was a leg up for my first session.”
RiverStone Health eliminating 42 jobs this spring, nearly 10% of its workforce.
One of Montana’s largest health clinics that serves people in poverty has cut back services and laid off workers. The retrenchment mirrors similar cuts around the country as safety-net health centers feel the effects of states purging their Medicaid rolls. Billings-based RiverStone Health is eliminating 42 jobs this spring,...
A Solutions Caucus-led ‘counter insurgency’
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. May 30, 2024. A political...
Montana’s federal delegation reacts to Trump guilty verdict
Montana’s mostly Republican federal delegation delivered strong reactions on Thursday to a New York jury’s finding that former Republican president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump is guilty of all 34 federal criminal charges against him related to hush-money payments and falsification of records in 2016. The news...
Daines blocks confirmation of first Native American federal judge for Montana
BILLINGS — A Republican lawmaker from Montana blocked a Biden administration judicial nominee who would have been the state’s first Native American federal district court judge, officials said Wednesday. Attorney Danna Jackson with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes had been nominated last month by President Joe Biden....
How Montana’s abortion rights campaign is seeking signatures — while dodging the opposition
Gwendolyn Chilcote tried to make it hard for patrons entering a bar in uptown Butte to miss her. On a Tuesday in mid-May, she wore a pink sweatshirt, smiled brightly and didn’t hesitate to make eye contact. Before they passed her table, she used one question to snag as many people as possible.
Associated Press announces new content-sharing agreement with Montana Free Press
The Associated Press today announced new content-sharing agreements with Montana Free Press and four other U.S. nonprofit news outlets. The collaborations are part of an effort to expand the reach of local news ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election and increase access to AP’s nonpartisan journalism, especially in communities that may have limited access to fact-based news.
What Supreme Court candidates are saying about the politics of Montana’s high court
Montana’s nominally nonpartisan state Supreme Court has come under intense partisan scrutiny in recent years, as Republicans argue the court’s repeated rulings blocking GOP-backed laws on constitutional grounds are evidence of liberal bias. The rulings that have infuriated some members of the GOP include nullifying a law that...
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