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What Montana’s candidates for governor have to say about renewing Medicaid expansion
Montana’s Medicaid expansion program, a public health insurance option for low-income adults, is scheduled to sunset in June 2025. The coverage is heavily funded by the federal government but is administered by the state health department. If Montana lawmakers and the governor don’t pass legislation next year to reauthorize the program, last renewed in 2019 on a single-vote margin, Montana’s health care landscape would change dramatically. Upwards of 85,000 eligible adults could stand to lose coverage, according to the state’s latest enrollment figures.
‘I hope I can be an example to others:’ Carroll to celebrate Indigenous graduate
During spring commencement this Saturday, Jaydee Weatherwax — a member of the Blackfeet Tribe from Browning — will become one of the first Native Americans to earn a master’s degree in social work from Carroll College in Helena. And while the college plans to honor her with...
May storm improves outlook, but drought concerns persist following warm, dry winter
This week’s widespread, wet storm has brought a measure of relief to parts of Montana reeling from one of the driest winters on record, but water managers say it’s too early to tell how much of that water will stick around to sustain streams, crops and forests through the hottest months of the year.
Coyote trapping, snaring enters grizzly management debate
The Montana Stockgrowers Association wants to intervene in a lawsuit that aims to reduce the unintentional trapping and snaring of federally protected grizzly bears. The Flathead-Lolo-Bitterroot Citizen Task Force and WildEarth Guardians sued the state of Montana and the chair of the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission in federal court last year to limit trapping and snaring of grizzlies during the months grizzlies are likely to be out of their dens. They argued that traps and snares set for animals have injured, and even killed, grizzly bears on more than 20 occasions since 1988. Grizzly bears are currently protected under the Endangered Species Act, though the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency is weighing a petition to delist Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem and Yellowstone grizzlies.
Levy requests produce mixed results for Montana’s largest districts
A series of levy requests in school elections across Montana Tuesday produced mixed results for many of the state’s largest school districts where officials are struggling to contend with multi-million dollar budget shortfalls ahead of the next school year. In previous interviews, superintendents in those districts argued that the...
Bozeman’s boom depends on immigrants but struggles to support them
The first time Rosa saw snowflakes falling, she thought they were pieces of cotton. “I thought I was going to choke,” she told me. Rosa, who is from Honduras, had never seen snow before, but it’s become a familiar sight now that she’s living in Bozeman, Montana. The city, population about 56,000, is ringed by four mountain ranges in the Northern Rockies. It took her a while, but Rosa has learned to deal with the weather. “Now I think it’s very pretty,” she said in Spanish. “Our kids love to play in the snow.”
Buttigieg heralds infrastructure bill, expansion of Missoula airport
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg touted the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Montana projects it helped fund during a visit to the Missoula Montana Airport on Monday. “I’m proud to support the expansion of this airport with $41 million and counting,” he said. Grants from the bipartisan bill...
Colstrip’s fate looms large in congressional meetings
This story is adapted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. Particulars of the emissions controls installed on Montana’s largest power plant found their way into a pair of congressional hearings last week as Montana delegates grappled with what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards rule means for the future of Montana’s Colstrip coal plant.
A sharp drop in state health coverage for low-income kids
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. While lawmakers, health advocacy...
Stop the crimes against coleslaw
How old were you before you realized coleslaw was not spelled “coldslaw?” I can’t say my exact age, but it may have been after I became an adult. I’m willing to bet many readers of this column were in the same boat (or did some of you just learn it with the opening paragraph?). I’ve seen it misspelled on restaurant menus, and a good chunk of people pronounce it “coldslaw.”
Missoula County holds off on controversial gravel pit decision
Missoula County officials held off Thursday on determining whether the expansion of a gravel pit north of Florence could move forward but directed the company and neighborhood group to discuss an effort to find a solution agreeable to both sides. In October, Western Materials requested a variance to expand its...
Legislature v. judiciary
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. Lawmakers on the newly formed Senate Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform covered...
Montana records largest drop in childhood Medicaid coverage from pre-pandemic figures, study shows
Montana had a 27% drop in childhood Medicaid enrollment from April to December 2023, the second highest in the nation, according to a new report that evaluates how states handled post-pandemic Medicaid eligibility throughout much of last year. The study, authored by researchers at the Center for Children and Families...
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march at the University of Montana, call for an end to war
Shortly after the University of Montana’s clocktower struck 1 p.m. on Wednesday, calls of “free, free Palestine” rang out across the campus Oval. More than 100 students and community members peacefully gathered at University Hall to denounce Israel’s actions in Gaza, calling for the university to disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Montana Supreme Court sides with state in water right dispute
The Montana Supreme Court has sided with the state’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in a dispute involving a 64-year-old water right that’s used to irrigate both private and public land. In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Beth Baker, the court ruled that the state retains...
Public Service Commission extends comment deadline for climate petition
The Montana Public Service Commission voted Tuesday to reopen comment on a petition that seeks to integrate climate impacts into the commission’s regulatory work. Following the commission’s 4-1 vote, the public will have until July 1 to weigh in on the petition, which asks regulators to adopt a framework for considering climate impacts in its oversight of monopoly power companies.
Attorney general sues Biden administration over Title IX revisions
Revisions to a federal rule expanding legal protections for LGBTQ students nationwide are drawing fire from several statewide Republican officials in Montana, fueling the state’s entry into yet another lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s administration. The revisions, announced by the U.S. Department of Education on April 19, expand...
Groups cite Wyoming wolf incident as they plan lawsuit for renewed endangered species status
This story is adapted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. An incident involving a Wyoming man who spent hours displaying a wolf he’d injured with his snowmobile in a small-town bar before shooting her drew international attention last month. Now, wildlife and animal rights groups are citing the situation as they ask the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore endangered species protections for wolves. In a notice of intent to sue issued Tuesday, six groups argue that the Sublette County incident demonstrates that Northern Rockies states cannot be trusted to responsibly manage wolves.
Key takeaways from our reporting on Montana’s public school budgets
This story is adapted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. Over the past few months, I’ve spent hours interviewing public education leaders from across the state about the financial challenges they’re facing ahead of the 2024-25 school year. Our conversations have taken us deep into the weeds of school funding in Montana and touched on how local districts are attempting to navigate considerable budget shortfalls. We published an in-depth look at the situation this week, but for brevity’s sake, here are a few key takeaways:
School budget woes land on May ballots
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. Over the past few...
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