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Montana Free Press
Judge bars OPI from enforcing school opening laws on public charters
A state court in Helena on Thursday partially barred the Montana Office of Public Instruction and its elected leader, Superintendent Elsie Arntzen, from requiring a new wave of public charter schools to comply with school opening laws that were in effect prior to the 2023 legislative session. The injunction, issued...
Tester’s race-leading fundraising haul
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. April 18, 2024. Candidates for...
BLM adopts rule described as a ‘generation-defining’ shift for America’s largest land manager
The Bureau of Land Management on Thursday adopted a long-awaited rule that aims to put conservation initiatives “on equal footing” with oil and gas leasing, grazing and other commercial uses of federal land. The rule “combines our ongoing work with a vision for conservation to help us manage...
Republicans vote to oppose constitutional abortion rights measure
Republican lawmakers on Thursday convened a hearing to discuss the constitutional abortion rights initiative that could appear on the November ballot, despite an April court order finding that the Legislature’s consideration would have no bearing on CI-128’s signature-gathering campaign. The hearing before the Law and Justice Interim Committee...
Transgender Montanans challenge state’s rule barring changes to sex listed on birth certificates
Two transgender women with Montana ties are challenging the state’s near-total ban on residents updating their birth certificates and driver’s licenses to reflect their gender identity. The lawsuit marks the second challenge to the state’s birth certificate policy since 2021. The lawsuit, filed in Lewis and Clark...
Five takeaways from our reporting on Montana State Hospital
As Montana Free Press recently reported, medical practitioners and other staff at the state psychiatric hospital in Warm Springs are raising alarms about new leadership and policy changes at the public facility — with one employee describing current working conditions as “like being stuck in a recurring bad dream.”
The path to a better tuberculosis vaccine runs through Montana
A team of Montana researchers is playing a key role in the development of a more effective vaccine against tuberculosis, an infectious disease that has killed more people than any other. The BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin) vaccine, created in 1921, remains the sole TB vaccine. While it is 40% to 80%...
State psychiatric hospital employees raise alarm over rampant turnover and ‘crisis’ of leadership
In late March, a group of nurses at Montana State Hospital received a rare dose of good news. Local labor advocates had filed a petition to create a union for advanced practice registered nurses, among the most highly trained medical providers at the state’s sole adult psychiatric facility, in Warm Springs.
Progressive dark money launches Montana media outlet ahead of election
A national progressive media organization with ties to a Democratic Party-aligned super PAC has launched a self-described news outlet in Montana ahead of the state’s slate of high-profile elections, most prominently the race for incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s seat in the U.S. Senate. Veteran political journalist...
Updated: Applications for state property tax assistance programs now June 1
Low-income Montanans seeking help paying their property tax bills now have until June 1 to apply for aid through two state relief programs administered by the Montana Department of Revenue — including the flagship Property Tax Assistance Program intended to keep property tax bills from forcing low-income homeowners out of their homes.
Who’s running for office in Montana in 2024? Here’s a running list.
Montana’s 2024 ballot will host a suite of consequential elections — among them a race that could decide the balance of the U.S. Senate, two open seats on the Montana Supreme Court, two U.S. House races, the governorship, and a bevy of other statewide offices. And, for good measure, there may be some major ballot measures thrown in too. With less than a year to election day, campaign announcements are coming fast and furious from seasoned politicians and grassroots activists alike.
Should climate be in the PSC’s purview?
This story is excerpted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. The Montana Public Service Commission last week fielded comments from more than 80 people weighing in on a petition that asks the PSC to incorporate climate impacts into its regulatory oversight of monopoly utility companies.
Putting a price on ‘pore space’
This story is excerpted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. A reader emailed us about the story we published earlier this month on the Snowy River carbon sequestration project proposed for land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. They wanted to know why the project developer is eyeing public land in prticular. They wondered: Are there no private lands suitable for such a project?
Sex ed lawsuit piles more criticism on Arntzen
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. The debate over sex...
How the right wing responded to Tim Sheehy’s bullet wound story
If the Washington Post’s revelation that Republican U.S. Senate candidate and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy lied to a Glacier National Park ranger about the origin of a bullet wound in his arm — and that he has repeated several different versions of his combat injury history in different settings — caused any second thoughts among Sheehy’s supporter or among Republicans more broadly, they’re not showing it.
Randy Pinocci’s week in court
This story is excerpted from Capitolized, a weekly newsletter featuring expert reporting, analysis and insight from the editors and reporters of Montana Free Press. Want to see Capitolized in your inbox every Thursday? Sign up here. It’s been an eventful week in court for Randy Pinocci, the Public Service Commission...
Eastern District U.S. House race continues to take shape
This story is excerpted from Capitolized, a weekly newsletter featuring expert reporting, analysis and insight from the editors and reporters of Montana Free Press. Want to see Capitolized in your inbox every Thursday? Sign up here. The crowded Republican primary contest to replace retiring Congressman Matt Rosendale in Montana’s Eastern...
A dropout and an endorsement in the Eastern District
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. April 11, 2024. The crowded...
Doctors take on dental duties
DENVER — Pediatrician Patricia Braun and her team saw roughly 100 children at a community health clinic on a recent Monday. They gave flu shots and treatments for illnesses like ear infections. But Braun also did something most primary care doctors don’t. She peered inside mouths searching for cavities or she brushed fluoride varnish on their teeth.
Managing predators from the sky
This story was originally published April 1, 2024, at High Country News. It may not be republished without the express consent of High Country News. In the summer of 2022, several researchers with USDA Wildlife Services held their breath as a drone pilot flew a large drone, equipped with a camera, toward a wolf standing in a pasture in southwestern Oregon. The team members, watching from a distance, expected the wolf to freeze or run away the minute the whirring rotors approached it. But to their disbelief, it did neither.
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