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Horse Gulch Fire sees more than 200% increase in deployed personnel
By Monday, the fire line around Horse Gulch Fire hosted 465 people working to prevent the spread. The fire remained 0% contained. Jimtown Road and Canyon Ferry Road mark the western and southern edges, respectively, of the 12,797 affected acres. The fire has not crossed those two boundaries, and continues to push eastward, but remains west of Hellgate Gulch. A large number of bulldozer crews and on-foot personnel continue to dig fire lines along that threatened part of the perimeter.
A babka fit for Big Sky Country
Wide Open Table is a bi-monthly Montana Free Press column on all things food and cooking. Sign up for this newsletter here. As an almost religious viewer of “Seinfeld” in the ’90s, one specific food-related episode stands out among my favorites. It’s a show that largely centers around the braided bread babka, the characters’ inability to secure a chocolate babka, and the discovery of new-to-them cinnamon babka.
Breaking down the proposed Great Falls budget
“Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to mhudson@montanafreepress.org. Great Falls city commissioners are reviewing a $40 million general fund budget for 2025, which will get a public hearing on Tuesday. City staff anticipate revenues to be about $444,000 less...
Montana lawmakers want answers from Secret Service
Montana’s representatives in Congress, many of whom have shared a stage with Donald Trump, pivoted Sunday to toning down political rhetoric and investigating how a would-be assassin came within 140 yards of the former president at a Pennsylvania campaign rally on Saturday. The assassination attempt, which killed a bystander...
Study says Helena rec facility can support itself
“Helena This Week” is reported and written By JoVonne Wagner. Send your Helena news and tips to jwagner@montanafreepress.org. A study released by the Helena Regional Sports Association for a local indoor recreation and pool facility indicates that the project would be economically sustainable and would mainly rely on events and membership fees.
Improved trails planned for former Superfund site near Anaconda
The hills bordering Anaconda’s south side, with their burgeoning quaking aspen stands and red-rock outcroppings, tempt those who crave outdoor adventure. Mountain bikers and hikers eager to experience Anaconda’s enticing uplands, however, quickly learn the challenge, and even the danger, that awaits. “They’re a bugger to climb up,”...
The Fires This Time
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. Fire season beat us...
Convention or concert? For Tester it’s no contest
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. July 11, 2024. Move over...
Status quo, for now, on city’s urban camping laws
“Helena This Week” is reported and written By JoVonne Wagner. Send your Helena news and tips to jwagner@montanafreepress.org. Helena’s urban camping policy will remain in place for now, according to city and law enforcement officials, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that local authorities can enforce bans on people sleeping in public spaces.
Trump reportedly ‘fine’ after shooting at rally
Donald Trump’s campaign says he is “fine” after what law enforcement officials are treating as an apparent assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In a social media post, Trump said he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.” The former president was quickly whisked from the stage by Secret Service agents, his ear covered in blood.
Schools receive third — and potentially final — round of federal funding for homeless students
From the start of the 2023-24 school year to its conclusion, the number of students experiencing homelessness in Kalispell’s public school system jumped from 293 to 365. Assistant Superintendent Sara Cole said the increase reflects a growing trend in her district, one driven primarily by the soaring cost of living in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
State hospital shuffles top leadership, again
Roughly six months before its goal of applying for federal certification of the Montana State Hospital, the state health department is again juggling turnover in key leadership positions at the state’s only public adult psychiatric facility. The Warm Springs facility, a cornerstone of the state’s overall mental health system,...
Judge denies request to block education savings account law
While litigation continues, the Montana Office of Public Instruction can continue administering a new education savings account program for students with special needs. A state judge in Helena on Wednesday denied a request to block the new law that authorizes the program. That request was presented earlier this year by...
Why it takes a crisis to trigger funding for Montana’s largest irrigation project
The rivets were still popping from the seams of the St. Mary siphon when Jennifer Patrick started crunching the numbers for repairing the century-old system that 18,000 residents of Montana’s Hi-Line depend on for water. It would take 3,600 feet of pipe — two-thirds of a mile of pipe...
Missoula nonprofit looks to aid those vulnerable to extreme temperatures
As a heat wave across the West drives temperatures into the triple-digits, some Missoulians are finding it easier to escape the heat than others. While a dip in the river or lingering in air-conditioned public spaces may temporarily relieve those without cool homes, more resources are needed as hotter summers become more common.
Montana Supreme Court hears Held v. Montana youth climate lawsuit
HELENA — Attorneys weighed in on the extent of the Montana Constitution’s environmental protections and the separation of powers Wednesday in one of the highest-profile climate lawsuits in the country. During an hour-long hearing that drew hundreds of onlookers, the Montana Supreme Court heard opposing views about whether the Montana Constitution’s “anticipatory and preventative” environmental protections should require state agencies to incorporate climate-oriented analyses when reviewing fossil fuel projects.
Top election official blocks thousands of ‘inactive voter’ signatures from ballot proposals, sparking lawsuit
Thousands of signatures for constitutional initiatives are in legal limbo after Montana’s top election official last week abruptly changed the standard for determining which voters are eligible to sign a ballot petition. The move to not permit signatures from voters listed as “inactive” comes as county election administrators around...
Fact-check: Sheehy revives discredited abortion claims
Tim Sheehy, the Republican candidate seeking to unseat Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester and possibly give U.S. Senate control to the GOP, is campaigning on what he calls Tester’s and Democrats’ “extreme” position on abortion. In a televised debate June 8, Sheehy accused Tester and Democrats...
‘Land is kin’: Old Salt Festival celebrates local food and open landscapes
HELMVILLE — Sitting on hay bales in the bed of an old pick-up truck, Montana rancher Cooper Hibbard looked out to a crowded pasture. Standing in between sagebrush, people ate lamb raised on Hibbard’s ranch and smoked over a fire that morning. Hibbard was emotional as he talked...
Dealing with drought and poisoned creeks in Fort Belknap
This story was first published on the nonprofit news organization the American Communities Project. The ACP is working with the University of Maryland on a grant from NASA’s Earth Science Applications: Equity and Environmental Justice program to examine how experiences of environmental distress over time interact with other socioeconomic challenges on tribal lands.
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