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Seeing green? Some question whether state is too focused on pot money, less worried about testing
One of Montana’s few in-state laboratories that had participated in the roll-out of the recreational and medical marijuana programs said that it has closed its doors, largely based on concerns the owners have with scientific accuracy of testing the formerly banned substance. Stillwater Laboratories owners Ron and Kristine Brost said they’re concerned that a software […]
Taking the public out of human services
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services has a strange way of working. It seems like every time the department is asked to do something to help, you know, public health or human services, it looks for a way to stop. Remember when the only thing the Gianforte administration had to do was […]
Conservation groups sue federal government for logging proposal near Yellowstone National Park
Three conservation groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a United States Forest Service plan for a large logging project near Yellowstone National Park that they say puts several threatened or endangered species in even more danger. The groups had previously filed a letter of intent to sue, and on Wednesday filed the lawsuit. […]
Feds drop plan for pipeline in Upper Red Rocks Lake
A controversial pipeline proposal that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service would have placed in a designated wilderness area in southwestern Montana has been withdrawn by the federal agency. A pipeline to deliver oxygenated water to Upper Red Rock Lake at the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge was officially scrapped on Sept. 13 […]
Film ‘Return’ returns to Montana for MINT film festival
As many states rush to ban teaching “divisive concepts” or, as in the case of Florida, contort history so as to make it appear that cruel institutions like slavery were beneficial, two Montana filmmakers and a father-and-son duo are rewriting history in a different sort of way. The filmmakers, Billings-based Peter Tolton and Stan Parker, […]
You can pay for child molesters. You just can’t ask about them.
Happy Democracy Day. What? You didn’t get me anything? Well, if it’s any consolation (and trust me, it’s not), I didn’t get you anything, either. But I tried. And if there’s any situation that shows the absolute absurdity of what democracy looks like in Montana in 2023, it’s Jonathan Perfetto. Don’t take my word for […]
Supporting the troops means ending the Pentagon’s defense boondoggles
It’s bad enough that we have to live with the ghost of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Too bad we have to pay so dearly for the privilege. Eisenhower, after guiding the nation at first in war as a general, and then to peace as civilian president, left office, warning of the dangers of a growing, cash-hungry […]
‘We’re coming for you’: Daines outlines GOP’s strategy to retake the U.S. Senate
Even though he was speaking in South Dakota, Sen. Steve Daines had a message for Montana – and Ohio and West Virginia. “If you’re a Democrat and you’re running in those states, we’re coming for you,” Daines told an enthusiastic crowd who had gathered to hear former U.S. President and current Republican front-runner Donald J. […]
No man is above the law: Knudsen’s 41 charges were a long-time coming
I have covered courts in seven different states, and have been a journalist since 1996. I have seen attorneys who were so silver-tongued that they brought jurors to tears. I have seen some attorneys so woefully inadequate and broken that they were threatened by judges to be sent to jail right along with those poor […]
To be or not to be a candidate. That is the question for Arntzen.
Is Elsie Arntzen running for Congress? Or is she just exploring? Yes. That’s the official answer from the “Elsie Arntzen for Congress – Exploratory” committee. But what seems to be a word choice or a nuance is something with larger implications, including federal fundraising and tracking requirements. The Federal Elections Commission allows politicians to explore […]
Elementary students have to rely on a tarp, not the law.
You ever wonder what the Second Amendment looks like? It’s a concept more than an object; many Montana politicians think the Second Amendment looks like something with polished steel or that it comes in a camouflaged matte finish. But the clearest representation of the Second Amendment to me isn’t any particular firearm, it’s a Billings […]
Federal judge tells Forest Service that Red Lodge logging project still doesn’t pass muster
A federal judge has stopped a large logging project near Red Lodge because the United States Forest Service ignored that new maps it used to help determine the scope of the timber plan potentially cut out thousands of acres of the threatened Canada lynx habitat. The project would span more than 21,000 acres in the […]