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Court will hear arguments on transgender birth certificate challenge on Wednesday
One of the Legislature’s most controversial bills will get a pair of hearings in Yellowstone County on Wednesday on the issue of whether residents can change the gender of their birth certificates without first undergoing some type of surgery. At issue is Senate Bill 280, passed this year with a Republican dominated Legislature and signed […]
Meet Montana’s newest gender defenders
Warning: Listening to some conservative leaders in the state can cause confusion. Recent news events have suggested two things: Women are both honorable and every bit as capable as men, while at the same time needing protection and veneration as the fragile, tender, nurturing creatures they are. So naturally (and not for the first time), […]
History repeating itself? New claims may mean gold mining again at Zortman Landusky
After more than $30 million in environmental clean-up from toxic mining tailings and debris, Owen Voigt understands why folks are nervous about any future mining activity at Zortman and Landusky, two small sites near the Fort Belknap tribal reservation. Most people’s understanding of mining is something from a history book about Butte — dirty, smoke-clogged […]
Silence is golden: Montana politicians pay for silence and bet you won’t notice
So, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen will speak to disgraced, debunked pillow peddler Mike Lindell, but he won’t speak to the majority of Montana media. Just so we’re all clear. Knudsen is big enough to try bullying a bunch of overworked healthcare workers into handing out horse dewormer for COVID, but apparently too afraid to […]
Still locked: 40 years and two Supreme Court decisions later, Hughes Creek Road remains closed
At first there was one sign, then another, and now the count is 10. The largest sign on the gate blocking Hughes Creek Road is something most Montanans would take seriously: “Warning No Trespassing. You quite possibly could get shot or hurt and then try to sue resulting in a long drawn out court battle. […]
Lawsuit claims PSC districts violate the U.S. Constitution
Splitting the state in two? That was done recently and without a court challenge as Montana added a second seat in the U.S. House of Representatives based on the decennial census, conducted in 2020. However, that same census indicates widening census gaps in Montana’s five Public Service Commissioners districts, and a suit filed with the […]
Newly discovered Butte manuscript details Butte’s glory days
Though Horace Herbert Smith spent the bulk of his life in New York City, rubbing shoulders with literati like Upton Sinclair and Zane Grey, and even though he barely escaped with his life while covering a volcano in Martinique, the greatest adventures of his life were during the heyday of Butte, working as a cub […]
Gianforte, Knudsen try to stop American Prairie’s bison through political pressure
One of the most common observations made by early European explorers in Montana was the immense buffalo herds and the Native people who hunted and used the huge animals. A 2016 article in the Intermountain Journal of Sciences by James A. Bailey chronicles the observations. The Crows were reported to kill “upwards of a thousand” […]
Montana lawmakers want DEQ, state to get a handle on aging, leaking gas and oil tanks
A report by the Montana Legislative Audit Division recommends the state begin to look for ways to transform the way it handles leaking underground storage tanks for petroleum products, namely how it will finish clean-up for aging tanks. A fund was originally established in 1989 as states around the country were scrambling to clean up […]
The only socialist rag is the tired song-and-dance Skees is performing
When I first heard Montana Rep. Derek Skees, R-Kalispell, wanting to toss the state’s constitution because it was “a socialist rag,” I sighed and was pretty sure I knew where the conversation was going. The comment, first reported by the Flathead Beacon, wasn’t referencing the part of Montana’s constitution that deals with being entitled to […]
NorthWestern Energy working to restore water flow to Madison River
A malfunction at the Hebgen Dam has caused water levels along the Madison River to drop to nearly dry in some places, and has caused immediate fishing restrictions there. Officials from NorthWestern Energy said they’re working as quickly as they can to restore the flow, which is critical to one of the state’s most prized […]
Pastor says media shield law protects him, while lobbyist wants trial moved from Sidney
Lawyers for a transgender Native American lobbyist have asked a Richland County Court for a change of venue after they say the defendant, a Baptist minister who also runs an online newspaper, has potentially tainted the jury pool with broadcasts, videos and social media postings. Meanwhile, attorneys for the minister and his media group are […]