Living
Women would sign up for the military draft under defense bill in Congress
WASHINGTON — As the Senate works to finalize a major annual defense measure, there is a bipartisan push to include a requirement that all young Americans — including women — for the first time register for the military draft. The $777.9 billion measure, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, also would allocate millions to cleaning […]
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 […]
Denton fire ‘unprecedented,’ ‘devastating,’ but Fergus County residents resilient
Carl Seilstad was born and raised in Fergus County, and the fire that burned down Denton is the worst he’s seen. “I cannot remember this type of devastation within a single community,” said Seilstad, a Fergus County commissioner, on Thursday afternoon. In a phone call, Seilstad said two other commissioners were in Denton at a […]
National Weather Service: ‘We shattered those old records’
December is upon us, yet the snowfall is fleeting. If you’d guessed the temperatures are a step away from normal, you’d be right, because Montana cities are breaking daily records. “We’re just really warm right now for this time of year,” said Trent Smith, meteorologist out of the National Weather Service in Missoula. On Sunday, […]
Will the earthquakes in Central Idaho cause the Yellowstone volcano to erupt?
Seismic activity in central Idaho has been elevated for the past 20 months. These earthquakes are aftershocks of a Magnitude 6.5 earthquake that occurred on March 31, 2020—a classic example of a mainshock-aftershock sequence! The magnitude (Mw) 6.5 earthquake near Stanley, Idaho, on March 31, 2020, was the second largest earthquake recorded in Idaho. Fortunately, it […]
‘Cold War Montana’: How the Treasure State helped win the war against communism
When folks think of the “Cold War,” they may remember Soviet warships with nuclear missiles steaming toward Cuba. Or maybe they’d recall the proxy war fought in Vietnam that purported to stop the spread of communism by preventing its spread to a small southeast Asian country. Not many may think about Montana being on the […]
A ‘thanks giving’ dinner of a different kind
Billings Mayor Bill Cole doesn’t just talk about diversity as the leader of municipal government. He wants people to really see Montana’s largest city as diverse. Statistics say Billings is more diverse than average, even by Montana standards. Roughly one in five residents are non-White. In June, Cole led an effort to read a Hindu […]
UPDATED: Sen. Theresa Manzella responds to backlash from LGBTQ comments
Hamilton Sen. Theresa Manzella is maintaining comments she made at an event last week that have prompted backlash for being disparaging to the LGBTQ community were taken out of context, though she has not denied making them, nor has she asked the Missoulian, which first reported the remarks, to issue a correction. In response to […]
Yellowstone National Park — home to the world’s largest landslide
Yellowstone is well-known as one of the largest volcanic systems in the world. Few people know, however, that the largest-known subaerial landslide on Earth is located just next door. Among the geologic hazards in the Yellowstone region, you may be familiar with the possibility of earthquakes, hydrothermal explosions, and volcanic eruptions. But what about landslides? We know […]
Sams confirmed as first Native leader as head of National Park Service
The U.S. Senate approved by voice vote late Thursday the nomination of Charles F. Sams III as the first confirmed National Park Service director since 2017. Sams, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton, Ore., will be the first tribal member to lead the Park Service in the […]
University of Montana announces new scholarships for students with $7.5M donation
Students whose families earn too much to qualify for federal aid but still can’t afford college can attend the University of Montana with support from a new $7.5 million donation from Terry and Patt Payne, the campus announced Wednesday. UM estimated as many as 300 Montana students will qualify for the Payne Family Impact Scholarship, […]
The changing moods of Collodial Pool in Norris Geyser Basin
Many of Yellowstone’s hot springs, geysers, mud pots, and fumaroles look different depending on the season, year, or sometimes even the day one visits. Colloidal Pool, in Norris Geyser Basin, is an interesting example of a feature that changed during the course of summer 2021. Colloidal Pool is a thermal feature in the Porcelain subbasin […]