Here are some of the headlines from this past week in the Missoulian. To read the full stories, click the link on each headline:
Missoula County has by far the most nonprofit organizations per capita in Montana, with 904, and is second only to Yellowstone County (915) for total number of nonprofits.
And with ongoing federal funding cuts to nonprofit grants and contracts under President Donald Trump's administration, the Montana Nonprofit Association is sounding the alarm about the potential economic impacts of cuts to grants and federal worker wages.
For example, last week, the nonprofit Missoula Food Bank said federal cuts mean that it will lose out on a funding source that bought about 91,000 pounds of fresh food from local farms and ranches and distributed it to people in need the previous year.
People are also reading…
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
Missoula city officials said they cannot confirm social media posts about dog poisonings at a popular trail in the Rattlesnake neighborhood, but clarified neither the city or the PEAS Farm use harmful chemicals in the area.
The city said in an April 3 statement that its Parks and Recreation Department received "unverified" reports of multiple dog poisonings on Rattlesnake Greenway between Mountain View Drive and Duncan Drive.
Missoula Animal Control has not received any reports of dog poisoning, the city said. Officials did note the city does not have the authority to regulate the use of pest control practices on private land adjacent to the trail.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Independent from Vermont, announced on Friday he is bringing his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour to Missoula.
He'll be at the Adams Center on the University of Montana campus on April 16 at 1 p.m. as part of a tour of the western United States.
In a press release, Sanders' team said doors will open at 10:30 a.m. that day and parking will be available on campus for a fee, but people are strongly encouraged to bike, walk or use mass transit, rideshare or carpool options. School will be in session that day at UM so there will not be many parking spaces available. No bags, signs or firearms will be allowed inside the event.
Tickets are not required, but Sanders is encouraging people to RSVP at his website.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
The University of Montana College of Business cut the ribbon on its new cybersecurity teaching lab on April 3. UM administrators briefly spoke, then cut a red ribbon, and served food and beverages as attendees explored the new space.
Called the "CyberLab," the new cybersecurity teaching facility in the Gallagher Business Building has a pod-based layout, allowing students to collaborate on projects and project their computer screens onto wall monitors.
“It enables us to further support the College of Business’ goals,” said Suzanne Tilleman, dean of the College of Business.
Last year, UM became the first Montana college to launch a four-year cybersecurity degree, partnering with the existing cybersecurity program at Missoula College. Over 40 students are currently enrolled in the degree program.
“We expect that number to grow significantly in the years to come,” UM president Seth Bodnar said.
— Andy Tallman, andy.tallman@missoulian.com
A new ambulance bay will soon be built at the Missoula Rural Fire District station in Bonner, an move that aims to shorten response times in a growing industrial and residential area.
The Missoula County commissioners approved spending $282,302 of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) dollars on Thursday to construct the ambulance bay. Missoula Rural Fire purchased the ambulance for more than $300,000.
Missoula Rural Fire Chief Paul Finlay said the next nearest ambulance station is located on the corner of Russell Street and Mount Avenue in Missoula city limits, so getting an ambulance to the Bonner area takes roughly 15 minutes.
"We see it (being) very valuable in multiple situations around the area, including wildland response and hazmat responses, which is part of that station's responsibility," Finlay said.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
The federal funding that pays for all of Humanities Montana’s programs, grants and staff has been canceled this week after the Trump administration's cuts in federal spending reached the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Humanities Montana has called off all of its Montana Conversations, Speakers in the Schools, and Poet Laureate programs after the cancellation of its major grant, according to an email to its presenters obtained by the Missoulian. That includes presentations around the state that have already been scheduled.
Councils around the U.S. received emails Wednesday night from NEH Acting Chair Michael McDonald notifying them of the cuts, according to a post by the Federation of State Humanities Councils.
“All awarded grants — including five-year General Operating Grants and other program-specific awards — were canceled in their entirety, effective April 1,” according to the post.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
The unfinished wooden frames of townhomes in Missoula's Northside neighborhood will soon become a new residential hub, which city officials touted Thursday as a major milestone toward increasing homeownership.
Construction supervisors, city leaders, and housing advocates toured the active construction site of the Ravara-Scott Street Development, a public-private affordable housing project which is set to add 45 deed-restricted condos and more than 200 new market-rate units.
"We are thrilled to have this (project) come out of the ground," Davis told members of the press on Thursday, adding it's a successful example of the city working with private partners and nonprofits to provide both conventional market-rate homes as well as affordable homes.
Construction first broke ground in March 2024. The Thursday tour highlighted three- and-four bedroom townhomes that face Scott Street.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
Workers continue on the construction of the Ravara-Scott Street Development in Missoula on Thursday. Construction first broke ground in March 2024.
A fairly routine Missoula Board of Adjustment meeting last week about two large development projects turned into a tense back-and-forth between two members after one of them accused a city staffer of "unethical" behavior.
At the meeting, the board narrowly approved variances requested by developers for two projects. The first was a large new Hyatt Place Hotel on Expressway in Missoula. Developers were seeking, and were granted by the board, a variance to build to a height of nearly 54 feet so the building can be four stories.
The second request, which was also granted, was for a setback variance and a variance for ground-floor residential units for a mixed-use building at 4106 Weeping Willow Drive.
But toward the end of the hour-and-a-half long meeting, board member Ryan Morton became upset at what he perceived was city staff members submitting input on behalf of developers.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
A Missoula official working on a new cross-country passenger rail line that would pass through Montana called on Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to restore multiple federal grants for the project.
Dave Strohmaier, chair of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority, penned a letter to Duffy in March to ask for continued federal support for reestablishing the passenger rail line.
Strohmaier said in the letter the Department of Transportation placed some grants "under review," which he said could needlessly slow down an infrastructure project related to the rail line near Malta this summer, along with other rail work.
"We're in jeopardy of losing an entire construction season on our Fed-State Partnership project, which means increased costs and delays in long-overdue improvements to one of the nation's most critical east-west rail corridors," Strohmaier wrote to Duffy.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
The University of Montana hosted a grand opening celebration this week for its new Makerspace located at the University Center.
The area hosts all sorts of tools, including a sewing machine, a laser engraver, a screen printer and a vinyl cutter. There’s also a set of more traditional tools like screwdrivers, next to a wall of materials that students can use for class projects.
“This is a place for students to be creative and innovative,” Makerspace supervisor Jordan Crawford said.
The Makerspace was created with Blackstone LaunchPad, an on-campus nonprofit that focuses on giving students entrepreneurial skills. With the Makerspace, students can use tools they might not have access to otherwise to prototype products and complete class projects. The Makerspace stemmed from a need on campus for an area dedicated to accessing the necessary technology and tools to pursue these creative efforts, said Sarah Truglio, Blackstone LaunchPad manager, in a press release.
— Andy Tallman, andy.tallman@missoulian.com
Matt True prints coasters during the opening of the University of Montana’s new Makerspace on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
Even if the world’s all a stage, creation begins with a pool.
At least in this story. And it’s not a metaphorical body of water, either. Playwright Mary Zimmerman’s award-winning adaptation of Ovid’s poem, “Metamorphoses,” calls for producers to build a pool on stage where a succession of myths can be recreated.
Sometimes it stands in for the ocean, others the River Styx. It’s where the universe begins and a succession of Greek myths unfold. Cast members play gods and humans who swim, bathe, fall in love, fight and drown.
Jacob Christiansen, who’s directing a production that opens this week at the University of Montana School of Theatre and Dance, said this set arrangement is as rare as you might guess.
“I don’t know of another play that calls for a pool of water,” he said. There might be productions a la Cirque du Soleil that do it, but Christiansen, a doctoral candidate, isn't aware of other dramatic scripts.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
University of Montana School of Theatre and Dance students rehearse a scene of "Metamorphoses" at the Masquer Theatre on Tuesday, April 1 in Missoula.
As the legal fight over a gravel pit proposed for the Elbow Lake area near Clearwater Junction stretches through its second year, lawyers on opposing sides of the issue are set to make their arguments aloud in a Missoula courtroom on Monday.
The oral arguments concern whether the state of Montana, specifically the Department of Environmental Quality, violated the Montana Environmental Policy Act when the agency approved the Elbow Lake Gravel Pit and asphalt plant two years ago. A judge will subsequently rule, likely at a later date, whether the state violated the law in approving the operation.
The arguments in the lawsuit, brought by nonprofit Protect the Clearwater, will take place in state District Court in Missoula in a hearing that begins at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, April 7, in front of District Judge Leslie Halligan. The hearing will take place in the Missoula County Courthouse at 200 W. Broadway in downtown Missoula.
Protect the Clearwater, a group formed to oppose the proposed pit and adjoining asphalt plant, filed the lawsuit in 2023 against DEQ, the agency that granted a permit to the operation. LHC Inc., the company behind the operation, joined the lawsuit as a defendant alongside DEQ.
— Joshua Murdock, joshua.murdock@missoulian.com
Yes, it’s First Friday this week. But just as importantly, Saturday happens to be Slow Art Day, a movement dating back to 2008 that encourages people to stop and look at a few pieces of art closely rather than dart around trying to “see” as much as possible.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
The University of Montana is opening two plays this weekend, while award-winning Missoula writer Keetje Kuipers is hosting a fun variation on the traditional reading.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
Missoula's community cinema is revisiting "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy with weeklong runs. Or catch the new Steve Coogan comedy, "The Penguin Lessons" and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."
— Charlotte Macorn, for the Missoulian
HELENA — Montana House lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed a $16.6 billion two-year budget that includes a hearty investment in the state’s correctional facilities, the renewal of government-funded health care for low-income earners and hunter’s safety education.
What emerged from the House floor with a preliminary vote of 60 to 39 is $293.9 million more than Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s proposed budget. Of that increase, $40.9 million comes from the state’s general fund, coffers that are largely filled through income taxes.
Rep. Llew Jones, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, encouraged his colleagues to advance the proposal without changes, saying it “stays between the lines” of what the state spends versus what it earns through taxes and federal dollars.
Despite the Conrad Republican’s somewhat playful pleas to not touch House Bill 2, the legislation that lays out the bulk of the state’s operational funding for the next two years, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle tried to tinker with the budget in a daylong floor session.
Fiscal conservatives attempted — unsuccessfully — to ratchet down HB 2’s price tag.
— Carly Graf, carly.graf@lee.net
When Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bathroom bill into law on March 27, the University of Montana immediately started to replace gender-neutral restroom signs on seven multi-stall restrooms, affecting a total of 28 stalls. But less than a week later, a Missoula judge temporarily blocked the bill.
House Bill 121, which faced opposition from LGBTQ+ activists, domestic violence shelters and human rights organizations, strictly defines sex and mandates that multi-occupancy bathrooms, locker rooms and sleeping areas in government-funded buildings be designated as male or female. The bill offers no allowance for intersex people, who make up 1.7% percent of the population, according to the UN human rights office. The bill bears similarities to other legislation proposed in the last several years across the country that seek to define sex as binary or bar trans people from using spaces that align with their gender identity. Many of these bills have been blocked in court.
Hours after the bill was signed, the ACLU and Legal Voice filed suit and sought an injunction to block the bill while the lawsuit goes forward, as well as a restraining order to block the bill prior to the injunction hearing. On Wednesday, Missoula District Court judge Shane A. Vannatta granted the restraining order.
In the decision, Vannatta wrote that the plaintiffs had a good chance of proving the bill violates the Montana Constitution.
— Andy Tallman, andy.tallman@missoulian.com
Someone replaced new bathroom signage in University of Montana’s Liberal Arts building in protest of House Bill 121 as of Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
A bill that would strip away the power of Montana voters to elect all five of the Montana Public Service Commission members, and instead give the governor and the Montana Senate the power to appoint and confirm three of them, came roaring back to life on Tuesday afternoon at the state Capitol.
And the president of the Public Service Commission believes the scheduled time of the hearing on the bill, which was changed from Thursday to Tuesday, prevented people like himself from getting into the room to speak in opposition.
Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, a Republican from Billings, introduced the bill (Senate Bill 561) on Tuesday afternoon. It would create fairly sweeping changes to the PSC as it currently stands. Zolnikov acknowledged that it's a "hot issue."
Currently, all five members are elected by voters in five separate districts in Montana and can serve two four-year terms back-to-back.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Republican representing Montana and the founder of multi-national aerial firefighting company Bridger Aerospace, is trying to end annual U.S. Forest Service inspections of aircraft contracted to fight wildfires.
The Forest Service, an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has conducted its own annual inspections of aircraft, in addition to standard Federal Aviation Administration inspections, for about half a century following a spate of deadly accidents in the 1960s and '70s. Firefighting aviation has become significantly safer since then, but some deadly accidents have still occurred.
A year ago, Forest Service inspections of air tankers that carry fire retardant revealed that a newly developed type of retardant caused corrosion on two aircraft: a Neptune Aviation plane based in Missoula and an Erickson Aero Tanker plane based in Oregon. Both were grounded pending further investigation and repairs. The Neptune tanker was repaired in time for the 2024 fire season; the Erickson tanker did not fly that season. Erickson has begun to fly the plane again this year.
— Joshua Murdock, joshua.murdock@missoulian.com
The executive director of the Missoula Senior Center announced her plans to step down from the position this year and said center members will vote on new board members and other leadership roles this fall.
Ellie Boldman, the center's director, took the reins of the organization when she said the center's board asked for more administrative help in 2024. Boldman is also a Democrat state senator in the Montana Legislature.
She announced her planned departure during a Senior Center board meeting in March. Boldman told the Missoulian in a statement that the improvements she made to the nonprofit's operations will benefit the center.
"Over the last twelve months, the center's volunteers have increased and they are now more diverse, welcoming all ages of volunteers who are now invited and engaged to interact intergenerationally," Boldman said in an email. "Revenue has increased. Programs have expanded. Most importantly, the board governance is now solid and operating in compliance with its bylaws."
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
HELENA — Transgender people in Montana can continue to use the restrooms that align with their gender identity — at least for now — after a Missoula District Court judge on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the new law.
Gov. Greg Gianforte celebrated signing the "bathroom bill" into law only days ago. Within hours, the ACLU of Montana and Legal Voice filed a lawsuit against the state on behalf of five plaintiffs who said the new law violates their rights to privacy and equal protection and inhibits them from participating in public life.
The plaintiffs include a state Department of Labor and Industry employee, a person whose desk is in the basement of the Montana State Capitol, someone who works at the Montana State Print and Mail Department and a Helena College staffer.
They asked for a temporary restraining order, which has now been issued, and a preliminary injunction, for which the hearing has been set for April 21 in Missoula.
House Bill 121, sponsored by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, R-Billings, requires people to use restrooms, changing areas and sleeping spaces that align with their sex assigned at birth. Sex, according to the law, is determined by chromosomes and gametes. It applies to all public and some private institutions that receive state dollars, such as domestic violence shelters.
— Carly Graf, carly.graf@lee.net
A former inmate at the Missoula County jail is suing the county and a former correctional officer who pleaded guilty last month to sexually assaulting her at the detention facility.
The survivor alleges in a federal complaint filed Dec. 23 that Justin Andrews deprived her of her civil rights under the U.S. and Montana constitutions when he “coerced (her) into a sexual relationship.”
Brian West, Missoula County’s chief civil deputy, said during a Wednesday meeting with the county commissioners that a response from the county is due April 11. He said the county was served with the lawsuit about two weeks ago.
Andrews has not yet asked the county to defend him in the lawsuit, Smith said, but he recommended against doing so, citing a state law prohibiting local governments from defending employees “if their actions were criminal.”
Andrews resigned from the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office several days after investigators interviewed him about the allegations in March 2024, county officials previously told the Missoulian.
— Sam Wilson, sam.wilson@missoulian.com
A county grant for youth substance abuse prevention programs and social safety nets opened for new applications this week, the county announced Tuesday. Both of the longstanding awards are meant to help vulnerable populations.
The county is accepting applications for the Substance Abuse Prevention Mill Levy and the Community Assistance Fund from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. The deadline to apply is May 9 at 5 p.m.
County voters approved the annual funding for the Substance Abuse Prevention Mill Levy in 2008. The mill provides $368,920 annually from local property taxes.
The money must be spent in the following ways: direct substance abuse prevention, community education, supervised activities for children and early intervention for young families.
The county said in a press release that Missoula Public Health, All Nations Heath Center, Western Montana Mental Health Center, the Boys and Girls Club, Empower Montana, Friends of the Children and Mountain Home Montana have benefitted from the fund.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
HELENA — Some lawmakers are setting their sights on changes to Montana’s food assistance program to curb obesity, which currently impacts about one in every three people in the state.
Two bills are working their way through the Legislature — one on the House side, another in the Senate — that would modify the groceries that can be purchased with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), an effort to move people away from buying sodas and sugary snacks with the public benefit and instead opt for produce and other healthy options.
Senate Bill 354 from Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, which passed the Senate last month and is awaiting a vote from the House Health and Human Services Committee, would prohibit SNAP dollars from being used on candy and sweetened beverages.
The Billings Republican said the issue, though out of his normal wheelhouse, has struck him personally. He coaches youth swim teams in Roundup, where he says he’s been able to see the insidious impact of climbing obesity rates on young people.
“You can identify the health problems that are happening in young people at a young age,” Zolnikov said. “It’s just so obvious.”
— Carly Graf, carly.graft@lee.net
The debate over data centers, which are coming into Montana and requesting to buy enormous amounts of electricity, heated up significantly at the Montana Legislature this week. In fact, you could call it a power struggle over whether regulators have the power to turn these so-called "large load" customers away or not.
NorthWestern Energy, the Montana Chamber of Commerce and a state lawmaker want to strip away the Montana Public Service Commission's ability to review and approve or deny large load electricity customers, like data centers, that would buy at least five megawatts (and usually significantly more) from NorthWestern. They say data centers are a new "gold rush" that will create jobs and increase the tax base.
But the president of the Montana Public Service Commission, along with representatives of two nonprofit advocacy organizations, believe that these large load data centers are ultimately trying to gouge residential customers. They say NorthWestern may have to raise electricity rates on property owners to pay for increased generation capacity for data centers.
Both sides threw accusations at each other in a hearing inside the Montana Capitol on Tuesday.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
HELENA — The cost of keeping Montana’s prison system from rupturing is moving into prime time at the Montana Legislature, with a price tag nearing half a billion dollars.
Today, Montana has 600 — or roughly 20% — of its 2,900 male inmates in out-of-state prisons owned by CoreCivic, the private prison operator that’s become the state’s reservoir for its overflowing prisons in recent years. And this week, the House of Representatives will consider tripling its original payout to the company to $24 million as part of House Bill 2, the state’s budget over the next two years. That increase represents Montana’s increased use of CoreCivic beds since the 2023 session, climbing from 120 to 600 inmates now living in out-of-state prisons.
When the Legislature split from the Capitol in 2023, CoreCivic’s deal with the state was set to be about $8 million. But by the time the first 120 Montana inmates arrived at the Eloy, Arizona, prison later that year, the backlog of state inmates in county jails was pushing new watermarks. Twice since the last Legislature, the state expanded its contract, and now the rent is due.
"This is a bill that has to be paid," Rep. Fiona Nave, Republican chair of the public safety budget subcommittee, said during an appropriations hearing last week. "Regardless of how we feel about out-of-state secure placements, that’s what we have to do right now. We really don’t have any choice and these people are sitting out of state right now. We need to do this."
— Seaborn Larson, seaborn.larson@missoulian.com
HELENA — The only presence Sen. Jason Ellsworth will have in the Senate Chamber at the Montana State Capitol going forward will be the nameplate clinging to his vacated desk, and even that will expire in a matter of weeks.
The Montana Senate on Tuesday resoundingly voted for a censure that stripped Ellsworth of nearly all legislative privileges, bringing a bipartisan resolution to a fight that's dogged the upper chamber for months.
The censure motion was the product of negotiations between Republican and Democratic leadership. As proposed by Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, Ellsworth was removed from all committee assignments and banned from serving on interim committees after the session. He retained his ability to vote, although only by remote means; the motion also rescinded Ellsworth’s floor privileges for life, meaning he cannot appear in the Senate chamber, even after his term through 2026 ends.
The motion passed 44-6, with Ellsworth voting against it.
— Seaborn Larson, seaborn.larson@missoulian.com
Missoula prosecutors on Tuesday dropped two sexual assault charges against a local businessman, under a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to one charge of physical assault.
Drake E. Doepke, 41, received a deferred 12-month sentence, meaning the lone charge will be wiped from his record if he remains law-abiding and follows the conditions of his sentence for the next year. He is barred from contacting his two female accusers in the case that was filed last year.
Doepke declined to comment after the change-of-plea hearing in Missoula Municipal Court, but his defense attorney, Dwight Schulte, addressed the court on his client’s behalf.
“Mr. Doepke denies any sexual assault ever occurred, but has used this time, your honor, to reflect on himself and to work on himself,” Schulte told Municipal Judge Eli Parker. “... I personally am very proud of the work that he has put in, the self-reflection and how he has dealt with this most difficult process.”
— Sam Wilson, sam.wilson@missoulian.com
HELENA — A bill that sought to establish an unlimited wolf hunting quota in Montana in order to reduce the population to about where it was 15 years ago failed to pass a Senate vote Monday, while two other bills aimed at cutting the population cleared the chamber and are close to going to the governor’s desk.
The two bills that passed the Senate will have to go back to the House for a vote on whether the state’s representatives agree with the changes made to them by the Senate Fish and Game Committee — amendments the sponsors may agree with, but for which the full House might not have as much of an appetite.
Dillon Republican Rep. Shannon Maness’ House Bill 176 failed to pass its final vote in the Senate on Monday in a 23-27 vote. Nine Republicans joined Democrats to oppose it.
The bill seeks to create an unlimited wolf hunting quota when Montana’s wolf population is above 550; it currently sits around 1,100 to 1,200, according to the state. The only area exempted from the unlimited quota would be the areas north of Yellowstone National Park that are currently Wolf Management Units 313 and 316, where hunting is restricted to only a handful of animals each season.
— Blair Miller, blair.miller@lee.net
The nonprofit Missoula Food Bank and Community Center announced on Tuesday that the administration of President Donald Trump has slashed a federal funding source that provided about 91,000 pounds of fresh food last year to low-income families in the area.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed this week that it was canceling $500 million of previously awarded funds from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). The program moves surplus products like chicken, eggs, fruit, vegetables, milk and high-nutrition foods from farms to food banks, where it is distributed to people in need.
In 2024, the Missoula Food Bank distributed 2.81 million pounds of food. That included 228,290 pounds of food from TEFAP, which is food that's fresher and healthier than standard shelf-stable canned or boxed goods.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
Birch Reeves blows bubbles during a Trans Day of Visibility rally outside the Missoula County Courthouse on Monday, March 31, 2025.
The rights of transgender people are under attack, organizers of Missoula's Transgender Day of Visibility said on Monday night. But the speakers brought optimism that their movement on gender will grow against adversity.
A crowd of more than 150 rallied for transgender people at the Missoula County Courthouse amid new state laws that restrict where people can go to the bathroom and block the participation of trans women in female sports.
Similar rallies popped up across the country for Transgender Day of Visibility, including on the steps of the state Capitol in Helena on Monday.
Speakers at the rally called for more local advocacy and to hold their elected officials accountable for continuing to pass laws that curtail the rights of transgender people.
"Trans people are in more danger than we have ever been within living memory, times are scary," speaker Gwen Nicholson, who is transgender, said. "That's exactly why, at this moment, we can't accept defeat."
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
River Segar waves a trans flag during a Trans Day of Visibility rally outside the Missoula County Courthouse on Monday, March 31, 2025.
Federal agencies informed Missoula County officials late last week that two of its grants have been discontinued, which could eliminate up to three positions and halt some work around energy efficiency and case management.
The county lost a $1 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to county Chief Administrative Officer Chris Lounsbury.
Partnership Health Center also lost the remainder of a $1.8 million grant from the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) first awarded in 2021, according to the center's Chief Innovation Officer Becca Goe.
Lounsbury told the Missoulian Monday that the federal government will still have to pay for most of the completed work, but an exact breakdown was unknown. Lounsbury said the county could be on the hook for some of the costs.
The county has been reviewing its grants in preparation for cuts due to executive orders from the Trump Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency, Lounsbury said, the latter being run by billionaire Elon Musk.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
Rising north of Butte, east of Deer Lodge, south of Highway 12 between Helena and Garrison Junction, and west of the Jefferson City-Clancy area and the Boulder River Valley, the Boulder Mountains are one of the most historically significant range in the state of Montana owing to its mining history.
These mostly forest-covered mountains hold a unique geologic structure, the Boulder Batholith. A batholith is a large mass of intrusive igneous rock that made its way to the surface. While relatively small by world standards, the Boulder Batholith, and by extension the Boulder Mountains, contained almost unfathomable amounts of copper, gold and silver. Vast deposits of theses minerals drove tens of thousands to Butte which eventually received the nickname, “the richest hill on Earth.”
Both the mountains and the batholith get their name from rounded granite boulders dotting the landscape. These are easily visible, especially crossing Homestake Pass along Interstate 90.
— Ian Thomas, University of Montana, for the Missoulian
The Boulder Mountains are one of the most historically significant ranges in Montana owing to its mining history.
KALISPELL — A Flathead County man was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison for beating a homeless man to death in front of a Kalispell gas station in 2023.
Kaleb E. Fleck, 20, pleaded guilty earlier this year to the deliberate homicide of Scott Bryan, 60, on June 25, 2023. He will also serve 10 years of probation under a sentence in which Flathead County District Judge Heidi Ulbricht largely sided with state prosecutors.
“Kaleb Fleck brutally assaulted Scott Bryan, causing an open skull fracture and part of a broken nasal bone protruding from his forehead,” Ulbricht said. “Kaleb Fleck left the victim alone in a parking lot, did not call 911 or summon any help for the victim. The victim was still alive when first responders arrived on the scene.”
Fleck pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide in January under a plea deal reached with prosecutors. In exchange, the state agreed to cap its recommended sentence at 40 years in prison, while Fleck’s attorneys argued for a 20-year prison sentence and 20 years of probation.
— Sam Wilson, sam.wilson@missoulian.com
Kaleb Fleck, left, speaks with his attorney Sean Hinchey, right, during a sentencing hearing at the Flathead County District Court in Kalispell on Monday. Fleck was sentenced to 40 years for deliberate homicide in the 2023 killing of Scott Bryan.
The Missoula Police Department said in a press release on Monday that they responded to a call from Walgreens this morning that the business had gotten a phone call claiming there was a grenade inside.
"After a thorough investigation, the threat was determined to be unfounded and not credible," the police department said in a statement. "A special thank you to the University of Montana K9 unit for their assistance in ensuring the safety of our community."
The call came in at about 9 a.m., and officers were seen blocking the entrance to the business, which is located in the 2500 block of North Reserve.
The police, including a member of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team, responded along with the K9 unit from UM.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
There's an upcoming event to connect people experiencing houselessness with resources like free haircuts and medical care. Plus Bernice's Bakery in Missoula is getting a fresh new look and will be undergoing a renovation project this spring and for the first time since 2018, the nonprofit Preserve Historic Missoula is seeking nominations for endangered historic properties in Missoula and surrounding areas in order to "highlight the importance of the historic natural landscape and the threats it faces."
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
A study to improve safety along Reserve Street in Missoula identified several turn lane, intersection and speed limit changes that could lessen car accidents and serious injuries.
The Reserve Street Safety Action plan, which is expected to be finalized this fall, is a federal- and state-funded study that aims to use crash data and public input to find areas where the corridor can be improved.
Charlie Menefee, a transportation planner for the Missoula Metropolitan Planning Organization, told city council on Wednesday that Reserve Street has seen three deaths and more than 60 serious injuries from accidents since 2019, which he said is more than Missoula's other major roadways.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
HELENA — Having spent her career as a labor and delivery nurse at a Butte hospital, Dorothy Troutman was no stranger to the ways that childbirth can go awry, and she often saw women who needed more support than the traditional health care system could provide.
In 2021, Troutman trained to become a doula and opened her own practice on the side. At the time, she was the only one in town.
Doulas are nonmedical professionals who provide emotional and logistical support to parents before, during and after childbirth. They advocate for women through labor in a medical system that can feel overly clinical and lacks personalization.
“All families deserve and should be able to have access to a doula,” Troutman said.
— Carly Graf, carly.graf@lee.net
Bridger Aerospace, the Bozeman-based aerial firefighting company, has partnered with a French aircraft modification company to turn one of the world's most popular regional commuter and cargo airplanes into a next-generation scooper-style water tanker for fighting wildfires.
Bridger, founded by U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Republican representing Montana, announced March 25 that it penned an agreement with Positive Aviation, a Blagnac-based company that plans to mount French-made twin-turboprop planes into large pontoons and equip them with apparatus that allows the planes to scoop water into internal holding tanks while skimming the surface of a body of water. The pontoons will be amphibious: Retractable wheeled landing gear within them will allow the planes to operate on paved runways in addition to water.
Positive Aviation's planes are planned to be faster and larger than Bridger's current scooper aircraft. They are designed to carry more water and have a longer range.
— Joshua Murdock, joshua.murdock@missoulian.com
A computer rendering shows Positive Aviation's planned FF 72 firefighting aircraft dropping water over a wildfire.
If you don’t believe art can be transformative, consider the migration of a humble papier-mâché mask that traveled from south of the border to New England, then west to Missoula, back east to a Connecticut art museum, and then landed in the pages of the New York Times.
This particular mask belongs to Duane Slick, a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. He came across it at an art market in Mexico, and in the mid-1990s began making paintings of its silhouette. As a member of the Meskwaki and Ho Chunk people, he was taking Coyote back.
“The idea of using shadows of folk art objects was partially reclaiming the object in a certain way, reclaiming it from the market system,” he said this week during a visit to Missoula.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
Duane Slick, a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, leads a printmaking session at the University of Montana Fine Arts Building on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.
