The state recently announced it was moving the Montana Highway Patrol headquarters from rented space in Helena 30 miles south to the state-owned 48-acre Montana Developmental Center campus in Boulder which has sat vacant for several years. Thursday, about 40 people gathered at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in to welcome the Montana Highway Patrol as the town’s newest residents.
A lawsuit that sought to overturn a 2019 law halting the state’s practice of acquiring partial water rights when water is diverted from private land onto state land has been dismissed by a Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Michael McMahon. As the lawsuit progressed several agricultural groups intervened including the Montana Farm Bureau Federation and Montana Stockgrowers Association. Jay Bodner is its Executive Vice President who explains what happened.
