Regional gas prices rose for the second consecutive week last week and since last month the average fuel price in the Rocky Mountain region has risen about 8 cents. A year ago it was 14% higher at about $4 a gallon. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s tally of prices in the Rocky Mountain states includes Montana Colorado Idaho Wyoming and Utah.
Montana’s new consumer data protections law is now in effect. The Consumer Data Privacy Act gives Montanans the rights to access or obtain copies of their data collected by online companies. The law also provides for the right to request a business to delete personal data held by a company and opt out of the data collection process for purposes of targeted advertising or sale of their data to other companies.
Former Montana Highway Patrol Colonel Steve Lavin has sued Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen alleging wrongful discharge over an internal survey that was critical of the administration. Tuesday a spokesperson for Knudsen called the allegations categorically false. Kurt Sager has since been appointed as the new head of the highway patrol.
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are standing in solidarity with the Crow Tribe after Charkoosta News posted an audio file where U.S. Senate candidate Republican Tim Sheehy can be heard saying Crow Tribal members are drunk by 8 in the morning and they threw beer cans at his head during the Crow Fair. Tribal leaders are calling for public apology from Sheehy for ‘defamatory’ comments.
Samaritan House in Kalispell has raised $11.1 million of its $16.9 million goal to start construction on new apartments for low-income families and veterans. It’s the biggest project the organization has ever taken on.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen has opened applications for the Teacher Incentive Program. The Teach Act was established during the 2021 legislative session to incentivize and enhance competitive base pay for early-career teachers.
This evening Butte-Silver Bow commissioners could approve the final plat for the “Cornerstone Plaza” retail shopping and restaurant development planned for a 17-acre site along Harrison Avenue in south Butte. They will meet at 7:30 in the courthouse.
A $4.4 million federal grant will fund a dozen new firefighter positions over the next three years in Bozeman. That will lower the amount taxpayers could pay under a proposed levy to fund an expansion of the city’s police and fire departments that is on the November ballot.
RiverStone Health in Billings is seeing an increase in respiratory illness including the flu and COVID-19. Now that fall is here it encourages everyone to receive the updated COVID-19 and influenza vaccines as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Recovery Centers of Montana’s men’s facility in Columbia Falls is once again fully licensed. The Ranch corrected issues found by state health officials last year. The company also operates a women’s only facility called The Lodge in Hungry Horse.