In: News Headlines

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday it housed 47,925 veterans experiencing homelessness in fiscal year 2024 the largest number of veterans experiencing homelessness the federal agency has housed since fiscal year 2019. In Montana the VA has housed nearly 250 veterans this year which is about 20 more than its goal and expects to continue to house more as the year progresses.

There are 686,900 voters in Montana. Of those 493,100 requested early ballots. As of Thursday afternoon 195,000 of them have been returned and will begin to count the ballots on election day  November 5th after polls close at 8 in the evening.

Disability Rights Montana is asking a court to clarify which patients involuntarily committed to the Montana State Hospital are allowed to vote and whether the hospital is technically a penal institution as part of a case in which a convicted felon at the state hospital has sought to vote in the upcoming election. This week Attorney General Austin Knudsen issued a legal opinion saying a person convicted of a felony who suffers from a mental illness and is placed in the State Hospital is ineligible                        to vote while serving their sentence at the hospital.

Less than two weeks away from Election Day Montana is just over two months away from the start of the Montana Legislature’s 2025 session and voters also have a big role in what that session looks like. Members of both parties say they think Democrats have a chance to pick up enough seats to break the two-thirds supermajority Republicans had in the 2023’s 68th Legislative session.

Anaconda officials have pushed the Environmental Protection Agency to add lead to its ongoing focus on arsenic as a legacy “contaminant of concern” from 100 years of copper smelting. Any new lead level proposed for Anaconda would come as a result of the same process that was used to determine a proposed new cleanup value in Butte. The Mining City is among the first Superfund sites in the nation where the EPA has implemented the updated national lead guidance.

Big Sky might be getting another fire station soon. The Gallatin County Commission has granted preliminary approval for the property owners of the Spanish Peaks neighborhood to build their own with government support through a Rural Improvement District.

Laurel Hometown Troops sends care packages to service members. 120 boxes will be shipped out soon to any destination where military members with ties to Montana or Wyoming are carrying out their service.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Big Horn Power River and Rosebud Counties as Primary Natural Disaster Areas. The Farm Service Agency can now extend emergency credit to producers recovering from wildfires.

Saturday will mark the 10th year of the Bozeman Help Center’s “Run For Your Life” 5k fundraiser which raises money for the organization’s 24/7 suicide prevention services. Its biggest fundraiser has raised $579,000 over the years.

Missoula County Commissioners approved the new Creighton Subdivision in the Target Range neighborhood Thursday. It is expected to include eight homes on 12 acres near the area with low-density neighborhoods. The decision followed a nearly three-year debate over how close the homes can be to the Clark Fork River.

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