The Montana Department of Transportation reports over one third of their snowplows have been involved in crashes since 2015 often due to other drivers’ decisions on the road. In response it has launched the “Don’t Crowd the Plow” campaign aiming to reduce crashes caused by tailgating passing in unsafe conditions or turning into the path of a plow. When a snowplow is involved in a crash it is removed from service for necessary repairs.
The Montana Headwaters Legacy Act can be heard in front of the full Senate or be included in a broader public lands package now that it has passed out of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The legislation would designate 326 total river miles from 19 rivers in Montana as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. A coalition of groups in southwestern and southern Montana have been pushing support for the bill.
Montanans have until January 15th to purchase a health insurance plan on the federal marketplace. Most people who miss the deadline will not be eligible to sign up again until November of next year. This period known as open enrollment is especially critical for those who lost Medicaid coverage during the redetermination process over the last year. There are 206,938 people enrolled in Medicaid roughly 95,000 fewer enrollees than about a year ago.
Initial filings for unemployment benefits in Montana rose to 1,290 in the week ending November 16th compared with 1,118 the week before. Utah saw the largest percentage increase in weekly claims jumping by 38.9%. Kansas meanwhile saw the largest percentage drop by 50.2%. U.S. unemployment claims dropped to 213,000 last week down 6,000 from the week prior on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The U.S. Supreme Court is stepping into a major legal fight over the $8 billion a year the federal government spends to subsidize phone and internet services in schools libraries and rural areas including Montana. It will review an appellate ruling that struck the Universal Service Fund down as unconstitutional. The last time the Supreme Court invoked what is known as the non-delegation doctrine to strike down a federal law was in 1935.
A study conducted by Eastonlawoffices dot com used ranking methodology for state driver quality to determine the Worst States for Motorcyclists. Montana ranks 7th scoring 63.7 largely due to its aggressive driving statistics. 71.2% of accidents and 71.8% of fatalities in Montana among motorcyclists are linked to aggressive driving.
Three new bear-proof trash cans will keep students safe in Gardner by securing garbage from bears made possible by Bear Awareness Gardiner and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. Gardiner Public Schools sits at the northern border of Yellowstone National Park along the Yellowstone River in prime grizzly and black bear country.
Fort Benton will see soon see development on 23 lots on a piece of land that was annexed by the town a few months ago. In a 2024 poll conducted by NeighborWorks Montana 28% of a group of Fort Benton residents believe housing options ae the most important need. 78% believe single-family units are the most need housing infrastructure.
Lewis and Clark County hired Jacob Miles with funding from a grant to coordinate overdose prevention and the Safer Communities Montana Suicide Prevention Program which focuses on lethal means restriction. The most significant part of the role so far has been outreach and prevention which includes offering gunlocks Narcan and drug activation kits to the community.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved $2.1 million to help Billings repair the flood damage to its water treatment plant in response to the Yellowstone River flooding and severe storms in June 2022. FEMA has now approved more than $40.1 million in Public Assistance funds to help Montana communities recover from the 2022 storms and flooding.
