The Montana Board of State Canvassers completed the statutorily required state canvass procedure this week. The Secretary of State’s Office served as the secretary for the meeting, where representatives from the Attorney General’s Office the Office of Public Instruction and the State Auditor’s Office completed the canvassing.
The Montana Board of Regents has approved Montana State University’s proposal to establish The Institute for National Security Research and Education to help address the nation’s security needs through applied research technology development and education for the next generation of leaders. MSU has brought in a record $258 million in research funding in fiscal year 2024
The number of acres enrolled in Block Management has continued its gradual decline. Last year the hunting access program managed by Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks logged 638,938 contracted hunter. The state Legislature established the program in 1985 and at peak participation in 2002 1,150 landowners provided hunters access to more than 8.8 million acres.
The Biden administration is blocking new coal mining on public lands in the Powder River Basin which includes portions of Montana and Wyoming and produces 43 percent of the nation’s coal. It said it will not allow new leasing to take place in the area citing climate change impacts. Ongoing mining operations which are expected to last through 2041 would not be affected.
Following a federal mandate Kalispell is nearing completion of the municipality’s water service line inventory. 573 lines are listed as unknown but out of roughly 10,000 water service lines inventoried so far 41 were found to be lead and 15 were made of galvanized material. City officials will continue identifying the unknown lines over the next year.
The Montana Department of Transportation has completed the Gallatin Canyon Pavement Preservation and Safety Improvements project. It improves two segments of U.S. Highway 191 near Gallatin Gateway adding wider shoulders a left-turn bay and a new box culvert to replace a failing bridge. It includes 410,000 pounds of precast concrete double the weight of the Statue of Liberty.
Six Montana nonprofits have received a total of $1.3 million to support projects aimed at improving housing and economic development in tribal communities. The grants were distributed through Wells Fargo’s Invest Native initiative which ultimately granted $6.4 million to 33 organizations across six states.
Leaders have started the process of filling the positions left open by Cory Swanson elected chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court earlier this month and Katherine Bidegaray who was elected as an associate justice. They will take their seats Monday January 6th.The deadline to apply for the vacancies is December 16th and Governor Greg Gianforte will appoint their replacements by next February 15th.
Red Lodge Mountain opened for the season today with some of the best snow conditions in recent years after receiving nearly two feet of natural snow in the past month. The 1,635-acre ski area has Montana’s second-largest snowmaking system allowing it to be among one of the first ski areas to open in the state.
Amazon workers are planning to strike today through Cyber Monday. Amazon is everywhere so this event could impact the biggest shopping weekend of the year. It’s not clear if any of the workers in Amazon facilities in Montana will take part in the “Make Amazon Pay” protest organized by UNI Global Union and Progressive International.
