WIC farmer’s market benefits begin
The annual farmer’s market benefit will be available for WIC participants starting Wednesday and the Women Infants and Children benefit will continue through Friday October 31st. The farmer’s market $30 per eligible person benefit is available at any WIC-approved vendor throughout Montana. This year the benefit is available on an app called Healthy Together. There are options available if the participant does not have a smartphone.
Montana Department of Agriculture’s Megan Hoyer Highlights Noxious Weed Awareness Week on Voices of Montana
This is Noxious Weed Awareness Week in Montana. Montana Department of Agriculture’s Invasive Species Education Coordinator Megan Hoyer was on Voices of Montana today. She takes the issue so seriously she’s named every day of this week as a topic of what to do about them.
Megan Hoyer
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U.S. Department of Transportation Freezes Grant Funds, Delaying Powell County’s $6.3 Million Pedestrian Trail Project Connecting Butte to Idaho
The U-S Department of Transportation has frozen millions in grant dollars awarded by the Biden administration, leaving those counting on them in limbo. Powell County was set to receive more than 6-point-3 million dollars for its Parks to Passes project to help close gaps in a roughly 230-mile pedestrian trail between Butte and the Idaho border. It is part of the larger Great American Rail-Trail route which will stretch 37-hundred miles between D-C and Washington state. Rails to Trails Conservancy Vice President Kevin Mills says in addition to economic and climate benefits effective trail corridors improve safety. 9 thousand pedestrians and cyclists die on roads each year in the U-S and 130 thousand more are injured.
Kevin Mills
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Montana Gas Prices Steadily Increase
So far this year average gas prices in Montana have increased in 18 out of 21 weeks and according to GasBuddy dot com this week’s prices are up again at $3.19 a gallon on average. Prices in Montana are 6.4 cents per gallon higher than a month ago but 23.9 cents a gallon lower than a year ago. Montana is currently ranked 12th in the U.S. when it comes to the average price of gas the same spot as last week.
Tourists spent nearly $5 billion in Montana last year
A record number of out-of-state visitors spent roughly $5 billion while traveling to Montana in 2024 money that drives one of the state’s strongest economic sectors through tourism oriented businesses. The roughly 13.8 million visitors directly supported an estimated 38,240 jobs generated more than $308 million in state and local taxes and reduced the average tax burden on Montana households by $680.
Meteorologist warns of ‘significant’ Montana wildfire season; officials say they’re ready
Forecast models are showing signs this year’s wildfire season could look like those of 2006 2017 and 2021 some of the worst fire years on record in Montana. That’s according to the presentation the Northern Rockies Coordinating Center gave to state and federal government officials Monday. It is likely to begin in earnest in western Montana in July then spread eastward into central and eastern Montana through August into September. There are six wildfires currently active in Montana.
States Where People Have the Highest Income in 2025 – WalletHub Report
With the median yearly income in the U.S. approximately $81,000 WalletHub has released its latest report on the States Where People Have the Highest Income ranking Montana 35th in the nation. The personal-finance website used three key metrics including the average yearly income of the top 5% the average income of the bottom 20% and the overall median income for each state’s residents.
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For the past 26 years the Montana Discovery Foundation has led groups of high school students into the backcountry to collect data and learn about natural resource management on public U.S. Forest Service land. There won’t be a 27th year due to continued cuts to the U.S. Forest Service by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Aging infrastructure and a growing community have led East Helena to invest in upgrades to the community’s wastewater treatment plant’s headworks building funded in part through a $6.9 million loan from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. The facility which is more than 25 years old is at the end of its life span.
While a large portion of federal funding is still pending Ravalli County Commissioners have agreed to an assortment of local grants for the Ravalli County Airport apron expansion project. If roughly $1.63 million in funding from the Federal Aviation Administration is approved construction on the new apron could begin as early as this fall.
District Court Judge Matthew Wald has issued a temporary restraining order halting the Stillwater Conservation District’s work on a $5 million Forest Service project to restore Armstrong Creek to its old channel. The tributary to East Rosebud Lake was damaged during historic floods in June 2022 as were nearby structures and the main road and bridge leading into the popular Beartooth Mountain drainage.
State health officials have confirmed additional cases of measles in Gallatin Flathead and Hill Counties bringing the statewide count to 15. Individuals without prior measles infection or vaccination have a 90% likelihood of contracting the disease if exposed. It is the first measles outbreak measles outbreak in Montana in 35 years.
