Monday, with just 10 days before the signature gathering deadline, the Secretary of State’s Office counted just 1,739 of over 60,000 needed for Constitutional Initiative 121 to get on the ballot. CI-121 would cap the rate of residential tax increases to two percent annually which Missoula City Councilman Mike Nugent argued on Voices of Montana...
Nonprofits Struggling To Retain Workers
Montana nonprofits are struggling during the nationwide worker shortage and in some cases they’ve cut services back. Scott Appel heads Court Appointed Special Advocates in Missoula providing volunteers to represent foster youths in legal matters. He says the organization hasn’t experienced a worker shortage but it did have to increase compensa...
State Prison Reports Possible Water Hazard
Montana State Prison staff sent water samples to a state laboratory in Missoula Wednesday after being alerted by inmates Tuesday about a strange odor coming from it out of the Deer Lodge facility’s low security side. The inmates will be provided with bottled water until the sample results are returned.
Montanan Sworn In As Fish & Wildlife Service Director
Martha Williams was sworn in Tuesday as Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service by Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. Before joining the Biden-Harris administration Williams served as the Director of the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks from 2017 to 2020. Previously she was an Assistant Professor of Law at the Blewett...
State Hospital To Address Lingering Issues
Following a special meeting called by the Children Families Health and Human Services Interim Committee Montana lawmakers have agreed to begin drafting legislation to address short-term and long-term issues at the State Psychiatric Hospital in Warm Springs. One new proposal came from Missoula Representative Danny Tenenbaum. It would stop the p...
Governor Gianforte Holds Roundtable Meeting In Missoula
A roundtable of local law enforcement officers and other officials was convened last week by Governor Greg Gianforte in Missoula to listen to them about their drug enforcement problem and to let them know the administration was backing them up.
Public Service Commission Breaks Up Garbage Truck Monopoly
The Montana Public Service Commission regulates among other things garbage collection services. Thursday commissioners voted 3-2 to allow Bozeman-based L&L Site Services to enter the Missoula County market. That means the 14-year monopoly on garbage hauling held by Republic Services in Missoula County will soon be coming to an end. L&L...
Montana Ag Teachers Oppose CTE Framework Changes
During Career Technical Education Month in Montana the national organization “Advance CTE” is looking to update the National Career Clusters Framework used to describe CTE. One of the proposed changes is the agriculture cluster to the food living systems and natural resources cluster. Missoula ag educator Kristi Rothe.
Human Trafficking Hotline To Be Displayed In Town Pump Businesses & State Offices
The LifeGuard Group manages Montana’s Human Trafficking Hotline and provides resources along with training to end human trafficking. The nonprofit based in Missoula is partnering with Town Pump to increase displays of the hotline across the state. LifeGuard founder Lowell Hochalter believes it will increase the number of reported cases. ...
Right-To-Work Group Challenges Clean Campaign Act
A complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula by Montana Citizens for Right to Work asks the court to find the state’s 2007 Clean Campaign Act unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy asked for supplemental legal briefs Tuesday afternoon following oral arguments earlier in the day in the case that could toss out a portion of ...