Better hurry if you want to comment on NorthWestern's future energy plans.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

If you want to comment on the state’s largest utility and its plan for future energy, you better pay attention: The Montana Public Service Commission is only holding two hearings — both in Helena — because it says a new law and staff resources don’t allow it to hold five meetings across the state, like last time.

Also, it didn’t take long for groups to object to a new land-swapping policy adopted by the Montana Land Board. Those groups said the board violated Montana open meetings law by rushing through the new policy.

Finally, a transportation study commissioned by the Legislature shows that transportation connecting the state is not robust and more people want access to recreational areas and medical corridors.

U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana, has sued an Idaho business after he alleges Freedom Munitions sold faulty ammunition, knew about it, and didn’t warn customers. Sheehy said he was injured twice by an exploding round, and it would mark the third time that he’s been injured by a misfire.

After years of concern and urging, the State of Montana has finally declared the famous-but-struggling Big Hole River as an impaired waterway. Now, the decision will go to the Environmental Protection Agency for confirmation. That could make more federal funding available for the popular southwestern Montana river.

As President Donald Trump celebrates the nation’s 250th birthday in Washington, D.C., in the upcoming week, another group gathered in the nation’s Capitol to present their vision of what America can be beyond 250 years old.

A group of Democratic Congressmen want to know more about the response of Brooke Rollins, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the department’s response to the threat of the New World Screwworm. Previously, the Trump administration had said that the blame rested on the Biden administration, which didn’t pay close enough attention to the southern border.

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton has been found guilty of one charge of keeping classified documents, a charge not so unlike the ones Trump was accused of. The details in the case include Bolton transcribing classified information into a journal and then sharing the contents with his family.

In the nation’s Capitol in advance of the 250th birthday, the Trump administration has begun the Great American State Fair, which showcases people, history and exhibits from all of the 50 states. Check out this story to see photographs of Montana’s contribution.

Republicans in Congress had hoped to use the same cumbersome reconciliation process to push through a third large spending package that would send even more money to immigration efforts endorsed by the Trump administration. However, because of President Trump’s insistence on the SAVE America Act coupled with the Congressional calendar, it looks like the window for that has closed.

A federal court has stopped the Trump administration from declaring certain degrees, like nursing, as nonprofessional degrees. The designation matters because of new rules for students looking to borrow money to pay for college education. The new classifications were seen as a way to curtail the number of degree programs eligible for federal funding.

A new study shows one of the unintended consequences of younger drivers waiting longer to get a driver’s license. The research shows that as young drivers opt not to drive, they also don’t register to vote as early.

Note: some links may lead to stories behind a news organization's paywall

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday this upcoming week, no matter how divided the country is, the events planned around the celebration in Washington, D.C., will probably not be as terrible as the half-baked sesquicentennial that happened a century ago in Philadelphia, according to the Smithsonian magazine. That particular celebration bankrupted the city and many of the events were never completed.

Our colleagues at the Flathead Beacon ran an interesting opinion piece by a former Montana Senate President Jim Peterson who first encountered Art Wittich in 2012. Wittich now serves as the chairman of the Montana Republican Party, but back then, he helped orchestrate the removal of Peterson as the president of the Senate in what would become a trend of the GOP becoming increasingly conservative.

The New York Times answers a question that many consumers at the grocery store have wondered: Where has all the cottage cheese gone? Or, why is it so expensive?

Well Montana, we’ve done it again: We’ve made another list of least affordable places to live. This time the venerable Visual Capitalist has put out its ranking of most expensive places to live. Montana, you’re more expensive than California, New York or even Hawaii.

There has been so much news about immigration lately. Most of it, quite frankly, is disappointing. I listened to the stories of Haitians in America on National Public Radio on Friday. They were describing the conditions in Haiti, which include more than 3 million people who are in camps without housing or adequate food or clean water. Because of warring gang violence, the airport in Port au Prince, the capital, has been closed for more than two years. How deporting more than 350,000 people back there would work logistically seems like a humanitarian crisis in the making. And everyone, including the U.S. government, believed that the refuge that America provided would be temporary — but how can you predict how long a poor country will be engaged in a brutal civil war?

That’s why I am grateful that others are working to show another side of immigration — the human side. I was lucky: I knew the immigrant generation of several sides of my family. They told harrowing stories about coming over here, about demanding their children speak English even though they couldn’t understand the language well. It makes me think of this Steve Earle song that I recently saw, “City of Immigrants.”

If you have a song that you’d like to share, or would like to get in touch with us, please send us a note at [email protected]

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