Jury finds former Montana Senate president guilty.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

The conclusion of a long, well-documented political fight ended in a Helena courtroom on Tuesday night as a jury found former Montana Senate President Jason Ellsworth guilty of official misconduct, a misdemeanor, for trying to steer more than $100,000 in state funds to a close associate.

And fascinating reporting from the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana found that short-term rental properties contribute hundreds of millions to the economy of Montana, even as some have criticized the practice, arguing it makes housing less affordable. But the benefits of short-term rentals include more Montana residents getting directly paid for housing, and also longer visits, which translates to more money for communities. The impacts, of course, were felt in areas closest to the state’s two national parks.

And Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is asking for applications to become a temporary Public Service Commissioner, who will fill in for Brad Molnar, who is suspended for making inappropriate comments to staff. Applicants must live in District 2, which encompasses parts of southern and central Montana, including Billings.

As prisons become more crowded and state lawmakers vow to get tougher on crime, states are trying to figure out the role of juvenile detention facilities: Is the aim to rehabilitate or to punish?

The Trump administration has rolled out new rules for how it will issue grants, including specific language that requires organizations to adhere to the ideological goals of the president. Democrats warn that these changes are an obvious way to justify political favors and encourage political retribution in what shouldn’t be a political process.

Even though it seemed like arrests hit a much large number as the Trump administration first launched its entry into many urban cities throughout the United States, reporting shows that arrests by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement hit a high in June, with authorities averaging more than 1,500 arrests daily.

We’re not accusing our neighbors of ganging up on us, but Idaho and Wyoming have announced a joint program that would develop nuclear energy. A grant from the federal government has pledged $31 million toward the project. It is one of the federally designated “innovation hubs.”

Immigration advocates are warning that the Trump administration is playing politics with children in the immigration system. For nearly a half year, the federal government has been sitting on funds that help pay for attorneys who are representing undocumented children who arrived in America without parents. Critics of the administration say that these kids are already traumatized and confused — now, they may not even have the aid of an attorney.

Experts with the Brennan Center have already put out the warning that it looks like the Trump administration may try to intimidate or otherwise interfere in the election and voting process during the Midterms in November.

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Our first story is a breath of sunshine, even when the world of news is inundated with depressing headlines. Scientists and doctors have given a man who was paralyzed with the gift of restoring his feeling and some functions in his arms and hands, according to the Smithsonian magazine.

The next two stories center on Great Falls. The first story concerns the fate of the Lewis and Clark interpretive center. Through a series of retirements and turnovers, the excellent tourist attraction, which is funded via the federal government, is on the verge of not being adequately staffed, according to Matt Hudson of the Montana Free Press.

The larger Great Falls community is concerned after authorities say that a convicted registered sex offender found a way to be around young children, and authorities say he touched elementary students, according to Quentin Shores of KRTV.

I spent most of my youth mocking the twangy, sideburned country artists of the 1960s and 1970s because it was so common place, and during the age of “New Wave” pop, sounded so old-fashioned. From Buck Owens and Roy Clark on “Hee Haw” to the only music I could find on my grandfather’s AM radio in his truck (…there’s no way he was paying extra for a FM radio), I would often think of how much cooler the radio stations, say, in Los Angeles must have sounded, while I was here in Montana surrounded by twangy bar music. One of those artists that I often chided was a man who I viewed as a “knock-off” Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty.

Of course, Twitty got his start as a credible imitator of Elvis when, in 1957, he released a smash hit, “It’s Only Make Believe,” which many listeners and even a few DJs mistook for the king himself. Twitty’s foray into rock music lasted for just a few years, and then he — like many other early rock artists — looked for ways to keep relevant as rock was rapidly evolving.

From the poofy pompadour haircut to the sneering way he sang, it took me years, if not decades, to appreciate Twitty’s songs, which seemed perfectly suited for dank bars and secret rendezvous. Whether its the tight-fitting polyester suits that were the epitome of high style to his spoken-word bridge parts of his country music, I still have a hard time watching his recorded live performances because they still seem kind of cringy. But slowly I have developed a list of songs that I have come around to love as I have listened to piles of vinyl (you can find plenty of Twitty albums in thrift stores). Just like tastes in food, my taste in music has changed, and I now like things that I swore I wouldn’t listen to, let alone collect.

“Dim Lonely Places” would be a great country by just its title alone. However, the rich baritone and slow country swagger means that you can almost smell the scent of burning cigarettes and stale sour beer. This is exactly the kind of song I would have mocked relentlessly as a teenager, but now love as adult.

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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