Montana Attorney General picks an immigration fight with Gallatin County.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

"It is important to be clear: there is no blanket policy in Gallatin County prohibiting cooperation with ICE or any federal agency, nor is there a policy restricting the sharing of information. The County Commission, not the County Attorney’s Office, is the only body with the authority to establish county policy." – Audrey Cromwell, the Gallatin County Attorney disputing Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

Attorney and columnist Doug James writes that there really is no parole in Montana, and that may explain why our prisons are overcrowded. Instead, there is just an illusion of parole, but the system he argues is medieval.

With the growing support of Republicans recently, they have begun ramping up conversations about being tougher on crime, which includes incarcerating more people. That, however, has driven a need for more jails. That, in turn, has led to more outcry about where those facilities are located.

Democrats and other voting-rights groups are rushing to push back against the Trump administration, which has said it will try to halt or curb mail-in voting procedures, even though President Donald Trump himself uses it. The executive order curbing mail-in ballots is expected to make it to the United States Supreme Court.

A program started by the Biden administration to help curb student loans and make student debt more manageable has been officially terminated by the Trump administration. Here is what you need to know.

I have two books that “go in search” of the first rock-and-roll hit ever made. I’m pretty sure there are more books that do the same out there. And, there are books that claim all sorts of notable artists such as Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Ike Turner “invented” rock-and-roll. I have read many, and they make a compelling argument — at least make the point that what we now take for granted was developed or invented by artists who were quickly and often imitated.

Among my friends who are musical nerds, I love talking about this subject because the truth is that all these musical formats weren’t so much as invented as they were developed. And many of their musical histories and DNA overlap and come out of similar, even if distinct, circumstances. For example, bluegrass is not so different than country is not so different than rock-and-roll and the blues.

One of the early pioneers of popular music in general was the “Singing Brakeman” Jimmie Rodgers. His singing and guitar playing show influences of all of those musical forms, but his thick southern drawl coupled with a yodel was, quite frankly, in a category all its own. And so if you’re going to have a conversation about the first rock-and-roll hit, which is a heady and hefty subject for a Monday morning, I’d argue you can’t have a complete discussion without his version of a popular song that is still done by artists today, “Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8).” The most popular version of the song is nearly 100 years old, recorded in 1930.

Rodgers’ guitar work, his clever lyrics and genre-defying performance may make this song — if not a candidate for the first rock-and-roll hit — an example of a early prototype of rock music, which was still technically a quarter century in the future from when this was produced.

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]

Thanks for reading Treasure State Update. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.