Montanans becoming increasingly worried about access to public lands.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

"On Friday I was teaching the young children at the Montessori school and we were singing and dancing and getting ready for spooky season preparing fall activities to do the following week and on Saturday my own government was calling me a ‘domestic terrorist’ and I was in a federal detention center with bullet holes all over my body.” – Marimar Martinez, a resident of Chicago who was shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

United States citizens who were mistakenly rounded up or shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials testify before Congress. They begged for federal lawmakers to rein in ICE, while the White House said that it was the Democrats’ fault for not protecting the borders and then refusing to fund immigration enforcement.

For the fifth time, Congress takes up legislation that would curtail President Donald Trump’s war with Iran without more Congressional oversight. And like those other war powers resolution, this one fails, too.

As Republicans in Congress try to fund the Department of Homeland Security and immigration enforcement through a complicated budgeting process known as “reconciliation,” which would only need a simple majority of votes, Democrats are adding amendments and working to force the GOP members to make difficult decisions about rising prices and relief to Americans.

Three members of Congress have been ousted due to legal and ethical violations. That has not only made already-thin majorities in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate tighter, but it has caused renewed emphasis on the conduct of Congressmembers — and a secretive process used to investigate them.

Democrats in Congress are chiding the Trump administration for its lack of support for colleges and universities that cater to primarily minority students. Meanwhile, the Trump administration said it’s making the policy change to not favor any particular group over another.

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

For all of you who are big “Antiques Roadshow” fans, always dreaming about what could be buried in a basement or hidden in an attic, eat your heart out. Smithsonian magazine reports that one of the first popular movies — and that’s stretching the term — to implement a number of videographic tricks has been “rediscovered” in a trunk in Michigan. That’s where an 1897 copy of Georges Melies silver-nitrate film, “Gugusse and the Automaton,” was discovered. The film has been a sort of holy grail because it created quite a sensation for several reasons — the stop-motion camera magic as well as one of the first modern depictions of a robot. Now viewers can watch the 45-second film depict a scene from nearly 130 years ago.

The Washington Post reports that physicians are reporting some side-effects of the new weight-loss drugs that are either GLP-1 or drugs in that category. Doctors are now calling the condition “Ozempic personality,” but the technical term is “anhedonia” — which is the generalized state where people report a loss of joy from everyday activities ranging from reading to eating to sex.

Well, 2026 got another good one: Dave Mason, who was part of so much of rock-and-roll history, first with the legendary band Traffic and then in his own right, died on Sunday at his home in Nevada.

The British-born rocker was 79, and no cause of death was immediately available. His full obituary in The New York Times can be found here.

Mason wasn’t just a talented performer and guitarist, although his album credits read like a list of people found in the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame. Mason was a great songwriter as well. And that’s why we’re featuring him singing a version of his own composition, “Feelin’ Alright,” even though the song will be forever associated with fellow Englishman Joe Cocker. This particular version, recorded later in Mason’s life during the COVID-19 pandemic, features a number of celebrity appearances — likely returning the favor for all the work he did, largely without notice or toil.

It’s a testament to how well his songs resonated that many of them have been successes on the charts by multiple artists. In fact, his biggest commercial success, the song “We Just Disagree,” hit No. 12 in 1977, but several other artists — both on the rock-and-roll and the country charts — have made their names by performing his songs.

“The Hook” doesn’t usually opine on cosmological or theological issues, but wherever Dave Mason is right now, we hope he’s feelin’ alright.

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.