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By Micah Drew, Jordan Hansen and Keila Szpaller

"I hope you four realize how ridiculous you look spouting these preposterous canned answers in a forum in which you were supposed to tell the truth and demonstrate the judicial capacity to make independent factual decisions in hard cases. If you can’t sit here and say Joe Biden won that election or the Capitol was attacked, what’s left?" — U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, questioning federal judicial nominees, including Katie Lane of Montana, who eventually acknowledged Biden’s win.

Two scientists with a federal infectious disease research institute in Hamilton are accused of smuggling samples of monkeypox, or “Mpox,” into the United States and lying to law enforcement. 

Vincent Munster, chief of the Virus Ecology unit in the Laboratory of Virology at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, and his research fellow Claude Kwe face maximum sentences of five years in prison for allegedly failing to properly document samples of the infectious disease brought to the U.S., and for lying to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol about possessing biological samples. 

According to the criminal complaint, filed in the federal Eastern District of Michigan, Munster, a citizen of the Netherlands, and Kwe, a Cameroonian citizen, arrived in the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Jan. 25, returning from the Republic of Congo, where there is an ongoing outbreak of Mpox. 

As Mayor Emily Dean said on Thursday, democracy is messy sometimes. But it also means something that we can have these discussions, these public arguments, and this whole thing has heartened me a little bit.

I’m proud to live in a community where my fellow citizens feel they can speak their truth to power — it’s how I view much of my job, and I respect it when I see it.

Civic engagement is important, and I don’t think this will be the last time immigration is discussed by the Helena City Commission.

~ Jordan Hansen

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced a full moon hike coming up at First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park on April 1.

Park visitors can enjoy the sunset followed by the rise of the full “Pink” moon while learning about the fascinating history of the park from ranger Andy Keller on the guided three-mile hike, a news release said.

The hike will begin at 7 p.m. and will last about two hours to cover the moderately strenuous three-mile route along the cliffs in the park. A $4 fee applies, and advance registration is required. Park bathrooms will be open, but the museum and gift shop will be closed during the event.

For more information or to register call (406) 866-2217 or email [email protected].

The park is located 3.5 miles north of Ulm just off Interstate 15 at exit 270. To learn more about the park visit fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/first-peoples-buffalo-jump

Looks like fun. Send us pics if you go, [email protected].

~ Keila Szpaller

The Montana Legislature meets for 90ish days every other year, and it’s made up of “citizen legislators,” meaning people with day jobs, or not full time politicians.

As you might imagine, there’s some lawyers, teachers and ranchers.

One of those legislators is a farmer who has fielded a lot of calls lately on the legislative side of his responsibilities.

Rep. Jerry Schillinger, R-Circle, is head of the Legislative Audit Committee, and he’s had his hands full with questions people have had about the Secretary of State’s Office and spending.

I think Rep. Schillinger was pleased Friday to be doing something unrelated to committee work. He sent the video below of the first planting of spring wheat in 2026.

“Get ‘er goin’ and pray the good Lord blesses us with a prosperous year,” he says in the clip.

~ Keila Szpaller

Have you seen “Project Hail Mary” yet? It’s a good one. I saw it with a friend who thought it could have used a 20 minute trim, and I agree. Sometimes less is more, but it’s enjoyable all the same. Just get ready to sit tight for a spell.

It’s not really my genre, but sometimes you dip a toe and walk away pleasantly surprised. I’m coming to understand one important thing about sci-fi is the way you can see your values more clearly when they are reframed.

I’m mulling a read by Ursula K. Le Guin, a pioneer in sci-fi, because I read this collection of interviews with her, “The Last Interview and Other Conversations,” and appreciated a lot of the things she had to say, both about the world and about writing.

About writing, here’s a quote I’ve shared with my colleagues at the Daily Montanan:

“Perfectionists cannot get going unless they kind of do violence to their own instincts and just blast ahead.”

Blast!

About the world, from a Mother Jones interview with her in 1984:

“In her novels, the human scale is always kept intact; all other things are measured against it. No fantastic technology takes the place of a human hand or heart: ‘Community is the best we can hope for,’ Le Guin wrote in her essay ‘Science Fiction and Mrs. Brown,’ ‘and community for most people means touch: the touch of your hand against the other’s hand, the job done together, the sledge hauled together, the dance danced together, the child conceived together. We have only one body apiece, and two hands.’”

And then a fun fact from the same interview:

“The first story she submitted to the science-fiction market was bought by a woman editor — Cele Goldsmith Lalli, then with Fantastic and Amazing magazines, both fantasy/sci-fi monthlies. For that story, ‘April in Paris,’ Le Guin got $30, which she immediately spent on a pair of brown wool pants she had seen advertised in the New Yorker.”

Happy reading.

~ Keila Szpaller

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