The end (of 406) is near.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

"It demonstrates that HB 413 has had a chilling effect on constitutionally protected activities and that it impermissibly interferes with students’ right to vote." — Judge Jason Marks of Missoula County, saying that a bill championed by Montana state Rep. Jane Gillette likely violates college and university students’ right to vote.

A Missoula County district court judge has ruled that a law passed by the 2025 Legislature that could have — among others — college students have to choose if they wanted to hedge on the truth in order to vote has been temporarily enjoined, pending the resolution of the court case. The legislation, which was signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte, said students are temporary and couldn’t vote unless the location was going to be a permanent home. But, many students because of residency requirements weren’t allowed to vote back home, either, leaving them eligible but not able to vote — a problem of constitutional proportion.

The Montana Supreme Court has reversed Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen in a split (5-to-2) opinion that his decision to invalidate a constitutional ballot measure was illegal because the provisions and wording of a bill meant to ensure the initiative and referendum process in the Treasure State violated a single-subject rule. The majority of the court said the provisions outlined in the proposed measure were all part of a single subject, and ordered Knudsen to prepare the statement within five days.

American Prairie, a large conservation and open spaces group, announces that it is adding more than 2,000 acres of Phillips County to its holdings, which include prime wetlands used by migratory birds, leading to one expert calling it the “duck factory of America.”

Correction: In a news item yesterday in this section that announced Rep. Ryan Zinke’s planned retirement from Congress, we said that the Cook Political Report had shifted the outlook for the race. That was incorrect. As of Tuesday, the report still had the race as “likely Republican” — a status that has remained unchanged since Feb. 6

The Pentagon has released the names and some of the details surrounding the deaths of four American soldiers who were killed in a counterstrike by Iran. All four members were affiliated with a National Guard group from Iowa.

Speaking of Iran, Republicans in Congress said that they didn’t believe they needed to curb or curtail President Donald J. Trump’s actions in Iran, voting against a war powers resolution, although some expressed concern about sending troops there.

Even Republicans in the United States Senate are fed up with Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, who was in charge of the response to immigration in Minneapolis. Senators on both sides of the aisle lambasted her, as she continued to hold her ground, unwilling to admit mistakes or missteps.

President Trump told reporters on Tuesday that his late-night, weekend attack on Iran may have forced Israel’s hand in the conflict that has led to uncertainty in the Middle East as well as tension with America’s traditional allies.

By Tuesday, gas prices had started to spike, rising on news of Iran cutting off petroleum shipments in the Strait of Hormuz. Across America, the price at the pump rose an average of 11 cents, and represented the single largest jump in prices in four years.

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

The Smithsonian magazine reports that animal sounds sometimes stump scientists. One of the enduring mysteries was: How do horses whinny? That’s a distinct sound that blends a high-pitched near screech with a lower bass chuffing. And this is precisely what happens when you ask an English major to describe a technical or scientific principle, but researchers have finally pieced together how the common equestrian sound is produced.

As we’ve previously lamented, the slashing of The Washington Post, according to some reports, may have lost as many as 40% of its staff, including wide swaths of local, feature and sports sections. However, The Wall Street Journal offered a much different take, saying that owner Jeff Bezos has reported the paper has lost more than $100 million in the past year, and those sorts of losses were not sustainable.

Meanwhile, our colleagues at the North Dakota Monitor report that a judge there has issued his judgment that holds Greenpeace responsible for more than $300 million in damages due to the protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline. That would result in a huge loss to the international organization, but it doesn’t necessarily represent the final decision, which could be modified or appealed to the state’s Supreme Court.

Geologist and columnist Karin Kirk writes that for all of its talk about transparency, especially about power-hungry data centers, NorthWestern Energy talks a good game about keeping ratepayers in the loop, but the blacked-out portions of their dealings with Montana’s largest energy provider look more like they belong in the Epstein files than an exercise in trust and transparency.

A friend named John wrote me to say that our recent talk of “earworms” — the phenomena of not being able to get a song out of your head — was both solved and re-created recently by “The Hook.”

He was able to get rid of the sentimental and always great writing of The Kinks’ “Celluloid Heroes,” which is a nostalgic look at our heroes, and replaced it with the recently-featured “Rock The Casbah,” by The Clash. You can decide if that’s a fair trade.

One of the things that I still admire about The Kinks is that even though they may have never quite achieved bigger stardom than they had when they first hit the American radio airwaves in the mid-1960s, they continued to keep evolving and changing. Growing up in the 1980s, I loved “Come Dancing,” even though it was “All Day and All of The Night.” There are not many bands who could outlive their own shadow. Heck, even The Beatles struggled with not being the same band, and having their base still accept new music. Still, there were a small handful of British bands especially who were able to have amazing staying power and relevancy even after their first few albums, including The Rolling Stones and The Who.

What other groups were able to do that? It’s one thing to be like Bob Dylan, who periodically reimagines himself, even at the cost of alienating some fans. But it seems like a rarer thing to have a group evolve and change together.

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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