The top Medicaid official in Montana’s state health department has submitted his resignation and will be taking a job in the private sector, an agency spokesperson said Thursday afternoon. Mike Randol will leave the role of state Medicaid director almost two years after taking the position under the prior...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized rules to reduce pollution associated with the combustion of fossil fuels for electricity. The new rules are anticipated to have major implications for Montana coal mines and the power plants they supply, including the state’s largest electricity generator located in Colstrip. The...

Growing populations and tourism in western Montana are straining aging roads, leaving state and local governments to fix problems or make improvements with limited funding, according to transportation officials. While development-driven infrastructure upgrades are nothing new, the Montana Department of Transportation is trying to keep afloat amid “explosive” growth around...

Recent months have seen a rash of headlines across Montana regarding multimillion-dollar budget shortfalls in many of the state’s largest public school districts. The specter of cuts to staff and resources for students looms large, and local officials are leveraging the harsh financial outlook in their appeals for additional taxpayer support as voters begin casting ballots in the May 7 school elections.

The United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area has received a $500,000 anonymous donation for the nonprofit’s Helena Inn housing project. The nonprofit on Wednesday announced the donation toward the purchase and renovation of the Helena Inn, 2300 N. Oakes St., to create permanent supportive housing units. Jeff...

Montanans are increasingly reporting that their quality of life is declining, according to a recent University of Montana poll. Sixty-two percent of Montanans contacted by pollsters say their quality of life has gotten worse over the past five years. That’s a seven-point increase compared to 2022 when the Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative last put that question to likely Montana voters.

Lawmakers on Tuesday grilled officials from the Montana Department of Corrections following a recent legislative audit that identified a myriad of shortcomings in the department’s educational and work training programs at state prisons. The audit, conducted through surveys at four facilities between 2020 and 2022, identified low participation in...

KALISPELL — On a cold February morning at the Flathead Warming Center, Tashya Evans waited for help with her Medicaid application as others at the shelter got ready for the day. Evans said she lost Medicaid coverage in September because she hadn’t received paperwork after moving from Great Falls....

This story is adapted from the MT Lowdown, a weekly newsletter digest containing original reporting and analysis published every Friday. The federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement has indicated it will reject a law the 2023 Montana Legislature passed to loosen water quality laws that govern coal mining.

Mexican restaurants — or at least restaurants with some Mexican dishes on the menu — are all over Big Sky Country. Much like Americanized versions of Italian classics such as pizza and pasta have found their way onto our dinner tables, so too have tacos, burritos, nachos and enchiladas come to dominate many American diets.

Five days a week, a short train rolls out of the rail yard in Whitefish with empty freight cars destined for the Flathead Valley’s three surviving wood products mills in Columbia Falls and Evergreen. At one time, short trains like this could be found all over western Montana, serving mills in places like Libby, St. Regis, Darby and Pablo. But today, this is one of the few “local” freights left in the region.

The MT Lowdown is a weekly digest that showcases a more personal side of Montana Free Press’ high-quality reporting while keeping you up to speed on the biggest news impacting Montanans. Want to see the MT Lowdown in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. In Montana, there aren’t...

A veto override effort on a much-debated marijuana revenue bill that initially passed the Montana Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support last year has failed, according to poll results released Friday afternoon. The override poll, conducted by a mail ballot by the Montana secretary of state’s office over the last month,...

Students at Capital High School in Helena had their schedule interrupted by a moose Friday morning after it wandered onto the campus, resulting in a shelter-in-place order as school and city officials responded. Around 9 a.m., the school’s principal, Brett Zanto, alerted students that a moose, which had been sighted...

This story is adapted from Capitolized, a weekly newsletter featuring expert reporting, analysis and insight from the reporters and editors of Montana Free Press. Want to see Capitolized in your inbox every Thursday? Sign up here. Candidates for federal office in Montana have reported their fundraising numbers for the first...

A state court in Helena on Thursday partially barred the Montana Office of Public Instruction and its elected leader, Superintendent Elsie Arntzen, from requiring a new wave of public charter schools to comply with school opening laws that were in effect prior to the 2023 legislative session. The injunction, issued...

Get an insider’s look into what’s happening in and around the halls of power with expert reporting, analysis and insight from the editors and reporters of Montana Free Press. Sign up to get the free Capitolized newsletter delivered to your inbox every Thursday. April 18, 2024. Candidates for...

The Bureau of Land Management on Thursday adopted a long-awaited rule that aims to put conservation initiatives “on equal footing” with oil and gas leasing, grazing and other commercial uses of federal land. The rule “combines our ongoing work with a vision for conservation to help us manage...

Republican lawmakers on Thursday convened a hearing to discuss the constitutional abortion rights initiative that could appear on the November ballot, despite an April court order finding that the Legislature’s consideration would have no bearing on CI-128’s signature-gathering campaign. The hearing before the Law and Justice Interim Committee...

Two transgender women with Montana ties are challenging the state’s near-total ban on residents updating their birth certificates and driver’s licenses to reflect their gender identity. The lawsuit marks the second challenge to the state’s birth certificate policy since 2021. The lawsuit, filed in Lewis and Clark...