Montana Highlights

Jodie Cross has purchased the Montana Trolley Company, in Kalispell, from Scott Davie. The business will be mostly run by Cross’ daughters Tamina and Kaylee. The business has been operating in the Flathead Valley for 13 years.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced that Montana State University will be home to a newly established Community Engagement Office for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The office will support workforce development in the state and region, especially in the advanced manufacturing and computing sectors. The office will provide inventors and entrepreneurs a direct connection to federal intellectual property resources and guidance tailored to Montana’s technology ecosystem. 

A panel of Montana state medical board members has voted unanimously to revoke the medical license of Dr. Thomas Weiner. Weiner was a the former Helena cancer doctor who has been accused of prescribing unnecessary treatments and harming patients.  The ruling prohibited him from practicing medicine in Montana ever again.

Intermountain Health Holy Rosary Hospital in Miles City has been recognized as high performing among the Best Hospitals for Maternity Care in America, The rankings were compiled by U.S. News & World Report in its annual rankings.

A logging and fuels reduction project near the mouth of Rock Creek has been approved by the Lolo National Forest. The  project has the stated goal of reducing wildfire risk in a high-priority area along the Clark Fork River.

Glacier Park hosted 2.95 million visitors between January and September of this year. Officials said they expect the final total to be around the park’s record high. The current record, which was set in 2017, is 3.3 million annual visitors. Driving the surge in visitation is a shift toward more shoulder-season recreationalists. May visitation has increased 26% since 2021, and visitation during September and October has also been on the rise. Next summer, visitors will likely be able to enter the park at any time without securing a vehicle reservation beforehand. The shift is part of a program that officials said are intended to address two of the park’s most persistent issues: overcrowding at Logan Pass and an ineffective shuttle system. They also plan to enforce a three-hour parking limit on all personal vehicles at Logan Pass.

All of the financial and physical assets of the Dawson County Economic Development Council were divided among seven local organizations after i...

BHE Montana energized its Glacier Battery System, a $100 million advanced energy storage facility in Cut Bank, Mont.

The Glacier Battery System has a capacity of 75 megawatts for two hours, which is enough electricity to power approximately 60,000 homes for two hours.

“The energization of the Glacier Battery System marks a significant milestone in our commitment to delivering reliable en...

By Evelyn Pyburn

Last week, Yellowstone County officials announced the measures that county voters will be asked to approve on the November ballot to build an addition to the Yellowstone County Detention Facility (YCDF), to alleviate overcrowding. The “ask” isn’t as much as earlier estimates suggested because the State has announced that they are going to expand the State facility in Deer L...

By Evelyn Pyburn

The line of demarcation has slid into the purposeful confusion of political gamesmanship.

Now that the filing deadline has closed and all the candidates for this election are known, please, let’s make this election about IDEAS, not parties.

Given the fact that some people are (understandably) disillusioned about what their party has come to stand for—the division line...

Montana is one of the last states with a single area code and the Montana Public Service Commission hopes to keep it that way, recognizing how popular the 406 area code has become in the state’s identity.

Recently, the Public Service Commission voted unanimously to take a step to try to make sure one area code will work for a lot longer. They sent a letter to Qwest Corporation, a telecommun...

Jodie Cross has purchased the Montana Trolley Company, in Kalispell, from Scott Davie. The business will be mostly run by Cross’ daughters Tamina and Kaylee. The business has been operating in the Flathead Valley for 13 years.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced that Montana State University will be home to a newly established Community Engagement Office for the U.S. Patent and Tr...

Stockman Bank Gets 5-Star Rating – Again

Stockman Bank is starting 2026 with another 5-Star Superior rating from BauerFinancial, the Nation’s Premier Bank Rating Firm. A 5-Star Superior rating indicates that Stockman Bank is one of the strongest banks in the nation, excelling in areas of capital, loan quality, stability and more. Th...