Chef Andy Blanton has been selected to lead Flathead Valley Community College’s Culinary Institute. Blanton was the owner and executive chef at Cafe Kandahar on Big Mountain for many years. He left the restaurant business in June 2023. He will direct FVCC’s culinary program after the retirement of Chef Howard Karp. Karp assumed the executive chef role in 2012. 

The Boys & Girls Club of Carbon County recently held a colorful carnival in Red Lodge to celebrate its 30th year. The Club’s development got started in 1993 when the Beartooth Front Forum organization was formed on the belief that when a community works together positive things happen. A committee recognized the need for a structured activities program and a place for kids to go to be safe, meet friends, and grow A year later and both the Boys & Girls Club of Red Lodge and the Beartooth Front were founded as a 501©(3) non-profits.

Sacred Waters Brewing Company, entered several of its beers in the 2024 World Beer Cup competition also known as the “Olympics of Beer”. The company won a bronze medal in the “best chili beer” for its Lil Salmon Fire. Sacred Waters is now planning to increase its capacity to brew by adding 30 barrels, allowing it to take on new markets in Northwest Montana.

A year after 10 Montana Rail link railcars plummeted into the Yellowstone near Reed Point, federal authorities have not released their findings on the cause of the crash. The accident sent close to 412,000 pounds of molten asphalt into the river. The Federal Railroad Administration stated  that the crash, which occurred on June 24, 2023, is still under investigation. A report Montana Rail Link provided to the FRA in the weeks after the accident says that a portion of its train derailed while crossing a bridge over the Yellowstone. Sixteen of the 35 rail cars derailed or were damaged in the incident

A recent meeting of the City of Miles City’s Finance Committee turned solemn as the reality set in that significant budget cuts are going to have to be made. The Committee needs to deal with a large deficit. According to preliminary budget information, the city is anticipating a shortfall of approximately $560,000  of a projected $6 million budget. 

The construction of a 74.5-megawatt solar energy generating facility west of Fairview –the Fairview I Solar Project has been announced. Other portions of the project components would include a 25-MW, four-hour battery storage initiative, overhead transmission line and internal access roads.”

Gov. Greg Gianforte attended the ribbon cutting of a sanitation business in Belgrade. Big Sky Decon, in the process of changing its name from Kart Kleen, began working with Belgrade manufacturer Kevin Meyer, owner of MMC Inc. A new product for the Missoula-based company was delivered –their first coolant decontamination unit a wheeled cart that filters and disinfects manufacturing machinery coolant.

A report from Headwaters Economics recently criticized overly cautious wildfire management strategies. The nonprofit research group argues that current approaches hinder communities’ ability to manage wildfires effectively, harming both natural environments and residents. The report points out that by balancing community protection, ecosystem health and maintaining resilient landscapes, communities can coexist more safely with wildfires while mitigating damage

At a Red Lodge City Council meeting, Bone Daddy, the iconic emblem of the Beartooth Rally, informed the city that he is stepping down after this year’s 30th anniversary for health reasons.

Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Area, the only strictly summer ski area in the nation, is being sold. For sale is spelled out in large red letters on the ski areas website over the top of a photo of the steep mountainside and its lift towers.

Merry Piglets is now opened in Bozeman.  Merry Piglets was the first restaurant concept that Joe and Denise Rice, founders of the Blue Collar Restaurant Group, began with back in 1989 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Since then the company has opened 13 restaurant locations with varying concepts, seven in Wyoming and six in Montana.

Each year, Flathead Lake cherry growers produce between 2 million and 3 million pounds of the cherries. The Flathead cherries are valuable because they usually come later in the season than the huge crops from Washington State. Customers will generally pay a premium for those fresh cherries into late July and August. The Flathead cherry crop in western Montana was almost completely wiped out by a hard freeze in January 2024.

Glacier Floral Design opened in downtown Columbia Falls recently. Glacier Floral Design is owned and operated by Alyx Wieringa and her family.

Birch cafe is a blend of fast-casual comfort food; homemade sandwiches, baked goods, chocolates, coffees, teas and smoothies alongside a retail section for local art and goods. Owner Stephanie Meyers’s opened the business recently in Bigfork. The space on the second story  has a new kitchen, and bar.

The Glasgow City Council voted recently to build a new skate park in Hoyt Park, where the new swimming pool is under construction.

Gov. Greg Gianforte sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton requesting federal assistance in response to the St. Mary siphon failure. “The failure of the siphons not only flooded and damaged property in the immediate area but also jeopardizes drinking water for 14,000 Montanans and irrigation for over 18,000 water users,” Gov. Gianforte wrote. “The loss of over 121,000 acres of irrigatable land will be disastrous for Montana’s farmers and ranchers as well as Montana’s economy.”

Montana Department of Labor & Industry (DLI)  announced the state secured a nearly $2 million investment to provide workforce retraining and support services for workers impacted by the closures of Pyramid Lumber in Seeley Lake and Roseburg Forest Products in Missoula.

 The City of Great Falls and Malmstrom AFB celebrated the opening of the Scheels Aim High Big Sky Aquatic and Recreation Center. The center features an 8 lane lap pool, recreation pool with water slide, lazy river, full court gym with basketball, volleyball and pickle ball, weight and cardio equipment, fitness rooms, party and programming spaces, and a lounge with fire place.

3 Rivers Communications recently installed equipment to provide free Wi-Fi service to outdoor community spaces in Choteau and Fairfield. 3 Rivers Communications is a rural telecommunications cooperative, originally founded in 1953, with corporate headquarters in Fairfield and offices in Big Sky and Conrad. 3 Rivers offers broadband Internet, telephone and digital voice services.

A Great Falls researcher at the Mclaughlin Research Institute has been awarded a more than $3.1 million grant to continue their study of Alzheimer’s disease. The McLaughlin Research Institute is a homegrown research center started by Dr. Tiffany Hensley-McBain which is considered among the finest. The grant is from the National Institutes of Health. Hensley-McBain who is an Assistant Professor at MRI and the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine-Montana.

Bob Quinn has opened the Quinn Institute in Big Sandy,  a new research facility dedicated to promoting more sustainable ways to farm, cook, and live and to network with other producers and processors dedicated to this vision. 

To make sure it’s done right, the Montana State University Extension’s Local Government Center will provide support to the 43 municipalities and 12 counties in Montana that are participating in the decennial local government review. The Center will provide training for study commissioners, including a July 24 online training, and guide municipalities and counties through the process.