Daily News Roundup
March 5 and 6, 2024
Judge Says Gianforte ‘Advocates For a Troubling Precedent’
By: Blair Miller and Keila Szpaller for the Daily Montanan The Montana Legislature needs an opportunity — “without further delay” — to override Governor Greg Gianforte’s veto of a 2023 bill that redistributed marijuana funds, a judge said Tuesday in response to the governor’s request to stop the court’s earlier order.
U.S. House Passes $468 Billion Spending Package That Would Stave Off Shutdown
By: Jennifer Shutt for States Newsroom WASHINGTON — U.S. House lawmakers cast a broadly bipartisan vote Wednesday to approve a six-bill government funding package, marking one of the few consequential votes on major legislation that chamber has taken since Republicans took the majority more than a year ago.
Republicans Shoot Down Interim Proposal to Write Comprehensive Childcare Bill Package
By Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan After hearing for months about widespread issues facing Montana parents and businesses surrounding childcare, and listening to presentations about what other states have been doing successfully to solve their issues, Republicans on the Economic Affairs Interim Committee on Tuesday shot down a proposal to craft a package of bills that would have tried to mirror some of those other states’ policies.
Garland, Tribal Officials Meet to Discuss Crime, Drugs and Missing People in Indian Country
By: Darrell Ehrlick for the Daily Montanan On the day that the U.S. Departments of Justice and Interior released their response to violence and missing persons in Indian Country, the Attorney General of the United States visited the Crow reservation and met with law enforcement officials in Billings to announce more resources for tribal justice as well as to talk about drug trafficking.
Carbon County Law Enforcement Blotter
TOTAL CALLS FOR SERVICE = 216 MEDICALS = 20 ACTIVE ALARMS = 5 TRAFFIC COMPLAINT = 3 CRASH = 5 FISH, WILDLIFE & PARKS ISSUES = 5 ARRESTS = 3 INCARCERATIONS = 1 WARNINGS = 54 CITATIONS = 7 February 26 Deputies kept coming across tree branches that were in the middle of roads after the heavy wind storm that occurred overnight.
Glacier National Park announces $1.9M for ecosystem restoration, climate resilience projects
By: Daily Montanan Staff Glacier National Park will receive more than $1.9 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to continue work on advancing bison reintroduction; inventory cultural resources impacted by climate change; and protect and restore whitebark pine, the park announced this week in a news release.
School Leaders Attribute Budget Crises to Pandemic Funding Cliff, State Funding Frustrations
by Alex Sakariassen for Montana Free Press A wave of major budget cuts is hitting public schools across the state — a situation officials from four of Montana’s largest districts attribute to declining enrollment, inflexibilities in the state’s school funding formula, and a funding cliff facing schools as pandemic-era federal relief money runs out.
Montana Proponents for Public Access, Landowners, Await Implications of Wyoming Lawsuit
by Amanda Eggert for Montana Free Press When four hunters used a specially constructed ladder to step from one corner of public land in southern Wyoming to another, the ripples from that decision were initially small but have since ignited an impassioned debate that could open — or unequivocally restrict — access to more than eight million acres of public land across the West. In a three-part series, Montana Free Press will explore “corner-crossing” and what it might mean for public access in Montana. This is the first installment of that series.