Weekly News Roundup
Week ending March 31, 2024
Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary: How Two Crises Converged to Forge a Path to the Future
By Denise Rivette At about the time two sibling wolf pups were first exploring the rundown eastern Canadian menagerie where they were born, two older wolf hybrids (also siblings) in another country and a world away were going for a last grand adventure that would predicate habitat changes at their home in the well-run Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary that would make possible the eventual rescue of those Canadian pups. In turn, those pups would help fill the void that would soon be left by the deaths of the older wolves, Ginny and Dakota. But not before Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary faced an existential crisis of its own.
Your Doctor or Your Insurer? Little-Known Rules May Ease the Choice in Medicare Advantage
By Susan Jaffe for KFF Health News Bart Klion, 95, and his wife, Barbara, faced a tough choice in January: The upstate New York couple learned that this year they could keep either their private, Medicare Advantage insurance plan — or their doctors at Saratoga Hospital.
Weekly Health Numbers
By Denise Rivette Level of Respiratory Illness Activity Across the Country for Week Ended March 23, 2024 Information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Montana Respiratory Illness Statistics State information provided by Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS)
Coalition Sues Education Agency for ‘Interfering’ with Charter School Openings
by Alex Sakariassen for Montana Free Press The Montana Quality Education Coalition filed a lawsuit Thursday against state Superintendent Elsie Arntzen and the Office of Public Instruction related to an ongoing dispute over the agency’s implementation of a new public charter school law.
Montana Researchers Say Quick Wildfire Suppression Leads to Larger, More Intense Fires
By Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan Research published this week by scientists in Montana is the latest to show that century-old policies to suppress wildfires as quickly as possible is contributing to more severe and larger wildfires over time. The study, published Monday in the journal
Montana Supreme Court Rules Voter Restriction Laws Passed in 2021 Unconstitutional
By Darrell Ehrlick for the Daily Montanan The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday released a massive 125-page opinion that struck down permanently four voting laws passed by the 2021 Legislature, saying that they impermissibly got in the way of residents exercising their right to vote.
As AI Eye Exams Prove Their Worth, Lessons for Future Tech Emerge
Montana Independent News note: As The Economist predicts AI will make health care safer, cheaper and more accurate, and that telehealth chatbots may even be able to provide an empathetic patient experience, KFF Health reports AI is already making one aspect of healthcare more accessible.
Walmart, Amazon and Kroger Accused of Crisis Profiteering
By Marty Schladen for States Newsroom Looking for someone to blame for increased costs in the grocery aisle? You might not need to look any further than three retail giants, the Federal Trade Commission said in a report last week. The agency looked at supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic and determined that the three largest food retailers — Kroger, Walmart and Amazon — “accelerated and distorted the negative effects associated with supply chain disruption,” the agency said in a statement. It added that “consumers felt the negative effects of supply chain disruptions in the form of skyrocketing prices for groceries and product shortages for essentials, like toilet paper.”
Navigating Aging: The Burden of Getting Medical Care Can Exhaust Older Patients
By Judith Graham for KFF Health News Susanne Gilliam, 67, was walking down her driveway to get the mail in January when she slipped and fell on a patch of black ice. Pain shot through her left knee and ankle. After summoning her husband on her phone, with difficulty she made it back to the house.
Some Medicaid Providers Borrow or Go Into Debt Amid ‘Unwinding’ Payment Disruptions
By Katheryn Houghton for KFF Health News Jason George began noticing in September that Medicaid payments had stalled for some of his assisted living facility residents, people who need help with daily living. Guardian Group Montana, which owns three small facilities in rural Montana, relies on the government health insurance to cover its care of low-income residents. George, who manages the facilities, said residents’ Medicaid delays have lasted from a few weeks to more than six months and that at one point the total amounted to roughly $150,000.
Montana Infrastructure Spending Revisited
By Denise Rivette Last November I wrote and published the following article called Infrastructure Spending In Montana: Is It Enough? As America’s aging infrastructure once again takes center stage in public discourse, I revisited the article and thought it might interest you as well. Before writing that article, and since, I have tried to gain an understanding of the state of our state’s infrastructure. As you will see in the update included in the middle of the article, I am still searching for data and answers.
When Dogs Fly
by Johnathan Hettinger for Montana Free Press Earlier this month, SPCA International evacuated 70 shelter dogs from the Israeli-occupied West Bank to destinations in Wyoming, California and Washington. The unprecedented airlift was accomplished with the help of Livingston-based Maggie McGuane.
Knudsen Rewrites Abortion Initiative Ballot Statement; Proponents Ask Supreme Court to Reject It
By Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan The group behind a proposed constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion access in the Montana Constitution filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court on Tuesday morning asking it to overturn the attorney general’s newly rewritten ballot statement for the proposal.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Detection in Kansas, Texas Dairy Herds
Press Release from U.S. Department of Agriculture edited by Denise Rivette Yesterday, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that they and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as state veterinary and public health officials, are investigating an illness among primarily older dairy cows in Texas, Kansas, and New Mexico that is causing decreased lactation, low appetite, and other symptoms.
Carbon County First Responder Blotter
TOTAL CALLS FOR SERVICE = 268 CIVIL PROCESS = 5 WELFARE CHECK = 5 911 HANGUPS/MISDIALS/TELEMARKETERS = 22 MEDICALS = 14 PRISONER TRANSPORT TOTAL TIME = 1 HOURS ACTIVE ALARMS = 5 TRAFFIC COMPLAINT = 4 CRASH = 9 ARRESTS = 1 INCARCERATIONS = 2 WARNINGS = 72
The Many-Shaped Charms of Semolina Pasta
by Jon Bennion for Montana Free Press I have met very few people who don’t like pasta. As you read this column, you probably have boxes of at least three or four different pastas in your pantry to throw together a dinner in a pinch. And there are plenty of tasty boxed pasta recipes on notecards in your little recipe box, in the cookbooks on your shelf, and certainly online.
DOJ Imposes $9.9M Penalty for Montana Man Who Targeted Communities with Robocalls
By Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan A federal court in Montana last week imposed a nearly $10 million penalty against a Libby man who sent thousands of harassing and malicious spoofed robocalls that targeted people and communities in several states, specifically following tragedies that included people’s murders.
Tester’s Bozeman Office Vandalized in Pro-Palestine Protest
By Nicole Girten for the Daily Montanan U.S. Senator Jon Tester’s downtown Bozeman office was vandalized during the weekend with expletives and red and black spray paint reading, “Tester funds genocide.” Police were notified of the spray painted messages, and paint crossing out the U.S. Senate seal, on Saturday night, which were sprayed on the exterior of the office along West Main Street.
Missoula-area wood industry closures mean ripple effects for workers, tax base, forest management
by Katie Fairbanks for Montana Free Press The pending closures of Missoula County’s two largest wood products employers, announced separately this month, will have effects beyond the local economy, limiting options for landowners and other mills throughout the region and making forest management projects more expensive, according to local and industry officials.
Project Safe Neighborhoods: Resolution in Case of Billings Man Conducting Armed Patrols in School Zone
Press Release from U.S. Attorney’s Office edited by Denise Rivette U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana, Jesse Laslovich, announced today that a Billings man who alarmed neighbors and parents last year by patrolling his residential property across from an elementary school with a firearm admitted to a firearms crime today. The defendant, Gabriel Cowan Metcalf, 49, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm in a school zone, as charged in an indictment. Metcalf faces a maximum of five years in prison, a $100,000 fine and three years of supervised release.