Lawmakers in Helena are starting to debate whether the state could borrow up to $500 million to buy the coal-fired power plant in Colstrip. 

The future of the plant is up in the air. The West Coast consumers who Colstrip sends most of its power to are pushing away from coal-powered electricity due to climate change concerns. Coal power is also becoming more expensive relative to electricity generated by natural gas and renewables.

On Saturday, as Women’s Marches happened across the country, about 500 people turned out for an un-affiliated demonstration in Missoula: A vigil for missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

One of my favorite places to look in the forest is up. I love the way trees frame patches of sky, and how rays of sun slide over the branches and slant into pockets of darkness. On a recent stroll through the woods near Echo lake, I found myself, as usual, looking up. I saw mostly fir and birch trees, and I took their narrow trunks and modest heights as signs of a young forest. But it was a much older tree that caught my eye.

"Food Guy" Jon Jackson loves a good French pear tart. "I once went to Paris once specifically to get some pear tarts, and you know, the people there were anxious for me to have them." Jon asks Other "Food Guy" Greg Patent: is it worth trying to substitute pears for apples in tarte tatin, the Hotel Tatin's signature caramelized upside-down apple tart recipe?

Federal legislation introduced this week by Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester and Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan would require the Veterans Administration to study medicinal cannabis as an alternative treatment for veterans.

The "VA Medicinal Cannabis Research Act" Directs the VA to begin clinical trials to test the effects of medical marijuana as a treatment for chronic pain and symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress.