Montana voters handed their local school districts a mixed bag of results in this week’s school levy elections. A new wildfire burning in steep and rocky terrain in the Bitterroot Valley isn't threatening people or structures. For the second time in as many months, Montana Technological University in Butte has announced a new chancellor.

It's week 13 for the 69th Legislature. Proposals to regulate the judiciary are seeing limited success. And a public utility is seeking legislative protection during wildfire season. This is The Session, a look at the policy and politics inside the Montana statehouse.

More than half a million acres in southwest Montana have been impacted by conifer expansion. It used to be that fires would come through these landscapes and burn back the trees, but that natural cycle isn’t happening anymore. Now, more trees are encroaching into traditional sagebrush habitat, and that has impacts on our water supply.

Montana's largest utility company wants less liability if its equipment, like power lines, starts a wildfire. The State Legislature is considering a bill to protect utilities from those costs.

As summer heats up in Montana, so does wildfire season. This raises the question, does winter snowpack really correlate to the severity of the wildfire season? And what does a 'normal' fire season mean?