Austin Amestoy
Morning Edition Host and ReporterAustin graduated from the University of Montana’s journalism program in May 2022. He came to MTPR as an evening newscast intern that summer, and jumped at the chance to join full-time as the station’s morning voice in Fall 2022. He also hosts MTPR's podcast "The Big Why," where he joins other MTPR reporters in answering listener questions about Montana.
Austin grew up in Laurel, Montana, and loves covering all things state politics, policy and beyond. In his free time, Austin enjoys creative writing, watching and critiquing films, and long walks through Fort Missoula.
He is best reached by emailing austin.amestoy@umt.edu.
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Montana school counselors, teachers and students are suing the state over a law that changed sex education policies. The plaintiffs say the law has a “chilling” effect on discussion of human sexuality in schools.
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Montana’s frontier days were stuffed with gold, greed and political corruption — and all three played a part in drawing the state’s western boundary with Idaho. A listener wants to know how that squiggly line came to be. Find out now on The Big Why.
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A campaign for a constitutional abortion rights amendment in Montana may soon begin collecting signatures to put the measure before voters this fall. But that process has been pushed back by Republican officials challenging the initiative’s content and by legal rulings.
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More than 30 business leaders and government officials met in Missoula Friday to discuss ways to keep western Montana’s wood products industry afloat after two sawmills announced closures.
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Montana’s K-12 schools are making slow progress in their effort to recover from pandemic learning losses.
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Abortion-rights advocates have asked the Montana Supreme Court to force the secretary of state to allow signature gathering to begin on a ballot initiative. It’s part of a fast-moving legal back-and-forth ahead of a June deadline to collect signatures needed to certify the constitutional initiative for the ballot.
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A group of public education advocates sued the state’s leader of K-12 schools to prevent what they say is “an additional layer of red tape” to the opening of new public charter schools.
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Lawyers argued before the Montana Supreme Court Friday in a case that could determine the future of the proposed Black Butte Copper Mine in Central Montana.
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In this special episode of The Big Why, A New Angle host, Justin Angle, joins Austin Amestoy to answer two questions.
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More state officials are voicing frustration over what they say are misinterpretations of education laws from Montana’s leader of K-12 schools, Elsie Arntzen.