Elinor Smith
Reporter and evening news hostElinor graduated from the University of Montana School of Journalism in 2024, where she reported for the UM Legislative News Service and worked with The Montana Media Lab teaching high schoolers about reporting stories both for the radio and for podcasts.
She joined the MTPR team during the summer of 2024 as an intern. She now reports, creates social media content and hosts All Things Considered.
Elinor grew up in Boise, Idaho and enjoys spending her free time crocheting and writing short stories. She can be reached by email at elinor.smith@umontana.edu.
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The governor signed a bill last week that allocates $250 million to address overcrowding in Montana’s correctional facilities. -
Gov. Greg Gianforte Tuesday signed into law a bill banning production and sale of lab-grown meat in Montana. A fishing access site located along the upper Yellowstone River has been temporarily closed due to increased grizzly bear activity. -
Here's a list of major bills from Montana's 2025 legislative session signed into law or left behind in the Legislature. -
The Trump Administration has fired the workers who research on-duty deaths and long-term health of firefighters. Investigative journalist Mark Olalde wrote for ProPublica about the impact of these cuts ahead of fire season. He joins MTPR's Elinor Smith to explain. -
Federal budget cuts and economic uncertainty are raising questions about what this summer will look like in gateway communities, the towns surrounding national parks. A group of businesses in Yellowstone recently asked Montana’s congressional delegation for help. -
Three foreign men have been arrested in northern Montana for either illegal entry or reentry into the country. Border Patrol agents claimed those men held gang affiliations, but defense attorneys say there’s no proof of that and criminal cases against two of them men were dismissed.
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Milltown dam water right will be used to support fish, state, CSKT say; Lawmakers expand teacher incentive program; Bill aims to regulate the use of sexually explicit AI-generated images. -
The law requires health insurance companies to cover mental health and physical health at the same level. Montana PBS's Anna Rau looked into whether or not that's happening and how it affects Montanans. She sat down with MTPR's Elinor Smith to explain. -
The National Endowment for the Humanities is reportedly next up in a series of DOGE cuts to federal spending. The money funds programs across the state providing Montanans with access to education on history, literature, philosophy and more.
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The Trump Administration has made quick work dismantling aspects of the federal government it calls wasteful or inefficient. Caught up in those cuts is the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the federal government to take environmental impacts into consideration.
