Freddy Monares

A nonprofit organization made up of past and current U.S. Forest Service employees is suing the agency. The complaint filed by Forest Service Employees For Environmental Ethics accuses the federal agency of violating the Clean Water Act by dumping fire retardant into water bodies.

"I've heard so many different stories about how it got here and who's responsible, and I've never really heard the legitimate reason, and I thought that's a good question for you guys."

It’s a tight labor market, and restaurant workers are finding they have more bargaining power to get a raise or ask for better benefits. Businesses are offering more perks to employees who stay on the job.

A state housing task force has developed a list of 18 recommendations meant to boost affordable housing in Montana.

COVID-19 cases around the U.S. and in Montana are far below where they peaked earlier this year. However, the virus is still present and health care workers say they face harassment from patients and family members over restrictions meant to prevent spread of the illness.

The owner of Holland Lake Lodge in the Swan Valley is partnering with POWDR, a ski resort operator, and wants to add a new lodge, cabins, a restaurant and parking lots to accommodate more guests. Susan Monahan of the Seeley-Swan Pathfinder reports more than 100 people raised concerns about the project at an open house earlier this month.

For this episode of The Big Why, we’re talking about salmon. They can travel hundreds of miles from the Pacific Ocean up the Columbia River to spawning grounds in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, but did they ever make it to Montana? That’s what fly fisherman and Anaconda resident Rob Murray wants to know.

Missoula City Council member Jordan Hess has been appointed the city’s next mayor. Hess succeeds longtime mayor John Engen who died last month from pancreatic cancer.

Journalist JoVonne Wagner, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, spent the summer teaching high school students about how to cover stories that involve Native people. She joined MTPR’s Freddy Monares to share her experience watching others cover Indigenous communities, and her approach as she starts her career.

Montana’s smaller, more rural school districts are having a hard time finding and retaining teachers. About one-fifth of schools in the state have moved to four-day work weeks to recruit and retain educators.