Nick Mott

Republican Steve Daines clinched a second term in the U.S. Senate yesterday, defeating Democratic Governor Steve Bullock.

Two conservation groups Friday sued the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over a proposed logging project in the Lolo National Forest on land wildlife managers say is important for grizzly bear connectivity.

Montana’s mask mandate was put into effect for the health of everybody in the state, collectively. But those mask protests are all about the rights of solitary citizens. Beneath the surface of this conflict, there are competing ideas about the role of the individual in society as a whole. That tension plays out in Montana politics in all kinds of ways. When we vote for candidates this fall, we’re also casting our ballots for particular ideas about how government should impact peoples’ lives.

This is Shared State episode eight: “To Secure The Blessings Of Liberty.” How do we weigh the individual and the collective when we talk about freedom, choice and rights?

A citizen committee appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock finalized a report on how the state should manage grizzly bears last week. They envisioned a future with fully recovered populations of grizzlies in Montana, but could not agree on what that future looks like, in particular when it comes to hunting.

The state started new work this week to prevent toxic metals in century-old mine waste from seeping into the Upper Clark Fork River. 

On a warm August morning, representatives of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the state’s Natural Resource Damage Program, and the nonprofit Clark Fork Coalition and I set out on a bright green raft for a float just south of Deer Lodge.

The Missoula City Attorney’s Office announced it is pressing charges against a man that allegedly detained a Black Lives Matter protester at a rally outside the county courthouse in early June.

This week, a group of 18 Montanans appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock is meeting to finalize its recommendations on how the state should manage grizzly bears.

A rally in Missoula Sunday drew hundreds to decry the presence of armed vigilantes at racial justice demonstrations. The gathering was spurred after one person was allegedly harassed and attacked by a group of armed individuals during a protest held at the county courthouse over a week ago.