NorthWestern Energy Dam Buyback

Northwestern Energy announced last fall it wants to purchase eleven hydroelectric dams from PPL Montana.
      It's now in the process of proving to regulators that the $900-million-dollar deal is in the best interest of consumers.
     Northwestern is the state's largest electricity provider.

C.E.O Bob Rowe was in Missoula today and stopped by Montana Public Radio's studio to talk with Edward O'Brien about the deal.

6/10/14: This week on "Home Ground Radio:" As a child, music got hold of you. As a young man, you wrote songs, began to perform, and started to enjoy success as a working musician. But on tour, at night you'd feel sky-high, imagining wild things. The next morning, you'd plunge into deep despair.  What was happening to you?  Meet singer/songwriter Jason DeShaw.

6/3/14: This week on "Home Ground:" For decades, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition has fought to protect grizzly bears. With numbers rebounding dramatically in and around Yellowstone Park, can the G.Y.C. shift gears and work cooperatively with the public agencies and private landowners it once fought?

5/27/14: This week on "Home Ground:" The family photos on the wall are an American account of slavery, Indians, westward migration, hard luck and hard work. The fascinating story of Les Purce's family.

5/20/14: This week on "Home Ground:" Evergreen State College was founded to offer integrated, flexible and reasonably-priced education. Its academic approach is unorthodox; instead of following pre-programmed curricula, students design their own programs of studies. Outgoing president Les Purce answers the question: in an age of specialization, how is Evergreen doing?

5/13/14: This week on "Home Ground:" Merriam Webster's dictionary defines "poem" as "a composition in verse, especially a highly developed, imaginative one." Poetry enjoys great popularity in some cultures, but not in the U.S. Does this matter? Can something be done about it? Tami Haaland, raised on a farm on the Hi-Line, thinks it does and it can. She's Montana's poet laureate.

4/29/14: This week on "Home Ground:" The trail of a murder case in rural Montana is four years old when arrests are finally made, and prosecution will be difficult. The professionals at the Montana Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Investigations can help a young county attorney make the case.

4/22/14: This week on "Homeground:" Nearly all of us are grateful for our Constitutional rights, but most of us would have trouble naming exactly what they are. And what happens when individual and public rights seem to contradict one another? Montana Supreme Court Justice Beth Baker’s job is to know those rights, and, when they come into conflict, to make the call.

4/15/14: This week on "Homeground Radio:" Nearly one-third of American kids fail to graduate from high school, and many end up in dead-end jobs or in prison. “Alternative" high schools offer an answer. One,  Helena College's Access to Success program, turns lives around. Really.

4/1/14: This week on "Homeground Radio:" Suppose we had a tool that could predict people's future problems: alcoholism, depression, diabetes, heart disease. In fact, we may have that tool. It's the Adverse Childhood Experiences test, or A.C.E. So now, what do we do with it? Dr.

3/25/14: This week on "Home Ground:" Last year, Robert Bonnie was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Department of Agriculture's Under Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment. The job matters; Bonnie oversees the U.S. Forest Service. Hear what this Kentucky farm boy has to say on climate change, forest fires, and on finding common ground.

3/18/14: This week on "Home Ground Radio:" As the changes in knowledge, technology, and economic systems accelerate, does higher education still matter? Can it help us all? University of Montana president Royce Engstrom says "yes." 

For 200,000 years, humans have lived intimately with wild animals. We have been captivated by their beauty, intelligence and power. The technology of the last two hundred years - 1,000th of our time on earth - has separated us.  Does it matter? Sculptor and naturalist George Bumann thinks so.

3/4/14: This week on "Home Ground Radio:"  Helena College - University of Montana. 

When we think of “higher education”, we tend to overlook two-year colleges, which offer important technical training as well as a path to personal confidence and accomplishment.