COVID-19

The Montana Governor’s office issued a directive today relaxing in-person learning requirements for all students facing the beginning of the school year amid coronavirus concern.

Governor Steve Bullock’s directive expands the option of remote learning to students who live outside the districts where they attend school.

It waives the law that requires those students to attend classes in-person and enables remote learning for children who live in the same county as the school district or in a neighboring school district.

A barber, a restaurant owner and a hot tub store president: Those were among the small business owners in Bozeman who shared stories with state and federal officials this week as Congress debates the next round of economic aid during the pandemic.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) met with nearly a dozen business owners across the state to get feedback on how past relief packages worked out.

In downtown Bozeman, masked servers take orders at Backcountry Burger Bar for carrot quinoa salads and burgers with sriracha aioli.

Officials in Montana’s second-most populated county support holding an all-mail ballot general election in November.

Missoula County Elections Administrator Bradley Seaman says voting by mail is the logical choice amid a worsening coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve worked closely with the Board of County Commissioners and think having an all-mail election would be a beneficial way to help ensure great voter turnout, help provide the best services we can while keeping everybody safe," Seaman said.

Over 100 people connected to a construction site at Spanish Peaks Mountain Club in Big Sky tested positive for COVID-19 in July.

According to the County Health Officer Matt Kelley, CrossHarbor Capital, the owner of the Yellowstone Club and a parent company of Spanish Peaks Mountain Club and Moonlight Basin, hired a private company called Matrix Medical to do surveillance testing, follow-up with people who tested positive and perform contact tracing.

Two people who work at Yellowstone National Park and three visitors recently tested positive for COVID-19.

Yellowstone officials said on July 28 two concession employees have been in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. These are the first confirmed cases out of the nearly 2,000 people who have worked in the park over the past two months.