Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/author/martin-kidston/page/5/)
Joined by Missoula teachers and students, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., announced legislation on Tuesday that would do away with standardized tests and give local school districts more control over the education and assessment of their students. Standing in the foyer of Sentinel High School, Tester said his new bill would replace federally mandated tests, required annually, with three standardized tests offered once in elementary, middle and high school. (more…) Continue Reading →
A presidential response condemning white nationalists and Neo-Nazis should not be this difficult to formulate, and the silence from Montana’s state and congressional leaders should not be this deep and profound. On Saturday, white supremacists marched down the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, waving Confederate flags and bearing Nazi symbols, where they were confronted by counter protesters understandably offended by the outward show of bigotry and hate. (more…) Continue Reading →
Montana Today added a third contributing news source to its team on Monday when we welcomed Jenn Rowell of The Electric in Great Falls to our daily e-news publication. Rowell, a former reporter with the Great Falls Tribune, was laid off by Gannet—the paper’s owner—last October. As I did after leaving the Missoulian, she would spend her nights, perhaps sleeplessly, considering her next move, which led her to launch The Electric. (more…) Continue Reading →
It was a close call for one family camped at Lake Alva this past weekend when a mature pine crashed down on the fifth-wheel trailer where a baby was sleeping, nearly splitting the vehicle in two. The incident was reported to the Missoula County Sheriff’s Department on Friday evening, shortly after a powerful storm pushed through the Seeley-Swan Valley. (more…) Continue Reading →
Missoula County commissioners on Thursday accused the Montana secretary of state of using artificial data to drive a personal legislative agenda and called the tone of several recent emails sent by the newly elected official as both “unprofessional” and “juvenile.” (more…) Continue Reading →
Social media lit up early Thursday morning with reports of two significant earthquakes that rattled Western Montana, the first striking at 12:30 a.m.
That was followed six minutes later by a second temblor and several lesser aftershocks. (more…) Continue Reading →
Gov. Steve Bullock on Monday welcomed governors from across the West to Montana for the annual Western Governors Association meeting, one that will cover everything from cyber security to childhood hunger. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is also slated to deliver a keynote address on Tuesday. Several outdoors groups have scheduled a simultaneous rally to encourage Zinke to protect public lands and national monuments. (more…) Continue Reading →
One week after President Donald Trump shunned the world’s leading scientists and pulled the United States from the global pact on climate change, more than 1,200 U.S. business leaders, governors, mayors and college presidents signed an open letter to the world. Despite the president’s decision, they wrote, America would continue to support climate action in hopes of meeting the goals of the Paris Accord, even “in the absence of leadership from Washington.” (more…) Continue Reading →
In a tense and often clumsy hearing in Helena on Monday, a handful of taxi companies tried to convince the Montana Public Service Commission to deny an operating permit for a national rideshare company looking to expand to the state. Members of the commission took nearly four hours of testimony from multiple parties regarding a request by Lyft Inc. to begin operating in Montana. The commission approved a similar application by Uber in late 2015, giving a reluctant nod to changing technology and the demands of the traveling public. (more…) Continue Reading →
When combat veteran Christine Bailey first discovered the lump in her breast, her first call was like that of any veteran. She dialed up to the VA Montana Health Care System, only to learn that it didn’t offer breast care for women. Bailey’s problems compounded when, under the CHOICE program, which allows veterans to seek care outside the VA, she was met with a tangle of red tape and lengthy delays in trying to get authorization to pursue mammograms and biopsies. (more…) Continue Reading →
