Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/category/montana/page/44/)
RED LODGE—Main street merchants in this mountain town, already steamed over a seemingly endless state construction project in the heart of downtown, got more bad news Thursday meeting. At a community meeting called by Mayor Ed Williams, they were told that the Montana Department of Transportation, responding to complaints over how sidewalks were rebuilt, would like all “obstructions” removed from downtown sidewalks. (more…) Continue Reading →
A gray sky spits cold drizzle as a dozen protesters gather on a gritty road shoulder in north Bozeman. They take up signs—”COAL KILLS” one reads—and wave to passing traffic. But their attention is mostly on the railroad tracks a hundred feet away. (more…) Continue Reading →
How Republican Party Chair Jeff Essmann keeps a straight face arguing for his party’s right to keep Democrats from voting in a Republican primary, when he knows that Republican county officers have been getting themselves elected to Democratic Party offices, is beyond me. (more…) Continue Reading →
“A Post on the Prairie,” a new piece by Billings playwright Ryan Gage, was inspired by a setting and by Gage’s love of post-apocalyptic fiction. The play takes place around a campfire, just as Gage’s first one-act play did when he wrote it eight years ago. “Part of me always wanted to return to that,” he said, “but with something bigger.” (more…) Continue Reading →
Editor’s note: Montana’s newborn screening program depends on speed to save babies from a plethora of deadly disorders at birth. But the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services fought for 10 months to keep hospitals’ performance records hidden from public view, before finally agreeing to release the data with hospital names. The results are not good, highlighting the importance of transparency and accountability to ensure an effective newborn screening program for Montana families. (more…) Continue Reading →
In Montana and 26 other states around the country, newborn screening samples are not processed on the weekends, creating unnecessary delays that put little lives at big risk. The Montana Public Health Laboratory is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with limited hours on Saturdays. The lab is closed on Sundays. (more…) Continue Reading →
September is newborn screening awareness month. And one of the key components of Montana’s newborn screening program is the state courier system connected to the Montana Public Health Laboratory in Helena. Medical Logistic Solutions, with locations in Billings and Bozeman, has the state contract that includes the majority of healthcare facilities with birthing centers in Montana. Drivers pick up the newborn screening blood samples from healthcare facilities and provide same-day delivery to the lab for testing, with coverage in more than 50 Montana cities. (more…) Continue Reading →
Using data released by the Department of Public Health and Human Services, MTCIR reviewed thousands of records for dozens of healthcare facilities in Montana. After analyzing all the data to determine the on-time performance for each facility as it pertains to newborn blood samples, we mapped them out. (more…) Continue Reading →
The Montana Center for Investigative Reporting analyzed information on the timeliness of nearly 50,000 newborn screening samples to produce the first-ever look at delays in newborn screening from Montana’s hospitals. (more…) Continue Reading →
If you weren’t one of the 5,000 people thronging the grandstand at MetraPark in Billings on Sunday, take my advice: you’ll want to be there next year for the finale of the All Nations Indian Relay Championships. It’s a spectacle like no other, with all the crazy bravado of a Mountain Dew-fueled extreme sport, complete with frenetic announcers, blaring rock music, a giant instant-replay screen and screaming fans. (more…) Continue Reading →
