Featured Articles in Montana News

Hundreds celebrate grand opening of Combined State Labs building at Montana State 

Hundreds of people, including Montana State University faculty, staff, students and alumni, along with community members, legislators and industry professionals, gathered Friday to celebrate the completion of the Combined State Labs building. The tri-lab agricultural facility, located on the west side of South 19th Avenue, brings together MSU’s Montana Agricultural Experiment Station Wool Lab, the Montana Department of Livestock’s Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, the Montana Department of Agriculture’s Analytical Lab. Established at Read More…

Montana Auditor Prevents $1M in Fraud in Second Quarter

Montana State Auditor James Brown announced his Securities Division prevented more than $1 million in fraud-related losses for Montanans in the second quarter of 2026, bringing the year-to-date total to more than $2 million. Working in conjunction with financial industry partners, the Securities Division prevented $1.15 million in fraud-related losses for 10 Montanans between April Read More…

Knudsen Reports Rise in Meth, Cocaine Seizures; Fentanyl Seizures Decline

Cocaine and methamphetamine seizures in Montana increased sharply during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, while fentanyl seizures continued a downward trend, Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced. “Fentanyl and other dangerous drugs continue to threaten communities, and the battle against the cartels that are bringing them into our state Read More…

All in: Montana News

Montana’s Wilderness Study Areas in Dispute

Scrolling through the Instagram account managed by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, a conservative Republican from Bozeman, it’s clear he’s hewed a well-established groove in the firmament of Western outdoors pursuits. Populating the first-term senator’s social media feed are pictures of him on backpacking trips deep in the Beartooth Mountains; him bagging ungulates on sunbaked foothills Read More…

City of Bozeman lends $1.7M for sports complex

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The city of Bozeman will loan close to $1.7 million to the Bozeman Sports Park Foundation. The loan will be used to install artificial turf fields at the Bozeman Sports Park. The decision was made at Monday night’s city commission meeting. Construction on the park started last year. Total cost for the Read More…

Board of Public Education to review Johnson resignation

The Great Falls Public School Board accepted the resignation of former Great Falls High School teacher Levi Johnson during Monday night’s meeting. Johnson, who resigned in late January, is alleged to have had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student. The School Board voted unanimously to accept Johnson’s resignation in lieu of termination. The Read More…

Montana State University sets 10th spring enrollment record in a row

BOZEMAN – Montana State University announced its spring headcount this week: 15,496 students, a record, and one that marks 10 straight years of spring enrollment growth. This spring’s number is up almost 300 students compared to the same time last year, according to Tony Campeau, the university’s registrar. University leaders credited the growth chiefly to Read More…

State employee quits over ICE policy

A Montana Department of Labor employee announced on Wednesday that he was quitting in protest of officials who “hunt down” undocumented workers. In a series of tweets, Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts said he put in his notice at the department because he’d been asked to help prepare information for ICE officials to use in finding undocumented workers. Read More…

Playground of the rich and famous: Exclusive Montana club where Tom Brady, Bill Gates and Justin Timberlake relax – and members must OWN a home, pay $400,000 to join and hand over $41,500 a year in dues

In the summer before this year’s football season, on a warm and sunny July day, Tom Brady reclined on a massage table in an airy room furnished with dark wood and stone, a chandelier made of antlers hanging from the ceiling and the lush Montana countryside visible through the windows. His Patriots teammates were hanging Read More…

USS Montana submarine coming together

In a shipyard in Newport News, Va., 10,000 shipbuilders are assembling the millions of pieces that will become the USS Montana. The components come from every state, but it’s the items from Montana that will add some personality to submarine, which is 40 percent complete. The USS Montana SSN-794 will carry a Montana flag that Read More…

DeVos OKs Montana’s ESSA education plan

HELENA — U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has approved Montana’s plan for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which requires states to develop education strategies which show how federal requirements will be met. “I congratulate you on this very significant accomplishment,” DeVos wrote in a Jan. 19 letter to State Superintendent of Public Read More…

Rocky Mountain College unveils new doctoral program

In education news, the Northwest Commission on colleges and universities approved Rocky Mountain College for their first doctoral program. KULR-8’s Mary Jane Belleza spoke with the college’s provost academic vice president, Stephen Germic who said the college’s plan will begin a doctor of occupational therapy degree program in January 2019. Students can expect new state Read More…

ONEOK announces new potential Montana pipeline

The Bakken. A well-known oil field stretching across North Dakota, South Dakota, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and of course, Montana. But Oklahoma investor ONEOK has released a statement with talk of a new pipeline starting right here in Montana, and stretching all the way to Kansas. The Elk Creek Pipeline would be an approximately 900 mile, 20-inch Read More…

President Trump is pushing rural Internet access. Here’s what Montana is doing already

President Trump signed an executive order and a presidential memorandum in Nashville on Monday afternoon directing his administration to use “all viable tools to accelerate the deployment and adoption of affordable, reliable, modern high-speed broadband connectivity in rural America.” According to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2016 Broadband Progress Report, 39 percent of rural Americans, roughly Read More…

Convenience store program helps stop human trafficking

HELENA, Mont.- A new program seeks to help victims of trafficking or kidnapping. Bryce Ackart, manager of the Helena Zip-Trip, said convenience stores are at the front lines for helping human trafficking victims and spotting their captors. The “More than Convenience, We Care” program has only been in place less than six months, but officials Read More…