Amber Freed is fighting for her son’s life in a way few people can imagine. She has doggedly pursued scientists to find a cure for 2-year-old son Maxwell’s rare genetic disease. She’s raised more than $570,000 through a GoFundMe account to help fund that research. And she’s reached out to families of other children who Read More…

Kaiden Keating sprinted across the playground at Newman Elementary, eager to show off his wheels. It’s the sort of summertime spurt that you’d expect from a kindergartner-to-be. But Keating is just as eager to show that he can spell his name (with a “K,” he assures a visitor, none of this “C” business), and tick Read More…

In Livingston, a shelter is still struggling after receiving 61 cats from a single home over the past year. In Billings, there is no limit to the number of pets a person can have, but after four animals owners must apply for and receive a small animal permit in addition to regular licensing for the Read More…

Rachel Burk has always had a soft spot for cats. And so when the Stevensville woman read a Facebook post about a cat that had been spotted wandering around a rest stop near the Idaho border, she decided she was going to do something about it. “The Bitter Root Humane Association made a post on Read More…

Two men driving a commercial truck hauling radioactive materials died Saturday night after colliding with a train near Culbertson. The collision occurred near Road 1013 and U.S. Highway 2 East in Roosevelt County on Saturday around 5:15 p.m. According to Montana Highway Patrol trooper David Moon, the truck, traveling southbound, failed to yield to a Read More…

Mike Dennison has a simple definition of success. It’s when one of the longtime journalist’s sources reads their input in his stories and says, “that’s what I said. That’s what I meant to say.” “They may not like the story,” he quickly added, “but as long as they are saying what they think they said, then I’m Read More…

DEER LODGE — Sixty years ago, a couple of nice-looking brown trout changed David Thomas’ vacation plans a bit. Then a detour and a boulder in the road saved his life, and put him in a position to rescue others after the massive Hebgen Lake earthquake. Now 97, Thomas recently brewed a fresh pot of coffee in Read More…

A man died on Friday, Aug. 9, after backing into an embankment on his family ranch in his pickup, Custer County officials said. Christopher Cameron, 85, a Miles City resident, was at the ranch last Friday located about 17 miles northeast of Miles City and backed a Ford pickup into a steep embankment trying to Read More…

When county-level data was released in July on per capita opioid shipments to Montana pharmacies, Yellowstone County wasn’t in the top 10. “I was pleasantly surprised about that,” said Dr. Sharon Mulvehill, of RiverStone Health. Although Yellowstone is the state’s most populous county, data collected by the Drug Enforcement Administration and released by The Washington Read More…

A hailstorm that flattened crops, broke windows and wrecked roofs and vehicles throughout the Yellowstone County area on Sunday also killed and maimed more than 11,000 waterfowl and wetland birds at the Big Lake Wildlife Management Area west of Molt. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologists who visited the lake this week picked up dead Read More…

The long-awaited good news came at 2:34 a.m. Friday for the Laga family of Florence. For nearly a week, their living room had been turned in the headquarters for a search effort for 25-year-old Kaden Laga of Utah. He had been missing in the rugged Bitterroot-Selway Wilderness since last Saturday after he had volunteered to Read More…

Montana officials say the state’s unemployment rate reached a new 10-year low of 3.4% last month. That’s a tenth of a percentage point lower than June’s unemployment rate, which was also a 10-year record. The national unemployment rate remained at 3.7% in July. State labor officials say total employment gained 1,371 jobs, which includes agricultural, Read More…

Two earthquakes — a 4.2 magnitude and a 3.3 magnitude — hit near Manhattan, about 66 miles east of Butte, around 6 p.m. Thursday. Paul Laustsen, spokesperson for the U.S. Geological Survey, which tracks earthquakes around the world, said via text message that 74 people reported feeling the first Manhattan earthquake within a few minutes of its Read More…

A 38-year-old Anaconda man died after the pickup truck he was driving rolled on Highway 1 near the Town Pump just on the outskirts of town around 1:25 a.m. Friday, authorities said. He was the only one in the truck and speed and alcohol were believed to be factors. The name of the victim was Read More…

A 25-year-old Utah man lost in the rugged Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness has been found. Kaden Laga walked into a camp of one of the search teams early Friday morning, according to a Facebook post from the family. “We found him,” the post read. “And he’s alive. He walked into one of the camps set up, and Read More…

It began as the end to a perfect Montana day at the campground at Painted Rocks Reservoir for a Missoula woman, her family and friends. That changed in an instant last Friday night when a lightning flash turned night into day and a powerful boom of thunder drove everyone nearby to their knees with a scream. In Read More…

COLSTRIP — Life in this small Eastern Montana town is increasingly complicated.  And not everyone wants to talk about it. Contaminated ground water and toxic ash ponds, and the state Department of Environmental Quality’s plan to clean it up, where the topic of a community meeting that drew about two dozen people to Colstrip City Read More…

DILLON — Adrianna Pittman paid $6.20 for tuition last semester. “It’s my first own accomplishment,” said Pittman, from Glen, Montana, just north of here. Pittman is studying math and science at the University of Montana-Western, and the future educator aims to graduate without being saddled with heavy debt. Last semester, she had taken out exactly zero Read More…

DILLON — The University of Montana–Western appeared to some community members to be on the brink of closure more than a decade ago. “There was an urgency to change because the enrollment was decreasing to the extent where people were worried the university would close,” said Chancellor Beth Weatherby, who took the helm in 2015. Read More…

Teams of searchers continue to seek a 25-year-old Utah man missing since Sunday in the Bitterroot-Selway Wilderness above Twin Lake on Thursday. Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton said they had not found him as of 5 p.m. Thursday. Holton said search-and-rescue teams from both Ravalli and Missoula counties were flown by helicopter 13 to 16 Read More…