Here are some of the headlines from this past week in the Missoulian. To read the full stories, click the link on each headline:
Lona Running Wolf remembers asking elders lots of questions when she was younger.
“And they’d never tell me the answer,” she said, laughing. “They’d just tell me a story.”
As a child, this frustrated Running Wolf. But with time, she grew to understand the importance of spoken Blackfoot stories.
“It’s up to us as listeners to find the hidden gems,” she said.
People are also reading…
This concept was the foundation for the first annual Matriarchal Storytelling event at University of Montana, which kicked off Wednesday evening. The three-day gathering brings together leaders of the Blackfoot Confederacy and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes for presentations on storytelling, language preservation and culture.
Audrey Weasel Traveller, who Running Wolf called a “treasured elder,” shared a traditional story of Kutoyis, a mythical Blackfoot hero, on Thursday.
— Nora Mabie, nora.mabie@missoulian.com
Voices will rise en masse this weekend during the Missoula Symphony Orchestra’s final Masterworks concert of the season, titled “Moving Toward the Light.”
One voice comes from guest soprano Rabihah Davis Dunn, who’s visiting from the Bay Area. Backing her are the members of the Missoula Symphony Chorale.
The centerpiece of the concert is relatively new work in a storied mode: Composer John Rutter’s Requiem, written in 1985.
The Englishman is a staple of contemporary choir concerts, said artistic director Julia Tai, comparing his popularity to John Williams.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
A recent $1 million donation to a local nonprofit will expand housing and support services for young mothers in Missoula.
The money is for Mountain Home Montana, a local nonprofit that supports single mothers with transitional housing and comprehensive services. The $1 million from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation will go directly toward Mountain Home’s new facility that will give the group the capacity to double its shelter space for young moms and their kids.
“We’re super excited that the Washington Foundation chose to award us with a million dollars,” Mountain Home Director of Development and Impact Kelsie Severson said.
In addition to more housing space, the grant money and new building will let Mountain Home provide more mental health support services for single mothers and expand all of their programs, including ramping up its child care center, Severson said.
“Our current beds fill up and stay filled,” Severson said, adding that everyday Mountain Home has over 30 families on its waiting list.
— Zoe Buchli, zoe.buchli@missoulian.com
There appeared to be several Griz football players suffering serious neck or spine injuries on the floor of the Adams Center on the University of Montana campus on Wednesday, but in actuality it was simply the largest collegiate medical simulation training exercise in Montana history.
The University of Montana's College of Health held the huge simulation training to prepare for athlete or spectator injuries or emergencies that could occur during a college sporting event.
About 50 health care students from the UM Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana, UM Masters of Athletic Training and Missoula College Paramedicine programs participated.
It was the largest interprofessional simulation ever held within the Montana University System, according to Kerry Haney, a pharmacy faculty member with the UM Family Medicine Residency of Western Montana.
She said there's a lot of skill needed to properly care for, say, a football player who has suffered a serious injury and still has all the gear on his body.
"I didn't really realize it but working around all the football equipment, people have to learn how to remove that and if there's been a spinal injury, making sure that you're not moving somebody in a way that can cause more damage," she said. "So that, in and of itself, is kind of like a skill."
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
Local entrepreneurs have expressed interest in either opening a new business or expanding into a potential new building at the site of the old Missoula Public Library building on Main Street in downtown, according to the Missoula Economic Partnership.
But according to the Partnership’s business development director Christine Littig, the development team that has exclusive rights to determine how to redevelop the entire block has faced challenges with interest rates and construction costs and has applied for a 30-day extension to present a development concept.
Littig gave an update on the site to the Missoula Redevelopment Agency's board on Thursday afternoon.
Last August, the city selected two companies, deChase Miksis of Boise and Edlen and Co. of Oregon to lead public outreach and present a plan on how to develop the site.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
Two aerial firefighting jets, including one based in Missoula, have been grounded because of corrosion apparently caused by a new fire retardant the U.S. Forest Service approved for use beginning last year.
Two large air tankers — mid-size passenger jets converted to carry 3,000 gallons of retardant each — used a magnesium chloride fire retardant product while fighting wildfires last year. Both are grounded pending a joint investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Forest Service.
The magnesium chloride retardant was in limited use last fire season, loaded into the two large air tankers and some smaller, single-engine aircraft also in Montana. After the discovery this winter of corrosion in areas of the large air tankers where the retardant accumulated, the Forest Service decided not to use it this year. Instead, the agency will continue its widespread use of ammonium phosphate fire retardant that has been the go-to retardant nationwide for years. Aerial fire retardant is a mainstay of modern wildland firefighting and is often the most visible sign of crews trying to slow or contain a fire. The usually bright-red chemical slurries function by coating foliage ahead of a fire front and making it less susceptible to ignition.
— Joshua Murdock, joshua.murdock@missoulian.com
Western Montana sees its share of musicals and bluegrass, but it’s rare to see both with a single ticket.
That was among the reasons that the University of Montana School of Theatre and Dance is producing “Bright Star,” an Americana-themed show written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.
“We couldn't think of many other musicals that really sounded like this,” said director Michael Beverley. It’s a folk musical, and it prominently features the banjo.
“I’ve never seen a musical like this here,” he said.
Neither has Bailey Carlson, a music education and theater performance major who grew up in Missoula with family and friends who are into swing dancing.
She’s playing one of the lead characters, Alice Murphy, a literary magazine editor in Asheville, North Carolina, who takes on showcase Appalachian tearjerker ballads — a break from her usual roles as funny sidekicks.
“It’s just so beautiful and raw,” she said. Listeners have a visceral reaction to bluegrass, especially in Montana.
She thinks there are fans of the genre coming to the show who might not normally go in for theater.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
Education and workforce training for inmates in Montana's prison facilities has been significantly stifled by poor data management, a recent legislative audit has found.
With higher education programs, classes were not always at capacity despite significant interest.
"The cause of low acceptance rates was not clearly understood by the department due to limited information regarding why inmates are or are not accepted for these programs," the report stated.
Such gulfs in state data and inconsistent opportunities across facilities were key issues found by the Montana Legislative Audit Division, which will present its findings to lawmakers next week.
Along with department staff, teachers and case managers, auditors interviewed 2,380 current inmates at all four prison facilities about their perceptions of their opportunities to obtain education and career training at their facilities. Seventy-nine percent of inmates said staff had never approached them to discuss education or career goals.
— Seaborn Larson, seaborn.larson@helenair.com
A project to rebuild Lower Miller Creek Road will likely expand west to Bigfork Road, which a city committee approved unanimously Wednesday and allocated more money to the project's engineering contract.
The road reconstruction would upgrade both Miller Creek Road and Bigfork Road, with a heavy emphasis on creating a safer area for families to pick up and drop off children at the new Jeannette Rankin School.
The city's public works committee voted unanimously to amend its contract with the WGM engineering group and pay out another $105,572.45, which would bring the agreement total to $332,036.95.
"With the completion of this work, the city will be ready to bid the project," Surface Project Manager Monte Gris said at the meeting.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
The 47th International Wildlife Film Festival brings five days' of documentaries about the natural world to Missoula's community cinema.
— Charlotte Macorn, for the Missoulian
Clay Studio of Missoula hosts Potsketch fundraiser, Tessa Hull discusses new book "Feeding Ghosts" at Fact and Fiction, and Open AIR artist talks take place this week in the Garden City.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
An open jam and memorial on Saturday will pay tribute to Pat McKay, a guitarist who played around Montana for 35 years.
On April 20 at Free Cycles, starting at 6:30 p.m., people can bring their instruments to play or just watch, or bring food and drinks for a potluck. All are welcome.
McKay died suddenly at age 56 on March 17 after a gig at Maverick Mountain. He’d dealt with heart troubles for some time, according to his wife, Christine Miles-McKay.
A native of Texas, he began playing guitar seriously after his father died when he was 12. It was a form of therapy for him ever since, she said.
“He needed that release and that connection to the guitar,” she said.
At gigs, she thought he just seemed to be levitating in the zone.
“When he touched the guitar, even at home just strumming around, there was no reaching him,” she said.
McKay landed permanently in Montana after working a summer at a lodge in Glacier National Park. He stayed in Missoula for a short while and then he decided to call it home.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
The story of Viola the elephant escaping the Jordan World Circus on Tuesday in Butte was shared nationwide and beyond. Reports of her brief journey for freedom spread like wildfire. People frantically sent photos to families and friends, as well as on social media.
The accompanying videos were humorous material for some — it’s not every day you encounter an elephant wandering down Harrison Avenue.
A representative from Carson & Barnes Circus, the company that owns the elephants, issued a statement Wednesday, which said, in part — “Although we are upset that she was scared and, in this situation, we are grateful that she remained calm and no injuries were sustained to her or any other bystanders.”
Her brief escape did not stop the two performances that were held Tuesday afternoon and night at the Butte Civic Center.
There’s more to Viola’s story, though.
— Tracy Thornton, tracy.thornton@mtstandard.com
Although he’s coming from one of the biggest nations in the world to one of the least-populated states in the United States, Prakash Gupta believes Montana has a lot to offer India.
“The imports of pulses and lentils from Montana are in the range of 20% to 30% (of the Indian market),” Gupta said during a visit to Missoula. “The technology space has good potential. And there is lots of room for institutional cooperation in higher education.”
Gupta was the keynote speaker at Tuesday’s 21st annual Central and Southwest Asia Conference at the University of Montana. He is also the first Indian Consul General to lead a new consulate in Seattle that opened in November. From that base, Gupta promotes U.S.-India cooperative opportunities across nine states, from Alaska to Nebraska.
— Rob Chaney, rob.chaney@missoulian.com
Missoula had a higher rate of fatal vehicle crashes than both Montana and the United States overall between 2013 and 2022.
Deborah Postma, a transportation planner with the city, recently gave a presentation on both motorized and non-motorized crash statistics to the transportation technical advisory committee.
The rate of Missoula fatal crashes per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in that 9-year-period was 2.14. In the same time period in Montana, overall the fatal crash rate was 1.2 and in the U.S. it was 1.38.
"So we are higher than Montana and the national rate," Postma explained. "Which is concerning."
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
Missoula area school ballots are headed to mailboxes countywide, setting up five competitive school board elections and several levy requests for the May 7 election.
The county sent roughly 72,000 ballots to Missoula area residents on Wednesday. Election administrators said people should return the ballots in the mail by April 30 to make it back to the Missoula County Elections Center in time.
There is no in-person voting or polling stations for election day, the county said. Ballots will be accepted at the election center and other drop-off locations on May 7.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
Against a backdrop of escalating tensions and the recent missile attacks exchanged between Israel and Iran, the University Center Theater at University of Montana was packed nearly full on Tuesday afternoon for a discussion about the state of affairs in the region.
Part of the 21st Annual International Conference on Central and Southwest Asia, the panel was aptly titled “In the Shadow of a War: Israel, Hamas, the United States and Russia.” Three speakers, including two professors from UM and one from the Montana World Affairs Council, offered up their expertise and perspectives on the Israeli-Hamas conflict and its ties to Iran and the broader region.
“We are entering a new cold war,” said Mehrdad Kia, director of UM’s Central and Southwest Asian Studies Center. “At times, it’s not very cold, either.”
Kia outlined what he called a “bipolar world” in which much of geopolitics is shaped by two primary forces: the alliance between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea versus the United States and its allies.
— Carly Graf, carly.graf@lee.net
Key documents emerged Wednesday in the ongoing bullet wound saga involving the Republican frontrunner for Montana's highly coveted U.S. Senate seat.
Tim Sheehy is a first-time political candidate running against three-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in one of the most closely watched races in the nation this cycle.
Sheehy is a former Navy SEAL who has made his military service central to his campaign, and has repeatedly over the last few months mentioned a bullet lodged in his arm. Now, multiple Washington Post stories raised major questions about the origin of this gunshot wound and Sheehy's telling of what happened.
In the first story, Sheehy told the Washington Post that he sustained the wound in Afghanistan and did not disclose the gunshot to his superiors in Afghanistan after getting shot out of fear that it may negatively impact his former platoon-mates. Years after he was discharged, however, he told a Glacier National Park ranger that he accidentally discharged his Colt .45 and shot himself in the arm.
Sheehy told the Washington Post that he did not shoot himself in the park in 2015, but instead fell and sustained an injury involving his arm that required him to go to the emergency room. There, he explained, he alerted the staff to the bullet lodged in his arm, which triggered the ranger to be involved.
— Victoria Eavis, victoria.eavis@helenair.com
Montana's western congressional district candidates this week filed their first campaign finance reports of the new year.
Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, seeking his third term in Congress, reported raising $1.5 million since Jan. 1. The latest haul brings his total this cycle to $5.2 million, and he ends the first quarter of 2024 with $2.3 million cash on hand.
Monica Tranel, the Democrat seeking a rematch with Zinke in November, reported $742,815 raised this quarter. She's raised $1.9 million since her second campaign for the western district race got underway last year.
— Seaborn Larson, seaborn.larson@helenair.com
The first quarter fundraising numbers for one of the hottest political races in 2024 are in.
Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester is being challenged by Republican front-runner Tim Sheehy in the race for Montana's U.S. Senate seat.
Tester outraised Sheehy by two and a half to one and has more than six times the amount of money in the bank. The differences in fundraising get more severe when it is taken into account that Sheehy loaned half a million dollars to his campaign this past quarter, which spans from Jan. 1 to March. 31.
There are tens of millions of dollars flowing into this contest because it is one of the most closely watched races in the nation this cycle. Republicans are set on taking back control of the U.S. Senate and they have targeted Montana's Senate seat as one of the most vulnerable in the nation.
— Victoria Eavis, victoria.eavis@helenair.com
Downtown Missoula will see major road layout changes and better pedestrian access to the Riverfront Trail, a project the Missoula City Council moved along Monday by signing an agreement for a federal grant.
The Downtown Safety, Access and Mobility plan will create two-way roads on Front and Main streets, add bike lanes and remove a lane of traffic along Higgins Avenue and create better trail access from the downtown roads.
"This is a significant step to get the process going," Ward 2 Councilor Mirtha Becerra said.
The Federal RAISE Grant will give the city $24.5 million for the projects: The city also put up a matching grant of $1.1 million from Tax Increment Financing. Several other agencies contributed matches as well.
The project was approved by city council last fall. Last week, the federal government approved the agreement and requested city approval as soon as possible, according to Public Works and Mobility Director Jeremy Keene.
The project looks to complete design factors and get public feedback over the next year. The city said it will start construction by 2026. Keene told the Missoulian that a scheduling order for the projects will be completed soon.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
On a recent sunny day near Florence, Sam Wüstner tended to one of his family’s 40 bee hive locations throughout the Bitterroot and Missoula valleys.
While many may find the idea of being surrounded by thousands of stinging insects quite nerve-wracking, the warm, vibrating hum can actually have a calming effect, like the sound of a white noise machine.
“This is the least anxiety-producing thing in my life,” Wüstner laughed as he stood among the hives, thousands of bees flying in every direction around him.
Wüstner Brothers Honey is a family owned and operated local business supplying raw and unfiltered honey to stores and farmers markets across western Montana. They are also members of the Western Montana Growers Cooperative.
While the company was officially founded in 2011, the family has been into beekeeping for around 40 years.
— Jessica Abell, jessica.abell@ravallirepublic.com
A man was arrested at a Missoula motel on suspicion of aiding sex trafficking over the weekend.
Brian I. Ward, 66, is facing two felony sex trafficking charges. Ward, a Wyoming resident, is at the Missoula jail on $25,000 bail. He hasn’t entered a plea to the charges.
On Friday, Missoula police officers were dispatched to a motel on Expo Parkway. A 911 call from motel staff reported two guests were possibly involved in sex trafficking. Motel staff noticed a fair amount of foot traffic in and out of the room rented by an older white man, suspected to be Ward, and a younger woman, according to Missoula County charging documents.
— Zoe Buchli, zoe.buchli@missoulian.com
Missoula's government and education leaders touted new investments into infrastructure and resolving housing and homelessness issues, but all three of the "State of Missoula" speakers said the city is still struggling with the cost of living and how to move forward with change.
Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis, Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier and University of Montana President Seth Bodnar addressed the changes to Missoula during the City Club on Monday.
While Bodnar and Strohmaier have spoken at the event before, Davis said the city has been making headway into affordable housing and alleviating urban camping during her first talk as mayor with City Club.
"We are finding ourselves at the center of this challenge more than we ever have been," Davis said. "We have to address the public safety and health of our community, and the challenges posed by folks who are sleeping unsheltered."
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
The number of tourists coming to Montana has stayed the same the past two years, but the amount of money they spent here dropped off a little bit last year.
About 12.5 million people visited Montana in both 2022 and 2023. Last year those tourists spent a total of about $5.45 billion, which was down from the $5.82 billion they spent in 2022.
That’s according to the newest estimates on nonresident visitation, expenditures and economic contribution of tourists compiled by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana. Each year, the Institute has its staff spread across the state surveying tourists to find out what they spend money on while they’re here.
“Our team has been working hard behind the scenes analyzing our 2023 data,” said Kara Grau, the assistant director of economic analysis at the institute, in the email she sent out with the report.
The institute surveyed about 10,000 nonresidents and 18,000 residents.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
SEELEY LAKE — A new sewer system proposal for downtown Seeley Lake could be finalized in the next year, setting up a potential vote that could vastly change the future of the unincorporated community.
Interim Sewer Manager Bill Decker told the Missoulian that a new proposal would be more flexible to address issues that led voters to fail the last sewer proposal in 2021 — the closest the town has ever been to a system.
"People voted down the sewer for two different reasons," Decker said. "The price was too expensive for some, and there were others in the community that didn't think the sewer was necessary. We hope to address both of those groups with this new plan."
Both the health department and the sewer board are looking into a new sewer system, including finding grant money and considering different design formats that could be cheaper for the residents.
Residents of Seeley Lake, a community of about 1,500 people on the east end of Missoula County, use septic systems for wastewater, as no sewer infrastructure has been developed.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
The Chippewa Cree Tribe will be the first in the state to enter a Lay Vaccinator Program, which aims to improve public health by making veterinary care more accessible.
In partnership with the Indian Health Service and Humane Society of Western Montana, licensed veterinarians in the program will train "Lay Vaccinators" (people chosen by the tribe) to handle and administer vaccines on the Rocky Boy Reservation. Vaccinators will also use expanded software to create client files and track vaccination history.
The Chippewa Cree Business Committee in December 2023 passed the Lay Vaccinator Resolution. At the meeting, Natural Resources Director Bobbi Favel said the program will improve access to resources in the community.
"We all know the need for vaccines is considerable in our community, and we are excited to start this program on Rocky Boy," Favel said.
— Nora Mabie, nora.mabie@missoulian.com
A group of older residents on fixed incomes at The Village Senior Residence in Missoula were shocked recently at being given roughly 8% increases in their room and board. The hike equates to between an extra approximately $3,600 to $4,800 a year for many of them.
The Missoulian spoke with three residents and one concerned employee of the senior living community and all asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.
The facility is comprised of 99 apartment homes in categories of independent living, assisted living and memory care. It’s located at 2815 Old Fort Road near Community Medical Center. Residents are served three meals a day if they so choose and get weekly housekeeping services along with many other services, depending on need. The facility includes a library and a salon. A studio apartment can cost around $3,800 a month, and a two-bedroom apartment with assisted living services can cost well over $6,000 a month. The facility was built in 1988 and is owned and managed by The Goodman Group, a privately held company with 64 properties across the U.S. that manages over 10,000 residents.
“Every year they increase the rent and it’s always around 3-4%, but this year it was higher,” said one resident. “We’re on fixed incomes and we’re not earning more money. And I’ve been talking to some people who said, ‘well, I’ve got three more years and then I’ll be broke.’ And I thought, well, you’ve got three years to live and then you have to die. It’s just scary.”
That person is now paying well over $1,250 more a month than they were paying a few years ago.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
Rob Cave is not looking for much. Just a place to rehearse.
The longtime Missoula bass player has been hunting for a room to rent, up to $200 for himself or $350 a month to share with a friend. Ideally, it would have heating and a bathroom, electrical outlets, and owners who are OK with volume up to the level of a drum kit, during agreed-upon hours.
Yet after three months, Cave, who’s in the rock bands Fuuls and Rob Travolta, has had no luck, even with good references from previous spaces.
“I can definitely say it’s never been this hard,” he said. That was a month ago.
Since moving to Missoula in 2011, he’s been in more bands, had more practice spaces, than he can count. Many of those were utilitarian, in a literal garage rock sense. A shed, root cellar, downtown basements, one-car garages.
He suspects that many people probably have ideal spaces without realizing it — like a detached garage or an underutilized shop, and he knows he’s not the only local musician looking for one.
It’s something of a chicken and egg problem in a city that’s proud of its arts and music yet faces a steep rise in the cost of living.
With a limited number of venues in town, it’s competitive to get stage time. Yet where is one supposed to get competitively good if it’s hard to find a garage, basement or space to get there?
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
Pavement repairs will close a section of Mount Avenue staring Monday, April 15 to remove degraded asphalt and replace it with new material.
The city's Public Works and Mobility Department announced Friday that the project will likely be finished by April 23, but completion of work is subject to good weather.
The work will take place between Park Street and Higgins Avenue. Detour routes will be established, Deputy Director of Streets Brian Hensel said.
The streets division also asked residents along Mount Avenue to not park their vehicles on the street from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Local access to the area will be available.
A release from the city said the repair project helps preserve the street infrastructure by sealing areas where water could get under the roadway surface.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com