Keila Szpaller

Montana superintendent, AG enter national controversy on critical race theory  Missoula Current

The Montana Board of Regents will meet Wednesday to take up a resolution to direct the Commissioner of Higher Education to file a lawsuit over House Bill 102, which allows guns on campus and seeks to limit the Board’s authority to oversee the Montana University System.

Missoula candidate for mayor under investigation for sexual assault  Missoula Current

Members of public push back against guns on Montana campuses  Missoula Current

In the lawsuit, plaintiffs Portland General Electric Company, Avista Corporation, PacificiCorp, and Puget Sound Energy ask the court to declare that SB265 is unconstitutional and contrary to the contracts clauses of the U.S. and Montana constitutions.

Misty Ann Giles, head of the Montana Department of Administration, was in “constant communication with the Governor’s Office” about a legislative subpoena before it was issued — the subpoena quickly quashed by the Montana Supreme Court.

Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings, made a bid Tuesday to ax an amendment that was added to the bill calling on the Attorney General to investigate the lobbying activities and tax status of environmental groups in the state.

Rep. Derek Skees, R-Kalispell, said his caucus loves coal. Nonetheless, a House committee voted 11-1 on Wednesday to table a bill that purported to encourage coal-fired energy production at Colstrip.

NorthWestern Energy has proposed building a $250 million natural gas plant in Laurel to help meet part of its need for power, the utility said this week in a news release.

Colstrip bill reminds many of Montana's energy deregulation debacle  Missoula Current

Customers would pay an extra $56 to $86 a year for power if NorthWestern Energy increased its ownership of Colstrip Unit 4 as it proposed to do in 2020, according to an analysis of Senate Bill 379 released Friday by Montana Public Service Commission staff.

Pell Grants go to students who demonstrate financial need. In Montana, they account for some 37.5% of the Montana University System enrollment, but they’ve made up as much as 47%.

A bill to “stop the press from serving as a slander machine” passed Thursday in the Montana House Judiciary Committee with language and a title that are nearly boilerplate to legislation that’s cropped up in other states.

House Education takes up tribal college funding ‘inequities’

The design — a “so-called seal-on-a-bedsheet formula,” according to an art history professor — is similar to that of 15 other states with coats of arms or seals on a blue background, Funk said. Even some of Montana’s neighbors, like Idaho, have flags that resemble Montana’s.

Montana University System to get $1M for guns on campus; safes, metal detectors  Missoula Current

University of Montana dean resigns after eight months leading humanities  Missoula Current

The committee also considered legislation on employment protections for medical cannabis patients. By Keila Szpaller, The Daily Montanan Glenn Broughton grew his medical marijuana business from a small storage shed to an operation that employees nearly 30 people, and if he’s shut down, he said he’ll…

Wednesday, members of the medical and scientific community blasted a bill that would allow children to attend school without being vaccinate, saying it was dangerous bill and would put the public at risk.

Montana GOP tables tax relief for lower income homeowners, high cost areas  Missoula Current