Gov. Greg Gianforte has signed a new bill into law, nearly a year after the last legislative session ended. The policy defines male and female in state law as binary, and would eliminate legal recognition of transgender, nonbinary and intersex Montanans.

Montana’s rural towns can often struggle to afford large projects like water and sewer pipe replacement. They mostly rely on state and federal grants. A proposed federal bill seeks to make it easier for small communities to manage grants from multiple federal agencies.

Montana Farmers Union is working to enhance legislative literacy in rural communities. Events demonstrate how to contact representatives and participate in the legislative session. Ag communities have been impacted by several state and federal policy changes in recent years.

Former U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, Governors Marc Racicot and Steve Bullock drew an overflowing crowd to a forum in Helena last weekend. They talked about the upcoming elections, the Trump agenda, and defending democracy. Racicot was a Republican governor from 1993 to 2001. Bullock and Tester were the last Democrats to hold statewide office in Montana.

The supposed Republican frontrunner in the U.S. Senate race is off to a timid start. The independent candidate in that race vows not to resort to namecalling. Two of the candidates for the U.S. House make no such promise. A national Conservative group is working hard to defeat moderate Republicans running for the Legislature. And the Gianforte administration reconsiders its ban on weekend rallies at the Capitol.

Zoning laws aimed at incentivizing home construction have survived a legal challenge. The Montana Supreme Court ruled they are constitutional.

School safety experts say many Montana schools lack the planning and technology needed to adequately respond to threats from natural disasters to shooters.

A first-of-its-kind statewide health insurance trust for school employees got the green light from state regulators last week. Administrators are hopeful it could help control one of education’s most expensive line items.

A recent federal court ruling may increase what some Montanans pay for electricity. The order directs certain dams in the northwest to limit the amount of water used for generating electricity. The change marks the latest strain on western electricity cooperatives.

The state’s largest utility is signing agreements to power data centers. But, the details of those agreements have remained unavailable to the public. Now a coalition of climate and energy groups is demanding state regulators release that information.