Montana News

In the digital age of communication, the new generation of people becoming police officers need more training in how to communicate with the public. That’s according to leaders at Montana’s Law Enforcement Academy. They say having a conversation as a cop is different than what many new recruits are used to.

Update 5 p.m. 07/12/17 Additional crews and fire engines have arrived to fight five separate fires in the Highway 2 corridor. The largest is the Lazier Creek 3 Fire, at an estimated 1,140 acres. It is now being called 30 percent contained. It's located south of Highway 2 and west of the Thompson River Road. Today firefighters will continue to improve and construct fireline on the south and eastern portions of the fire with hand crews and heavy equipment. Helicopters will again offer aerial

Update: 6:30 p.m. 07/10/17 Tribal officials have increased the fire danger to “Extreme” on the west side of the Flathead Indian Reservation and “Very High” on the east side. Fire managers for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes write in a press release that fine, dead fuels are drying out across the reservation. They add human behavior, such as tossing cigarette butts onto dry grass, leaving campfires unattended, lighting fireworks, burning debris and driving through dry grasses, has

Update 5 p.m. 07/11/17 Fire officials are now investigating whether a person is responsible for starting the big fire burning near Zortman. "In order not to compromise the investigation, the BLM is not currently discussing the active investigation," says Pat Stocktt, who's with the Western Montana Incident Management Team.

On Saturday night, I did what every newcomer to the Flathead Valley does to prove that they’re a local: I tossed a bike in my trunk and set out for Glacier National Park to bike Going-to-the-Sun Road by the light of the full moon. At about 9:30 pm I watched a shadow creep up the side of the continental divide on the side of Going To The Sun Road, and then hopped on my bike and joined the stream of bikers making the climb up the iconic road.

A new outdoor music venue is opening in Bonner, MT, just east of Missoula. The KettleHouse Amphitheater, with its sleek integration of wood paneling and boulders, complements the scenic backdrop of the Blackfoot Valley. It’s located at the Bonner Mill Industrial Park, just north of the new KettleHouse Brewing facility and the old lumber mill along the banks of the Big Blackfoot River.

Montana’s backlogged sexual assault evidence kits will undergo lab testing beginning this month. Last fall, the state got a $2 million federal grant to fund cataloging and testing of the unsubmitted so-called rape kits.

Attorney General Tim Fox joined Governor Steve Bullock in Missoula today for a ceremony to sign six bills updating Montana’s sexual assault laws. They posed with Missoula Democratic Senator Diane Sands , who carried two of the bills, the most prominent of which removes force from the definition of sexual assault.

From bar stools to bed frames, hundreds of Montanans felt the magnitude 5.8 earthquake early Thursday morning that originated a few miles southeast of Lincoln. Listen to the audio to hear what the quake’s seismograph reading sounds like. Thanks to French geologist Anthony Lomax for tweeting this audio file, produced by the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology.

Fire activity is increasing across the state as the National Weather Service issued a red flag warning today for high temperatures, gusty winds and low humidity for a large portion of central and northeastern Montana. The warning is in effect until 9 p.m tonight.