Montana News

Last Thursday the Interior Department announced that it’s removing Yellowstone-area grizzly bears from the endangered species list . It’s expected that grizzlies in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) will be de-listed in 2020. For the first time in a lifetime, grizzly bears in the NCDE have been roaming far east of the Rocky Mountains following drainages, streams and food into the tan waves of farmland stretching out from the forest edges of the Rocky Mountain Front. In the town of

As Congress works on overhauling health care, the company with perhaps the most at stake in Montana is Blue Cross and Blue Shield. It's a division of Health Care Service Corporation, which says it's the fourth largest insurance company in America. Montana Public Radio’s Eric Whitney talked about the changes Congress is proposing with John Doran, a vice president and chief of staff for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana.

When he returns to his hometown of Whitefish next week, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will be greeted by billboards and a media campaign urging him to leave the Missouri River Breaks alone. It’s one of two dozen national monuments he’s reviewing to eliminate or scale back protections. Zinke is scheduled to address the Western Governors Association's annual conference Tuesday.

Montana, Wyoming and Idaho officials say they won't declare open season on grizzly bears once federal Endangered Species Act protections are lifted for them in the Yellowstone National Park region . The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Thursday announced that it plans to de-list Yellowstone Grizzlies at the end of July . That means that the three states surrounding the park will take over jurisdiction of Yellowstone-area bears. Those states have already submitted management plans that allow for

The city of Missoula has taken ownership of the water utility that serves its residents after a three-year court battle. The city bought Mountain Water Company for $84 million and paid another $6.8 million to developers who had a claim against the company. A separate bundle of transition costs, the bulk of which are attorneys’ fees, amounts to $7.5 million.

The Interior Department Thursday said it will lift Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone National Park region . Those protections have been in place for more than 40 years.

The public may get a look at a draft of the Senate healthcare bill for the first time this week. What’s it mean for Montana? Here's what the CEO of one health insurance company based in Helena says about it: "I don't think that their plan is going to improve health care in the state of Montana. I think just the opposite is going to happen. And I think, I really do think a lot of people are going to get hurt."

Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears that have been in place for more than three decades are poised to be peeled back soon. This week state and federal land managers from the Rocky Mountain west are meeting talk about what that means for the future of grizzly bear management and recovery. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, or IGBC is spending three days in Choteau this week working on a five-year-plan to guide management of grizzlies as the bear’s population grows.

A conservative group wants Montana voters to decide whether to regulate transgender people's access to bathrooms and locker rooms. The proposed 2018 ballot initiative by the Montana Family Foundation would require people use public facilities designated for their gender at birth.

Greg Gianforte was officially sworn in as Montana's sole representative in the U.S. House Wednesday. The Republican entrepreneur from Bozeman takes office less than two weeks after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault for attacking Guardian Reporter Ben Jacobs the evening before in-person voting began in Montana’s special election May 25. In an interview with MTPR after being sworn in, Gianforte said again that he wants to put the assault behind him.