Following up on the conversation with Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, Great Falls Public Schools Student Mental Health Coordinator Erin Butts discusses education, safety, crisis management, and mental health programs at the local level. We also want to add our special thanks to all the teachers, aides, assistants, administrators, school board members, coaches, cooks, maintenance folks, volunteers, and involved parents and guardians who care for our kids as they learn and grow!

Yep. That beautiful treasure state summer is closing fast, and the school bells are ringing. Are our kids worried about school safety? What’s being done to make sure they’re safe? There’s an initiative to revise the education content standards. How will that affect our kids’ education? The 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was released; there’s good news and bad news. Click on the podcast and find out more as Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen visited with us on Voices.

 

It was 20 years in the planning and four years in the making, but it’s time now for the grand re-opening of Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. Hear Mike Keller, general manager of Xanterra Travel Collection in Yellowstone National Park talk about the history of the hotel, and the work that has gone into it’s preservation and renovation for today’s park visitors.

August 26 is Women’s Equality Day.  In August of 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified giving women the right to vote in America. In Montana and Wyoming, women had full voting rights well before then. Beth Hubble, director of UM’s Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies program joined Voices to discuss the road to women’s equality from the past to the present to what’s still needed to be done.

Bill McCulloch, with Military Tours, Inc., spent a little time in Montana recently during the National Marine Corps League’s annual convention in Billings. He spends a great deal of time overseas in places like Iwo Jima, Normandy, Korea, and Vietnam.  He’s a retired Marine who understands the healing that can take place as America’s veterans return to the places of conflict that have shaped their lives, often at a heavy cost.

Montana Congressman Greg Gianforte checked in with Voices of Montana. The deficit, preventing suicide, town halls, 2nd amendment rights, and how about the Congressman as a tour guide, as he talked about recently hiking Montana’s 3rd largest peak, Mt Cowen.

Keeping the lights on reliably and at a reasonable cost – that’s what Montana energy users, you and I, look for on a daily basis. But making that happen requires a keen focus on the long-game.

NorthWestern Energy submitted it’s 2019 Electricity Supply Resource Procurement Plan to the Montana Public Service Commission this week. It reveals a need for more energy resources to fill a deficit in future peak demand. Will we be able to keep the lights on, reliably, and at a reasonable cost? Find out more in this interesting and informative discussion with Bleau LaFave from NorthWestern Energy.

 

What are your thoughts on the economy, healthcare, climate change, trade, illegal immigration, education, campaign finance reform?

With 2020 on the horizon, Montana Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians set their party rules and elected party leaders this past summer. State democrats selected Robyn Driscoll to lead the party, and she joined us today on Voices.

This episode feature Northwestern Energy’s Blue Lavey.

This episode featured Montana Democrats New Party Chair Robin Driscoll