Montana News

People are ingesting plastic from a variety of sources. State lawmakers are looking to address one facet of the problem, by phasing out plastic food containers in Montana.

Montanans will pay less in income tax in coming years. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a half a percent tax cut into law Monday.

Measles has returned to Montana for the first time in decades. Health officials say parents should take precautions as cases are confirmed in their community. The schedule for measles vaccines in the U.S. calls for kids to get their first dose around 12 months and a second shot right before kindergarten.

A proposal to squirrel away nearly a billion dollars in state funds over the next few years is advancing along tight margins in the Legislature.

The state health department is offering $6.5 million in grant funds to help county jails offer mental health evaluations, medication and stabilization services to inmates. The hope is that inmates on the waiting list for care at the Montana State Hospital can get that care in jail instead.

The "bathroom" law remains stalled in the courts. Lawmakers appear poised to pass the state budget. Sen. Daines gets a presidential endorsement. And female senators call out sexism in the chamber.

State environmental regulators have denied a petition to list the Big Hole River as impaired. Water conservation groups worry this will continue to harm the river, and its aquatic life.

Anyone can make art, but not everyone can afford to. That’s a problem a year-old Missoula nonprofit is working to solve.

Amid a long battle over who pays for law enforcement on the Flathead Reservation, a new bill proposes temporary state funding so local officials can hash out a long-term plan.

The Montana Legislature’s flagship policy aimed at boosting pay for new teachers is headed to the governor’s desk. A bipartisan group of lawmakers and public education advocates have cheered the so-called STARS Act. But, the policy is far from a cure-all for the financial issues plaguing public schools.

A bill’s price tag can make or break its chances at the Legislature. The governor’s budget office is tasked with calculating projected costs for legislation. Some lawmakers worry that process opens the door for partisanship, and they're considering alternatives.

Federal funding is a “cornerstone” of Montana’s economy, according to a recent report from Headwaters Economics. The federal government steered more than $14 billion to Montana last year, according to the report.

After 50 years of legal battles testing the limits of the Endangered Species Act, the snail darter is still making a big splash. New research argues it's not a separate species and was never endangered. What does that mean for the fish, and what does it say about the Endangered Species Act?

In 2023 the Blackfeet Nation released bison into the Chief Mountain area along the border of Glacier National Park. The release was part of a plan to build a free roaming herd in a place bison had been absent from for more than 100 years. One listener wants to know where those bison are now.

The 56th annual Kyiyo Pow Wow took place in Missoula over the weekend. MTPR’s Victoria Traxler has more on the sights, sounds and significance of the event.

The Best Beginnings Scholarship Program offers Montana families financial support for child care costs. But, cultural differences make it difficult for some tribal communities to qualify for the program.

County commissioners in Butte last week approved a 600 acre land sale to a company aiming to build a large data center.

Dozens of service providers from dentists and doctors to public defenders packed the Missoula Public Library earlier this month. They offered a one-stop-shop for residents in need as the city begins to close one of its homeless shelters.

Tracy Stone-Manning was the Director of the Bureau of Land Management under President Biden, where she oversaw the agency’s 248 million acres. Her career began in Montana, running the Clark Fork Coalition in Missoula for almost a decade and heading up the state’s environmental quality agency under Gov. Steve Bullock. She is now the president of the Wilderness Society. She sat down with Montana Public Radio’s Ellis Juhlin to discuss what's happening and how land management has changed from her time directing the BLM, to now.

Lawmakers rejected the second of two bills seeking to expand the state’s childcare scholarship program, Best Beginnings.