Western Montana News

01/04/2026

Western Montana News is archived and no longer publishing. Thanks to readers and contributors.

12/23/2025

Montana's 1972 constitution creates a fundamental problem: unelected university regents have been granted power that contradicts the document itself. The Montana Supreme Court keeps making it worse, granting power over the legislature, writes former UM law professor Rob Natelson.

via Mountain States Policy Center

Montana Supreme Court grants unelected regents authority beyond legislative control

12/22/2025

OPINION: HB 680 puts Montana's historic treasures at risk. A 99-year lease of Virginia City and Nevada City gives private operators control with minimal public oversight. These towns belong to Montanans—not corporations. The Legislature should repeal this bill, writes Trevor Walter.

HD69 Candidate Trevor Walter Argues Against Law Allowing 99-Year Leases of Historic Towns

12/22/2025

OPINION: If you have to pay the government every year to keep your home, do you really own it—or are you just renting from the state?

Annual property taxes turn a constitutional right into a government privilege

12/22/2025

Teachers Unions: 1
Montana Parents: 0

Teachers unions block parent choice. Montana judge halts ESA program in blow to families seeking education alternatives

via The Montana Chronicles

2,400 families left scrambling after preliminary injunction halts funding through June 2026

12/12/2025

A Shelby woman with prior immigration convictions received just three months in prison for harboring undocumented immigrants across three Montana counties. The case involved multiple traffic stops and revealed a pattern of transporting people from Canada.

🔗 https://www.westernmt.news/2025/12/11/repeat-offender-gets-just-3-months-for-harboring-illegal-aliens-across-three-montana-counties/

12/12/2025

Montana declares disaster as atmospheric river brings record rainfall to northwestern counties. 6.5 inches fell in 24 hours, washing out bridges and closing major highways. Multiple communities affected as rivers reach flood stage.

🔗 https://www.westernmt.news/2025/12/11/record-rainfall-floods-libby-troy-as-governor-declares-disaster/

12/12/2025

Two Mexican men sentenced to 39 days after November traffic stop near Malta, where Highway 191 from Canada intersects Highway 2—a key corridor for north-south traffic from the international border. Part of Operation Take Back America nationwide initiative.

🔗 https://www.westernmt.news/2025/12/11/two-mexican-men-sentenced-after-traffic-stop-near-malta-on-highway-2/

12/11/2025

$800,000 to build a bridge. $800,000 to remove it. Less than 10 years between. Citizen journalist Travis Mateer warned about the "bridge to nowhere" in 2019. Now Missoula officials want to create what one citizen called a pipeline of hole digging and filling projects.

City's West Broadway Corridor master plan proposes removing bridge at same cost as original construction, creating pipeline of hole digging and filling projects

12/11/2025

Kalispell is seeking Ward 3 residents to fill a City Council seat becoming vacant when Ryan Hunter begins his term as mayor in January 2026. Interested? Submit your letter of interest by January 4, 2026.

🔗 https://www.westernmt.news/2025/12/10/kalispell-seeks-ward-3-residents-for-city-council-appointment/

12/11/2025

Governor Gianforte donated a quarter of his annual salary to the NeighborWorks Great Falls High School House Program, which has built 48 affordable homes while training students in construction skills since 1998.

High School House Program has built 48 affordable homes since 1998 while teaching workforce skills

12/11/2025

A Mexican national with eight prior deportations has been sentenced in Missoula for illegally reentering the U.S. for a second time. What are your thoughts on immigration enforcement?

Mendoza-Almanza's ninth illegal entry marks one of Montana's most extensive removal histories in recent federal cases