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3-24-23 Legislative day 56, Tuesday March 21st we convened our Floor session at 8 a.m. to begin presentation and debate on House Bill 2, which I described last week in some detail. HB2 is the State’s main operating budget for the coming 2024-2025 biennium, it was presented in five main sections A-E. I presented C, Natural Resources and Conservation. This budget consists of nearly 50% federal funds, primarily in Transportation and Department of Health and Human Services. T...
Ekalaka Elementary held a program for third quarter academic excellence and monthly BARK behavioral awards on Tuesday at the school. Following are award winners from the program: Perfect Attendance for 3rd Quarter Ryder Christenson Zoey Hansen Solomon Hamilton Cooper Livingston Holland Lovec Clayton North Lily Schallenberger A Honor Roll Cooper Livingston Lily Schallenberger Oakley Spring Holly Walker Cora Wright Sasha Yates Corrik Laughery Cortland O'Connor Masa Hammel Daisey...
Ekalaka Public Schools is hosting a kindergarten roundup on April 12 for any student who will be attending kindergarten in the fall of 2023. Please bring your future kindergartener to the main office at 8 a.m. along with the child’s birth certificate and immunization records. The students will spend the full day in the classroom and will be served lunch. Lunch cost is $2.50, or the student can choose to pack a home lunch. At the end of the day, students can be picked up at 3:45 p.m. at the main doors. Please call 4...
Each spring, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks receives calls from people who have picked up deer fawns or other wildlife. It’s important to remember that FWP does not accept, hold or rehabilitate moose, deer, elk and most other animals. Often times, people think they are rescuing an orphaned animal. However, it’s important to understand that wildlife care for their young much differently than humans. They have strategies to provide the highest chance of survival for their young. One strategy that some species, particularly thos...
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is accepting applications from landowners who are interested in participating in the 2023 Block Management Program. Block Management is a cooperative effort between landowners and FWP to help manage wildlife and public hunting activities on enrolled lands. Through the Block Management program, landowners and FWP enter into voluntary agreements that determine how hunting will be conducted on the landowner’s property. Items such as permission requirements, times when permission will be granted, h...
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) and conduct public scoping on a proposed action to develop a new wolf management plan. The 2003 Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and associated EIS were developed 20 years ago. Since then, new, and improved research, management tools and methods have been developed and incorporated into Montana’s gray wolf management strategy; however, they are not described in the 2003 Wolf Plan. Gov. Greg Gianforte asked FWP to create a n...
With warmer temperatures and snow quickly disappearing, shed-antler hunters are anxious to get into the field. Buck deer and bull elk and moose grow antlers each year, some to magnificent size, which drop off to regrow each spring. Hunting for and collecting these "shed" antlers in spring has become a popular activity. Many of Montana’s wildlife management areas (WMAs) provide security to wildlife during the winter. However, shed hunters need to be aware that Montana’s big game winter range WMAs are closed to public use aft...
Hunters have until April 1 to apply for deer and elk licenses, but they shouldn’t wait for the last minute. Get it done now. Hunters who are applying for special licenses and permits need to have a valid email address. Hunters can apply for permits on the FWP website. If hunters want to apply in person, FWP offices are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Hunters and anglers can also take advantage of the MyFWP mobile app, if they haven’t already. The app holds and displays licenses, permits and E-Tags, whi...
The 2023 session has a long way yet to go, but as of late last week, the special committee tasked with probing election integrity in Montana has all but completed its work. After returning from this month’s transmittal break, the Joint Select Committee on Election Security had just one lingering item left on its docket: finalizing a proposal addressing enforcement of state election laws. Agreement proved a bit more difficult than members anticipated. Democrats thought the duty of enforcing those laws should fall to the c...
A couple weeks ago at the Sweet Grass County Chamber of Commerce Banquet, rancher, Chuck Rein was named Ag Person of the Year. Chuck ranches and runs an outfitting business with his wife Pam and his son Charlie and his family on one of the most beautiful outfits on the planet in the shadow of the Crazy Mountains west of Melville, Montana. Chuck wrote this poem several years ago about riding colts with his son Charlie, and he shared it at the banquet. This poem sums up why ranchers ranch especially during times like this past...
Hello God, it’s me, Mara: You know, Lord, ‘D.S.’ shared about both Palm Sunday and Easter! She said, “Thinking back some years ago about Easter time, we remember that we stood in church on Palm Sunday watching the children parade through the aisles, waving their palm Branches. It was enjoyable watching the youngest ones hold onto a ‘cord’ secured to their Sunday School teacher so they could follow her through the jam-packed sanctuary because they were too small to see where they were going; they could hardly walk through the...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced that beginning in April it will provide approximately $123 million in additional, automatic financial assistance for qualifying farm loan program borrowers who are facing financial risk, as part of the $3.1 billion to help distressed farm loan borrowers that was provided through Section 22006 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The announcement builds on financial assistance offered to borrowers through the same program in October 2022. The IRA directed USDA to...
The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and Sletten Construction will begin the Southeast Montana Bridge Preservation project this spring. This project will rehabilitate 11 bridges in southeastern Montana. These bridges impact Montana Highway 39 (MT 39), US Highways 212 (US 212) and 12 (US 12), Interstate 94 (I 94), and the communities of Forsyth, Colstrip, Lame Deer, Broadus, Ashland, and the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. Crews will begin with the Powder River...
Area residents are encouraged to attend a second public meeting for the Ekalaka Community Plan on April 5th, beginning at 5 p.m. The meeting, hosted by High Plains Architects of Billings, will take place at Carter County Event Center as part of an Ekalaka town council meeting. An initial draft of the Ekalaka Community Plan was shared with the community in January at the museum. Around forty members of the community attended the first meeting where Randy Hafer, High Plains...
Supporters of a bill that would exempt Montana landlords from paying full property taxes if they rent their property below market value told the House Taxation Committee Monday that the bill could offer a much needed solution to the housing crisis, and provide affordable housing for renters. Rep. Julie Dooling, R-Helena, is the sponsor of House Bill 848. She said the bill was designed to combat rising property taxes that she says end up putting both landlords and renters in a bind. “There was a time when I was living p...
Hawks Home School District No. 1 and Alzada School District No. 56 will both be holding mail ballot only elections on Tuesday May 2, if not canceled. Only active electors will automatically receive their mail ballot. Inactive electors must request a ballot from the County Election Administrator between the hours of 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. On election day, the Carter County Election Office will be open from 8 a.m. to noon and again from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. The office is located at the Election...
