Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
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Whitehall Indivisible (WI) jumped back into the fray last week after breaking for July. Activist groups are ramping up for the midterms, and WI is choosing battles that matter in Montana and across the country. Our membership was one of the few among the 19 Indivisible groups in Montana with the decision-making structure and unity of voice to write a letter to Alani Bankhead (D) asking her to withdraw from the Montana Senate race (see inset). Bankhead has since announced she will not drop out....
Tywon Pugh has seizures that make it hard to find and keep a job. “They called me a ‘liability to the job site,’” Pugh said, recalling the words of his manager when a seizure cost him his last job at a fast-food restaurant in this western Montana city. When the 46-year-old lost work in the past, his wife of 10 years covered their rent, and he tended to their home until he found another job. But his wife died last year. Soon after, Pugh became homeless. His problem with alcohol became worse, which made managing his seizures more difficu...
More areas of the lower Beaverhead River will be under daily fishing restrictions this week due to rising water temperatures. These restrictions, commonly known as hoot-owl restrictions, prohibit fishing from 2 p.m. to midnight each day. They are designed to prevent excessive fish mortality due to angling when water temperatures are warm. Beginning Aug. 5, a hoot-owl restriction will be in effect for the area of the Beaverhead River from Selway Park Fishing Access Site just north of Dillon to the confluence with the Big Hole River. This...
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 00:22:31 Wildland Fire 05:53:33 Animal: Hwy 69 05:55:48 Vehicle Accident (Non-Injury): Whitetail Rd 10:47:57 Panic Alarm: Lewis & Clark Caverns Rd 11:45:48 Traffic Stop: Hwy 359 11:55:46 Suspicious Vehicle: W Legion St 12:34:09 Medical: N A St 13:00:47 Reckless Driver: I-90 13:25:26 Shooting 13:35:34 Reckless Driver: I-90 13:51:28 Threats: I-90 15:01:38 911 16:10:52 Agency Assist 16:45:46 Citizen Assist: W Legion St 18:09:00 911: I-90 18:17:28 911 18:27:57 Suspicious: Delmoe Lak...
Two men from Harrison were convicted of multiple hunting violations in Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin counties. Jeremy Michael Hill and Ryan Francis McGuire faced several charges after the two men were found to have killed multiple deer illegally over several years. Game wardens with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks conducted a yearlong investigation into Hill and McGuire following a report from a concerned witness about a wasted whitetail buck found in Hill’s possession. The investigation revealed evidence that Hill, over a three-year p...
SUNDAY, JULY 26 00:12:54 Stolen Property: Hwy 2 E 00:13:35 Suspicious: Hwy 2 E 00:22:42 Domestic Violence: Hwy 2 E 00:43:44 Vehicle Accident (Non-Injury): Hwy 2 E 00:55:42 Medical: Hwy 2 E 00:56:12 Domestic Violence: N Main St 00:57:28 Trespass: Hwy 2 E 01:43:17 Medical: Hwy 2 E 01:51:50 Citizen Contact: Hwy 2 E 02:16:15 Fight: Mint Bar 02:37:33 Fight: Hwy 2 E 02:48:53 Citizen Contact 03:06:25 Reckless Driver: Hwy 2 E 04:22:37 Medical: Hwy 2 E 04:56:31 Administrative: Hwy 2 E 07:01:47 Traffic...
Montana Farmers Union, one of the state’s largest and most influential agricultural organizations, has endorsed I-194, The Montana Plan, adding the voices of thousands of family farmers and ranchers to the growing bipartisan coalition supporting the initiative ahead of the November 2026 election. The endorsement reflects a shared belief that Montana elections should be accountable to the people who live and work here—not to corporations, wealthy special interests, or dark-money groups that can spend millions while hiding the sources of the...
SUNDAY, July 19 07:42:16 Animal: I-90 12:46:58 Suspicious Vehicle: I-90 13:01:57 Medical: Quarter Horse Ln 13:59:52 Citizen Assist: Sugar Beet Row 15:03:10 Suspicious: Hwy 2 E 15:37:09 Suspicious Vehicle: Boe Ln 19:26:52 Medical: Hwy 2 E 20:46:56 Citizen Assist: E Viella St 21:07:15 Medical: Pipestone RV Park MONDAY, July 20 01:51:52 Agency Assist: I-90 01:55:34 Trespass: E Viella St 06:51:26 Extra Patrol: Boe Ln 06:58:01 Traffic Stop: I-90 07:33:14 Abandoned Vehicle: I-90 08:09:15 911:...
Will Bowen has been running Whitehall's only vehicle scrapyard at the south end of Whitetail Road for 20 years – but may soon be forced to stop. At 22 years old, he broke his back when a pile of trusses fell on him, making physical labor impossible, so Bowen began scrapping metal to make ends meet. What started as salvaging a few motorcycles a year gradually grew into a car-wrecking facility where Bowen would tow, store, crush, and salvage cars from area shops and individuals. Bowen estimates t...
Commercial and residential subdivisions have been spreading across the Gallatin and Helena Valleys like a patchwork quilt, replacing open land. Concerns range from increased traffic to the loss of open space, but the gravest issue centers on water, both its quantity and quality. Increasingly, longtime residents and senior water-rights holders are finding themselves in conflict with rapid development fueled by Montana’s “exempt well” loophole. Developers have exploited a loophole in Montana water law to build subdivisions with exempt wells...
For about 20 years, wildlife managers, politicians, and wildlife advocates in the Northern Rockies have gone back and forth about what to do about grizzly bears. The heart of that debate centers around who should manage the species: the states or the federal government. So when I got word there would be a press conference this week north of Yellowstone, in the heart of grizzly country, featuring the governors of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho alongside Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, I knew...
Warming river water is prompting more hoot-owl fishing restrictions and one complete closure in southwest Montana this week. The Madison River, from the Madison Dam at Ennis Reservoir to the footbridge at the NorthWestern Energy powerhouse, is closed to fishing at all hours beginning Wednesday, July 15. The closure is in response to warm outflows from Ennis Reservoir that are preventing nighttime cooling in that section of the river. Hoot-owl restrictions, which prohibit fishing from 2 p.m. to midnight each day, also take effect on July 15 at 2...
SUNDAY, JULY 12 06:24:12 Traffic Stop 06:33:22 Animal: Hwy 55 07:54:47 Medical: Quarter Horse Ln 10:01:58 Suspicious: Milligan Canyon Rd 11:05:47 Traffic Stop: W Legion St 12:58:07 Traffic Stop: Hwy 55 13:09:21 Citizen Assist: Uff Da Rd 13:38:30 Traffic Stop: Hwy 55 14:13:36 Stranded Motorist: I-90 14:31:08 Motorist Assist: I-90 14:38:28 Motorist Assist: I-90 14:38:34 911 E LEGION ST 14:54:09 Traffic Stop: I-90 15:11:57 Reckless Driver: I-90 15:30:43 Traffic Stop: I-90 15:37:51 Suspicious: I-90...
The Montana Department of Corrections intends to relocate women currently incarcerated at Boulder’s Riverside prison, which holds about 50 of the state’s 370 female prisoners, to Pine Hills Correctional Facility in Miles City, according to agency spokesperson Carolynn Stocker. A press release shared by Stocker on Thursday, July 9th, announced that the agency planned “to explore options for the use of the 144-bed Pine Hills Correctional Facility in Miles City to potentially house adult females.” Later, in response to questions about the Montana...
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) is proposing updates to recreation fees for state parks, fishing access sites, wildlife management areas, wildlife habitat protection areas, and other FWP-managed lands. The proposal is now open for public comment, and we encourage everyone who enjoys recreating on Montana’s state-managed public lands to learn more and share their feedback. Why are fees being updated? Montana’s current recreation fee structure has remained largely unchanged since 2014. During that time, visitation has continued to climb whi...
SUNDAY, JULY 5 00:11:34 Traffic Stop: E First St 00:25:45 Fireworks: Yellowstone Trl 00:56:05 Fireworks: W Olive St 01:07:03 Fireworks: Corbett Lp 02:57:50 Suspicious Vehicle: I-90 13:01:37 Traffic Stop 14:11:40 Traffic Hazard: N Division St 15:05:20 Reckless Driver: I-90 15:12:17 Stranded Motorist: I-90 16:03:15 Traffic Hazard: Bluebird Ln 16:08:19 Motorist Assist: Pipestone Rd 16:26:02 Reckless Driver 17:11:28 Traffic Hazard 17:50:55 Traffic Stop: W Legion St 18:23:47 Welfare Check: S Division...
SUNDAY, JUNE 28 07:02:43 911 10:23:42 Traffic Stop: Hwy 55 10:25:38 Suspicious: W Second St 10:27:00 Vehicle Accident (Injury): I-90 11:17:01 Reckless Driver: I-90 11:20:22 Traffic Stop: I-90 12:48:14 Duplicate Call: I-90 13:30:31 Vehicle Accident (Injury): I-90 14:04:51 Traffic Hazard: N Whitehall St 15:41:45 Traffic Stop: W Legion St 15:46:17 Found Property: W Legion St 15:49:42 Medical: Hwy 55 15:58:07 Traffic Stop: E Legion St 18:14:57 Animal MONDAY, JUNE 29 06:15:58 Vehicle Accident...
As we mark our nation’s 250 th anniversary, it’s worth celebrating what we the people have in common. What we literally have in common – own in common – are our public lands, our national parks and forests. In the West especially, glance at the photo library on your phone and it will probably look a lot like the person’s next to you in the coffee shop. Your parents’ and grandparents’ faded photo family albums probably have similar pictures too. That’s because our public lands shape us. They and hold our uniquely American stories. Memori...
Whitehall Indivisible (WI) discussed the five candidates from last week’s Meet & Greet and drafted a list of guest speakers we would like to hear from in the fall. We aim to be as informed as possible as we cast our ballots in November. More money has been paid to stop renewable energy projects mid-production, this time $734M in addition to the $2B that has already been spent in this manner. The Trump administration has also allowed only one permit (public and private land) for renewable energy projects since taking office. This tone-deaf a...
The Montana-based group promoting a ballot initiative to make campaign finance more transparent obscures its own financial backers through a murky fundraising structure, according to publicly available campaign finance filings reviewed by Montana Free Press. The Transparent Election Initiative is a nonprofit organization pushing to “stop corporate and dark money cold” in elections. The group is currently aiming to pass a citizen’s initiative — known as The Montana Plan, or I-194 — that would prohibit political spending by “artifici...
SUNDAY, JUNE 21 00:19:24 Traffic Stop: I-90 01:00:13 Citizen Assist 01:51:52 Reckless Driver: I-90 06:49:33 Medical: Stanley St 11:12:37 Traffic Hazard 11:30:27 Medical: Coyote Trl 15:36:34 Traffic Hazard 17:08:22 Criminal Mischief: W Legion St 19:17:01 Trespass: E Legion St 20:02:08 Traffic Stop: N Whitehall St 20:21:07 Traffic Stop: W Legion St MONDAY, JUNE 22 08:03:46 Traffic Stop: Hwy 359 08:21:25 Traffic Stop: Hwy 359 08:33:11 Traffic Stop: Hwy 359 08:50:59 Citizen Assist: N Division St 09:...
Whitehall Indivisible (WI) attended one of several candidate Meet & Greets in lieu of our regular weekly meeting, held at the historic Whitehall Star Theatre on Wednesday, June 17th. Five candidates spoke briefly, then fielded questions from the audience. The candidates in attendance were the three sheriff candidates: Tom Grimsrud (incumbent), Dave Kosola, and Tom Voigt; District 2 County Commissioner candidate Richard Rhodes, and one HD 75 candidate, Pat Sullivan. Richard Rhodes is running against Cory Kirsch (incumbent), who was not present,...
SUNDAY, JUNE 14 07:31:38 Traffic Stop: Hwy 55 10:22:44 911: Hwy 2 W 14:27:24 Traffic Offense: I-90 15:26:19 Agency Assist: I-90 16:40:35 Dog at Large: Yellowstone Trl 17:04:25 Reckless Driver: I-90 17:05:48 Citizen Contact: W Legion St 17:31:22 Welfare Check: Hwy 2 E 17:47:12 Wildlife 19:20:22 Fire/Smoke Report: Cottonwood Rd 22:42:08 Vehicle Accident (Non-Injury): Hwy 2 W 22:46:31 911: Hwy 2 W MONDAY, JUNE 15 00:24:09 Agency Assist: Rolu Rd 01:23:43 Citizen Contact: W Legion St 09:42:09 Agency...
A 2026 Election Candidate Meet & Greet will be held at the Star Theatre (25 W Legion) in the upstairs Great Room on Wednesday, June 17th at 6:30 PM. This meet & greet is not a candidate forum, but an opportunity to meet the candidates personally, interact, and ask your questions in a public but personal setting. Light refreshments will be provided. Please enter through the Star Theatre’s main doors, then go up the stairs immediately to the right of the ticket booth. This event has been organized by DeDe Rhodes. The following candidates have bee...
