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Earlier this week, I skimmed our story schedule and saw that reporter Katie Fairbanks was planning to publish a longtime-coming piece — a report on how Missoula officials intended to manage a herd of feral horses that frequent a neighborhood on the city’s southern edge.
“Finally,” I thought to myself, seeing as the Missoula County Commission’s final deliberations had been kicked back again and again to accommodate wideranging public comment. I moved on with my day.
Shortly before we were set to publish that story, I saw a message and a question from our digital editor, Stephanie Farmer. “Are we tying the national debate about feral horses into our story about the Missoula feral horses?” she asked. “I’ve been seeing SO much about it online over the past few days.”
I shook my head, accepting that I was, once again, behind the curve on information swirling around the internet. “What national debate about feral horses?”
As it turns out, quite a big one. But, after diving into a few rabbit holes, I’d argue that “unfounded speculation” rather than “debate” is a better phrase to describe the truly wild discourse unfolding online about feral horses and foreign meat imports.
To recap: The federal government has recently intensified its approach to selling off wild horses that traverse public lands, as delineated in an August investigation by the New York Times. Per that reporting, the slaughter of wild horses is illegal in the U.S., but the sales practices of the Bureau of Land Management “create a loophole that enables people to get mustangs on the cheap and then quickly resell them to be exported alive, processed into cuts of meat and sold abroad.”
Enter another rivulet of information: the Trump administration’s announcement last Friday that it would allow 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported into the United States with lower tariffs for 90 days — all in an effort to bring down prices — without specifying which countries the meat would be coming from.
From there, internet commenters started smushing the two topics together: Horse sale news + cryptic beef news = a curious case of mystery meat news.
“People are now speculating that the beef you’re buying from the store might just be horse meat,” one TikTok user said, adding that viewers should share his video to help “spread the word.” As of this Friday, the post had been shared 10.5K times.
On Tuesday, PolitiFact pointed to that post and others as evidence that news about wild horse sales and beef imports had “ignited online conspiracy theories that horse meat is being covertly sold in U.S. supermarkets.” Horse meat is not allowed to be sold for human consumption in the U.S. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture uses laboratory testing to ensure that imported meat is accurately labeled and recalls any imports that go to grocery stores without going through the government’s inspection process. As of the time the article was published, PolitiFact noted, there had been no USDA recalls “regarding beef for being sold as horse meat.” The fact-checking outlet rated claims about horse meat masquerading as beef imports as “false.”
And yet. After Montana Free Press posted our article about Missoula local officials (not the federal government) establishing a process for private residents to capture the horses and place them with nonprofits, private landowners or the state, the Facebook comments started rolling in.
“I hope they don’t round them up and sell them for people to eat,” one commenter replied.
“What a coincidence,” another wrote, “while they’re rounding up other feral horses around the country and accusations it’ll be fed to us as ‘beef.’”
To use the guidance of the TikTok guy I referenced earlier, share this newsletter far and wide to spread the word that, according to the USDA, that’s not happening.
As it turns out, another MTFP reporter, Zeke Lloyd, was working on an assignment about how news of Trump’s beef imports was resonating with other Montanans — the ranchers who raise cattle (not horses) for people to eat.
The conspiracy theories swirling around the internet did not feature heavily in Zeke’s interviews with stockgrowers this week, he told me. They were much more focused on the future of their industry, tight profit margins and the general instability caused by the Trump administration’s shifting trade policies. In other words, they were much more concerned about reality.
You can read more of our factual reporting on beef and horses here and here.
— Mara Silvers
The Gist 📌
Gov. Greg Gianforte’s ‘Unleashing American-Made Energy’ task force published its final report of recommendations and strategies this week. The 22-member group, appointed by the governor, came up with 20 individual recommendations organized into seven themes. If your eyes haven’t glazed over yet, here’s the gist:
Overhaul how Montana makes energy policy. The task force recommended consolidating authority of the state’s energy policy to the governor’s office. Namely, the recommendations change the Public Service Commission so that the five commissioners are appointed by the governor rather than elected by voters, and establish a “state energy authority” led by the executive branch. Several recommendations aim to improve coordination among the PSC, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Environmental Quality. The other component would change Montana’s energy tax rates, such as having the Legislature remove property taxes on energy generation and transmission projects for up to 20 years.
Build more generation and transmission. The task force is recommending that the state encourage the generation of more electricity and the expansion of infrastructure to deliver those electrons to more places across the grid. That includes pursuing an “all-of-the-above” approach, but the report specifically mentions developing energy sources such as geothermal and nuclear.
Increase growth, decrease costs. The recommendations call for establishing policies that promote growth while protecting existing customers from shouldering the costs for large industrial users and data centers.
With the 2027 Legislature convening in five months (You’re welcome for the reminder), it’s likely we’ll see these recommendations inform policymaking during the session, similar to what we’ve seen from other task forces Gianforte has created in the past. I’ll be keeping an eye on how these suggestions may move through the statehouse. Stay tuned!
— Ellis Juhlin
Snapshot 📸
People gathered for a candlelight vigil Thursday evening at Veterans Park in Billings to honor the eight victims killed in a shooting and fire. You can find Phoebe Tollefson’s heartbreaking story about the vigil, with photos by Jessica Plance, here.
By the Numbers 🔢
The amount of money Montana is guaranteed to receive from a landmark settlement agreement with Meta Platforms Inc., the tech company that owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
Montana was one of 47 states to join a lawsuit alleging that the tech company’s products are addictive and harmful to children. The settlement requires Meta to implement new safety features on its platforms, including stronger parental controls, time limits for children, limited school-time access, age-appropriate content controls and stronger protections against bullying. The $17 billion settlement is poised to change industry standards for how tech companies treat young users.
In a statement on its website, Meta said it was “imperative” that “teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms.” The company also urged TikTok and YouTube “to join us” in adding protections for young people.
“While this is an important step, the fact is that teens move fluidly between dozens of apps a day,” the statement reads. “All platforms should empower parents and support teens by putting the same measures in place, because we know that when teens are restricted on one app, they simply move to another.”
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said Montana could receive $127 million if certain settlement conditions are met. He said in a Wednesday news release that the money would “be put to good use to improve safety and mental health resources for kids and teens in the state,” funding initiatives including crisis intervention services, after-school or summer programs, youth mental health programming and enhanced training for providers on social media use, among other things.
— Nora Mabie
Verbatim 💬
“He’s running like a frontrunner. He doesn’t want to say too much. It’s a cautious approach.” Jeremy Johnson, head of political science at Carroll College talking about Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Alme.
Every poll of Montana’s U.S. Senate race suggests Alme is walking on Easy Street to a big general election win in November. Alme has kept a low profile, granting few interviews and sticking to small, lightly publicized events, while getting favorable support from campaign mailers, digital ads and text messaging generated by super PACs.
Meanwhile, the candidates chasing Alme are inviting all-comers to events as they attempt to gnaw down the Republican’s lead. When polling of the race includes multiple candidates, Alme leads by as much as 15%.
Democrat Alani Bankhead is advertising a dozen meet-the-candidate events over a 10-day span. Independent Seth Bodnar also has three public events advertised in the same period. Libertarian nominee Kyle Austin speaks at length about current events on his YouTube podcast, with new episodes dropping every five days.
Alme’s friends and the elected officials who have promoted him to government positions speak favorably of the Harvard-educated former U.S. attorney. Alme’s campaign is asking voters to take the surrogates’ word for it.
— Tom Lutey
News of the News 📰
A little more than 10 years ago, Montana Free Press was one reporter, one website and a pretty straightforward idea: Montana needed more independent, in-depth reporting on its state government.
The circumstances weren’t especially promising. I’d just lost my job covering the Capitol for the Great Falls Tribune, and I was living in a log cabin on the Rocky Mountain Front, underemployed and wondering if there was any way to keep doing accountability journalism in this state.
Then readers like you helped build a way.
MTFP started as a small newsroom focused almost entirely on the Legislature and state politics. Ten years later, that work is still at our core, but the newsroom around it has grown a lot. Today, our reporters cover statewide policy and politics, healthcare, the environment, the economy, Indigenous affairs, local government and the many ways decisions made in Helena shape life in communities across Montana.
And we’re still growing.
This week, we announced that we’re hiring a statehouse politics reporter to strengthen our coverage of the Legislature, the governor’s office, elections, the state budget and the forces shaping Montana politics and policy.
We’re also recruiting for our third Indigenous reporting fellowship with ICT — a partnership that’s helped us invest in the next generation of journalists while building out thoughtful, sustained coverage of Montana’s Indigenous communities.
There’s something especially meaningful about marking 10 years by expanding our statehouse team. The work that gave MTFP its start more than a decade ago remains key to our foundation, even as our ambitions have grown well beyond anything I could have imagined in 2016.
That growth belongs to you, too. You read our work, shared it, supported it and gave this experiment room to become a real newsroom.
Thank you for helping us build it. We’re excited about what comes next.
— John S. Adams, founder & CEO
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
• Benefis Health System in Great Falls paid a hefty salary to the out-of-state doctor hired to run its emerging and troubled heart program. Local reporter Matt Hudson’s continuing coverage is here.
• As Phoebe Tollefson reported, a District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction that halts the state’s construction of a psychiatric hospital in Laurel.
• At least 41 petitioners have sued the federal government over what they maintain is their unconstitutional detention by immigration authorities. As Nora Mabie reported, a federal judge heard their case this week.
On Our Radar 
Ellis — In honor of Dolly Parton’s legacy, I’ve started re-listening to the podcast that first got me into the Dollyverse zeitgeist. WNYC’s “Dolly Parton’s America” was my comfort show during the early days of lockdown, and it has been heartwarming to revisit it seven years after it first aired. As a former radio reporter, I am in awe of any audio work that possesses that intangible, timeless quality. This show does it right. The playlist they put together is also worth a listen. Rest in peace, ma’am.
Nick E. — There’s been a lot of stories this week about Dolly Parton’s legacy, and rightfully so. This one, about how she wrote two of her biggest hits, “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” on the same day, is fascinating.
Zeke — Dolly Parton was half a century older than Sabrina Carpenter, the pop star who has topped my Spotify Wrapped the past two years. But despite the age gap, it’s clear that Parton had a substantial influence on the younger artist. You can see it in Carpenter’s heartfelt eulogy and hear it in their duet.
Mara — Some days, especially in journalism, working only 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. might be aspirational, but Dolly still nailed the vibe with her iconic hit. It’s also just one example of how her music gave the working class a powerful voice. Dolly might have intentionally sidestepped partisan politics, but, at least in my book, 9 to 5 is a political anthem.
Lauren — I saw a tweet after Dolly’s death that said, “Dolly felt like America when it was trying to be the place it promised to be.” In the onslaught of photos and videos of her I’ve been combing through after her death, I can’t help but agree. She was always herself, genuine, kind-hearted, witty and fun. She was truly the people’s princess. But most importantly, she reached out across every perceived divide with love and openness. And I think we could all use a bit more of that these days.
Stephanie — My daughter has received books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library since she was 6 months old, and it has become one of her favorite things. Each book comes with a photo of Dolly on the back cover, and when my daughter was little, she asked me who the woman in the picture was. I told her, and somehow, in her little mind, that meant Dolly must be family. She’s been lovingly known as “Aunt Dolly” in our house ever since.
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Lowdown is edited by Nick Ehli.