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Good Monday morning, Great Falls. My condolences to anyone who suffered serious damage from fallen tree branches after the recent heavy snow. In this week’s newsletter, I have a small side story to the larger reporting I’ve done about the Great Falls Catholic school system.
But first… heads up, Great Falls
NorthWestern Energy says that a drawdown of the Missouri River upstream of Rainbow Dam is expected to last through Oct. 23. It was originally expected to end Oct. 18. The drawdown allows maintenance work at Giant Springs State Park.
Donors received state tax credits on $77K
A program in Montana offers income tax credits in exchange for donations to a state-approved “student scholarship organizations,” or SSOs, which are mostly private schools. The schools are required to offer those funds as scholarships to students. It mirrors a similar tax credit program that benefits public schools.
In 2026, the state granted tax credits worth $77,400 through the program to two Catholic schools in Great Falls that have since closed. Those are St. Patrick’s Academy East (formerly Holy Spirit Catholic School) and St. Patrick’s Academy High School (formerly Great Falls Central Catholic High). St. Patrick’s East closed in the spring of 2026, and the high school announced closure just before the current school year began.
So, where did that money go?
In September, I asked Kody Diekhans, principal at St. Patrick’s Academy West, the remaining Catholic school in Great Falls. I spoke to him at a school choice event at the Morningside CORE school alongside Gov. Greg Gianforte and other local school officials.
He told me that the donations designated for the East campus, which totaled $28,900, were split between the high school and St. Patrick’s West, which is K-8.
The funds at the high school, including $48,500 in initial donations and any portion that came over from the East campus, are staying with the high school, Diekhans said.
“The high school, since they’re just not open for this year, they have not closed down; therefore, they still have their SSOs,” Diekhans said.
The semantics surrounding the high school’s closure have been a recurring talking point among Catholic officials throughout my reporting. In email exchanges, the church’s chief operating officer, Aubrey Hiller-Rearden, told me at one point that it was inaccurate to say that the high school had closed. Rather, “the decision was made not to open for the 2026-2027 academic year,” she wrote.
The church hasn’t announced plans to reopen, but Hiller-Rearden told me earlier this month that the effort is in its early stages.
A spokesperson for the Montana Department of Revenue confirmed in an email that unused student scholarship organization funds must be transferred to another approved school or organization within the tax credit program. The funds cannot be retained by the managing organization, in this case the Catholic Church.
Organizations must provide written notice to the revenue department when transferring such funds. The DOR declined to release notices to Montana Free Press or even to confirm the transfers, citing confidentiality.
The Great Falls Catholic schools viewed the scholarship tax credit program as a boost. At the Sept. 23 school choice event, Diekhans told the governor that it was a “miracle” that has boosted enrollment.
“I think we’ve been able to keep more students over the longevity of years than we maybe would,” Diekhans told Gianforte. “Families’ needs change, financial needs change, then we have that as kind of a backstop.”
St. Patrick’s Academy High School announced its closure at the back-to-school night in late August. Enrollment had been dropping as frustrated parents pulled their kids out of the Catholic schools, and more than half of the high school faculty and staff resigned in the spring of 2026.
Read the full story about the closure of Catholic schools in Great Falls here.
Verbatim 💬
“I don’t know that we’ve been operating long enough to be able to ascertain that it replaces anybody. It’s just more efficient. We’re hoping in the long run that it helps us with staffing.”
— Steve Galloway, owner of Zesty Eatz in Great Falls, on his robotic fry cook machine
Tech startup Miso Robotics issued a press release last week announcing that its fry-cooking robot will be sizzling up food at Zesty Eatz, a Fox Farm restaurant that was formerly a Dairy Queen.
The robot, called Flippy, looks like a tall, grey cabinet. Inside, the robotic fryers process about 100 deep-fried baskets of food per hour, according to Miso. It’s also powered by AI, which helps it identify the food and refine its process.
I called Steve Galloway, who owns Zesty Eats and other businesses alongside his wife, Lola. Steve Galloway is also a former state legislator and current candidate in Senate District 11. He said that the robotic fry cook improves cooking consistency and accuracy, contributing to the overall efficiency of the kitchen. But he avoided questions about whether this directly replaces a human fry cook, or perhaps multiple human cooks over multiple shifts.
“It isn’t so much that it’s all about staffing,” Galloway said. “It’s the accuracy, too.”
The fear of AI and robotics products replacing human labor has been a hot topic as those technologies have improved. And while Galloway said he hasn’t been operating long enough to determine whether any human labor was replaced, he did run a Dairy Queen at that location for years and has been in the business for nearly four decades.
One more thing: Galloway declined to say how much Flippy cost him (he answered “a lot”). One source said that it’s $5,400 per month, which comes out to about $14.51 per hour if Flippy works 12-hour days.
Photo Op 📸
Park and Recreation workers with rakes herd the birds during the annual duck roundup at Gibson Park Friday. After being coaxed into a cage, the birds were transported to their winter quarters.
Park and Recreation has a video here of the birds getting introduced to their winter home.
Eye on Local Government 🏛️
Cascade County officials held a mediation hearing Oct. 14 that stems from a former county budget officer’s legal challenge to 2024 solid waste fee increases.
Mary Embleton, the former budget officer, filed a petition in 2024 claiming that county commissioners failed to give proper public notice before passing a 45% increase to trash service fees.
That year, commissioners held informal “discussion” meetings on the solid waste program, which had no agenda and no time for public comment. For two formal special commission meetings on a proposed rate increase, supporting information, including the actual proposed increase, wasn’t available to the public until just before the meeting began.
In December 2024, Cascade County District Judge Elizabeth Best denied Embleton’s petition, writing that she “struggles to understand” what remedy Embleton sought. Embleton appealed to the Montana Supreme Court, which in December 2025 sent the case back to the District Court for a hearing. That took place Aug. 20.
The Oct. 14 mediation session was closed to the public. After the closed session, County Commissioner James Larson noted that they didn’t reach a resolution.
Great Falls in Brief ⏱️
The Great Falls Tourism Business Improvement District is courting World Triathlon Corporation to hold Ironman endurance competitions in Great Falls over the next three summers. On Oct. 6, Great Falls city commissioners approved the use of support services, such as public safety and park usage. The events would be in August of 2027, 2028 and 2029. A TBID official said that planning developments should be announced soon.
The city of Great Falls has several expiring board terms that need applicants. There will be two upcoming openings on the Airport Authority Board, three on the Park and Recreation Advisory Board and two on the Planning Advisory Board. The terms expire at the end of this year. More information about board openings and applications is here.
Montana Shakespeare in the Parks will present “The Comedy of Errors” at the Great Falls High School Auditorium Oct. 24. The performance is free in partnership with the Great Falls Public Library. The 80-minute performance will incorporate live music and starts at 7 p.m.
