2020 Election
Citizens’ guide: Montana’s 2020 election
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What you need to know as Montana’s 2020 candidates compete for your vote
Public Service Commission
PSC attorney: Commissioners showed bias about solar projects — but not too much
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Solar advocates have argued that Montana’s elected Public Service Commissioners, all Republicans, have created a hostile environment for solar development by setting rates too low for solar farms to be economically viable.
Long Streets Project
What jobs may come
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State labor department figures released in late September estimate 62,300 job openings in Montana each year through 2028. What they pay, and whether you can get them, has a lot to do with education.
Long Streets Project
Student enrollment is up statewide, but dwindling numbers threaten to squeeze rural schools
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For districts in agricultural towns on the state’s eastern plains, a decades-long trend toward larger farms and fewer ag families means there are fewer students to go around.
National Parks
Federal watchdog says Daines-backed budget stopgap to keep parks open during winter shutdown was illegal
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The GAO’s Sept. 5 opinion said the maneuver “tears at the very fabric of Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.”
Economy
Five takeaways from the state’s annual Labor Day economy report
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Jobs and wages are up in Montana, but benefits aren’t felt everywhere.
State ethics chief recommends bringing lobbying code ‘into the 21st century’
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As the way influence is peddled in the Capitol evolves with technology, the law may not be keeping up.
Long Streets Project
Montana is the oldest state in the West. Demographics tell the tale.
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Who’s the grayest of them all? Among western states, it’s Montana