BOZEMAN — The Bozeman Police Department is proud to sponsor the sixteenth session of the popular Citizens’ Police Academy. This free class will meet every Thursday evening from 6 to 9 p.m. over the course of eight weeks. The academy starts on March 21, 2024, and will run through May 9, 2024.

“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a police officer with the Bozeman Police Department? Do you often question why the Bozeman Police Officers do what they do or wonder what challenges the community faces? We aim to answer these questions and more at our Citizens’ Police Academy.  This highly interactive academy fills up fast and has a limited number of seats, so we encourage people to apply soon,” Officer Scott Vongehr stated.

One of the main objectives of the Citizens’ Police Academy is to have fun while fostering stronger communication between the citizens of Bozeman and the police department. It also aims to enhance citizen understanding and awareness of the role of the Bozeman Police Department.  

This will be a hands-on training with an emphasis on student involvement. Classes about the department and criminal justice system will be offered to the students so there can be a better understanding of the services the Bozeman Police Department provides to the community.  Students will learn about the different divisions, such as patrol, detective, and support services, all taught by Bozeman Police Officers. 

Those interested in attending or those with questions can contact Community Resource Officer Scott Vongehr at svongehr@bozeman.net or 582-2969. Applications can be found online at https://www.bozeman.net/departments/police/community-involvement/citizens-police-academy.

BOZEMAN – Hunter Education classes will be offered in several locations throughout southwestern Montana this year. Many of these classes are or will soon be open for registration.

All in-person classes are free. Students must be at least 10 years old to take a Hunter Education class. Students must be at least 11 years old to take a Bowhunter Education class.

The following Hunter Education classroom classes are scheduled in the region:

• Belgrade: starting Feb. 23
• Helena: starting March 15
• Butte: starting April 8 (tentative)
• Bozeman: starting April 15 (tentative)
• Logan: starting May 6
• Helena: starting May 17
• Clyde Park: June (tentative)
• Logan: starting July 15
• Livingston: August (tentative)

Students ages 12 through 17 who take Hunter or Bowhunter Education online will also be required to pass an in-person field day. There will be a field day for online Hunter Education students in Bozeman on March 2.

Hunter and Bowhunter Education courses are being planned in other areas. FWP’s website will be updated periodically as classes are arranged. To see what classes are available or to sign up, visit fwp.mt.gov/hunt/education.

Hunter, Bowhunter and Trapper Education classes are taught by skilled volunteer instructors, offering hands-on learning experiences and opportunities for students to ask questions of experienced instructors. Students learn how to handle firearms and archery equipment safely, basic survival skills, hunting ethics, wildlife management, game identification, landowner-hunter relations, and Montana hunting laws and regulations.

Montana law requires that anyone born after Jan. 1, 1985, complete a Hunter Education class or qualify as a youth apprentice hunter before purchasing a Montana hunting license. All first-time bowhunters must complete a Bowhunter Education course or show proof of a prior year’s archery license from another state or province.

BOZEMAN – A Montana State University doctoral student has been awarded an international prize for his experimental study of dinosaur nesting strategies.

Jason Hogan, a student of paleontology in the Department of Earth Sciences in MSU’s College of Letters and Science, received the Alfred Sherwood Romer Prize from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology after presenting his research at the society’s 2023 annual meeting. There, he described the experiment he devised to explore a possible evolutionary transition from the crocodile-like nesting habits of reptiles to those of modern birds.

Professor David Varricchio, head of MSU’s earth sciences department and Hogan’s faculty adviser, said it is only the second time an MSU student has won the Romer Prize, which is awarded annually in recognition of an outstanding contribution in vertebrate paleontology by a predoctoral student. The other was Greg Erickson, now a professor at Florida State University, who received the award in 1991.

Hogan’s award-winning experiment was inspired by about a half-dozen Chinese and Mongolian fossils of warm-blooded oviraptorosaurs sitting on nests of partially buried eggs. Those specimens – small, feathered dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period – were closely related to the lineage of modern birds.

Hogan said some researchers speculated that the adults guarded their egg clutches as modern crocodiles do; others believed they sat above the nests to keep eggs warm. Many scientists favored the first theory because they believed the ground would suck heat from the eggs, but Hogan wanted to see whether an adult situated above a nest could keep partially buried eggs above ambient temperature.

“Having a fossil of an adult sitting on a nest and knowing the adult was warm-blooded led us to a first experiment, which showed us it was not as inefficient as presumed,” Hogan said.

He also was intrigued by the oviraptorosaurs’ volcano-shaped nests, which contained rings of eggs placed at three levels. Such architecture and behavior are absent among species living today, but because the conical nests could accommodate more massive egg clutches over a smaller surface area than two-dimensional nests, Hogan speculated that may have allowed one adult to cover more eggs.

“It’s so odd that it has to be good at something,” Hogan said. “This behavior persisted through time, so they were clearly doing something well.”

To see if that something might include indirect contact incubation, Hogan built replicas of oviraptorosaur nests and stocked them with unviable emu eggs, which are similar to dinosaur eggs in mass, shell thickness and even their blue-green coloring. He placed thermometers into each egg, then set a surrogate parent dinosaur – essentially a 175-pound temperature-controlled hot water bottle – above the partially buried nests, then recorded temperatures of the eggs at pre-determined intervals. The results indicated that a warm-blooded adult sitting above a nest could transfer heat through the sediment into an egg clutch, suggesting a possible evolutionary link between buried crocodilian nests and the exposed bird nests seen in modern time periods.

Two papers describing Hogan’s work were published this year in the journals Paleobiology and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

Hogan, who holds a bachelor’s degree in earth and ocean science from Duke University and a master’s in science education from Harvard, has been at MSU for seven years. He decided to pursue a Ph.D. after teaching high school science for a few years because he was interested in teaching at the college level. He chose MSU for the opportunity to study with Varricchio and for the paleontology resources available at the Museum of the Rockies.

Varricchio said the Romer Prize recognized both the “very smart study” that Hogan conducted and his excellent presentation at the conference, which reflected his science education background and years as a science teacher.

“Winning the Romer is great for Jason, and also brings recognition to the paleontology work at Montana State,” Varricchio said. “I feel super fortunate to have Jason as part of our program.”

Hogan expects to finish his studies soon, then seek a teaching and research position at the university level. He said he is excited by advances in paleontology over the past 20 years, particularly the incorporation of more biology.

“There are lots of different ways to get into the field – you can dig in the dirt, be a biologist, study behavioral biology or be a statistician – it brings more life to the discipline,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

On February 10, 2024, at 2:34pm, West Yellowstone Police Department Dispatch received a 911 call from a snowmobiler who was recreating with a friend when their group was flagged down by a snowmobiler who had sustained serious injuries. The caller indicated the injured snowmobiler was unable to ride their snowmobile out and was in need of immediate medical treatment near Cabin Creek, 17.5 miles north of West Yellowstone, Montana.

Gallatin County Sheriff Search and Rescue (GCSSAR) volunteers from the West Yellowstone detachment, GCSSAR Big Sky detachment, Hebgen Basin Rural Fire District, and Gallatin County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the request for aid. The GCSSAR team members, along with law enforcement, communicated with the initial caller over cell phone to establish critical details leading to how best to serve the injured individual. Due to the remote backcountry location of the victim, it was determined the best and most efficient way for responders to assist would be through utilization of a helicopter. Billings Clinic Medical Flight Team was dispatched to assist with the rescue. Quick-reaction teams from GCSSAR West Yellowstone and Big Sky also responded with snowmobiles and a specialized snowmobile towed ambulance. The victim was air lifted from the remote backcountry location in Cabin Creek to Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Center for further evaluation and treatment.

Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer would like to commend the passerby snowmobilers whose quick action, effective communication, and GPS capabilities allowed the proper resources to be dispatched to ensure a hasty and efficient response from rescue teams.

Two Montana State University RadPC payloads pictured in a MSU lab on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Bozeman, Mont. Both computers spent time on the International Space Station before being returned to MSU. MSU photo by Colter Peterson

BOZEMAN – Montana State University doctoral student Hezekiah Austin recently received two packages with a unique return address: that of the International Space Station.

Each box contained a computer specially developed by MSU researchers to withstand the unforgiving environment imposed by outer space, known as RadPC.

Austin, who has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from MSU, was introduced to the RadPC project when he applied to pursue his Master of Science in electrical engineering, which he earned this past spring.

“Brock LaMeres interviewed me,” said Austin. “He mentioned that he had multiple grants available, one was going to the ISS. He eventually put me on that project.”

LaMeres, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, originally designed RadPC as an alternative to the large and expensive computers that are standardly used on spacecraft. The standard space computers can cost around $250,000, explained Austin, due to the parts inside them requiring special materials to withstand the radiation in outer space.

“RadPC is looking at a price somewhere between $5,000 to $20,000,” said Austin.

This difference in cost is due to the nature of the computer’s design. RadPC uses a processor that could be found in normal desktop computers, but it’s running special MSU-developed software that allows the machine to continue to function even when struck by a disruptive radiation particle whizzing through space.

Throughout the project, MSU researchers and students worked closely with San Mateo, California-based Stottler Henke, a company focused on artificial intelligence development for aerospace applications. During his research on the project, Austin outfitted RadPC to successfully interface with the company’s hardware and software.

Two payloads containing RadPC were sent to the ISS while Austin was working on the project. The first payload was in orbit for five months before it was sent back to Earth. Upon the computer's return to MSU’s campus, Austin and the team began to study the data from the computer's trip.

“This is the first time that RadPC has been used in a stressful environment as a full computer,” said LaMeres. “The unique part of it is that the payloads came back in time for Hezekiah’s master’s degree. It’s rare that you get anything back.”

The data presented from the ISS told the MSU researchers that their recovery mechanism was good, but that the computer’s design was not well-suited to be programmed by anyone other than members of the MSU team, explained Austin. He used that feedback to streamline things so that RadPC could be programmed more easily by anyone.

Soon after, Stottler Henke informed the researchers of another opportunity that would allow them to send this new iteration of RadPC back to the ISS.

“Naturally, we said yes,” said Austin.

This time, RadPC stayed in orbit for 13 months, and it took an additional seven months to get the payload back after its return. But, despite the long wait, the ISS payloads are both home and can be viewed in Norm Asbjornson Hall 324 inside the window display.

“By this upcoming August, we are looking to get RadPC as a commercially viable product that can be sold,” said Austin. “Long term I’ll be doing my Ph.D. research on adding in the capability of in-flight image processing.”

For more information about RadPC and its history at MSU, visit Brock LaMeres’ research overview website.

HELENA – Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will implement changes this year to the reservation process for state park sites. The changes will create more opportunities for recreationists to enjoy state parks and comply with legislation passed by the 2023 Legislature.  

Starting this year, visitors will have up to three months prior to their planned arrival date to make campsite and lodging reservations or purchase tour tickets. This is a change from the six-month booking window in the past. Visitors need to be aware that the maximum stay per site changed from 14 consecutive nights to 7. The last change allows at least 20 percent of state parks’ campsites to be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Sites are reservable from the third Friday in May through the third Sunday in September. People can start making reservations on Feb. 17 at 9 a.m. by visiting  fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/ or calling the call center at 855-922-6768.

Portland, Oregon-based musician/engineer/producer Steve Drizos, a professional touring musician for more than twenty-seven years and studio owner, can currently be found behind the drums for Jerry Joseph and The Jackmormons or helming the board at his SE Portland recording studio, The Panther, is gearing up to release his sophomore full-length album, i love you now leave me alone (Cavity Search Records) on February 16th.

Having worked with countless artists at The Panther, including Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers), Debbi Peterson (The Bangles), Spencer Tweedy, Chris Funk (The Decembrists), and Scott McCaughey (R.E.M., Minus 5, The Young Fresh Fellows), as well as his wife, The Decemberists' Jenny Conlee, Drizos is no stranger to both sides of the studio, culminating in his debut solo album, Axiom, which was released on Cavity Search Records in 2021. Written and recorded during the start of the pandemic, Axiom was Drizos' chance to experiment in the studio and make a solo album, playing most of the instruments himself. However, with i love you now leave me alone, he decided to demo everything and build a band around the songs, resulting in a powerful follow-up that finds the songwriter side of him growing and evolving, delivering another strong collection of eight powerful songs that find influence in 90s guitar-rock, pop, and folk.

"My first record, Axiom, got a lot more attention and positive feedback than I ever could have imagined, so I felt really motivated to release a follow up as soon as possible," Drizos says discussing the birth of i love you now leave me alone. "And where Axiom was very much done on my own, I wanted this project to be a band, tracking the songs live and having much more collaboration. Once I had a batch of songs that I felt good about, I assembled the players and got to work."

The band includes drummer Joe Mengis (Eels), Tim Murphy (RoughCuts) on bass and backing vocals, Todd Wright on electric guitars and backing vocals, and his wife, Jenny Conlee on piano and electric piano.

"I spent a decent amount of time making demos of these songs that were pretty fleshed out," he says. "The versions of the songs on the album are not very far from those demos, just played much better and with some much cooler ideas added in."

Whereas Axiom was introspective and about Drizos and his newfound sobriety, i love you now leave me alone focuses more on Drizos' loved ones and his relationships with them.

"Most of the songs on this album are about my relationships with those closest to me. Some songs are pretty direct, like 'troubled heart' is a song directly for my wife, while others are more of an amalgamation of people in my life. My first album was much more introspective, so I wanted this one to be looking out and talk about some of those relationships."

But, even with deep love for those closest to him, the self-admitted introvert decided to title the record with a saying he feels a lot. "I think it relates to the album in that the sentiment of 'I love you, now leave me alone' is relatable to most introverts like myself," he confesses. "Deeply loving those closest to us, but at the same time being pretty happy to be left alone. I had the title before I had any of the songs finished or even started. It kind of gave me a compass direction as to what the record was going to be about."

On the bouncy, warm pop-rocker "kick into touch," which builds into a driven rocker, Drizos sings:

Everyone I call home
Something I want you to know
You lift me up, you fill my soul
I love you, now leave me alone

"I think that pretty much sums up how I feel a lot of the times. I was worried that people would take that as being rude or insulting, but most everyone that's heard the lyric or I tell them the album title laughs and says, 'I get it!' I'm not the only one who feels this way."

When asked what the highlight of the album is for him, Drizos beams with excitement about the energy of the record, thanks to playing the songs live in the studio with a full band.

"Overall, I think the energy of a band playing in a room together was captured very well on this record. Even though there was a decent amount of overdubs, the foundation of the songs were all tracked live and I think you can really feel that. Songs like 'boomerang' and 'beautiful nothing' especially capture the energy."

Not only did Drizos work with a full band on his sophomore effort, but he also worked with a vocal coach to better deliver his vocals on this release.

"I worked with an amazing singer and good friend, Rebecca Sanborn, as a vocal producer/coach and she really pushed me to do things that I didn't think I could do. She took me out of my comfort zone and made me work for it and I could not be more pleased with the results. As someone who doesn't consider myself a strong vocalists, I am really happy with the results on this record."

While the record sounds fresh and contemporary, it is heavily rooted in and influenced by 90s rock, something Drizos contributes to the music he keeps coming back to.

"[90s rock] resonates with me the most," he admits. "Maybe at 50 years old it reminds me of a more innocent time in my life, maybe it's just really familiar and comforting. I love the energy and larger than life aspect of music from that era. Can it be overly earnest from time to time? Absolutely. But I'm not afraid to go there! As long as it's not ALL like that. I guess it doesn't feel like it was a choice to go in the direction of 90s rock, its just where I live most of the time."

When Drizos recorded and released Axiom, he had no intentions to play any of those songs live, and thus didn't. However, he approached i love you now leave me alone differently, with live shows in mind.

"I approached the writing and the producing of the album with the idea of playing live shows in mind, which I did not do with Axiom. I hope that the live shows are a pretty close representation of what the album sounds like. Since I don't really play live shows, at least as a band leader playing my songs, I'm not sure what to expect. I feel like I have found a great group of players that I feel really comfortable with, so I would love to bring these songs to a live audience."

The album's first single, "brooklyn 97202," is about his SE Portland neighborhood.

"I chose this as the first single because I really wanted to release it in the summer. It's a summer song, as well as a good example and introduction of what the band sounds like."

"Almost everyday I walk the same route around my neighborhood," he continues. "Most of the lyrics for this album I came up with on these walks. Last summer I felt hyper aware of the phenomenon that happens in the Pacific Northwest, after a long and dreary winter/spring, the lights come back on and everything turns from grey to technicolor overnight. And there is a collective lift in everyone's mood. The lights coming back on has definite parallels with the seasonal depression that a lot people suffer living in this area."

With the album's first single set for release July 21st, and the album set for release in early 2024, Drizos is excited for people to start hearing the record. And, while he made the record for himself, something he would listen to, he's not shy about admitting he wants people to hear it and connect with it.

"All I'm doing is making music that I enjoy making and listening to, and hope that others will get something out of it. I try my best to ride the line of believing this record is really good, wanting people to hear it and enjoy it, and at the same time not take any of it too seriously and remember its another record in a long line of records that have come before and will come after.

"I hope it gets to people's ears and they find something that they can relate to in it. I'm in a unique position where I'm not making a record for a particular fan base or planning a big tour around the release of the album. So the stakes are relatively low in those regards, which takes some of the pressure off. I love making records, I love collaborating with people I trust and respect, and I will keep doing that regardless. But at the same time I'm an insecure artist who wants people to like what I create."

On February 9, 2024, at 12:12pm, West Yellowstone Police Department Dispatch Center received a 911 call from a cross-county skier who had encountered a fellow skier who had injured their leg and lost consciousness for an unknown amount of time. The caller indicated that the skier was in need of immediate medical treatment near Jerry’s Journey on the Rendezvous Ski Trail, 2 miles south of West Yellowstone, Montana.

Gallatin County Sheriff Search and Rescue (GCSSAR) volunteers from the West Yellowstone detachment, Hebgen Basin Rural Fire District (HBRFD), and Gallatin County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the request for aid. The GCSSAR team members established due to groomed snow conditions and the injured skier’s location on the Rendezvous Ski Trail, a tracked four-wheeler and a snowmobile response would serve the patient best. GCSSAR members arrived on scene and assisted the patient. The patient was transported from the scene of the accident by a specialized tracked four-wheeler towed ambulance to a waiting HBRFD ambulance for further evaluation. The injured skier refused further medical treatment and was released after being evaluated.

Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer would like to commend the passerby skiers who provided detailed information pertaining to the location and extent of the skier’s injuries and waited with the injured skier until emergency services arrived on scene. Sheriff Springer would like to remind outdoor recreationists that having the proper equipment to establish location and contact emergency services leads to the quickest and most efficient response from emergency personnel.