BELGRADE – As the holiday season kicks off, the Belgrade Police Department and the Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) are encouraging Montanans to plan for a sober ride home before celebrating. Historically, the period between December 15 and January 1 has a high concentration of impaired driving crashes and crash fatalities. Under the Vision Zero goal, Gallatin County law enforcement, MHP and the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) are committed to reducing fatalities and serious injuries on Montana’s roadways during the busy holiday season. Law enforcement partners across the state will be increasing patrols through the winter holidays and making Driving Under the Influence (DUI) arrests as part of the effort to help Montanans get home safely.

Montana law states that if drivers have a BAC (blood alcohol content) of .08 or higher, they could be arrested and face a DUI charge and other serious consequences, including having their driver’s license revoked, being required to take mandatory classes, and receiving possible jail time and up to $10,000 in fines and legal fees.

“If you’re drinking during the holiday season, make a plan for a safe ride home,” said Dustin Lensing, Chief of Police, Belgrade Police Department. “Winter driving conditions are dangerous enough, and adding alcohol to the mix puts everyone in danger. For yourself, your family and your community, make a plan for a sober ride before you start celebrating. Whether it’s designating a sober driver or arranging to stay at a friend or family member’s home if you’re drinking, having that plan ensures our community stays safe.”

Why is Montana law enforcement on high alert during the holiday season? These are Montana’s sobering statistics:
● Montana has one of the highest fatality rates in the nation for the number of deaths caused by alcohol-impaired drivers per vehicle mile traveled.
● In the last three years, over 60% of Montana’s crash fatalities have involved an impaired driver.

“Please celebrate responsibly this holiday season. Have fun, but don’t drive impaired,” said Montana Highway Patrol Colonel Steve Lavin. “We’ll be increasing patrols throughout the holidays to make sure Montanans get home safely so they can spend time with their friends and family. Do your part and plan ahead or call for a sober ride home if you’ve been drinking. Together we can keep our community safe.”

Montana Department of Transportation — Vision Zero
This is a Vision Zero message from the Montana Department of Transportation. This and other enforcement and educational campaigns are strategies to reach Vision Zero — zero deaths and zero serious injuries on Montana roadways. For more information about Vision Zero, contact Tammy Ross, Montana Department of Transportation, 406-444-9192 or tross@mt.gov.

Montana State University physics professor Rachael Filwett is pictured with a solar image Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Bozeman, Montana. MSU photo by Kelly Gorham

BOZEMAN – A Montana State University physicist who studies space weather and solar winds has received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to further her research and establish a hands-on educational program for high school students and teachers across the state.

“The NSF has been a huge supporter of my career,” said Rachael Filwett, the newest member of MSU’s Solar Physics Group, who was hired as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics in January. That position, which she accepted upon completing her NSF-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Iowa, receives funding from an NSF Faculty Development in Space Sciences grant.

But it’s the CAREER Award, designed to support early career development of teacher-researchers, that is considered to be the NSF’s most prestigious. Yves Idzerda, dean of MSU’s College of Letters and Science, said the award recognizes the expertise Filwett brings to the Solar Physics Group, which he called “one of the best space science groups in the country.”

“A number of our graduates are in leadership positions at NASA, which means we have a really strong set of influencers in policy aspects of space sciences,” Idzerda said. “Rachael has won a CAREER award, which is a trajectory you’d expect to see for somebody who’s setting policy for funding agencies.”

With the nearly $700,000, five-year grant, Filwett, a postdoctoral research scholar and two students – one graduate and one undergraduate – will embark on a study designed to further understanding of “space weather” in areas of the heliosphere known as “stream interaction regions.”

Space weather is caused by interactions of the space environment with streams of electrically charged particles, called plasma, released by the sun. Those streams — which some people may know as the “solar winds” — travel at different speeds along the sun’s magnetic field lines and collide in stream interaction regions, or SIRs. There they may experience forces that compress them together and can create shock waves. The shock waves, in turn, can cause the plasma particles to accelerate, thereby strengthening their potentially disruptive geomagnetic effects on objects they encounter further from the sun.

For example, when solar particles collide with Earth’s atmosphere, the energy often manifests as glowing auroras around the poles, commonly called the Northern Lights in this hemisphere. But more intense collisions also can cause geomagnetic disruptions that could result in massive, and potentially devastating, communication and electrical power disruptions. As part of the grant, Filwett will create two outreach projects designed to raise awareness of those realities.

“I want to make more people aware of heliophysics and that space weather is a thing they should care about,” she said.

Filwett studies all those phenomena both in the interplanetary medium — the space between the planets — and in planets’ magnetic fields. The acceleration of particles in SIRs was the focus of her doctoral dissertation, and her research under the CAREER grant will expand on it. As part of the project, Filwett and her students will compare records of solar activity against particle data collected during NASA solar and planetary missions.

She also will develop the curriculum for a new MSU course for non-science majors called “The Sun and Society,” which will cover the fundamental science about space weather and the sun’s workings and examine ways the sun has been viewed by humans through the ages. Filwett said that among other topics, the course could cover the beliefs of early civilizations and local Indigenous cultures about the sun; space weather’s role as humans travel more often in space; and the links between the solar cycle and crop production and prices.

The second project is the establishment of a statewide Space Weather Underground program in Montana high schools. Patterned after similar programs at the University of New Hampshire and University of Alaska Fairbanks, the program will offer free training to high school educators interested in teaching their students about sun and space weather.

Space Weather Underground will provide magnetometer kits to participating Montana schools, whose students will build the instruments and use them to measure magnetic fields on the ground and learn to analyze the resulting data. Filwett added that the information collected will benefit scientists at MSU because there currently isn’t a lot of that sort of data available in Montana.

“We’re looking to reach a wide range of schools over a wide geographic range. This will be a way to get good data,” she said.

John Neumeier, head of MSU’s Department of Physics, said the outreach program will be “a fabulous way to engage high school teachers and their students in a meaningful way.”

Idzerda predicted that Filwett’s expertise and enthusiasm will attract more students of all ages to the field of space sciences, including members of underrepresented groups.

“She has a passion for the field,” Idzerda said. “Students feed off that when they see that in a faculty member, so that’s exciting to see.”

Foundation expands work in Montana through new giving areas

ATLANTA and LIVINGSTON, MONTANA – Dec. 7, 2023 – In 2023, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation granted more than $6.5 million to nonprofits serving communities across Montana. The Blank Family Foundation has supported nonprofits in Montana since 2001, when the foundation’s chairman Arthur Blank purchased Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Emigrant.

The foundation has recently adopted new giving areas, the majority of which will find expression in Montana, growing its impact statewide. In 2023, the foundation granted more than $2.9 million to nonprofits in support of these areas.

• More than $1.7 million to support Youth Development, connecting young people in Montana to economic mobility, including a recently approved $919,000 grant to Montana State University to develop and pilot a new one-year Hospitality Management Certificate program
• $706,000 from the foundation’s Environment portfolio, $331,000 of which supports conservation efforts and $375,000 to support the deployment of clean energy
• $500,000 to support Mental Health and Well-Being through a grant to the Montana Community Foundation for Funders for Thriving Communities, a Montana funder collaborative that aims to catalyze collective action through philanthropy for greater impact on mental well-being in Montana with a focus on youth and families as well as Indigenous populations

“We are pleased to expand our giving in Montana to include these new areas of focus,” said Fay Twersky, president, Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. “We will continue to invest locally in Park and Gallatin Counties while also looking for opportunities to have state-wide or regional impact across the Intermountain West. We look forward to working with nonprofit partners and other funders to make a positive difference in the lives of Montana residents.”

The foundation granted $2.7 million from its Founder Initiatives portfolio, which is aligned with the interests of Arthur Blank, including a $1.4 million grant to the Montana Historical Society for the new Montana Heritage Center, a world-class destination and community hub that will connect thousands of people annually to Montana's rich history, and $750,000 to Mountain Shadow Association, a Native American-led nonprofit, to build the Crow Reservation’s first dedicated healing center for families healing from substance abuse.

$875,000 of the grants are from the AMB West Community Fund, comprised of a group of associates from across Blank’s four ranches in Montana who collectively recommend grants intended to enhance the quality of life for residents of Montana, particularly in Park and Gallatin Counties and Indigenous communities across the state. Grants this year address community well-being, nurturing childhood and thriving youth. A full list of 2023 AMB West Community Fund grants can be found on the foundation’s website: https://ambff.org/2023AMBWest.

The foundation also supported the efforts of the Atlanta Falcons to grow flag football in Montana, including providing grants to five local high schools to create girls flag football programs. For the last two years, the Blank Family Foundation and the Atlanta Falcons have supported girls flag pilot programs, with the goal of girls flag football becoming a sanctioned high school sport in Montana.

About the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation 

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation is a philanthropy founded to help transform lives and communities by uniting people across differences to find common cause. Started in 1995 by Arthur M. Blank, co-founder of The Home Depot, the foundation has granted more than $1 billion to charitable causes. Our collective giving areas are Atlanta’s Westside, Democracy, Environment, Mental Health and Well-Being, and Youth Development. Across these areas, we take on tough challenges by uniting the courage and compassion of our communities so we can all thrive together.

In addition to the priority areas of giving, the foundation oversees a large portfolio of grants including support of essential Atlanta nonprofit institutions, such as Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Shepherd Center, and enduring founder-led initiatives, such as veterans and the military and stuttering, among others. The foundation will also continue to guide the six associate-led giving committees operating across the Blank Family of Businesses. 

For more information, please visit www.blankfoundation.org. 

Gallatin County is in the early stages of identifying improvement options for three critical intersections on County roads between Belgrade and Bozeman. The purpose of this project is to identify potential improvement options for each intersection, conduct a detailed analysis of all options, and identify the best solution for each intersection. The analysis will consider multimodal traffic needs, safety concerns, environmental impacts, cost, feasibility, and input from landowners, stakeholders, and the public. Once a preferred alternative has been identified for each intersection, the County intends to move forward with design and construction as funding becomes available. The project intersections include the following.

• Alaska Road South / Cameron Bridge Road
• Alaska Road South / East Valley Center Road
• Love Lane / Durston Road

The county is hosting a public open house to provide information to interested parties about identified areas of concern, present preliminary findings, and gather feedback on potential improvements. The open house will be hosted in-person over a two-hour period, and the public is invited to drop in at their convenience to see what is planned and talk with the project team.

WHAT: Public Open House

WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 14 from 4-6 PM

WHERE: Gallatin County Courthouse (311 W. Main St. in downtown Bozeman), Community Room

​In addition to the open house, the county will also host a live virtual public meeting on Thursday, Dec. 14 over the lunch hour. The meeting will start with a brief presentation covering initial findings and an overview of potential improvement options. An opportunity for public comment will be offered at the end. The virtual meeting will be recorded and posted to the project website for those who are unable to attend live.

WHAT: Virtual Public Meeting

WHEN: Thursday, Dec. 14 from 12-1 PM

TO REGISTER: https://bit.ly/3R05cDJ

Pre-registration is required to attend. 

Community input is a very important part of the process. The public is encouraged to participate in the open house and/or attend the virtual public meeting to share their concerns, thoughts, and ideas with the project team. This project is intended to be a collaborative effort between the county, landowners, stakeholders, and the public. As such, all input gathered from these events will be considered by the project team as the project advances.

Comments can be submitted at any time to the project manager, Scott Randall, via email at srandall@rpa-hln.com, by phone at 406-447-5005, or by mail at 3147 Saddle Drive, Helena, MT 59601.

For more information about the project, visit https://rpa-hln.com/gallatin-intersections/.

HELENA – By order of the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission, the hunting of male mountain lions will close in Lion Management Unit (LMU) 130, except for Limited Special License holders, one-half hour after sunset on Wednesday, Dec. 6.

The mountain lion quota in this LMU have been met. For more information, visit FWP's website at fwp.mt.gov/hunt/by-species to check the current quota status, or call the toll-free number at 1-800-385-7826.

Gateway Conservation Alliance is calling for everyone and their brother, sister, cousins and uncles - everyone - to flood DEQ with emails protesting this Opencut Mine Application. Our voices count and they must be heard in Helena. Even if you've already submitted comments, please do so again.

Address your emails to: DEQOpencut@mt.gov
The subject of your email needs to be: “TMC, Inc. 3462”

If you prefer to use regular mail, send your letters to:

DEQ Opencut Mining Section
PO Box 200901
Helena, MT 59620-0901

Primary concerns are:

Gateway Conservation Alliance teams are evaluating this new application and will provide more updates ASAP. However, we wanted you to hear about this new development immediately to get the word out and those emails flowing.

HELENA – The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission will move the review of  proposed 2024-2025 black bear hunting regulations to its February meeting and add a final decision on the wolf administrative rule amendments to its meeting Dec. 14.

The change provides additional time for FWP to assess potential commission amendments to the FWP’s proposed black bear regulations, which have included statewide changes. The public comment period deadlines for the proposed black bear regulations and commission amendments will remain unchanged. Comments already submitted will be reviewed by commissioners prior to the February meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 16.

During the December meeting, the commission will take final action on proposed amendments to the current Administrative Rule of Montana (ARM) dealing with wolf management. The public comment process followed for these proposed ARM changes is outlined in statute. A public hearing to hear comments was held Nov. 3. Comments were received through Nov. 6. Comment at the commission meeting will be limited to whether the commission should or should not adopt the rule amendments as final.

For a full agenda, background on the scheduled topics and public comments, go to the Fish and Wildlife Commission page on the FWP website.

FWP’s website offers live-streamed audio of each Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting.