In their 30+ years of writing and performing together, Billboard-charting acoustic duo Storyhill releases their first holiday album Bethlehem. Embracing the full depth and meaning of the Advent and Christmas season, the album leans into the message of hope for a more peaceful world.

Storyhill’s Chris Cunningham and John Hermanson started working on the album in 2019 when they were touring behind their 30th anniversary release Where to Begin. They were in Chris’ living room in Bozeman, Montana on the first day of summer woodshedding parts to “Lo, How a Rose Is Blooming” when, as if on cue, dark clouds came rolling over the mountains releasing a flurry of snow that covered the green grass and dandelions in the yard. Two inches had fallen by the time they finished their arrangement of the hymn. From that auspicious beginning, the duo continued to write new songs and rework familiar holiday favorites like “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” for which they crafted a new melody.

“We wanted to make a record that added something new to the conversation about the Christmas story--a vision that flips the narrative of this world and makes the first last, the last first and lifts up the lowly among us,” John says. “We wanted to explore the story of a poor refugee, born in a manger, because no one would take him in.”

These themes became increasingly relevant as their touring came to an abrupt halt in March 2020 with the onset of the pandemic. During that time they worked remotely with Chris in Bozeman and John in St. Paul, Minnesota. When it was safe, John drove his 1970 VW bus out to Montana for some extended recording sessions, parking his camper in Chris’ backyard next to the chicken coop.

Although both experienced engineers who have produced countless projects for other artists, Chris and John had never produced their own Storyhill albums without additional producers and engineers. Making Bethlehem provided a unique opportunity to capture themselves at their best, recording all but two tracks at Chris’s studio Basecamp Recording. “We gave ourselves the time and space to find our natural rhythm for performing these songs to our highest potential,” Chris says. “It was liberating being the only two cooks in the kitchen--free from the clocks and distractions of others.” The originals “Could It Be” and “The New Colossus” (adapted from the Emma Lazarus poem) were recorded at Sacred Heart in Duluth--a spacious cathedral-turned-music center that lends an ethereal quality to these reverent songs. Adding just the right amount of extra ornamentation and dimension to the record are a few of their favorite musicians--Tom Murphy (mandolins), Heidi Nagel (cello), Mike Parsons (upright bass, fiddle, banjo), and Mai Bloomfield and Marcie Lovgren (background vocals). 

Centered solidly around Chris and John’s acoustic guitar work and unearthly brotherly harmonies, Bethlehem is sure to delight Storyhill fans and become a Christmas folk classic, providing an oasis of peace and calm in a time when we need it most.

STORYHILL is a modern folk duo that brings brotherly harmonies, infectious melodies and smart story songs together in one perfect package. Their beautiful music and passionate performances have won them much critical acclaim and devoted fans (“Hill Heads”) all over the country. Celebrating over 30 years of playing together, members Chris Cunningham and John Hermanson breathe and play as one unit, showing why Billboard and the Austin Chronicle have likened them to the great songwriting duos of our time--Simon & Garfunkel, the Indigo Girls, The Everly Brothers and The Jayhawks’ Gary Louris & Mark Olson. They have charted on Billboard and have been favorites on national radio shows like Mountain Stage and A Prairie Home Companion.

Chris and John started performing together as teenagers, while living in Bozeman, Montana. Both were musical from the get-go, singing with choirs and playing in bands. Although their 7thgrade world geography class is what ostensibly brought them together, it was their musical passions that made them close friends and lifelong musical collaborators. They recorded their first tape as Chris and Johnny in 1989, upon graduating from high school. Although they then temporarily parted ways—Chris going to Spain and John to Minnesota for college—they continued to play music, reuniting at St. Olaf College. After graduating in 1993, they toured the country full-time for four years--recording as independent artists and selling more than 50,000 records. Although Chris and John, or Storyhill as they were now known, were at the pinnacle of their career, they were exhausted from the travel and finding themselves pulled in different directions. They decided to call it quits. Chris went west and eventually settled down back in Bozeman while John moved to Norway and then back to Minneapolis. They each started families, built their own recording studios and worked on separate musical projects.

Storyhill fans continued to clamor for more, so in 2001 Chris and John played a few sold-out reunion shows in Minnesota and Montana. Discovering the old chemistry was still there along with some new creative energy, they reformed Storyhill and fully committed themselves to touring and recording as a duo. They enlisted the help of rock/pop songwriter and Grammy winner Dan Wilson (Semisonic, Dixie Chicks, Trip Shakespeare) to produce Storyhill’s next album, their first to be released on independent roots label Red House Records. The album, simply named Storyhill, was a return to the basics that had made the duo so popular—strong melodic songs. While the album was largely acoustic, Wilson added some extra instrumentation while noted drummer Eric Fawcett (N.E.R.D., Mike Doughty, Spymob) rounded out the Americana sound. Released in 2007, Storyhill received rave reviews and was selected as the Best CD of the Year by the Indie Acoustic Project. They also went on to win the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Contest, which launched such acclaimed songwriters as John Gorka, Robert Earl Keen and James McMurtry. After recording two critically acclaimed albums on Red House, the duo decided to take an open-ended hiatus to reflect and recharge, focus on their families and work on some of their individual projects. Chris continued producing records for other artists out of his studio, Basecamp Recording while releasing solo recordings and playing periodically with select local players. John also released two solo albums and founded a music production company called Egg Music. 

Meanwhile that magical spark, born out of years of writing, recording and performing together, continued to burn brightly. Inspired by their sold-out 30th Anniversary shows and the old material that they relearned for the tour, Chris and John are back at it with renewed energy, releasing two new albums in the last year--Where to Begin and their holiday album Bethlehem.

For more information about Storyhill, visit www.storyhill.com. For publicity and interview requests, email efspublicity@gmail.com.

To speak your mind well, you need to have a broad vocabulary. Many experts agree on this. Sometimes it happens that a student is pretty good at answering in class, but while working on his research paper, he can't put a few words together and has to turn to for help, asking, “Do my assignment for me, please.” If you think of improving your vocabulary, there are different ways to boost it. So, let’s find them out!

Reading Is Everything
No matter how worn-out this piece of advice may seem, it will always be effective. You can memorize a few new words during communication, but you can only expand your vocabulary through regular reading of different literary genres. Don’t avoid reading literature that is difficult to read.  Reading at least 15 minutes daily is the key to success. 

You probably have planned to start reading your favorite book for a long time and wait for the right moment. This time finally came. Write “Please, do an essay for me” to a credible writing agency and enjoy a book.

While reading, you will find out a ton of unknown words you should put down and look them up in the dictionary. Of course, you may ignore an unknown word, but if a book is long, you will come across this word a dozen times, and a novel might not be clear to you. You aren’t eager to waste time reading the book with no stated content, are you?

Learn Poems, Quotes, and Aphorisms
It's much more pleasant to learn catchphrases than to cram dictionary items one by one. Mark and write down everything you liked. Learn, repeat, and reread. Over time, you will have more interesting expressions in your vocabulary. It's not just about spicing your speech up. Imagine how great it would be to show off your knowledge by having a conversation. Just don't be too hard on quotes and high-sounding statements: you may be mistaken for a snob.

Use Mobile Apps for Your Benefit
Your smartphone can not only help to brighten up your leisure time with music and games downloaded to it but also to boost your writing skills. You just need to learn how to use it correctly. Find and install applications on your smartphone where difficult and unusual words are explained, and you have an example of their use.

As a rule, the application’s words are divided by the difficulty level and different categories — from travel to chemistry. One more advantage of the digital cards is that they have pictures, in combination with which words are better remembered. This will help if you can't take the time to find new interesting words and their meanings. All you have to do is to learn them and practice them.

Play Games
It would seem that playing games is not quite a serious approach to increase your vocabulary, but what an efficient way! Solving puzzles and crosswords could be your hobby that combines hard brain work and rest. 

Playing games like Scrabble and Cranium will improve your vocabulary and be fun for you to do. Taking advantage of a speedy paper discount code will provide you with a chance to spend a good evening with friends playing mind games.

Don’t Be Lazy to Write Every Day
Writing is a great way to apply what you have learned and practice it. Write every day using the words you have found while reading. Start a blog or write a diary. Every day, describe your thoughts and events in perfect detail. Write about your goals and wishes and make up stories. Chatting with friends, avoid unfinished messages, and don't use emojis instead of words. This may seem strange to some of your friends, but who says you should not stand out from the crowd and leave your goal?

Feel too busy to let yourself spend precious time practicing research writing skills as you are buried in college assignments? Try a win-win option of your classmates who have ordered papers on www.papercoach.net regularly and have enough free time to do crucial things. As long as you get help writing an essay, you'll boost your writing skills to be a research pro writer.

Learn a Foreign Language
Learning a foreign language is not only an opportunity to go to another country, career progress and a chance to meet new people, and it's also a good brain training. A foreign language will make you pay attention to your native language. You'll be more careful with grammar and syntax, and you'll start to choose words more carefully. Besides, while learning a foreign language, you practice memorizing new words and introducing them into the active vocabulary.

Interact With Different People
Don't be shy to communicate with dissimilar people. Every new person changes you. So, try to expand the circle of people you talk to. They may be your friends, classmates, colleagues, training partners, shop and market sales, people in social networks and forums, etc. In other words, the vocabulary volume depends on the social circle.

Two grizzly bear mortalities were recently reported inside the demographic monitoring area of Montana's portion of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE).

A grizzly bear was reportedly shot and killed in a self-defense situation on Oct. 25 in Indian Creek of the Madison Range. The person involved in the incident left the site and contacted Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks law enforcement officers. No people were injured during the incident.

FWP staff confirmed the bear mortality. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) is investigating the incident with assistance from FWP. 

The USFWS and FWP are also investigating a separate human-caused grizzly bear mortality in the Madison Range that happened on Oct. 30. Because the incident is currently under investigation, no further information is available at this time.

Grizzly bears are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and managed by the USFWS. Known and probable grizzly bear mortalities in the GYE can be found on the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team's website: https://go.usa.gov/xGwAJ.

Although it’s late into the fall and there’s snow on the ground, grizzly bears can still be active. If you are recreating in the western half of Montana, please be prepared to encounter a grizzly bear. This includes:

• Carry bear spray and know how to use it.
• Stay alert and look for bear activity, especially where visibility and hearing are limited.
• Travel or hunt in groups and, if possible, avoid travel at dawn and dusk.
• Make your presence known by making noise. If hunting, make sure to be extra cautious of your surroundings to avoid a surprise encounter.
• Avoid carcass sites and scavenger concentrations.
• If you're successful in harvesting an animal, remove it from the field as quickly as possible. If you have to leave part of the carcass overnight, hang it in a tree in a spot you can observe from several hundred yards away so as not to surprise a bear when you return.

BOZEMAN, Montana (November 20, 2020) – It is no secret that the Gallatin Valley is expanding rapidly and that this growth is putting significant pressure on existing infrastructure. Fortunately, the Montana Department of Transportation is helping travel flow easier, one project at a time. The Department announced today that two-way travel on Rouse Avenue from Main Street to Oak Street is now fully open.

“Road users can now breathe a sigh of relief as we have completed improvements to the roadway, meaning no more major closures on Rouse Avenue,” William Fogarty, Butte District Administrator for the Montana Department of Transportation, stated. “That said, Rouse Avenue residents can expect to see workers on the side of the road this upcoming spring as we put the finishing touches on the Rouse Ave – Main to Oak project.”

 
Work during the spring of 2021 will include finishing sidewalks, pouring concrete entrances, landscaping, and fully clearing the area of construction equipment. Drivers may see flaggers in place to assist with travel around workers, but no major lane closures are expected. Pedestrians and cyclists should exercise caution when traveling on Rouse Avenue as sidewalks are not fully complete and the newly constructed bike lane may not be fully available as crews work on the side of the road.


The Rouse Avenue – Main to Oak project is a full reconstruction of Rouse Avenue from Main Street to Oak Street. Drivers can now utilize a center turn lane throughout the corridor. Crews also completed a much-needed storm drain replacement, installed two new box culverts – tunnel-like structures – over Bozeman Creek, upgraded several traffic signals and intersections, and rebuilt the multiple layers of road itself. 

Those looking for more information on the Rouse Ave – Main to Oak project are advised to email takami@bigskypublicrelations.com or call the project hotline at (406) 207-4484. More information can also be found online at bitly.com/rouseavenue.
 
Alternative accessible formats of this document will be provided upon request. Persons who need an alternative format should contact the Office of Civil Rights, Department of Transportation, 2701 Prospect Avenue, PO Box 201001, Helena, MT 59620. Telephone 406-444-5416 or Montana Relay Service at 711.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologists will capture mountain goats in the Bridger Range next month as part of a study that will help inform mountain goat and habitat management.

The project will entail capturing 30 mountain goats, sampling them and outfitting them with GPS collars. The captures are scheduled to happen between Dec. 10 and 18.

One of the purposes of the capture is to assess the overall health of the mountain goat population, including their infection with respiratory and other pathogens and parasites, their body condition and pregnancy rates. Another purpose is to collect mountain goat movement data to understand their seasonal ranges and movement corridors and evaluate the effects of human recreation on goat habitat use.

FWP staff conduct similar capture projects each year throughout Montana to better understand wildlife health, movement and habitat. These studies provide meaningful data that inform wildlife management and highlight opportunities for habitat enhancement in many places.

The Bridger Range has held a healthy population of mountain goats since they were introduced in 1969. The most recent mountain goat classification survey in 2019 found an all-time high of 127 goats in the Bridgers. This herd provides recreation opportunities for many wildlife enthusiasts.

People who live and recreate in the Bridgers may see a helicopter in the area during the mountain goat capture project. FWP asks people who recreate here to keep their distance from the helicopter.

Hunter success picked up over the fourth weekend of the general deer and elk hunting season in southwest Montana, with fresh snow that made tracking wildlife easier in some places.
 
Wildlife biologists with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks operated several check stations during all or part of the fourth weekend of the season — Nov. 14 and 15. In total, biologists met with 776 hunters (an increase of about 200 hunters from the previous weekend) at check stations in Cameron, Gallatin, Divide and the lower Blacktail Deer Creek watershed.

Biologists use check stations to collect data on hunters’ participation, success and wildlife observations, as well as the species, sex and age class of the animals harvested. This supplements data collected through hunter harvest phone surveys.
 
This was the busiest weekend at the Cameron station this season, with 313 hunters, but hunter numbers here remained below the long-term average. Hunter success at the Cameron check station was 11.8 percent. The Gallatin check station saw 103 hunters, and hunter success there more than doubled from the previous week to 14.6 percent. The Divide check station saw 224 hunters, with a hunter success rate of 8.5 percent. Nine percent of the 136 hunters that came through the check station on lower Blacktail Deer Creek were successful.

 
Over the weekend, biologists checked 50 elk, 18 mule deer and 7 white-tailed deer, among other species.
 
These figures do not account for different hunting season regulations over the years, which have varied from liberal to restrictive for elk and mule deer, depending on population status.

The chronic wasting disease sampling station in Bozeman has been closed due to COVID-19.

This station was located at FWP’s Bozeman office, 1400 S. 19^th Ave.

Hunters who need help collecting CWD samples from their harvested deer, elk or moose can find alternative sampling station locations at https://buff.ly/35vFbWh. Hunters can also access resources from FWP on how to collect and submit samples themselves by visiting https://go.usa.gov/x7EGX.

Simulation in Motion Montana (SIM-MT) has received a $20,000 award from the Sibanye-Stillwater Community Giving program. This award will allow for simulation training services for up to eight EMS/fire agencies in the catchment area of south central Montana Sibanye-Stillwater operations.

The rural agencies who will benefit from SIM-MT’s world-class simulation training are the primary 911 response for more than 7,000 square miles of south central Montana, including response for mine employees. As a result of this grant, the eligible first responders will receive sophisticated, high-fidelity simulation training to prepare them to more effectively respond to injuries. “Sibanye-Stillwater is so grateful for its local emergency responders, many of whom are graciously donating their time and skills as volunteers, and believes this training will enable these emergency responders to give back even more to our local communities,” says Marlena Ferguson of Sibanye-Stillwater.

Beneficiaries of this training are not just first responders. In fact, the primary benefit will be for patients needing critical care in these rural communities. High fidelity simulation training improves first responders’ abilities to provide effective immediate treatment at the site of an accident and/or in transit to a hospital, which is crucial to improving positive outcomes for all patients. SIM-MT brings that level of training to EMS agencies’ front doors. 

The Helmsley Charitable Trust will match this gift dollar for dollar, which will support SIM-MT in reaching additional facilities and responders across the state. “SIM-MT, along with its project partner, Best Practice Medicine, is excited for the opportunity to provide training to first responder agencies in south central Montana and grateful for the support of Sibanye Stillwater in our efforts to do so,” said Sara Kaull, Interim Executive Director of SIM-MT. “This grant from Sibanye-Stillwater, and the match provided by the Helmsley Charitable Trust, are critical to our ability to bring this caliber of high fidelity simulation training directly to underserved first responder agencies in Montana.”

For more information on SIM-MT’s mobile simulation services, visit our website: www.simmt.org. 

BOZEMAN – Hunter numbers and success continue to vary in southwest Montana as recent snowfall facilitated some harvest opportunity while creating challenges for travel and access.
 
Wildlife biologists with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks operated several check stations during all or part of the third weekend of the season — Nov. 7 and 8. In total, biologists met with close to 600 hunters at check stations in Alder, Cameron, Gallatin and Divide.
 
Biologists use check stations to collect data on hunter participation and success, as well as the species, sex and age class of the animals harvested. This supplements data collected through hunter harvest phone surveys.
 
The Alder check station saw 233 hunters, 14 percent of whom harvested an animal. This was the highest success rate for hunters at this check station so far this year. The Cameron check station saw 206 hunters, with a success rate of 6.4 percent, slightly lower than the long-term average of 7.8 percent. The Gallatin check station, which operated only on Nov. 7, saw 57 hunters, 7 percent of whom were successful. 

In a preliminary total, biologists checked about 28 elk, 18 mule deer and 7 white-tailed deer, among other species.
 
These figures do not account for different hunting season regulations over the years, which have varied from liberal to restrictive for elk and mule deer, depending on population status.