Bitterroot Star

HIGHWAY PATROL MONTANA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE July 10, 2019 Lindsey Palmer, wife of Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Wade Palmer, has provided the following update on Wade’s condition: “Wade continues to make progress in his recovery. We returned to Salt Lake City on June 17 so he could undergo a cranioplasty procedure. The surgery went well […]

The City of Hamilton celebrated the opening of its new Justice Center with an open house last week at which citizens got a chance to tour their new facility located at the site of the old National Guard Armory at 910 West Main, that is at the west end of Main Street just across the […]

The Hamilton Skate Park was officially opened last Saturday, and Circle 13 Skate Park organizer Bryan Dufresne was on hand to welcome the many skaters, bikers and gawkers of all ages who attended the fun affair. Music and refreshments were provided for free and raffle tickets for protective helmets were sold to raise money for […]

The Stevensville Town Council, at a special meeting held on July 3rd, over-rode the Mayor’s veto of its appointment of Jim Crews to serve on the council. Crews, who was appointed to the Ward 2 seat unanimously at the last meeting. Mayor Brandon Dewey then issued a veto of that decision and refused to acknowledge […]

U.S. Senator Steve Daines today announced $34 million in Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funds to Montana’s rural counties. This year Ravalli County, which includes1,120,319 acres of federally owned national forest land, is slated to receive $2,537,051. Under the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Program, Montana rural communities will receive $34 million to […]

By Merle Ann Loman Bitter Root Arts Guild is busy again this year. It has selected a new scholarship winner and the 49th Art in the Park is Saturday, July 27. Caelen Devall is the 2019 winner of the Lois Wetzsteon Scholarship, which the Guild awards to a Ravalli County High School Senior. Caelen is […]

Randy Lint calls bailing out of his legal career into the coffee business “the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Unlike his wife Jennifer, who has excelled in her own legal career long enough to be appointed District Court Judge, Randy found being a small town general practice attorney was just not his cup […]

Dr. April Weinberger, a family practice physician at Corvallis Family Medicine and Chief Medical officer at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital, has recently been voted Bitterroot’s Best Physician in a poll of community members.   Weinberger grew up in rural Wisconsin and initially went to music school as a piano performance major. Then she had one […]

Water use restrictions that were implemented on Thursday, June 20th in Stevensville, remain in effect due to an additional well-pump failure in the Twin Creeks well field. According to a press release from the town, the failure occurred in the morning hours of June 28, 2019.  Public Works Supervisor George Thomas reported that the replacement […]

Despite the fact that Stevensville Mayor Brandon Dewey was sticking by his veto of the Town Council’s June 13th appointment of Jim Crews to fill the council vacancy in Ward 2, Crews was sworn in as councilmember by Town Judge Maureen O’Conner on the sidewalk in front of Town Hall on the following Tuesday, June […]

National Institutes of Health scientists have used human skin cells to create what they believe is the first cerebral organoid system, or “mini-brain,” for studying sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). CJD is a fatal neurodegenerative brain disease of humans believed to be caused by infectious prion protein. It affects about one in one million people. The […]

  Last Friday the Town of Stevensville received a letter from attorney Nathan Wagner, of Datsopoulos, MacDonald & Lind representing former Stevensville Town Clerk Audree Tribbensee, offering to settle Tribbensee’s complaints about bullying and harassment and her subsequent “constructive discharge” for the sum of $500,000. The offer is being made prior to filing any charges […]

At a press conference on Friday, Stevensville Mayor Brandon Dewey issued a veto of the Town Council’s recent resolution appointing Jim Crews to fill the vacant Ward 2 council seat. The mayor cites potential violations of the public’s right to know and the right to participate in public decisions as his primary concern. The Town […]

Last Thursday, June 20, the Town of Stevensville implemented water conservation practices due to the failure of a well pump in the Town’s well field adjacent to the Twin Creeks neighborhood. Public Works Director George Thomas reported that the pump failure was due to sand in the well. A separate well had failed a second […]