Michael Howell

At its July 11 meeting, the Town Council voted unanimously to suspend council rules in order to skip consideration of the mayor’s appointment of Scott Owens as a new town attorney and instead consider awarding the contract to its current attorney, Brian West. With the rules suspended, they unanimously awarded the town’s legal services contract […]

When the local District Court ruled against the landowners along Hughes Creek who want to keep the gate up that blocks Hughes Creek Road at about the nine-mile mark, they took their case to the Montana Supreme Court. On July 9, the Supreme Court issued an order denying that appeal and supporting the lower court’s […]

In case you haven’t noticed, pickleball courts are springing up in the Bitterroot like mushrooms after a forest fire. It’s mostly got to do with the incredible transformation of Rick Trauth from an ordinary unassuming Bitterroot entrepreneur into a pickleball maniac who is as smooth talking as the Music Man. In this case the band […]

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 […]

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 […]