Sometime during the night last Tuesday, April 28, or perhaps in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, someone spray painted a couple of messages on one of the Skate Park’s concrete walls and on the inside of the Band Shell at Claudia Driscoll Park in Hamilton. The park was closed due to the […]
Restraining order for Darby Lumber Lands II project denied
In a decision issued on April 29, Federal District Judge Dana Christensen denied a request from the Friends of the Bitterroot for a Preliminary Injunction/Temporary Restraining Order to stop the Bitterroot National Forest from proceeding with a timber sale associated with the Darby Lumber Lands II Project. The Forest Service acquired the former Darby […]
Re-opening has begun
The shelter-in-place directive that was instituted across the state to blunt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Montana expired on Sunday, April 26 for individuals and Monday, April 27 for businesses. Under that directive, Montana aggressively managed the virus with a series of actions including suspending nursing home visitation, closing schools, closing higher risk […]
Board of Health agrees to abide by Governor’s reopening plan
The Ravalli County Board of Health last week acknowledged and agreed to abide by Governor Bullock’s recently issued directive implementing the first phase of a phased reopening plan designed to get the state’s economy rolling again without jeopardizing the public health. Dr. Carol Calderwood, leader of the county’s COVID-19 Incident Management Team, told the board […]
Marcus Daly Hospital Respiratory Services up and running
For Bitterroot valley residents experiencing acute respiratory distress, help is only a phone call away and, if appropriate, a same-day appointment can be made to be examined by a nurse or a doctor at the Respiratory Services center located at Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital in Hamilton. The medical facility’s entrance is through a tent where […]
County Attorney clarifies county’s position on recall petition
In a letter to the Stevensville resident who is circulating a petition to have the Mayor of Stevensville recalled for violating his oath of office, County Clerk and Recorder Regina Plettenberg noted that the petition had been found to meet the “grounds and form” required for a recall petition under state law and thus was […]
RML releases promising study of antiviral drug remdesivir
Study supports COVID-19 clinical testing underway across U.S. A team of scientists at Rocky Mountain Laboratory (RML) in Hamilton, a part of the National Institutes for Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), led by Dr. Emmie de Witt, an expert in the field of designing animal models to simulate human diseases, has released a promising study […]
NIH study validates decontamination methods for re-use of N95 masks
Three methods effectively sanitized masks for limited re-use A team of scientists, under the direction of Dr. Vincent Munster in the Laboratory of Virology at Rocky Mountain Laboratory (RML) in Hamilton, working with collaborators from the University of California at Los Angeles, recently released the latest results of a study that validates at least three […]
School boards, Bitterroot College district, levy elections underway
Ballots for the upcoming school board elections and the Bitterroot College mill levy are already in the mail! According to Ravalli County Clerk and Recorder Regina Plettenberg, ballots were mailed out last Friday, April 17 and voters have until May 5 to return them. This election is a mail-in ballot only election and no polling […]
Petition circulating to recall Stevensville mayor
A petition is being circulated in Stevensville to recall Mayor Brandon Dewey for violating his oath of office when he signed a $79,800 contract for services with First Call Computer Solutions that had not been authorized by the Stevensville Town Council. Leanna Rodabaugh of Stevensville submitted the petition on March 30, claiming in her sworn […]
Family Shelter, Triple Creek team up to provide meals
Since it was founded in 2010, the mission of the Family Shelter of the Bitterroot has been to provide comprehensive services to help circumstantially homeless families in the Bitterroot Valley achieve sustainable economic independence. As part of that effort they began the Community Meals Program, providing free meals for anyone in the community who needs […]
Montana’s U.S. Senators keep pushing for federal aid
In a press call last week Senator Tester explained his vote in support of the CARES Act, the federal government’s $2.2 trillion package designed to lessen the impacts of the unprecedented impact on the economy by the COVID-19 emergency disaster. “It’s far from perfect,” said Tester. “It does too much for the big corporations and […]