Government

  • Human Capital

    Ep. 714

    A 10-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated by a man in Ohio was denied an abortion in that state after the US Supreme Court ruled last week that it overturned Roe v. Wade, demonstrating the tangible impacts that the high court’s decision is having on patients seeking access to the medical procedure.

    A 28-year-old Helena man has been charged with multiple felony offenses including repeatedly raping a child younger than 13. David Allen Caves is charged with seven felony counts of sexual intercourse without consent, felony strangulation of partner or family member, felony assault with a weapon, felony sexual abuse of children, and his first misdemeanor partner or family member assault offense.

    A 21-year-old man who coerced a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship in 2021 was sentenced for felony crimes in Gallatin County on Tuesday. Oliver Owens Temple, 21, pleaded guilty to felony sexual intercourse without consent. The plea was not part of an agreement. Gallatin County District Court Judge Andrew Breuner sentenced Temple on Tuesday to an eight-year commitment in the Montana Department of Corrections. Five years will be suspended.

    The Bozeman March for Reproductive Rights partnered with the Bozeman United Way will hold protests every Friday evening at 7 pm at the Gallatin County Courthouse starting Friday, July 8. The group held a march on the Fourth of July with attendees carrying signs with phrases like “My body, my choice” and “I will not go quietly back to the 1950s.” The marches are growing in numbers following the US Supreme Courts’ decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and take away a woman’s right to abortion.

    Human Capital Ep. 711

    An American woman vacationing in Malta who was denied a lifesaving abortion while miscarrying was able to get care in Spain, the same day Roe v. Wade was overturned in the United States. Andrea Prudente, 38, and Jay Weeldreyer, 45, planned to leave their babymoon in Malta with a slew of pictures and cherished memories. Instead, they left on an emergency flight to Spain. Malta has one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the world — something the couple didn’t know before booking their vacation.

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  • Election 2021

    Candidate Forum

    On Oct. 28, 2021, the Bozeman for CEDAW Task Force held a forum for the candidates for the mayor and for three city commission seats, two four-year terms and one two year terms. The forum was held via Zoom and moderated by Lei-Anna Bertelsen. The participants were the candidates for mayor: Brian LaMeres, Terry Cunningham, and Christopher Brizzolara; candidates for the two open four-year city commission seats: Emily Talago, I-Ho Pomeroy, and Christopher Coburn; and the candidates for the open two-year city commission seat: Evan Rainey, Joey Morrison, and Jennifer Madgic.

    City Commission Candidate Forum

    On Oct. 21, 2021, the League of Women Voters, Bozeman Professional Women, AAUW, Bozeman Public Library, and Belgrade Community Library sponsored a forum for the candidates for three open Bozeman City Commission seats. The forum was held at the Bozeman Public Library and was presented as a Zoom meeting. The forum featured the three candidates for two open four-year City Commission seats: Chris Coburn, I-Ho Pomeroy, and Emily Talago. It also included the three candidates for an open two-year City Commission seat: Jennifer Madgic, Joey Morrison, and Evan Rainey. The forum was moderated by Sally Maison.

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  • Policies and Politics

    Northwestern Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan Proposal 2026

    On the evening of February 4, 2026 the large community room of the Bozeman Public Library was filled to capacity with citizens who attended a listening session as part of Northwestern Energy’s public meetings about their next 20 Year Integrated Resource Plan or IRP. It was the final of four public meetings held across Montana, after those held in Great Falls, Missoula and Helena.

    Under Montana law, regulated monopoly utilities such as Northwestern Energy must prepare and submit to the Public Service Commission (PSC) an Integrated Resource Plan every three years. These plans are supposed to detail how utilities plan to supply reliable and affordable electricity to their customers over the next 20 years. The IRP is a modeling exercise to help plan an electricity generation mix, that can keep the lights on during the most extreme weather days of the year. The information that Northwestern uses to create its model: assumptions, inputs, constraints, and goals have tremendous influence over the outputs the model generates.

    Mike Meis, community relations manager at Northwestern Energy’s Bozeman office, moderated the meeting.

    John Shafer, The Manager of Energy Supply Planning in Montana and South Dakota, gave a presentation explaining their Montana Integrated Resource Plan before more than 20 citizens added their public comments about the proposed plan.

    You can add your comments via email at this address:  IRP@northwestern.com  until March 12, 2026.

    State Futures Day of Solidarity Press Conference 1-29-26

    On January 29, 2026 more than 40 State Legislators from 13 states , including Bozeman State Senator, Cora Neumann, met in person; with more than 100 state legislators from 27 states who joined them virtually, to participate in a Day of Solidarity convened by the non-profit, State Futures, to highlight their coordinated legislative alliance to protect communities and confront increasing federal authoritarian tactics, such as experienced by Minnesota residents with the escalation of force by thousands of masked, heavily armed federal agents in the wake of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

    After their Minnesota State Senate Hearing on ICE activity in Minnesota at the state capitol in St. Paul, Minnesota, several of the state legislators from numerous states held a press conference, the audio of which we share with you.

    Thanks to State Futures for permission to share this recording. You can find out more about the conference and their work at https://www.statefutures.org

     

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  • Representing Montanans

    Senator Jon Tester – Bozeman Town Hall Meeting

    On April 16th, 2019 Senior Montana Democratic Senator, Jon Tester, held a town hall meeting in the ballroom of the historic Baxter Hotel in downtown Bozeman to a standing room only crowd. After a brief report of his recent work, he took questions from the crowd, ranging from Immigration, Health Care, The Violence Against Women Act, with particular attention to missing and murdered Indigenous Women, Veteran Issues, particularly the high rate of suicides, Wildlife and Wildlands Protection, Climate Change and the Green New Deal, as well as extricating US Troops from Wars in the Middle East.

    Tester on Montana community banks and Dodd-Frank regulations

    Tester’s bill, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, aims to increase access to capital by cutting red tape for community banks and credit unions, while protecting consumers against risky Wall Street bets. Tester took to the Senate floor today (watch video) to underscore the urgent need to provide community banks and credit unions with regulatory relief to prevent further bank consolidation in Montana.

    According to Tester’s office, Montana has lost 23 chartered banks since 2008: “Many of these banks have consolidated and closed down as a result of the costs related to complying with regulations that were targeted to reign in the behavior of the nation’s largest financial institutions.”

    An Associated Press fact check of Montana banking statistics was carried in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

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