As of Saturday, February 20, 2021, Montana reports 98,641 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 288 new cases reported in the last day: 83 in Cascade County, 44 in Gallatin County, 23 in Yellowstone County, 20 in Missoula County, 19 in Flathead County, 17 in Lewis & Clark County, and more new cases in 21 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 2,426. Statewide, 4,517 people have been hospitalized. Currently, 78 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Yellowstone, Flathead, Gallatin, Missoula, and Lewis & Clark Counties. 1,341 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 496,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 28,100,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

At the Montana Legislature, an attempt to drastically cut the benefits of net metering was withdrawn Friday as advocates of rooftop solar power lined up to protest. Billings Republican representative Larry Brewster told the House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee that some information in his bill was inaccurate and they didn’t want to go through with the hearing. There were 49 people waiting to testify against the bill online and a few dozen more waiting outside the hearing. It was only 3:40 p.m., but committee chairman, Derek Skees, a Kalispell Republican, had ordered the committee sandwiches for dinner. The night was going to be long with Brewster’s House Bill 359 taking up a majority of the committee’s time. Few energy issues drive public turnout like solar net metering, in which homeowners with solar panels earn a credit for selling surplus power back to the state’s largest monopoly utility, NorthWestern Energy. After the meeting, Andrew Valainis, Montana Renewable Energy Association, said concern about existing NorthWestern customers with solar panels not being shielded from the bill’s consequences is what led to the hearing being called off.

Two new pieces of legislation that would cause broad shifts in the Montana college athletics sphere have been introduced in the Montana State Senate. One would allow colleges and universities in the state — both Big Sky Conference schools, Montana State-Billings, the six Montana schools in the Frontier Conference and tribal schools — to serve beer and wine at sporting events. Another bill would allow student-athletes at those same schools to be compensated for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) in Montana.

Bozeman officials say a bill in the Montana Legislature that would nix a key part of the city’s affordable housing ordinance would limit the city’s ability to respond to the housing crisis. Bozeman’s affordable housing ordinance, which requires 10% of developments of more than 10 homes be sold at affordable prices, has produced 17 homes and has been the subject of complaint from some in the building industry who feel it drives up the cost of other homes and burdens developers. House Bill 259 would prohibit local governments from requiring developers to pay a fee that would go toward providing homes at specified prices or for people in specific income levels or from dedicating property for that housing. It takes aim at “inclusionary zoning,” which is the basis for Bozeman’s affordable housing ordinance. The bill has passed the Montana House of Representatives and goes now to the Montana Senate.