As of Monday, March 29, 2021, Montana reports 104,163 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 39 new cases reported in the last day: 11 in Flathead County, 7 in Missoula County, 7 in Richland County, 6 in Yellowstone County, and more new cases in 5 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 935. Currently, 42 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Gallatin, Missoula, and Yellowstone Counties. 1,436 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Nationwide, more than 549,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 30,300,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

Canadian coal company Teck Resources has paid a $60 million fine after pleading guilty to pollution discharges that have killed nearly all the fish in nearby waters. Canadian investigators found the mining company discharged hazardous amounts of selenium and calcite into the Fording River from two coal mines in the Elk Valley, just north of Eureka, Montana. Some of that selenium has been connected to fish damage in Montana Koocanusa Reservoir and the Kootenai River, resulting in strict new water quality standards imposed by the state Board of Environmental Review last year. The decision came down Friday in a Canadian federal court in Fernie, British Columbia. By reaching a financial settlement, the company avoided a full trial. The fine is 10 times as large as any previous punishment imposed under Canada’s Fisheries Act. Selenium is a trace element that causes reproductive damage in fish and other creatures in excessive amounts. Calcite, essentially limestone powder, seals over the streambeds of waterways where it’s released, blocking the growth of plants and insects the fish need to feed on.

In February in the Montana Legislature, Montana Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, and Rep. Steve Gunderson, R-Libby, led an effort to overturn protective water quality standards from selenium poisoning, arguing there was no evidence of fish damage and the restrictions on selenium could hurt the economy of Lincoln County. State Department of Environmental Quality Director Chris Dorrington disputed those claims, noting researchers had already found reproductive damage in Montana fish. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the same standards for selenium levels as Montana on Feb. 26, the same day the Senate Natural Resources Committee killed Cuffe’s SB 324 on a 7-5 vote that would have loosened the protective standards.

A serial killer who murdered a young boy in Montana has died. Joseph Edward Duncan died at the medical center near the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he was on death row. Duncan, 58, had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Duncan was convicted of killing four members of a family from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in 2005. He kidnapped two children, Dylan and Shasta Groene, from the family’s home and tortured them in Montana before killing the boy. Shasta Groene (grow-knee) was the only survivor of the rampage and was rescued when Duncan stopped at a restaurant in Coeur d’Alene and the staff recognized the girl. Following that conviction, Duncan was extradited to Southern California to be tried for the death of 10-year-old Anthony Martinez of Riverside County in 1997. Duncan, who is from Tacoma, Washington, was linked by DNA to the killing. He pleaded guilty and received a sentence of life in prison.

A man recently rode a horse through a brand new Town Pump store in Bozeman. Town Pump caught the event on surveillance video and shared the video to their Facebook page, jokingly asking that customers leave their horses outside when shopping in the future. “Now while we understand that you might have a codependent relationship with ol’ Paint,” the post read, “we do ask that you dismount, ask your bronco to wait outside, and enter our stores solo in the future.”