As of Friday, May 28, 2021, Montana reports 111,718 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Montana, with 149 new cases reported in the last day: 40 in Cascade County, 24 in Yellowstone County, 14 in Flathead County, 14 in Ravalli County, 12 in Missoula County, and more new cases in 14 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana has increased to 853. Currently, 65 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. The most active cases are in Cascade, Yellowstone, and Flathead Counties. 1,612 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Five more deaths have been reported in the last two days. Nationwide, more than 593,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 33,200,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

While Idaho Governor Brad Little was out of state at a Republican conference in Tennessee on Friday, his lieutenant governor, Janice McGeachin, a member of the far-right, issued an executive order repealing mask mandates in the state. When Governor Little returned, he rescinded her executive order, describing her actions as a tyrannical abuse of power and an “irresponsible, self-serving political stunt.”

A temporary restraining order will keep a new law from taking affect allowing concealed carry of firearms on public college campuses in Montana. Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Mike McMahon stopped House Bill 102, which would have gone into effect on June 1. The Montana Board of Regents filed a challenge seeking to block the new law on Thursday.

Emergency crews rescued a man buried in one a sugar silo at the Western Sugar Co-Op in Billings Friday. The 55-year-old employee was trapped for more than four hours, with more sugar pouring over him for much of that time.