As of Thursday, September 30, 2021, Montana reports 151,033 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,217 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 236 new cases in Yellowstone County, 130 new cases in Cascade County, 125 new cases in Missoula County, 107 new cases in Gallatin County, 105 new cases in Flathead County, and more new cases in 41 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 11,763. Every one of Montana’s 56 counties reports active cases. Currently, 415 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 2,009 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Eight more people died of COVID-19 in the last day. Nationwide, more than 695,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 43,300,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

YouTube announced a total ban Wednesday on vaccine misinformation, and terminated the accounts of several prominent anti-vaccine influencers, including Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., citing “the need to remove egregious harmful content.” The new policy was crafted as the company began to see false claims about Covid-19 vaccines “spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general.”

The Ivory-billed woodpecker and more than 20 other species are to be declared extinct by the U.S. government. The rare decision to remove 23 species off the endangered list forewarns of the devastating impact climate change and habitat loss has on global biodiversity, threatening many other animals and plants with extinction, according to federal officials.

Bozeman voters will be asked on their November ballots to pass millions of dollars in property tax increases to fund bonds and levies. A $2.2 million facilities renovation bond is for $500,000 to renovate the roof of the Lindley Center, $600,000 for Bogert Pool and $1.1 million for the Swim Center to replace the outer shell of both pools. The bond will appear on city ballots alongside a $6.7 million proposed bond to relocate fire station two to Montana State University’s campus, and an affordable housing levy.