As of Thursday, November 18, 2021, Montana reports 187,530 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 739 new cases of coronavirus infection reported since yesterday: 132 new cases in Yellowstone County, 88 new cases in Big Horn County, 82 new cases in Flathead County, 82 new cases in Gallatin County, and more new cases in 37 more Montana counties. The number of active coronavirus cases in Montana is 6,855. Currently, 302 people are being treated in Montana hospitals for COVID-19. 2,540 people have died in Montana of COVID-19. Seventeen more people’s deaths have been reported since yesterday. Nationwide, more than 766,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. There have been 47,400,000 cases of coronavirus in the US, and counting.

A candidate for Congress in Montana has dropped out of the race. Democratic State Rep. Laurie Bishop bowed out of the race for Montana’s new U.S. House seat on Thursday, a week after Montana’s redistricting commission finalized new congressional district boundaries. The new maps left Bishop’s hometown of Livingston outside of the district in which she was running. Bishop will instead run for re-election to the state House of Representatives.

Bozeman city commissioners approved two code changes this week they hope will make it easier to build accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, and provide more housing. Accessory dwelling units — sometimes garages or small additions converted into residences — are relatively few in Bozeman, with only a handful of applications coming into the city each year.

A partial lunar eclipse early Friday was the longest, at 3 and a half hours, in 580 years. Skywatchers in many different regions, including North America, South America, Eastern Asia and across the Pacific Ocean, could see at least part of the celestial show.