Traversing dirt roads in Montana’s undulating prairie landscape on a hot summer day is an exercise in avoiding deep ruts, while watching the horizon for oncoming thunderstorms that might strand a driver in the slick clay soil. Water here is precious and essential for life - but also can arrive in destructive flows, sometimes flooding and sometimes sliding the foundation out from under highways.

cluding size, percent contained, and fire cause. It also includes information on the total number of fires and acres burned in Montana this calendar year. As of Monday afternoon, there are currently 88 active fires in the state, with 13 starts in the last 24 hours. There have been 1,794 fires this year, with more than 468,158 acres burned to date this year. In the past week alone, the number

The Energy and Natural Resources Committee has advanced more than $300 million in Montana-specific water projects secured by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework he recently negotiated with a group of his Republican and Democratic colleagues and the White House. Tester is a member of the core negotiation group along with Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy,

Johnson from Warm Springs, Ore., won teen girls’ fancy. Brockton’s Wyatt Spotted Bird won junior boys’ fancy. Berkeley Chaske from Spirit Lake, N.D., won junior boys’ traditional. Donald Iceman from Poplar won junior boys’ grass. Wambdi Chaske won teen boys’ traditional. Justus Cree Jr. won teen boys’ grass. Trevor E. Walk won teen boys’ fancy. Sharon Roberts of Ada, Okla.,

U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., Mike Levin, D-Calif., Tim Ryan, D-Ohio,, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., reintroduced the Commitment to Veteran Support and Outreach Act, a bipartisan bill to authorize federal funding for county veterans service officers who are often the best resource to help veterans and their families understand resources at their disposal, file benefit claims and represent