I’ve been struggling the past few weeks to land on a word that captures, without embellishment, the magnitude of change that 2023 brought to public education in Montana. And my mind keeps coming back to one: seismic. It started last spring with a legislative session that education sources repeatedly characterized as unprecedented. I lost count of how many distinct bills I covered impacting

The Bureau of Land Management Montana/Dakotas State Office has opened a 30day public scoping period to receive public input on 26 oil and gas parcels totaling 5,053 acres that may be included in a July 2024 lease sale in Montana and North Dakota. The comment period ends Jan. 29. The parcels the BLM is analyzing, as well as maps and instructions on how to comment are available on the BLM’s ePlanning

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that agricultural producers can now enroll in the Farm Service Agency’s Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs for the 2024 crop year. Producers can enroll and make election changes for the 2024 crop year starting Dec. 18, 2023. The deadline to complete enrollment and any election change is March 15, 2024. On Nov. 16, 2023,