Montana News Roundup: The Hottest Weather This Summer

It's going to be another scorcher statewide today, but especially across most of Eastern Montana, with National Weather Service forecasters saying a heat advisory will continue through this evening.

Temperatures from Red Lodge and Billings north to Miles City, Glasgow, all the way to Canada, could see temperatures soar from the mid-90s to as warm as 105 degrees.

      In Western Montana, it's also been in the 90s, but a passing cold front later today should take the edge off.

Number of Montana fires continues to climb

Montana DNRC is now reporting there are 48 active fires across the state, as the number continues to climb with a series of blazes, many caused by lightning, over the past few days.

The Mission Butte Fire in Big Horn County is still the largest in the state, although its last reported size has remained around 6100 acres. The Dry Head Fires near Bighorn Canyon have burned close to 1000 acres combined, and the Moser Dome Fire near the Yellowstone-Carbon county line has also passed the 1000-acre mark.

Activity on the Bivens Creek and Cloudsrest fires has continued, even though they hadn't been producing much smoke yesterday.

      Red flag warnings are up today across Southwest Montana.

Flathead drowning victim identified

Lake County Sheriff Don Bell is identifying the latest victim of a drowning on Flathead Lake as a 67-year-old Washington man.

Bell says David Easterly of Mill Creek, Washington, was reported jumping from a boat in Blue Bay on Saturday by another boater. Searchers had been looking for him ever since and located his body on Tuesday afternoon. An examination is underway to determine the cause of death.

This multi-billion-dollar utility merger will take some time

It will probably take more than a year for a massive merger between Northwestern Energy and Black Hills Corp to win formal financial and regulatory approval. But leaders of the two companies say they've already worked out a structure that will utilize a more regional approach to power and gas service over an 8-state region.

The deal announced yesterday will result in a still-to-be-named company operating in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota, but also as far away as Arkansas.

Black Hills President and CEO Linn Evans explained on the conference call that the deal had been in the works for several months, extending cooperation over several years.

"These are two great companies that have been performing together for the last 20 years," Evans said on the conference call Tuesday. "We've talked about potentially combining these two companies and given the organic growth opportunities both to have before us, and the impact on customer affordability, the benefits of scale, we would argue, have never been more relevant. in merging our businesses, now has never made more sense."

It's interesting to note that Evans also referenced the varied regulatory structure the combined utility will face for rate increases and other changes, dispersing that control over more jurisdictions.

Northwestern Energy President and CEO Brian Bird is saying the merger will create a company better poised for future investment, with a more diverse regulatory situation over more jurisdictions.

"The states of this combined service territories are going to cover 20% in the continental United States," Bird pointed out. "Together, we'll have approximately 11 billion of combined rate base, underpinning energy reliability to approximately 2.1 million electric and natural gas utility customers."

"Our business mix will be more balanced, across 61% electric and 39% gas"- Northwestern Energy President and CEO Brian Bird

Senator Steve Daines is praising the proposed multi-billion dollar merger announced yesterday by Northwestern Energy and Black Hills Corp, forming a giant utility operating in 8 different states.

Daines says the changes will "support jobs", providing an "economic boost" and ensuring Montanans have "reliable access to the power grid."

Montana's jobless rate unchanged

Even with some of the national economic volatility, the latest numbers show Montana's unemployment rate remaining at 2.8% in July, marking the 10th straight month the jobless figure has been under 3%, and four years at or below 3.4%, which continues to further that record.

Montanans make Special Olympics USA Team

46-Montana Special Olympics athletes are being named to the team for the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games next summer in Minnesota. 

Bozeman leads the list with 18 athletes and alternates, plus coaches; Billings will send 18. Those totals also include the "unified partners", a growing program in Montana that pairs the school-age athletes with their peers in a support role in the various events.