With the 2026 midterm election a month away and absentee ballots being mailed to voters Oct. 9, MTFP asked the state’s candidates for federal office how they would address Montanans’ healthcare concerns. The post How Montana’s candidates for U.S. House and Senate plan to tackle healthcare appeared first on Montana Free Press.

Montana begins mailing absentee ballots for the 2026 general election on Oct. 9. The voting method has become dramatically more popular over the past two decades: About 22% of ballots were cast absentee in 2004, compared with roughly 70% cast through absentee ballots in 2024. The post How did absentee voting become the norm in Montana? appeared first on Montana Free Press.

A union representing employees at Columbus Metallurgical Complex and Stillwater Mine, which are both owned by a South African company called Sibanye-Stillwater, have ended a month-long strike. United Steelworkers Union 11-0001, which represents about 420 employees across both facilities in south-central Montana, approved a three-year contract Tuesday. The post Sibanye-Stillwater ends month-long strike appeared first on Montana Free Press.

Flathead National Forest officials rejected a 2022 version of the plan in a preliminary review before any public process got underway. The 2026 proposal varies little from the earlier one, according to Pursuit Chief Operating Officer Gary Rodgers, except to operate year-round instead of seasonally. It would still feature a base facility in Hungry Horse and a café about 3,000 vertical feet above. The post Flathead tram proposal returns for second look appeared first on Montana Free Press.

The new initiative requires the county to “immediately” disclose any communications between county employees and anyone “associated or employed by any person or entity in the data center industry,” and to produce electronic copies of all such communications. The post Yellowstone County sues over initiative aimed at Quantica data center appeared first on Montana Free Press.