Montana

Good Morning, Montana (Friday, October 25, 2024)

Published

1 year ago

October 25, 2024

Press Room

Wishing everyone a good day! Here are some things to know for today:

WEATHER: Sun & clouds. Cool with lighter winds. High temps in the upper 40s and low to mid 50s.

GFPS Foundation truck raffle highlights crosstown clash. Click here.

Guilty verdict for man charged with killing two people in Superior. Click here.

COMING UP:
FRIDAY OCTOBER 25: Studio 706 Artists Guild will host a Fall Festival Art & Craft Sale from 10am to 7pm in Great Falls. There will be art and crafts for sale at the historic Ursuline Center on the second floor of the Ursuline Centre at 2300 Central Avenue. For more information, call Steve Tilleraas at 406-590-0092.

THROUGH OCTOBER 26: The Great Falls Public Library (301 Second Avenue North) will host its annual AAUW Book Sale. For more information, call Terry Reynolds at 702-278-1246.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 26: The annual Spay-ghetti fundraiser for the Humane Society of Cascade will be from 5pm to 7:30pm at the Moose Lodge in Black Eagle. Help us fix MORE pets and save lives. Enjoy delicious pasta with meat and veggie sauces, salad, garlic bread and homemade desserts! Dinner and dessert, just $18 adults, $12 kids under 10! It’s so fun with raffles, 50-50, awesome silent auction and dessert auction! Since 2006, the low-income spay/neuter clinics have fixed more than 12,000 cats and dogs. Also available is curb-side take-out. To pre-order, call or text 406.452.SPAY (452-7729) through Friday October 25, then pick up at the Moose Lodge on Saturday, October 26. Spay-ghetti take-out is just $18 and includes salad and homemade dessert. For more information, call Leah Noel at 406-564-5612, or the Humane Society at 406-231-4722.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 26: The Mansfield Center will host a “Ghouls and Goblins Craft Show” from 9am to 3pm. Great Falls Farmers Market is sponsoring the annual event at the Great Falls Civic Center. No admission fees. Costume contest for children. Vendors will have candy for trick-or-treaters. For more information, call 406-761-3881.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 26: The Great Falls Public Library will host its annual Halloween Costume Contest/Party. Event is from 10am to 11:30am, and is for kids/teens ages 3 to 14 and their caregivers. Make your own costume with the supplies we provide. Please leave store-bought costumes at home! To keep the contest fair to all, only costumes you make yourself using Library-provided supplies will be included in the contest. Winners will be chosen at 11am and will win a free gift card from Walmart to add finishing touches to their costume! Must be present to win. Other activities will include: making spooky snow-globes, musical chairs, and coloring. The library is at 301 Second Avenue North. For more information, call 406.453.034.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 26: Get your FREE tickets to the Great Falls Symphony’s Halloween Family Matinee at the Mansfield Theater. Guaranteed to be fun for the entire family, we encourage you to dress in costume. Hear the spookiest music ever! The Halloween Family Matinee is both educational and exciting, and is appropriate for all ages. The concert is approximately one-hour long with no intermission. Free candy will be available for trick-or-treaters after the concert. Program starts at 11am. Tickets will not be mailed to you – please select Print at Home when completing your ticket order. Click here to get tickets.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 26: Falls Family Fun will host a Monster Bash Halloween Party from noon to 6pm at 207 Smelter Avenue NE. Come in your best monster costume for a chance to win a Gift Card! Slime Creation Station for all our crafty monsters! Don’t miss out on all the frightful fun! Bring your friends and family and join the Halloween festivities. For more information, call Keely Tingler at 406-315-1719, or click here.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 26: Great Falls Elks Lodge will host Brews & Spirits Fall Fest IX at 500 First Avenue South starting at 5pm. $35 advanced tickets ($5 discount for current Lodge members/military members with valid ID); $40 at the door. Ages 21+. Unlimited tasting of Montana breweries and distilleries. Food 5:30 – 7:30; Silent Auction; 50/50; music by Perfect Sound. For more information, call Denise Riggin at 406-454-1305 or click here.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 27: The Aim High Recreation Center will host a Kiwanis Trunk or Treat event from 1pm to 4pm. Along with the trunk or treat we will have a haunted house and DJ Sarge will be playing some awesome music. We will also have hot cocoa, smores, and candy! If you would like to enter the trunk or treat please contact Andrea Keller at 406-781-3199. The rec center is at 900 29th Street South.

Here is today’s joke of the day! Share with your friends: How do you mend a jack-o’-lan·tern? With a pumpkin patch! (Sent to us by viewer: Jayme Bowden)

Email your best joke to montanathismorning@krtv.com

For Behind The Scenes, Follow Montana This Morning on Instagram – click here!

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Montana

Evacuation orders issued as 5,000-acre wildfire burns near Roundup, Montana

Published

8 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Evacuation orders issued as 5,000-acre wildfire burns near Roundup, Montana

ROUNDUP, Mont. —
The Rehder Creek Fire is burning 16 miles southeast of Roundup has grown to about 5,000 acres, prompting evacuation orders for residents in the Bruner Mountain Area/Subdivision.

The fire started Feb. 26, the cause is unknown and containment was at 0%.

Evacuation orders are in effect for all residents in the Bruner Mountain Area/Subdivision. The Musselshell County Sheriff’s Office is coordinating the evacuation orders, and 911 reverse calls have been sent out to advise people in the area.

A shelter is opening at the Roundup Community Center. Residents were told to contact Musselshell County DES for further information.

Firefighter and public safety remain the top priority. The public is asked to avoid the Fattig Creek and Rehder Road area so emergency personnel can safely and effectively perform their work.

Fire resources assigned to the incident include 40 total personnel, 11 engines, one Type 2 helicopter, three tenders and two dozers.

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Montana

February 26 recap: Missoula and Western Montana news you may have missed today

Published

20 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

February 26 recap: Missoula and Western Montana news you may have missed today

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Montana

Escobar, Jayapal, Members of Congress Call on Camp East Montana to be Shut Down – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Escobar, Jayapal, Members of Congress Call on Camp East Montana to be Shut Down – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) – joined by Representative Pramila Jayapal, the Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, and 22 other Members of Congress – sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons calling for the immediate closure of Camp East Montana in El Paso. They cite urgent humanitarian concerns following multiple deaths in custody, documented unsafe conditions, and serious deficiencies in medical care.

This marks the fourth letter Congresswoman Escobar has sent to DHS and ICE leadership. The previous three letters have gone unanswered.

The letter can be found in its entirety below and here.

“Secretary Noem and Acting Director Lyons:

We are urgently calling on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to shut down Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas.

Camp East Montana has been operational for six months, and at least three people have died at the site since December 2025: Francisco Gaspar-Andres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, and Victor Manuel Diaz. The El Paso County Medical Examiner has officially ruled Lunas Campos’ death a homicide, citing “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”

Camp East Montana was constructed in a matter of weeks and opened before construction was complete and it does not have enough federal staff on-site to provide adequate oversight. Over the last several months, Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, in whose district this facility is located, has sent multiple letters to DHS and ICE regarding concerns about the conditions at Camp East Montana, and has received no responses.

According to detainees, there have been constant and consistent problems at the facility since it opened, beginning with the facility’s poor construction and poor ambient temperature control. Upon opening, the drinking water at Camp East Montana tasted foul and made some detainees sick. Detainees continue to be served inadequate meals, including food that is rotten or frozen; last fall, the facility was also consistently failing to make dietary accommodations for detainees. Detainees have shared that they have sporadic access to outside spaces and recreational areas, and that their dormitory pods are cleaned only once every eight days, despite pods housing up to 72 people at a time. Laundry services are not consistent, and people are washing their clothes in the facility showers. Additionally, the facility experiences flooding and sewage backups when it rains, leading to stagnant water.

One of the biggest concerns with the Camp East Montana facility is the inadequate medical care being provided to detainees. Our offices have heard that only the most ill detainees are referred to the medical unit and that there are inconsistencies as to how soon after arriving detainees are able to undergo initial medical screenings. Detainees with chronic health issues who rely on regimented medications for their health have had difficulty accessing necessary medications, including blood pressure medication and insulin.

At least one of the deaths that occurred in ICE custody, the death of Francisco Gaspar-Andres, appears to partially be the result of poor medical care by staff at the facility. According to ICE’s own account, Gaspar-Andres sought medical attention from facility staff for increasingly serious symptoms, but was only transferred to an area hospital once his condition had severely deteriorated.

In addition to our concerns about poor medical care, we are also aware that detainees have experienced irregular access to their legal counsel, including instances of detainees having only two minutes allotted per phone call every 8 days, which is contrary to ICE’s Detention Standards on access to counsel, and that the belatedly created law library lacks adequate resources for the amount of people currently held at the facility. In January 2026, ICE announced the on-site death of Geraldo Lunas Campos “after experiencing medical distress.” ICE opened an investigation into the death, but did not provide a cause of death. However, The Washington Post later reported that another man detained at Camp East Montana had witnessed guards choking Lunas Campos when he refused to enter a segregated housing unit. Weeks later, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled that Lunas Campos had experienced “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression” and ruled his death a homicide.

Lunas Campos is the first detainee to die at Camp East Montana as a result of a use-of-force incident, but we are strongly concerned that he will not be the last if ICE is allowed to continue operating Camp East Montana.

ICE was given $45 billion in taxpayer dollars in the reconciliation bill, $1.2 billion of which were awarded to Acquisition Logistics, LLC, a company with no previous experience managing immigration detention facilities, to build and oversee Camp East Montana. However, in the wake of three deaths in custody so far, continued concerns about conditions at the facility, and ICE’s apparent disinterest in responding to oversight letters from Congress, we do not believe Camp East Montana is being run professionally or responsibly.

Camp East Montana must be shut down. For the safety of everyone at the facility, for an end to abuses to detainees, and for fiscal responsibility to the American people, the site cannot continue to operate. We are calling on DHS and ICE to move to immediately close operations at Camp East Montana.

We look forward to hearing from the Department promptly on this matter.

The other co-signers include Representatives Yassamin Ansari, Nanette Barragán, Yvette Clarke, Lloyd Doggett, Maxwell Frost, Jesús “Chuy” García, Sylvia Garcia, Daniel Goldman, Jimmy Gomez, Henry Johnson, Stephen Lynch, Seth Moulton, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delia Ramirez, Andrea Salinas, Janice Schakowsky, Darren Soto, Rashida Tlaib, Paul Tonko, Lauren Underwood, Gabe Vasquez, and Nydia Velázquez.

Issues: Immigration

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