Montana
Montana’s top high school rodeo athletes compete for state titles in Kalispell
KALISPELL, Mont. — The state’s top young rodeo athletes gathered in Kalispell this week for the Montana High School Rodeo Association Finals.
“There’s kids from all over the state coming and competing together and it’s just so fun to have such great competition, such a great organization, and to be able to run like this is super fun,” said rider Mackenzie Martell from Three Forks.
The MHSRA has over ten events including bareback riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, breakaway roping, tie down roping, and more.
The competition is drawn out over a week and there is a first go-round and second go-round of performances.
Five riders competed in the second go-round of bareback riding, and Wylee Berglund came out on top with a score of 68.5, staying aboard a bucking horse with nothing but a rigging to hold onto.
Next up was barrel racing which is the most competitive event in the competition with 58 total riders.
The rider taking first place for barrels was Brooklyn Russel from Helena, who set the record time of 15.61 seconds.
Steer wrestling’s Burke Nowak set a record time of 5.72 seconds in his second go-round.
The state competition goes until Saturday with the championship round at 1 p.m. and the year-end awards presentation at 5 p.m.
MISSOULA, Mt. — Thousands of athletes, coaches and volunteers are preparing to travel to Minnesota for the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games, which begin June 20 and run through June 26. The Games will bring competitors from all 50 states to the national stage.
Montana will be represented by 25 athletes and 28 volunteers from 18 communities across the state.
Four competitors from Missoula are among those getting ready for the trip. Jared Redeen as a bowling athlete, Jeff Redeen as a Unified partner in bowling, and Coley Stensgar-Maul and Vanessa Canham as golf athletes.
Team Montana athletes will compete in several events, including bocce, golf, gymnastics and bowling. The national competition is expected to bring together thousands of athletes and Unified partners, 1,500 coaches, 10,000 volunteers and tens of thousands of fans.
For the Montana athletes, the next few weeks will be focused on final practices, travel preparations and the excitement of representing their communities on one of the biggest stages in Special Olympics sports.
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The 2026 Special Olympics USA Games are designed to celebrate athletic competition, inclusion and the achievements of people with intellectual disabilities. For Team Montana, the trip is also a chance to show the work they have put in — and to compete for medals in front of a national crowd.
MISSOULA, Mont. — A federal jury has found a Honduran woman guilty of illegally reentering the United States and transporting a Mexican national who was in the country unlawfully, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
After a three-day trial, jurors convicted 41-year-old Yolanda Ernestina Soto-Antunez on charges of being in the United States illegally and transporting an undocumented immigrant.
Soto-Antunez faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris is scheduled to sentence her on July 9. She remains in custody pending sentencing.
According to prosecutors, a Phillips County sheriff’s deputy stopped Soto-Antunez for speeding on U.S. Highway 2 near Malta on March 6. After requesting assistance from U.S. Border Patrol agents to help translate, authorities determined Soto-Antunez was a Honduran citizen in the country illegally and that her passenger, a Mexican national, was also in the United States unlawfully.
Investigators said they discovered $18,000 in a duffel bag belonging to the passenger. The man told agents he was traveling to Washington to borrow an additional $12,000 from a relative, bringing the total to $30,000. According to court testimony, the money was intended to pay for his sister to be smuggled into the United States, and Soto-Antunez was expected to deliver the funds to a group in Tijuana, Mexico.
Federal authorities also determined Soto-Antunez had previously been deported in June 2012 and illegally reentered the United States in August 2016.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office. The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case.
More than 6,000 Flathead Electric customers are without power Thursday evening, and officials say it’s due to a damaged transmission structure.
Reports indicate a transmission structure near the White Oak Gas Station that serves the Bigfork and Somers substations sustained damage.
Crews have been dispatched to assess the damage and determine the safest path to make repairs.
An estimated restoration time has not been released.
View the outage map here.
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