Montana
A small Montana town grapples with the fallouts from federal worker cuts
Hundreds of people join a protest in downtown Hamilton, Mont., in April supporting the work of federal employees as President Donald Trump oversees efforts to restructure the nation’s government. Federal scientific research and forestry work are part of this small town’s economic bedrock.
Katheryn Houghton/KFF Health News
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Katheryn Houghton/KFF Health News
HAMILTON, Mont. — Scientists are often careful to take off their work badges when they leave the campus of one of the nation’s top biomedical research facilities, here in southwestern Montana’s Bitterroot Valley.
It’s a reflection of the long-standing tension caused by Rocky Mountain Laboratories’ improbable location in this conservative, blue-collar town of 5,000 that was built on logging.
Rocky Mountain Labs has become an economic driver for the town, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for the local economy through spillover to other industries and retail.
Many residents are proud of the internationally recognized research unfolding at the National Institutes of Health facility. But a few locals resent what they consider the elitest scientists at the facility, which has employed about 500 people in recent years. Or they fear the contagious pathogens studied there could escape the labs’ well-protected walls.
That split widened with the COVID-19 pandemic and the divisions that emerged from mask mandates and vaccine development. In 2023, Matt Rosendale, a Republican who was then a U.S. representative from Montana, falsely tied the lab to the origins of COVID in an attempt to cut its funding.
Now, Hamilton is a prime example of how the Trump administration’s mass federal layoffs and cancellation of research grants are being felt in communities far from Washington, D.C.
Some residents of Hamilton, Mont., in April protest efforts to restructure the nation’s government. Federal scientific research and forestry work are part of this small town’s economic bedrock.
Katheryn Houghton/KFF Health News
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Katheryn Houghton/KFF Health News
On an April afternoon, hundreds of people filled the sidewalks at an intersection of Hamilton’s usually quiet downtown, waving signs that read “Hands Off Federal Workers” and “STOP STRANGLING SCIENCE.”
Some driving by honked in support, rolled their windows down, and cheered. Others flipped off the rallygoers and cast insults at them. A passing bicyclist taunted protestors with chants of “DOGE” — short for the Department of Government Efficiency, the federal initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk to cut costs that has driven mass layoffs and slashed programs.
Kim Hasenkrug, a former Rocky Mountain Labs researcher of 31 years, who retired in 2022, joined the crowd. He slammed President Donald Trump’s promise to let Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “go wild” on health issues.
“We’re beginning to see what ‘going wild’ looks like,” Hasenkrug said. “These cuts will not streamline research. They will throttle it.”
Turmoil at the lab and the NIH
As of early May, 41 Rocky Mountain Labs workers had been let go or told their contracts would end this summer, and nine more had retired early, according to researchers employed by the facility.
KFF Health News spoke with 10 current or former Rocky Mountain Labs workers who requested anonymity to speak about information that has not been publicly released. The federal government has also slashed billions of dollars for research, including at least $29 million in grants to Montana recipients, ranging from university scientists to the state health department. That’s according to HHS data confirmed by KFF Health News.
The National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Mont.
Katheryn Houghton/KFF Health News
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Katheryn Houghton/KFF Health News
Scientists who remain in Hamilton said research has slowed. They’ve struggled to buy basic gear amid federal directives that changed how orders are placed. Now, more cuts are planned for workers who buy and deliver critical, niche supplies, such as antibodies, according to researchers at the labs.
The Department of Health and Human Services didn’t respond to repeated requests for more information on the government’s cuts to research, including questions about the changes in Hamilton. Emily Hilliard, a deputy press secretary, said the department is committed to the “continuity of essential research.”
Some within the lab feel like they’ve become public enemies or outcasts, unable to defend themselves without risking their jobs. Postdoctoral scientists just starting their careers are seeing options dwindle. Some workers whose employment contracts expire within days or weeks have been in the dark about whether they’ll be renewed. At least one Rocky Mountain Labs scientist moved to another country to research infectious disease, citing “current turmoil,” according to an email sent from the scientist to co-workers that was reviewed by KFF Health News.
“The remaining staff has been discredited, disrespected, and discouraged from remaining in public service,” Hasenkrug said.
The National Institutes of Health is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world. It has 27 institutes and centers focused on understanding illness and disabilities and improving health. The agency’s research has contributed to the development of vaccines against major diseases — from smallpox to COVID — and has been behind the majority of medicines approved for the U.S. market. That research also generated more than $94.5 billion in new economic activity nationwide, according to United for Medical Research, a coalition of research groups and advocates.
The Trump administration aims to eliminate at least 1,200 jobs at the NIH and shrink its budget by 40%. The administration’s budget proposal to cut NIH funding calls the agency’s spending “wasteful,” deems its research “risky,” and accuses it of promoting “dangerous ideologies.”
It’s a dramatic political turnabout for the NIH, which for decades enjoyed bipartisan support in Washington. From 2015 to 2023, its annual budget grew by more than $17 billion.
Controversy since the lab’s founding
As of 2023, Rocky Mountain Labs was one of only 51 facilities in the world with the highest level of biosafety precautions, according to the Global BioLabs mapping project. In April, HHS indefinitely stalled work at another of those labs, the Integrated Research Facility in Frederick, Maryland, Wired reported.
Kennedy has said the nation should pause funding infectious disease research, and the White House has said it plans to intensify scrutiny of gain-of-function research, which involves altering a pathogen to study its spread.
Hamilton, in Ravalli County, is home to scientists, ranchers, and outdoor recreationists. Here, 1 in 8 people live below the federal poverty line. Nearly 70% of the county’s residents voted for Trump in 2024, and Trump signs still dot U.S. Highway 93 leading to town. In the thick of the COVID pandemic, the sheriff and county commissioners refused to enforce a statewide mandate to mask in public spaces while Rocky Mountain Labs researchers worked to understand the virus.
The lab’s work dates to 1900, and even early on it was controversial. Rocky Mountain spotted fever was killing people in the valley. Researchers found the cause — ticks — and worked to eradicate the disease-carrying bugs by requiring ranchers to treat their cattle.
That created resentment among locals who “already harbored a healthy distrust of government-imposed programs,” according to an NIH history. The tension came to a head in 1913 when a “dipping vat” used to chemically treat cattle was blown up with dynamite and another damaged with sledgehammers.
Now, some residents and local leaders are worried about the economic consequences of an exodus of federal workers and their salaries. Most of the county is government-managed public land, and the first wave of federal cuts hit U.S. Forest Service workers who do everything from clear trails to fight wildfires.
Rocky Mountain Labs creates more work for industries including construction and brings more people into the city’s shops, a 2023 University of Montana study found. The rural community is also a base for international vaccine developer GSK due to the lab’s presence. Kathleen Quinn, a vice president of communications for the company, said GSK’s business with government agencies “continues as usual” for now amid federal changes and that it’s “too early to say what any longer-term impact could be.”
Hamilton city leaders moved a weeknight March meeting on federal cuts to a school auditorium to fit a crowd of people concerned that Trump’s reshuffling would change the nature of their town. Kim Hasenkrug, a former Rocky Mountain Labs researcher of 31 years, who retired in 2022, was among those who asked city councilors to try to buffer Hamilton from federal cuts.
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A community faces changes it ‘can’t control’
In March, hundreds of people turned out for a town hall in Hamilton to discuss the impacts of the federal government cuts and asked city councilors to do something.
“Our community is impacted more than most,” said City Councilor Darwin Ernst, during the overflowing meeting.
Ernst, a former researcher at the lab who now works as a real estate broker and appraiser, said in an interview he’s starting to see more homes go up for sale, which he attributed to the atmosphere of uncertainty and former federal workers’ having to find jobs elsewhere.
“Someone recently left with her entire family. Because of the layoffs, they can’t afford to live here,” he said. “Some people retire here but that’s not everyone.”
Jane Shigley said she’s been a Hamilton resident for more than 30 years and initially thought the government would find “some inefficiencies, no big deal.” But now she’s worried about her hometown’s future.
“Something’s going on that we can’t control,” Shigley said. “And the people that it’s happening to aren’t allowed to talk to us about it.”
The City Council sent a letter to federal officials in April asking for formal consultation prior to any significant changes, given Hamilton’s “interdependence” with Rocky Mountain Labs and the federally controlled lands surrounding Hamilton. As of May, city leaders hadn’t received a response.
People in town are split on how badly the federal cuts will affect Hamilton.
Julie Foster, executive director of the Ravalli County Economic Development Authority, said the community survived the decline of logging, and she thinks Rocky Mountain Labs will survive, too.
“It will be here. There may be bumps in the road, but this is a resilient place,” Foster said.
Even amid the cuts at Rocky Mountain Labs, researchers’ work continues. This spring, scientists there helped make the first identification in Montana of a species of tick known to carry Lyme disease.
KFF Health News correspondent Rae Ellen Bichell contributed to this report.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF.
Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) is facing yet another lawsuit over allegations of unlicensed sampling — only this time, it’s centered on a video clip of the rapper’s infamous 2013 fight with paparazzi.
In a case filed Wednesday (July 15) in Los Angeles federal court, the celebrity news agency Bauer-Griffin claims that Ye, French Montana (Karim Kharbouch) and others used audio from the headline-grabbing incident in “Where They At,” released in 2024 off French’s Mac & Cheese 5.
The May 2013 video, which also features a pregnant Kim Kardashian, shows West charging at a photographer outside a Los Angeles restaurant and shouting “don’t take no photos” and a string of profanities: “All of you m*therf*ckers stop it, man!”
The clip appears prominently in the intro to Montana’s song — a use that the lawsuit calls “blatant and willful” copyright infringement.
“Given Mr. Ye’s history of numerous confrontations with paparazzi, the video was highly newsworthy,” the agency’s lawyers write in legal documents obtained and first reported by Billboard. “Listeners immediately recognized the audio sample that begins the infringing record as being copied from the video.”
Ye has been sued over a dozen times for allegedly using unlicensed samples and interpolations in his music, including a high-profile battle with Donna Summer. In May, he lost a jury trial over using an uncleared sample in an early version of the Grammy-winning “Hurricane” from Donda. He had testified at trial that he’s “very generous” about giving credit and compensation when it’s due, but that “a lot of people try to take advantage of me.”
In Wednesday’s complaint, Bauer-Griffin says the creators of “Where They At” showed no such respect to its rights in the video of the paparazzi incident, using it despite being well aware that sound recordings must be licensed when any amount is directly sampled into a song.
“In the music industry, copyrights are prevalent and well understood,” lawyers for the agency write. “Every defendant knew that they needed to have but did not have permission to use the audio sample.”
Reps for both stars did not immediately return requests for comment. The lawsuit also names as defendants producers Dem Jointz (Dwayne Abernathy Jr.) and BoogzDaBeast (Jahmal Gwin), as well Gamma, the label that released the song, and its distribution unit Vydia.
The confrontation at issue in Wednesday’s lawsuit was one of two high-profile scuffles with paparazzi that year for the rapper, who was then still known as Kanye West. Two months later, he clashed with photographer Daniel Ramos outside of LAX, resulting in a civil assault lawsuit that the star eventually settled two years later on the eve of trial.
As many celebrities have learned over the years, simply appearing in a photo or video does not give someone any legal rights to it. Ownership of such material is always retained by the creator — an inconvenient fact that has sparked lawsuits against Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa.
It’s unclear who filmed the May 2013 incident, which happened outside a Beverly Hills restaurant minutes after the star had also been filmed accidentally banging his head into a signpost while trying to avoid other photographers. But the rights to the footage have been owned by Bauer-Griffin from the beginning: When TMZ first posted it at the time, it came with a watermark crediting the agency.
“The infringing record has been widely distributed on various streaming platforms, in flagrant violation of plaintiff’s exclusive rights under copyright laws,” Bauer-Griffin’s attorneys write. “Plaintiff brings these claims to vindicate those rights.”
Governor’s Office
HELENA, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte today announced Montana ranks in the top ten states with the highest year-over-year job growth rates.
“Montana continues to rank as one of the best states to start or grow a business, earn a competitive wage, and secure a good-paying job,” Gov. Gianforte said. “As we continue to reform our regulatory environment to support job creators and cut taxes to give money back to the hardworking Montanans who earned it, we see the results of conservative policies at work as the Treasure State ranks in the top ten states with the strongest job growth.”
According to a report by Stat Ranker, which compared all 50 states based on year-over-year growth in total nonfarm payroll employment between February 2025 and February 2026, Montana ranked ninth in the nation for both jobs added and overall job growth adding more than 2,100 jobs over the year, representing a 0.4 percent job growth rate.
Last week, the governor attended the groundbreaking for Janicki Industries in Great Falls to celebrate the aerospace manufacturers’ investment expected to create more than 2,000 jobs over the next ten years and the ribbon cutting for Amazon’s sixth delivery station in Montana that brings the company’s total employment in the state to over 800.
Last month, the governor announced Montana was ranked in the top five states with the fastest-growing economies since 2021. The report from Visual Capitalist found that between 2021 and 2025, Montana’s GDP grew 16.1 percent while the national average in the same time period was 10.8 percent. When it comes to wage growth, Montana ranks third in the nation for fastest wage growth and is only one of two states in the nation where wage growth has outpaced inflation since 2020. The average wage earned by Montana workers reached $60,037 in 2024.
Earlier this year, Gov. Gianforte also announced Montana’s fiscal health surged into the top ten states nationally under his leadership, rising from 22nd in 2021 to 8th in 2025. Since taking office, the governor has paid off the state’s general obligation debt, making Montana debt-free in 2023 and saving Montanans $40 million over a period of two years.
Montana also consistently ranks in the top fifteen states with the lowest unemployment rates. Last month, the governor announced Montana’s unemployment rate ticked down to 3.4 percent in May, lower than the national unemployment rate which remained at 4.3 percent.
The full Stat Ranker report can be read here.
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