Montana
First osprey returns to Montana Wild
HELENA — Right on schedule! The first osprey landed at Montana Wild the same week they started to arrive last year.
“This is what we would call their breeding ground, so where they’re breeding chicks and nesting,” said Corie Bowditch, a program specialist for Montana Wild.
She says that ospreys look for places to nest with limited tree coverage and near water, making places like cell towers near Montana Wild and Spring Meadow Lake ideal.
Allie Kaiser MTN News
Bowditch said, “Last year, they nested in this huge cellphone tower just behind Montana Wild and successfully raised three chicks up in that tower.”
But Bowditch and others will be closely watching what happens this year after geese took over nests previously used by osprey.
Allie Kaiser MTN News
So far, Montana Wild has identified one osprey that returned from Central America or the southern United States.
Even though ospreys mate for life, they typically do not migrate in pacts.
“It’s just baffling, and we are still trying to understand how they know where to go. Is it that magnetic field, the sun, the stars, or a combination of everything,” said Bowditch.
Bowditch said that osprey’s diets consist of 99% fish, making them expert fishermen.
She said studies have shown that one-fourth of their dives are successful.
Allie Kaiser MTN News
“[They have] perfect fishhooks, and they’re one of the only raptors that can rotate their toes in this orientation, two in the front and two in the back, which gives them excellent grip on that fish,” Bowditch said.
Last year, Montana Wild noticed that one of the ospreys had a band on its leg, allowing them to track it.
Bowditch said, “That gives us a goldmine of data. We can know that the osprey is nearly ten years old, where it was born – in Drummond, that it has survived all this time, and that it’s choosing to breed here in Helena.”
According to Bowditch, ospreys will typically migrate south in mid to late August.
MISSOULA, Mont. — A California woman who tried to smuggle her husband into the United States through northwest Montana has been sentenced to six months of probation, according to U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme.
Tracy Routh Lautenslager, 54, pleaded guilty in August 2025 to conspiracy to bring an alien into the United States at a location other than a designated port of entry. U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided over the case.
Court documents allege Lautenslager entered the U.S. through the Roosville Port of Entry on April 1, 2025, then drove to the Swisher Lake area near Lake Koocanusa. Border Patrol agents later learned a man had crossed the border on foot nearby. Canadian authorities eventually apprehended the man, identified as Lautenslager’s husband, a citizen of Great Britain with no legal status in the U.S.
Investigators say Lautenslager admitted the couple planned to avoid the port of entry by having her husband cross illegally while she drove into the U.S. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katy Stack and investigated by the U.S. Border Patrol as part of Operation Take Back America.
Miley Cyrus opens up about vocal condition behind her raspy voice
Miley Cyrus has revealed that she has Reinke’s edema, a condition affecting her vocal cords that gives her voice its raspy tone.
unbranded – Entertainment
Move over Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana is coming.
The “Flowers” singer is revisiting her Disney Channel roots, donning the signature blonde look of the fictional popstar ahead of the sitcom’s 20th anniversary in March.
At the Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on Jan. 3, Cyrus confirmed she is involved with plans for the milestone date.
“Absolutely. We’re working hard on them,” she told Variety.
While she said she couldn’t say more about what’s in store for fans, Cyrus pointed to her blonde hairstyle, adding, “You see the bangs.”
Cyrus starred in the series alongside Emily Osment, Mitchel Musso and father Billy Ray Cyrus, between March 2006 and January 2011, and starred in the 2009 feature film “Hannah Montana: The Movie.” Under the Hannah Montana persona, she also released multiple platinum-selling soundtracks and headlined the Best of Both Worlds Tour, which grossed over $54 million.
What’s happening for the Hannah Montana 20th anniversary?
The Grammy-winning musician first teased plans for the anniversary in a July 22 interview on SiriusXM.
“I want to design something really, really special for it because it really was the beginning of all of this,” she said. “Without Hannah, there wouldn’t really be this me.”
“It’s crazy to think that I started as a character that I thought was going to be impossible to shed, and now that’s something that when I walk into a space, it’s looked at as this sense of kind of, like, nostalgia or something that you have from your childhood,” she added. “So, that’s exciting to get to celebrate that.”
Will there be a Hannah Montana tour in 2026?
Cyrus has not announced plans to tour as “Hannah Montana” for the show’s 20th anniversary.
While exact anniversary plans remain under wraps, a tour seems unlikely, as Cyrus has previously expressed a lack of interest in touring.
During a May 2023 interview with British Vogue, the “Something Beautiful” singer added that while she enjoys performing for her friends, noting that “singing for hundreds of thousands of people isn’t really the thing that I love.”
Contributing: Edward Segarra, USA TODAY
BOZEMAN — For the second consecutive week, Montana State sophomore guard Taylee Chirrick has been named Big Sky Conference player of the week, the league office announced Tuesday.
The 5-foot-11 product of Roberts scored the game-winning basket with 1.7 seconds remaining to lift the Bobcats to a 71-70 upset of Big 12 member Colorado on Sunday afternoon at the CU Events Center. Chirrick finished the contest with 21 points, which included a 7-for-7 effort at the free throw line.
Chirrick once again stuffed the stat sheet, pulling down a team-best six rebounds, while adding four steals, three assists and a pair of 3-pointers in the victory.
Chirrick is currently ranked third in the nation averaging 4.5 steals per game, and her 27 total steals rank 14th overall. Her 19.8 points per game rank second in the Big Sky and 28th in the nation.
Montana State opens the Big Sky Conference/Summit League Challenge on Wednesday at North Dakota State in Fargo. Tip is slated for 6 p.m. (MT) in the Scheels Center. The game will air live on the CBS Sports Network.
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