Montana
From Subarus in Vermont to Dodge Rams in Montana, what we drive is shaped by where we live
When it comes to automobiles, geography is destiny. What we drive is determined in large part by where we’re driving. Sometimes the locational preferences are almost laughably stereotypical, like the prevalence of Subarus in Vermont and pickup trucks in Montana. Electric vehicles are favored in left-leaning enclaves, Jeep Wranglers excel in parts of Arizona, and Sprinter vans rank high in resort towns. The hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai — which is sold only in California — ranks at the top of all vehicles in both Los Angeles and Orange counties.
But when you delve deeper into our database of 1.7 million car listings, all sorts of geographic quirks emerge. Mississippi, for example, is the poorest state in the country. Yet in and around the state capital of Jackson, where per capita income exceeds the national average, five of the 10 most popular cars are Mercedes-Benzes. And up and down the California coast, a wide range of counties that share else little in common — including San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Clara, Alameda, and Marin — feature only foreign-made cars in their top-10 lists.
Then there’s the question of hometown advantage. For the most part, we found, Americans love the cars they help to build. In Rutherford County, Tennessee, where the nearby Nissan plant cranks out 2,500 vehicles a day, four of the 10 most popular cars are Nissans. In Dearborn, Michigan — the headquarters of Ford — five of the 10 favorite cars are Fords. (And none are foreign.) Sometimes the name alone is enough: In the Michigan county of Wexford, which centers around the town of Cadillac, the Cadillac DeVille ranks No. 6.
But there are some exceptions to the company-town rule. Nine of the 10 most popular cars in Spartanburg, South Carolina, are foreign — yet not a single one of them is a BMW, whose nearby plant employs 100,000 people. And in Alameda County, California, whose Fremont plant turns out most of the country’s Teslas, not a single one of the 10 favorite vehicles is a Tesla. The top EVs in the county where Elon Musk makes his EVs? The Toyota Prius and the VW eGolf.
The cars your neighbors love the most
Text by Mark Healy, founder of Flipturn Creative Studios. Data by Andrew Thompson, creator of Components, a cultural research project. Graphics by designer Dan DeLorenzo and data graphics fellow Kim Nguyen. Photo research by Isabel Fernandez Pujol.
Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.
Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:
The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….
There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:
While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.
The Missoulan article includes this response:
In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”
As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.
Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.
HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.
“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.
It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.
(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)
Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026
“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”
But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.
“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.
Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.
“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.
The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.
The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.
“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.
While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.
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