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Handlers put best steer forward in high-stakes competition at Northwest Montana Fair

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Handlers put best steer forward in high-stakes competition at Northwest Montana Fair



The grassy lawn outside the Flathead Fairgrounds’ Trade Center occasionally turns into a steer spa.  

Competitors gathered Wednesday morning hours before they were set to walk their calf before a judge to wash, blow-dry and apply adhesive to the animal’s hair, making them look their best. It’s called fitting the calf, Brady Boll said.  

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The process of raising and showing an animal is integral to the Northwest West Montana Fair, where hundreds of young people — often through 4-H or FFA — gather after months of hard work in hopes of winning a blue ribbon.  

“It’s not just a big part of the fair though,” said 18-year-old Boll. “It’s a big part of my life.”  

Boll, a graduate of Flathead High School, has been showing steers for the past eight years. This year, her steer, Stetson — with a filled-out belly and a black coat — won grand champion.  

Showing an animal at the fair teaches a kid, early on, how to take constructive criticism and apply it to their lives, she said. Boll looks forward to taking those lessons and applying them to her work at a private trade school in the future.  

“Any kid that goes through 4-H or FFA makes the world a better place,” she said.  

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Boll stood outside of the Trade Center early Wednesday morning, washing Stetson and preparing to show him in front of Sierra Meyers, the judge of the beef show, who is also judging other events this year.  

There are two main aspects for judges to look for when it comes to steers, Meyers said. The first of those is showmanship, or a judgement based on the individual showing the animal themselves. Things like maintaining eye contact and intentionally setting the animal up well are good things.  

The second is how marketable the steer is. Muscle equates to meat, Meyers said, so the more muscle the better.  

One of the coolest aspects of the fair’s showmanship events is the advocation for agriculture, according to Kaitlyn Bennett, the beef and dairy superintendent of the fair. It is sentimental knowing that the kids today are the upcoming generation of agriculture, she said.  

Ryder Clouse, a 15-year-old student at Flathead High School, was also preparing his steer outside of the Trade Center. This year is Clouse’s third year showing steers; he previously would bring pigs to show at the fair. Every year, however, he was drawn to bovines, and now gets opportunities to raise them.  

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“It’s been an adventure,” Clouse said.  

Genetics also play a big role in the success of showing, said Carly Tranel with her steer Alan. 

“My favorite thing about him is his conformation and his genetics,” Tranel, 17, said on Wednesday. Conformation is the desirable muscular and skeletal structure of an animal. 

Tranel, who is part of Glacier Stars 4-H, started showing animals when she was 8 years old and has shown steers for six years, the inspiration coming from her family and their own history of raising animals on their land.  

Last year, Tranel won the grand champion steer title. 

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While it is a lot of hard work, Tranel said, the competition aspect is a lot of fun. She hopes to bring a calf that she breeds herself to the fair next year. 

“It’s great to watch them have success,” said Jannell Plummer of Glacier Stars 4-H. Born and raised in the valley, Plummer has three children of her own — all three are showing a steer this year.  

Six classes entered the show ring. Competitors walked their calves around, making sure their chins were pointed up, adjusting their feet to stand square. The event is a series of walking, stopping and setting up. 

Come Saturday, buyers come in and bid on the animals while the competitors bid them farewell. In 2023, the Flathead Livestock Market Sale Auction surpassed $1.2 million in sales. 

“Stress is high, the animal is big, but sometimes, the payoff is amazing,” said Plummer. 

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Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459. 

    Carly Tranel shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Ione Plummer shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Madison Brist shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Beau Siderius speaks with judge Sierra Myers during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Jayla Wise speaks with judge Sierra Myers during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Brady Boll shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. Boll won grand champion in her division. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Rylee Glimm shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Grace Holtmeyer shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Brady Boll shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. Boll won grand champion in her division. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Carly Tranel shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Madison Brist shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Samuel Plummer shows his steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Alexis Johnson shows her steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 
    Samuel Plummer shows his steer during senior beef cattle showmanship at the Northwest Montana Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 14. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider 
 
 



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Montana’s measures to tackle housing crunch offer hope for Michigan

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Montana’s measures to tackle housing crunch offer hope for Michigan


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State House considers reforms that allowed greater variety of construction in Big Sky State

Michigan could follow Montana’s lead after state House members introduced a bipartisan package of bills aimed at making housing less costly.

“The bipartisan Housing Readiness Package modernizes our development processes to reduce unnecessary costs and delays, making housing more affordable and available across the state,” according to a press release from the House Republican caucus. “This is about ensuring Michigan is prepared for growth and that more residents have access to safe, stable homes.”

The package draws on ideas Montana successfully enacted in 2023 and 2025 to ease the state’s housing shortage. It includes Michigan House bills 5529, 5530, 5531, 5532, 5581, 5582, 5583, 5584 and 5585. The package is intended to restrain cities and counties from restricting accessory dwelling units, duplexes, and other non-single-family units; to limit protests and impact studies on developments; and to reduce local red tape.

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Housing costs in Michigan have almost doubled in recent years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Michigan has exceeded the pace of housing inflation found in other states.

The average price of homes in the state was about 75% of the national average in 2012, but it is roughly 82% of the average today, according to Jarrett Skorup, vice president of marketing and communications at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Inflation, interest rates, and rising construction costs have increased housing prices, Skorup told Michigan Capitol Confidential, but local government red tape is still making things worse.

“A lot of this is because of dumb, unnecessary, big-government policies at the local level,” Skorup told CapCon in an email. “This bill package protects the private property rights of citizens in a way similar to what Montana and many other states have done. It is good policy that will help people afford to live where they want.”

Montana made changes to legalize duplexes, allow accessory dwelling units, open commercial zones to housing, and permit taller buildings that can accommodate more housing units.

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The laws faced a legal challenge, but the Montana Supreme Court unanimously upheld the bipartisan legislation.

“There are a lot of similarities between what is being proposed in Michigan and what we accomplished in Montana,” Forrest Mandeville, a Republican state senator from Stillwater County, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

Montana enacted laws that call for freedom to build duplexes and accessory dwelling units by right (with no need for extra approvals) in many cities. The Big Sky State also streamlined review processes and simplified public participation.

“These reforms were necessitated by a housing market that was seeing prices skyrocket and existing zoning that created a lot of single-family-only development in large areas,” Mandeville said.

A broad coalition supported the changes: builders, real estate agents, free-market advocates and some local government groups, Mandeville told CapCon. Housing prices and rents have stabilized since the legislation was enacted.

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“We tried to get government out of the way to encourage building without red tape,” Sen. Jeremy Trebas, a Cascade County Republican, told CapCon in an email about the housing situation in Bozeman. With a population of 60,000 and slow growth, the city faced a housing crunch, with a large inventory of aging and obsolete buildings. Expensive housing and taxes, Trebas said, were driving people to move to Washington, California and other states.

“If we could change land-use policy, encourage development of higher density like duplexes as infill, allow for housing in commercial zones (as it was a 100 years ago), reduce minimum lot sizes, and allow by-right accessory dwelling units and such, we could let the market work to produce density and supply without spending government dollars to incentivize it,” Trebas said.

Opponents of Montana’s reforms expressed concerns about more people moving in from out-of-state, said Trebas. He countered that Montana natives were hurt by high costs that price upcoming generations out of the housing market.





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‘Hannah Montana’ Vinyl Returns to Charts Following 20th Anniversary Special

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‘Hannah Montana’ Vinyl Returns to Charts Following 20th Anniversary Special


The buzz over the Miley Cyrus special has also led to a surge of renewed interest in the show’s popular soundtracks

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

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Hannah Montana celebrated its 20th anniversary this week with a brand new special on Disney+ that reunited Miley Cyrus and company for a look back at the nostalgic Disney Channel series. While the special unveiled plenty of surprises (including a new song and celebrity cameos), the buzz over Hannah‘s anniversary has also led to a surge of new interest in the show’s popular soundtrack.

Hannah Montana spawned five studio albums, including a soundtrack for Hannah Montana: The Movie. It also led to Best of Both Worlds Concert, a live album that featured Cyrus performing both in character as Hannah and under her own name. All of the albums were originally released on CD, though vinyl pressings of each release came later as well. Three of the albums debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and all of them were later certified gold or higher by the RIAA.

Now, a number of the albums have returned to the bestsellers list, with four Hannah LPs currently sitting in the Top Ten of Amazon’s soundtracks chart. Here’s a look at the trending releases and how to buy them online.

This Hannah Montana vinyl has returned to the top ten of Amazon’s overall soundtracks chart. This is the soundtrack to season one of the Disney Channel show in an Amazon-exclusive “green splatter” colorway. While the original soundtrack was released in October 2006, this vinyl edition was released this past January ahead of the show’s 20th anniversary.

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Best Of Hannah Montana [Clear LP]

Amazon’s bestseller is this “Best Of” LP, which comes in an exclusive limited-edition purple vinyl colorway. First released in 2011, the album was later made available on vinyl in 2019. Hot off the 20th anniversary special, the LP has returned to number one on Amazon’s Disney soundtracks chart.

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Hannah Montana: The Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

This two-LP set features all the songs from Hannah Montana: The Movie, which hit theaters in 2009. The track list includes hit songs from the original film like “The Climb,” “Butterfly Fly Away” and “Hoedown Throwdown.” It also includes the 2009 “movie mix” of “The Best of Both Worlds.” The discs come in a lavender colorway inspired by the colors in the show logo.

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Hannah Montana 2 (Original Soundtrack)[Color Splatter LP]

This LP features songs from season two of the Disney Channel series, including hits like “We Got the Party,” “Nobody’s Perfect” and “Life’s What You Make It.” Amazon has this available on a special “color splatter” vinyl.

All of the above vinyl releases are part of limited-edition drops that are exclusive to Amazon.

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Hannah Montana - Hannah Montana 3 (Original Soundtrack) LP

Urban Outfitters, meantime, has this tie-dye edition of the Hannah Montana season three soundtrack on vinyl. From Walt Disney Records, the LP gets you 14 songs on a groovy, 70s-inspired disc.

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Need somewhere to play your new Hannah Montana vinyl? Amazon has this light pink record player on sale for under $60 right now as part of the site’s Big Spring Sale event.

Victrola Journey II (2025 Model) – Bluetooth Suitcase Record Player

From popular turntable makers Victrola, the Victrola Journey II is the latest version of the brand’s bestselling suitcase record player, which offers a portable way to take your records on the go. This unit features a three-speed turntable, built-in speakers (with “enhanced bass”) and both Bluetooth capabilities and headphone outputs.

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A star-making vehicle for Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana ran for four seasons from 2006 to 2011. You can stream every Hannah Montana episode and Hannah Montana: The Movie online through Disney+.



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Montana Lottery Powerball, Lotto America results for March 25, 2026

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The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at March 25, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from March 25 drawing

07-21-55-56-64, Powerball: 26, Power Play: 4

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

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Winning Lotto America numbers from March 25 drawing

02-04-09-30-43, Star Ball: 04, ASB: 03

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from March 25 drawing

01-07-14-22, Bonus: 12

Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from March 25 drawing

35-38-41-43-62, Powerball: 08

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Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Montana Cash numbers from March 25 drawing

01-16-17-25-30

Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 25 drawing

01-26-40-46-50, Bonus: 03

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

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Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
  • Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
  • Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.

Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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