Montana
House bill aims to expand childcare access to daycare and preschool employees in Montana
BILLINGS — A bill that would increase access to childcare for daycare and preschool employees is in the works at the Montana Legislature.
House Bill 456 would grant employees of childcare facilities access to the Best Beginnings Scholarship. It’s a federal and state funded program that helps cover the costs of childcare. The scholarship is awarded to families earning less than 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.
Employees from Little Seeds Early Childhood Center, a Billings daycare and preschool, are in support of HB 456.
See the video for this story below:
House bill aims to expand childcare access to daycare and preschool employees in Montana
Little Seeds is located in Downtown Billings below the First United Methodist Church. The childcare facility has been around for more than 30 years, and accepts children from six-weeks-old to five-years-old.
“You don’t get into the business of daycare for the money. You get into the business of daycare for the kids and helping them,” said Shelby Scharen, the executive director of Little Seeds.
Mack Carmack, MTN News
Scharen has worked at the daycare since she was a teenager, and before then volunteered at daycares with her mom.
“It’s a hard job to do, but it’s the most rewarding job to do,” she said Friday.
Scharen told MTN that the daycare currently has 70 children. She says while it’s a rewarding job, it’s also stressful and overwhelming at times.
“We’ve lost a few staff, because it’s just easier for them to stay at home and have their spouses work, then it is for them to work here, and have their check go to the daycare that they have to pay,” Scharen said.
Mack Carmack, MTN News
Scharen said employees get discounted rates for their child’s daycare tuition, however it still comes out to about $200 a month. She said low wages don’t make the job any easier.
“We have four staff members here who are parents, who would greatly benefit from being able to be on Best Beginnings,” Scharen said.
Scharen is in support of HB 456, as she says it would benefit the hard working employees at Little Seeds.
While Scharen doesn’t have children herself, she has seen the impact of Best Beginnings, as Little Seeds accepts recipients of the scholarship.
Mack Carmack, MTN News
“It’s great because it gives these kids an opportunity that they would not normally have,” said Scharen.
Sponsor of HB 456, Representative Jonathan Karlen (D-Missoula), says daycare workers are underpaid and under-appreciated. Karlen told MTN Friday that the average childcare worker makes $23,000 a year, so he wanted to expand Best Beginnings, to allow them to work without the financial burden.
“Childcare (has) become unaffordable, and there’s a real shortage of skilled people to work in childcare. Part of that is the low pay,” he said on a virtual interview.
Mack Carmack, MTN News 
HB 456 passed in the House, but was tabled in committee. However, Karlen is still optimistic the bill will pass in the short time the Legislature has left.
“The social skills, the kind of foundational educational skills kids learn in a childcare-type setting, really help prepare them for K-12,” he said.
Karlen told MTN that the bill had no opponents testify in the House and had enormous support from teachers, childcare workers, and businesses. The biggest criticism while in the House was the fiscal impact of the bill.
“There’s people that say it’s too expensive. My response to that is, each childcare worker represents more parents who want to work, being able to work,” said Karlen.
According to Karlen, the bill would create positive long-term impacts, eventually expanding spots in daycares and preschools for more children, as less staff turnover is expected.
Mack Carmack, MTN News
“This is one of those issues that transcends both urban and rural Montana,” said Karlen.
The Legislature has less than two weeks of their session left. Until then, Scharen and her employees at Little Seeds are hopeful it passes, so they can continue to provide high quality care without the monetary stress.
“I don’t see any problems with this. I only see it helping us,” she said.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at July 7, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mega Millions numbers from July 7 drawing
02-31-35-36-63, Mega Ball: 12
Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 7 drawing
09-21-24-29, Bonus: 15
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 7 drawing
27-43-48-49-50, Bonus: 02
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
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.
One characteristic that distinguishes male grizzly bears from female grizzly bears is a larger head.
With that in mind, check out the grizzly bear featured this week on the Mission Valley Montana Grizz Cam Facebook page. (Photo and video posted below; view Instagram version here.)
The imagery, captured after dusk on July 3, shows a large grizzly bear pausing and sniffing in front of the camera before exiting the frame. Several followers commented on the beauty of the the striking bruin.
“Absolutely MAGNIFICENT!” one person exclaimed.
ALSO: Bison fight on Yellowstone road reveals raw power of iconic beasts
But others remarked about the size and shape of the grizzly bear’s head, and the appearance of thicker fur on its shoulders.
This, along with the gray lighting, lends a surreal quality to the footage. (Click here if video player doesn’t appear below.)
“No doubt that’s a big-headed male griz,” one follower remarked. “It looks like he picked up some scent left at the camera site and moved off!”
“Look at that head! YEOW!” another follower exclaimed. “What an amazing critter.”
The folks behind Mission Valley Montana Grizz Cam use motion-sensor cameras in different locations to capture footage of grizzly bears in Mission Valley, in northwestern Montana.
The Grizz Cam website states: “In 2015 we started seeing a lot of Grizzly Bears on our property so we decided that setting up some trail cameras might lead to some interesting footage and give us insight.
“Several cameras were put in various locations, and we came to realize there were more bears than any of us had anticipated.”
While many Grizz Cam clips look similar, and some feature brilliant daytime colors and audio, this post stands out because of the unique appearance of the bear.
As one follower stated, “That’s a bad boy there.”
Montana
The Record is Clear: The Wilderness Society, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and Montana Wilderness Association have Consistently Undermined the Roadless Rule
Beartooth Range, Montana. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.
The Wilderness Society, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and the Montana Wilderness Association, now rebranded “Wild Montana,” all claim they support the Roadless Rule and have been asking people for donations to oppose efforts to repeal it. But a review of the record shows that these “conservation” groups have supported opening 1,585,000 acres or Roadless and Wilderness Study Areas to logging and road building since the roadless rule went into effect in 2001.
Tracy Stone-Manning, now the President of The Wilderness Society, has been widely quoted as supporting the Roadless Rule. But while working as a top environmental advisor for former Montana Senator Jon Tester, she strongly supported his 2009 Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. The Montana Wilderness Association, now doing business as Wild Montana, was also one of the main cheerleaders for Tester’s bill
Although the bill never passed, it would have opened one million acres of roadless lands in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in southwest Montana and mandated logging 10,000 acres per year for 10 years in the Beaverhead and Kootenai National Forests. The Kootenai contains the smallest, most threatened grizzly population in the world in the Cabinet-Yaak. Since most grizzly bears are killed within 1/3 of a mile of a road, more logging means more logging roads would be bulldozed into grizzly habitat, resulting in more dead grizzly bears. The measure was so extreme even the Forest Service opposed it.
The groups also strongly supported former Montana Senator Max Baucus’ Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, passed as a rider on the 2014 defense spending bill. The measure opened 208,000 acres of roadless lands to logging and road-building and guaranteed grazing in perpetuity with no environmental analysis or public review. The pitiful 67,000 acres of wilderness tack-ons also required the sacrifice of four Wilderness Study Areas in Eastern Montana, opening 29,000 acres to oil and gas exploration and development.
Then came Tester’s 2017 Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act that carved up 50,000 acres of an Inventoried Roadless Areas contiguous to the Scapegoat and Bob Marshall Wilderness Areas. The measure also allowed loggers to decide where to build roads and designated 5,000 acres as a play area for snowmobiles and mountain bikes.
The bill didn’t even make it out of committee, but now these same groups have renamed it “A River Runs Through It Act” — although there is no sponsor and no “act.” In addition to the roadless lands Tester’s bill would have destroyed, it turns over management of 70,000 acres in grizzly, lynx and wolverine habitat in the Ogden Mountain Roadless Area northwest of Lincoln Montana to the timber industry. It also converts 130,000 acres of Inventoried Roadless Areas into play areas for motorized recreation and mountain bikers.
The clearcutting, bulldozing new logging roads, and motorized recreation in roadless areas will send tons of sediment into the Blackfoot River which has been designated critical habitat for bull trout, a threatened species. It should be called “A Clearcut Runs Through It Act.”
Finally, all three groups support the Greater Yellowstone Conservation And Recreation proposal. There is no sponsor and no bill, but the proposal opens much of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Study Area and other Inventoried Roadless Areas to motorized recreation, logging and road building. While adding only 102,000 acres as wilderness — less than half of the 250,000 acres that qualify for wilderness designation — it also significantly reduces the 155,000 acre Hyalite-Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area by 53,000 acres.
Don’t fall for the con. The record is clear: these groups have supported reducing, not protecting Inventoried Roadless Areas in the past and are doing so now.
Please consider helping us get the only bill before Congress that would designate all 23 million acres of roadless in the Northern Rockies designated as wilderness, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. Please also consider donating to Counterpunch to help them continue exposing hypocrites.
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