Montana
Montana Dragon Boat Festival returning to Polson
![Montana Dragon Boat Festival returning to Polson Montana Dragon Boat Festival returning to Polson](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/803cb32/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1280x672+0+21/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F85%2F57%2F0ccfbee4496a8cb285453c5ca7c1%2Fdragon-race.jpg)
POLSON — A one-of-a-kind dragon boat festival is returning to Polson this weekend for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Montana Dragon Boat Festival is being put on by the Silver Lining Foundation which is the first and only all breast cancer survivor dragon boat and outrigger canoe team in Montana.
The festival — which is being held on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, at the fairgrounds — will include vendors, a vibrant cultural celebration, and of course, the main attraction is the dragon boat races.
The races begin at 8:45 a.m. and are anticipated to run until 2:30 p.m.
Visit https://www.silverliningmt.org/dragon-boat for more information.
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Montana
Southwest Montana is a Hot Spot
![Southwest Montana is a Hot Spot Southwest Montana is a Hot Spot](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f0cbc2e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1008+0+36/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8b%2Ff3%2F4ee9b73340ed98885051695fbdf3%2Fspecial.png)
Hot, dry air will be moving in for Friday and this weekend. While that is good for people getting more summer activities in, the fire danger and fire behavior will increase. And while air quality is generally clean across most of the state, smoke will also increase by late this weekend possibly resulting in poor air quality. Right now and for Friday, the flow is coming from the north and the east with cleaner air. Friday will be a warm late summer day with highs in the 80s to around 90 under sunny skies and clean air. Saturday will be warm and sunny with highs in the 80s and 90s under sunny skies and clean air again. There will be a light east wind. Sunday the upper level flow will switch around to the southwest, pushing wildfire smoke across Big Sky. A few isolated thunderstorms will pop over the western mountains, including around Helena. Highs will be hot in the 90s. Monday will be a breezy, hot and dry day with highs in the 80s and 90s. Smoke could be thick and air quality could be poor. Changes begin on Tuesday with a cold front dropping south out of Canada. A few isolated thunderstorms are possible and highs will start cooling off, only reaching the 80s. A storm system will move in from the Pacific on Wednesday with scattered showers and thunderstorms, and cooler highs in the 70s. Widespread showers are possible on Thursday with cooler temperatures in the 60s, and the chance at higher elevation snow. This storm should bring rain and cooler temperatures to Oregon, Idaho and southwest Montana where a lot of the smoke is coming from.
Have a great day,
Curtis Grevenitz
Chief Meteorologist
Montana
Opioid settlement funds approved for two Lake County addiction programs
![Opioid settlement funds approved for two Lake County addiction programs Opioid settlement funds approved for two Lake County addiction programs](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ca1a276/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1205x633+0+119/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fsites%2Fkufm%2Ffiles%2F201811%2Fopioids-iStock-872718220.jpg)
Montana’s share of the $26 billion national opioid settlement with Johnson & Johnson and its distributors is starting to flow to communities. Montana will receive $75 million over 18 years as part of the national settlement.
The Montana Opioid Abatement Trust has been receiving payments for over a year. It currently has $25 million, but that money has been untouched until now.
Groups of counties, and individual counties with larger populations have submitted nearly 40 grant applications, so far. The first two grants approved will serve Lake County.
One program pairs adults with children experiencing trauma that can make them prone to substance use later in life. The adults work with kids on-on-one over several years in school, the community and at home. The program will receive $180,000.
Another $78,000 grant will fund a peer-support program that helps people struggling with addiction and homelessness.
Montana
'Old racist stereotypes': Crow Tribe official responds to Tim Sheehy's 'drunk Indian' comments
!['Old racist stereotypes': Crow Tribe official responds to Tim Sheehy's 'drunk Indian' comments 'Old racist stereotypes': Crow Tribe official responds to Tim Sheehy's 'drunk Indian' comments](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8d13782/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1920x1008+0+36/resize/1200x630!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F59%2Fe9%2F74f49ee945eea2a61175af93fcb9%2Funtitled-2-12-1.jpg)
BILLINGS — Representatives of the Crow tribes and other native groups are expressing their displeasure following the release of audio recordings of Montana U.S. Senate Republican candidate Tim Sheehy making racially insensitive comments about Crow tribe members involving alcohol.
“I know that Crows are our community, we’re no stranger to some good-natured ribbing, but I think this is a, I think that it’s a perpetuating old racist stereotypes, that of the outdated idea of the (makes air quotes with his hands) drunken Indian,” the Crow tribe’s secretary for the executive branch, Levi Black Eagle, in Wednesday interview with MTN News.
“I know that all the cattle and ranching families that I know, Crow and ranching families, they’re an upstanding character, they’re strong workers. I know that they don’t start their day with a can of beer,” Black Eagle said.
In the audio clips, taken in 2023 at different fundraising events, Sheehy can be heard saying, “I’m pretty involved down there, rode through their Crow Rez, their annual Crow Fair parade this year. I rope and brand with them every year down there, so it’s a great way to bond with all the Indians being out there while they’re drunk at 8 a.m., and you’re roping together. Every heel shot you miss, you get a Coors Light can upside your head.”
MTN News
Just days later, Sheehy was heard again at another event, accusing tribal members of throwing beer cans at him during the annual Crow Fair Parade.
“Six weeks after I launched the first thing I did was I strapped a Sheehy sign to a horse and rode through the Crow Rez parade and if you want to know a tough crowd, go to the Crow Rez. They let you know whether they like you or not, there’s Coors Light cans flying by your head,” Sheehy said.
MTN News
The Crow tribe has a ban on alcohol sales on the reservation.
“It’s really disheartening, especially from an individual, a candidate running for such a high office, you would expect more from those individuals,” Black Eagle said. “I think it’s a majority of the community that fights hard to negate those stereotypes and to have them perpetuate in such a way is just, it’s really disgusting. And we don’t stand for it.”
Black Eagle said the parade is a time to honor and appreciate their culture and tribal members’ accomplishments.
MTN News
“I don’t think that there’s ever been an instance where one of the spectators threw anything, especially at one of our guests. We treat our guests better than that,” Black Eagle said. “It’s a time for us to show our best versions of ourselves and definitely to have it smeared in such a way is just, it’s really shady.”
Sheehy is seeking to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in a race that could determine control of the U.S. Senate. The race has garnered national attention, with millions of dollars flowing into the race that will be decided Nov. 5.
On Wednesday morning, Sheehy held a campaign event in Billings, where the senate hopeful spoke alongside U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas. His campaign team was aware that MTN News asked for an interview with Sheehy, but at the immediate conclusion of the event, Sheehy was taken out of the room and interview requests were denied.
Other prominent members of the Native American community in Montana were also upset to hear Sheehy’s words.
Montana state Sen. Shane Morigeau, a Missoula Democrat, said the comments, which he learned about on Tuesday, misrepresent tribal members, and he fears what it could do to the younger generations hearing those words.
“When you’re making jokes about, you know, native people being, you know, alcoholics and violent, well, what does that tell the young native kid that lives in my community or on the Crow reservation?” Morigeau said. “When I was listening to it, what I started thinking about was like, ‘Wow, this is exactly one of the reasons I brought legislation forward last session to essentially have an Indian education for all type of bill for legislators.”
MTN News
Morigeau’s bill failed in 2023, but he still hopes this can be a learning moment for everyone.
“I think these sorts of things are, there’s an underbelly of this kind of stuff in the state of Montana. And it’s unfortunate,” Morigeau said. “I really wish it could be a learning opportunity for the candidate, as well. You know, we expect our elected officials to be people of integrity. And when you do something that’s wrong or hurtful, you own up to it and you apologize.”
Morigeau is a member of the Montana American Indian Caucus, which released a letter to Sheehy Wednesday afternoon saying how “let down” they were by his remarks.
“As a candidate for office in Montana, you have a responsibility to know and respect the Indian communities you are running to represent. You are also responsible for using your platform to advocate for that respect to your political supporters,” a portion of the letter states. “Instead, you have chosen to disrespect the original Montanans as a strategy to pander to the non-Indian vote and political funders. Your remarks have only further alienated the tribal people from your party.”
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