Montana

Montana teen becomes youngest woman to climb highest peak on every continent

Published

9 months ago

June 4, 2025

Montana teen becomes youngest woman to climb highest peak on every continent

At the age of just 17, Emma Schwerin is the youngest American woman to climb the Seven Summits — the highest peaks on the seven continents — including Mount Everest.

Cassidy Powers reports on her remarkable achievement:

Bozeman teen accomplishes ‘Seven Summits’

When she was five years old, Emma and her family moved to Bozeman. And you may think the mountains of Montana are what inspired her to start this climbing journey. But in reality, it was quite different.

“My eighth-grade class did a unit on Mount Everest,” Emma said. It inspired me. Then we were like ‘let’s go to Everest basecamp’. And the next day we decided to book a trip.”

That trip encouraged Emma to set a goal: she wanted to be the youngest woman to climb the Seven Summits. If you’re unfamiliar with the Seven Summits, they are the highest peaks on every continent, including North America’s own Mount Denali, which stands at more than 20,000 feet, and the tallest mountain in the world, Everest, which rises to more than 29,000 feet.

And Emma admits, “When we decided to do it, we didn’t know anything about mountaineering.”

But that didn’t stop her, or her father, Sam, from helping her accomplish this goal. After researching guide companies, and heading to Bolivia for a mountaineering prep course. It was time to start her journey. In November of 2023, she headed to Australia to climb Mount Kosciuszko.

“It was our first of our seven summits, and at the time I had no idea what I had gotten myself into,” Emma adds.

Next up was Kilimanjaro. Then Denali.

“I remember thinking every day on Denali, ‘This was the hardest day of my life’. And then the next day would happen, and I’d be like ‘this is the hardest day,’” Emma explained. “So the great thing about Denali was every day I kept proving to myself that I could do it.”

Emma Schwerin

After summiting Mont Blanc, Aconcagua, and Vinson, she saved the biggest for last: Mount Everest.

“I think the hardest part about Everest is the length of it. Because it just has a different kind of mental challenge,” says Emma.

It was a month and a half on the mountain, but Emma was determined to set this world record. On May 15, 2025, after a long journey and with frostbite on her face, she summited Everest.

“I think that I was in shock, really, that it was all happening. All of our hard work was coming to this one point,” Emma shared her disbelief.

Emma Schwerin had just become the youngest woman in the world to climb the Seven Summits at just 17 years old. To top it off, she is now also the youngest American woman to climb Mount Everest.

For her father, Sam, who climbed each summit side by side with her, the experience was profound.

“Watching her achieve the summits? I feel really proud about the impact she’s having on the world. Young adults, and on us adults. To say ‘hey, don’t judge us young people. There’s a lot we can do if you stay out of our way,’ and I couldn’t be more proud or appreciate that,” said Sam.

The message Emma hopes to share with young women across the globe is powerful:

“I hope my story shows that you can just one day discover this incredible thing? And just run with it. And if you believe in yourself and you believe in your mind and your abilities? Then you can really achieve anything.”

Click here to learn more about the Seven Summits.

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Montana

Wind damage highlights insurance challenges for Montana homeowners

Published

2 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Wind damage highlights insurance challenges for Montana homeowners

It’s the talk of the town this week — powerful winds ripped the roof off Lincoln Elementary School on Sunday, leaving students, teachers, and residents in shock.

The incident has sparked concern among homeowners who are now worried about how such weather damage could impact their own homes—and what their insurance would cover.

According to Tauna Locatelli, owner of Advantage Insurance, most insurance policies have a set deductible for things like fire or theft, but wind and hail damage deductibles are often much higher, or even based on a percentage of a property’s value.

Quentin Shores reports – watch the video here:

Wind damage highlights insurance challenges for Montana homeowners

“Right now our industry is going through a really challenging time, especially when it comes to wind and hail in Montana. Several carriers are going to a standard ‘all peril’ deductible for everything other than wind and hail. So, it could be $1,000 for all but wind and hail, $2,500 wind and hail,” Locatelli explained.

A deductible is the amount homeowners must pay before insurance covers the rest. For wind and hail, that deductible can be steep.

“Some companies are going 1 or 2% of a coverage value, so that’s the building value. If it’s insured for $500,000 and you have a 1% deductible, you’re looking at a $5,000 deductible for wind and hail, which is what we get in Montana,” Locatelli said.

It’s important for homeowners to know their deductible—if repairs cost less than the deductible, insurance won’t pay anything.

Filing small claims can also impact your rates; Locatelli said, “Because if you have a $3,000 patch job claim and you have a $5,000 deductible, you really don’t want to file that because you’re not going to get anything in. That claim is going to follow your insurance record for five years.”

Age of property factors in as well. If you have an older roof, insurance may not fully cover its replacement.

“You’ve now lived half the roof life. Well, insurance is about indemnity and putting you back in the same condition you were in before the loss. You can’t put a 16-year-old roof on a home, so at 16 years, they’ll now pay 50% of that roof instead of 100% because it’s already lived half of its life. And then it drops each year as it goes by,” Locatelli added.

The bottom line: Keep your property maintained, review your insurance policy, and think carefully before filing a claim—especially as Montana faces more intense weather.

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Montana

Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 11

Published

14 hours ago

March 11, 2026

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Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 11

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Montana

Montana AG letter alleges Helena violates law banning ‘sanctuary cities’

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

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Montana AG letter alleges Helena violates law banning ‘sanctuary cities’

HELENA — On Monday, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent a letter to the City of Helena claiming the municipality is not in compliance with the state’s law banning “sanctuary cities.” The letter comes just under a month after the State of Montana launched an investigation into a city resolution on Helena Police policy and Helena’s involvement in federal immigration enforcement.

In the letter, Knudsen laid out the ways he believes the city’s resolution violated state law. The attorney general gave Helena 15 days to respond or reverse the policy. If the city does not comply, his office will pursue legal action.

“Helena’s resolution appears to contain blatant violations of this law,” wrote Knudsen.

MTN News

On January 26, 2026, the City of Helena adopted a resolution clarifying when and how the Helena Police Department will cooperate with federal immigration officials. The vote was 4 to 1. The Helena commission seats and the mayor are elected in non-partisan races.

In the letter, Knudsen alleges the resolution established “a broad sanctuary city policy” that seeks to protect every illegal immigrant, regardless of whether the individual had committed a serious crime or not. The state further claims the resolution gives illegal immigrants “special privileges” in plea deals and establishes a “free-for-all policy” where a police officer can request the unmasking of Department of Homeland Security and ICE officers.

Knudsen has requested that the City of Helena, in their response, specifically describe in detail how the resolution complies with Montana law, provide emails and correspondence from city staff and the commission regarding the resolution.

Helena City manager Alana Lake told MTN in a statement: “The City of Helena is aware of the issues being raised by the Attorney General’s Office and is reviewing the matter. While we cannot discuss the details of a potential legal issue, the City is committed to transparency and compliance with the law. The City takes these matters seriously and will continue to cooperate with the appropriate authorities while remaining focused on serving our community.”

Passed in 2021, Montana House Bill 200 prohibits a state agency or local government from implementing any policy that prevents employees or departments from communicating with federal agencies regarding immigration or citizenship status for lawful purposes. It also states governments must comply with immigration detainer requests if they are lawfully made.

HB 200 was backed by Republicans and passed with only Republican votes. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation into law on March 31, 2021.

Passage of the resolution by the Helena City Commission has drawn ire from conservative voices in Montana politics and on the national level.

The resolution said the commission supported the Helena Police Department avoiding “committing its resources to federal action for which it has no authority,” such as entering into an agreement with the federal government to directly enforce immigration laws. Under federal law, immigration enforcement is conducted by federal agencies under the Department of Homeland Security. However, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, state and local governments can voluntarily enter into 287 (g) agreements with the federal government that allow them to enforce immigration laws.

The commission further supported HPD’s policy not to stop, detain, or arrest a person solely on suspected violations of immigration law, including assisting other agencies in an arrest based solely on immigration law.

DEEPER LOOK: Helena has seen a growing debate over ICE and local police involvement

In the resolution, the commission also supported an HPD officer, using their own discretion, requesting the identification and unmasking of a Department of Homeland Security Officer if the HPD officer “feels it will not be interfering with the actions of federal officers exercising their jurisdiction.”

“This adversarial relationship by local law enforcement toward federal officers itself undermines public safety and forces immigration officers to fear for their safety when they are simply carrying out their lawful duties,” wrote Knudsen.

The resolution further supports the City of Helena’s policy not to consider immigration consequences in a plea agreement with a defendant.

The commission also supports the City of Helena not disclosing any sensitive information about any person – including immigration status, sexual orientation, or social security number – except as required by law.

“This is a restriction that directly conflicts with Montana’s prohibition on sanctuary jurisdictions, specifically ‘sending to, receiving from, exchanging with, or maintaining for a federal, state, or local government entity information regarding a person’s citizenship or immigration status for a lawful purpose,’” the attorney general wrote.

If a government is found to be violating Montana’s law banning “sanctuary cities”, the state could fine them $10,000 every five days, prevent them from receiving new grants from the state, and have their projects with the state re-prioritized. A government in violation can avoid penalties by becoming compliant with the law within 14 days of being notified of the violation.

Read the full letter from the Montana Attorney General to the City of Helena:

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