Montana
MTN profiles candidates for Montana Supreme Court associate justice
HELENA — MTN is continuing our look at the closely watched races for two open seats on Montana’s Supreme Court.
Justice Dirk Sandefur was elected to the court in 2016, and he decided not to seek another eight-year term in 2024. That led to three people filing for a chance to win one of the six associate justice positions. The two candidates with the most votes in the June primary will move on to the general election in November.
The first two people to announce they were running for associate justice are both state district court judges.
Jonathon Ambarian
Dan Wilson, of Kalispell, is one of five judges of the 11th Judicial District, which covers Flathead County. He was elected to the position in 2016 and reelected in 2022. Wilson previously worked as a deputy county attorney, then spent about a decade in private practice, doing a variety of work – including family law and criminal defense. In 2010, he was elected as a justice of the peace for Flathead County. He says he wants to center his campaign on his experience and record.
“I’m not running to carry water for any sort of political issue or any political group,” Wilson said. “I’m merely offering up again my candidacy to Montanans as a judge with a proven record for following the law and the Constitution, and one who doesn’t insert his own views or the views of stakeholders or interested parties or special interests to determine whether something passes a legal test or not.”
Wilson says recent political tensions around the court are an inevitable when branches of government are in conflict over their roles. He said it’s important for justices to hold to legal standards when making their decisions, and that he doesn’t believe Montanans want justices to advocate for particular interests.
“The Supreme Court functions best, I believe, when it is the quiet branch, when it’s simply there resolving disputes in a fair and constitutional way – that it does its level best to avoid making unsolicited or unnecessary comments attacking any other branch of government, but simply issues opinions that are well supported by the Constitution, the rule of law, logic and good reason,” he said.
Jonathon Ambarian
Katherine Bidegaray, of Sidney, has been a district judge since 2003 – one of two serving the 7th Judicial District, which covers Richland, Dawson, McCone, Prairie and Wibaux Counties on Montana’s eastern edge. She said her rural and eastern Montana background would bring a different perspective to the court.
Bidegaray says the current Supreme Court justices are doing a good job, citing a state survey of judges and attorneys that showed 80% of respondents agreed the court’s decisions were based on facts and applicable law. She said accusations that the court has overstepped its role are misplaced.
“I think it is especially important during these times that we have a judiciary that remains fair and impartial, that remains independent of the other two branches of government, and that is prepared to fulfill its function of correcting an abuse of power if, in fact, one of the other two branches of government, including the legislature, overreaches the constitutionally provided powers it has,” she said.
Bidegaray says it’s important to stand up against what she sees as political attacks on the judiciary.
“I just want to be able to do my part so we can maintain our democracy and the rule of law and protect the beautiful rights that our Montana Constitution provides us, which include some really unique rights: the right to privacy, the right to equality of education, the right to access to public lands and water, and the right to a clean and healthful environment,” she said. “Those are unique in our Constitution, and those rights have been under attack.”
Jonathon Ambarian
The third candidate is in an unusual position: admitting his eligibility for the court is likely to be questioned. Jerry O’Neil is a former Republican state lawmaker from Columbia Falls who spent eight years in the state Senate and four years in the House. He describes himself as a mediator and independent paralegal, but he’s not a licensed attorney under the State Bar of Montana.
The Montana Constitution says candidates for Supreme Court must have been “admitted to the practice of law in Montana for five years.” O’Neil says the court and the bar are acting as a “monopoly” by preventing someone from getting licensed as an attorney or practicing law in state courts without having attended an accredited law school.
In December, he filed a federal lawsuit, asking the court to rule that he was eligible to run for Montana Supreme Court because he has been admitted to practice law in Blackfeet tribal court. However, after he filed his candidacy, he dropped the case, telling MTN he thought the judge would likely rule against him “to protect his monopoly.”
O’Neil said, if he wins, he believes his election would not be challenged.
“They might do it, but I don’t think they’re going to go against the public like that,” he said.
O’Neil said he was running for the Supreme Court because he believed justices had been overstepping their role on issues like abortion and election regulations, and because he wanted to further challenge the court and the bar.
“The voters I’ve talked to are up in arms over the Supreme Court legislating from the bench, and the majority of them, virtually all of them, are not appreciative of the attorney monopoly,” he said.
Montana voters will also select a new chief justice this year. Three candidates are also running for that position.
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.
Montana
Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round
BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.
The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.
MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.
MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74
MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.
Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.
Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.
But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.
As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.
Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Montana Western 65, Carroll 56
After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.
Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.
The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.
Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.
Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.
Recently, I was asked to talk about what it is like to be a female rancher.
I was flattered to be asked, but I don’t know the answer.
I do know what it is like to be a human rancher and I know that I admire many women who also are ranchers.
In fact, 36 percent of the farmers and ranchers in the U.S. are women and they manage almost half of America’s ag land.
Globally, we produce more than half of all food.
In Montana, we all benefit from amazing female leaders in agriculture.
If you want to know about improving soil health or the rewards of raising sheep, talk to Linda Poole in Malta.
If you want to learn how to organize a grassroots rancher’s organization and effect meaningful change, talk to Maggie Nutter in Sunburst.
Trina Bradley of Dupuyer will look you in the eye and tell you everything you need to know about the impacts of grizzlies on her ranch life.
Colleen Gustafson, on the Two Med, graciously hosts and educates non-ranchers for months at a time without strangling them, all while maintaining every fence, buying every bull and killing every weed on her ranch.
Adele Stenson of Wibaux and Holly Stoltz of Livingston find innovative solutions to ranching challenges and then — even harder — find ways to share these innovations with hard-headed, independent cusses who want to do it our own way.
In fact, I’ve noticed that often women seek novel innovations to deal with a ranching challenge.
If a man happens to be around, she might even run it past him.
It’s rubber band ranching – stretch with an idea, contract to assess it, then stretch again to implement it.
Long ago, my friend Michelle and I promoted the One Good Cow program at the Montana Stockgrowers Association meeting.
We asked cattle producers to donate one cow to ranchers who had lost so many in blizzards and floods that year.
As we stood on stage in a room full of dour, silent men, I remember finding the one person I knew and asking what he thought.
Just as he would bid at a livestock auction, he barely nodded his approval.
We ended up gathering more than 900 cows from across the nation and giving them to 67 producers.
One Good Cow was a good idea.
Now I don’t seek approval for my ideas so sometimes my rubber band doesn’t contract to assess one before I stretch into action.
That’s how I got myself into producing shelf-stable, ready-to-eat meals made with my beef and lamb.
This is a good idea, too.
I hope.
I wonder if it is easier to ranch as a woman in some ways.
Society pressures men to know all of the answers all of the time, but If I mess up, I try to learn from my mistake and move forward.
When Imposter Syndrome hits or we can’t find a solution to an unsolvable problem – the effects of climate change, commodity markets or competing demands from family – secretly faking it until we make it gets lonely.
The downward spiral of loneliness and the pressure to be perfect can lead to suicide.
Male ranchers kill themselves 3.5 times more often than the general public.
Female ranchers kill themselves, too, just a little less often.
I’m fortunate to have good friends who love me even when I’m far from perfect.
We laugh together, they remind me that I have a few good attributes even when I forget, they tolerate my weirdness and celebrate little successes.
They stave off loneliness.
They know all ranchers try our best, we appreciate a little grace, and a warm fire feels good to our cold fingers.
Lisa Schmidt raises grass-fed beef and lamb at the Graham Ranch near Conrad. Lisa can be reached at L.Schmidt@a-land-of-grass-ranch.com.
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