Holly Michels

Helena

Statewide Reporter at Lee Enterprises

Head of the Montana State News Bureau covering everything under the Big Sky. Superfan of all dogs. Must be fed regularly, or else. [email protected]

Featured in: Favicon

billingsgazette.com Favicon

lee.net

usnews.com Favicon

apnews.com Favicon

miamiherald.com Favicon

washingtontimes.com Favicon

madison.com Favicon

stltoday.com Favicon

charlotteobserver.com Favicon

kentucky.com + 106 more

Articles

Capitol Talk: Protests, partisan judges and party loyalty

1 week ago | mtpr.org | Sally Mauk |Lee Banville |Holly Michels

Opposition to Trump Administration policies draws thousands of Montanans to protests. The state Republican party tries to excommunicate nine legislators from the party. Bills aimed at making judicial races overtly partisan appear to be failing. And members of the Blackfeet Nation sue over Canadian tariffs. Capitol Talk is MTPR's weekly legislative news and analysis program.
Censure in the Senate; Pain in your pocketbook; Public lands in whose hands?

2 weeks ago | mtpr.org | Sally Mauk |Lee Banville |Holly Michels

Sen. Ellsworth gets his punishment. Montana's congressional delegation stands behind the Trump tariffs. Humanities Montana becomes a victim of the DOGE cuts. And, the old fight over who should own public lands resurfaces. Capitol Talk is MTPR's weekly legislative news and analysis program. MTPR's Sally Mauk is joined by Montana Free Press State Editor Holly Michels and Lee Banville, Director of the University of Montana School of Journalism and Professor of Political Reporting.
Clean Power Plan not the only -- or even most urgent -- issue facing Colstrip

1 month ago | helenair.com | Holly Michels

Though the buzz in Colstrip last week was over the uncertainty facing the town’s coal-fired power plant posed by a federal mandate that Montana cut its carbon dioxide emissions almost in half by 2030, other forces that could shutter two of the plant’s units loom much larger in the near future.
Forensic mental health facility opening soon in Galen

1 month ago | helenair.com | Holly Michels

Criminal patients at the overcrowded Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs will soon be housed at the former Reintegrating Youth Offenders facility in nearby Galen. The state of Montana's lease for a new forensic, meaning criminal, mental health facility begins Feb. 1 and runs through 2035. It will house people committed to the state hospital through the criminal justice system.
Leaky skylight threatening artwork at Capitol to be repaired this year

1 month ago | helenair.com | Holly Michels

Tom O’Connell, administrator of the state's Architecture and Engineering Division, uses a laser pointer to highlight maroon paint peeling away to reveal the white plaster below around the dome of the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the Capitol building. “See that whole section, that’s water coming through and causing damage and you see how close it is to the artwork,” O’Connell said last week on a tour of the Capitol. The artwork is seven paintings by the Cincinnati firm F.
21 at Montana Developmental Center heading to AWARE group homes

1 month ago | helenair.com | Holly Michels

On Monday, Gov. Steve Bullock announced plans to move 21 people from the Montana Developmental Center in Boulder to group homes around the state run by the nonprofit AWARE. MDC treats people with serious intellectual disabilities who have been determined by a court to pose an imminent risk of serious harm to self or others. The 2015 Legislature passed Senate Bill 411, which requires the DPHHS to develop a plan to close the center by June 30, 2017.
Iconic 600 Cafe in Miles City closes

1 month ago | helenair.com | Holly Michels

MILES CITY — The 600 Cafe, a mainstay of eastern Montana dining, has closed. Gloria Grenz, who owns the cafe with her husband Chris, who goes by his nickname Butch, said they closed the restaurant on Dec. 20, their wedding anniversary. “We didn’t have enough help,” said Gloria Grenz. “Whether that’s our fault or theirs, I don’t know.”Grenz said she and Butch aren’t sure if the closure is for good. “We’re both getting up there,” she said of her and her husband, both 68.
[UPDATED] Legislator: Be ready to call a special session on Colstrip if needed

1 month ago | helenair.com | Holly Michels

If “worse came to worse” and lawmakers in either Washington or Oregon pass legislation that could lead to a partial shutdown of the coal-fired power plants in Colstrip, Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, wants Montana to be ready. Legislators should have a draft bill to handle the fallout from the possible closure of Units 1 and 2 ready to go, Brenden said Wednesday as the Environmental Quality Council discussed the coal plant's future.
City, tribe point fingers, but one thing is clear: Browning is broke

1 month ago | mtstandard.com | Holly Michels

BROWNING — A note from Browning's mayor to the town’s citizens is taped to the front door of City Hall. The toll from events over the past two years, Mayor Willie Morris writes, has forced the town to reduce operations to just four hours a day, four days a week. Browning is broke. Last month it posted a press release online telling its citizens it was at risk of disincorporation.
MT Supreme Court chief justice tells Legislature to not make judicial elections partisan

2 months ago | nbcmontana.com | Holly Michels

HELENA, Mont. — Newly minted state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cory Swanson had a blunt message for Montana legislators near the end of remarks delivered to a joint session of the Montana House and Senate Monday: Let the judicial branch do its job. “We welcome legislation that addresses and resolves policy problems in the judiciary,” Swanson said near the end of his remarks.