Montana Standard

1 day ago | mtstandard.com | Mike Smith

A dozen residents and several commissioners voiced opposition Wednesday night to having a Montana women’s prison built and operated in Butte, saying it will lock the city into a “prison town” image it doesn’t want. It will stifle economic growth, they said, rely on county services and infrastructure without paying property taxes and shouldn’t be forced on Butte if Butte doesn’t want it.

2 days ago | mtstandard.com | Duncan Adams

A controversial subdivision proposed for a site west of Anaconda went from toehold to foothold Tuesday night when commissioners for Anaconda-Deer Lodge County approved the development’s preliminary plat. The vote for approval of Moonbase Woods’ preliminary plat was 4 to 1, with Commission Chairman Mike Beausoleil the lone opponent.

3 days ago | mtstandard.com | Kelly Sullivan

Uptown Butte could have easily gone a different direction. The old Sears building might still be sitting empty. NorthWestern Energy’s headquarters could have ended up in another town. There could be fewer jobs. More vacant buildings. Fewer reasons to live here. But that’s not what happened. Over the past decade, a targeted program called the New Markets Tax Credit has leveraged private investment dollars to bring back core properties, attract employers, and anchor Butte’s uptown.

4 days ago | mtstandard.com | Mike Smith

A judge sentenced a man to 100 years in the Montana State Prison on Monday for sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl in Butte in early 2024 while he was still on parole for an incest conviction involving a 13-year-old girl in Helena. Raul Beltran, 57, has maintained innocence since he was arrested and charged in February 2024 and did so again Monday, despite a jury convicting him in March of sexual assault and sexual abuse of children.

4 days ago | mtstandard.com | Duncan Adams

Chad Okrusch’s first encounter with a failing grade occurred in 1993. He flunked a test in an ethics class taught by Pat Munday. Rattled, Okrusch dropped the class.  Munday felt a special affinity for first-generation college students like Okrusch because Munday had been one himself. He believed in second chances. Okrusch enrolled in the class a second time and finished with an A. “I had coasted through academics,” Okrusch recalled during a recent interview. “Pat showed me there was another level.