The Montana Supreme Court last week upheld Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s decision to block a proposed ballot initiative that could have asked Montana voters to place a hard cap on property tax collections next year. Modeled on California’s landmark Prop 13, the initiative would have capped property tax collections for specific properties at 1% of their assessed value. It would also

National Newspaper Week is being celebrated for the 82nd annual year. The dates of recognition this year are Oct. 2-8. Few communities should know better than our own area when it comes to understanding the importance of newspapers. This newspaper’s publisher and owner, Darla Downs, spent countless hours to make sure state statute was followed regarding the county attorney’s election. Her

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing in recent years about the death of local newspapers, those bastions of democracy and chroniclers of community. While the loss of any newspaper hurts the people they serve, residents of rural areas and small towns are hit especially hard when a newspaper shuts down. When a local newspaper closes, citizens lose impartial news and information about town and