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03/02/2025

Construction on a new fire station has begun; how it will be staffed is still in question

Construction began in January on Helena’s third fire station, funded by a $7 million bond that voters approved in 2024. What voters didn’t approve was the money to hire the firefighters to fill it.

Now, almost two years later, city officials said they are trying to figure out how to pay for the additional firefighters.

“While we are making progress on the facility itself, staffing remains an unresolved challenge,” Helena City Manager Alana Lake told the commission during a meeting last week.

If it had passed, the levy to hire 15 firefighters and nine police officers would have cost Helena taxpayers about $3.2 million a year. 

So what options does the city have to staff the fire station? Will city leaders try their luck with voters again? Maybe.

“The city could consider pursuing another levy, but no decisions have been made at this point about that,” Helena Public Information Officer Amanda Optiz said in an email to Montana Free Press. “The city is always looking for creative ways to fund city services beyond increasing the tax burden on residents.”

The city could seek external grants to fund the positions, but such funding is not always guaranteed year to year, making it a shaky solution for paying workers who deliver critical services, Optiz said. 

Neither Helena Mayor Emily Dean nor Fire Chief Jon Campbell responded to MTFP’s request for comment.

The need for an additional fire station and staff was brought to the forefront of city priorities in 2024 when Helena fire officials said emergency services had not kept pace with the city’s growth. 

The bond for the new station, which passed by fewer than 100 votes, was always intended to fund a station across the railroad tracks at 1872 Kelleher Lane on the north side of town, where about a fourth of the calls for service originate. 

Helena needs “to bring our emergency service capability up to the level that the community is demanding,” Campbell said prior to the bond election. 

5 Things to Know in Helena 

Local developers have raised concerns about the city’s review of its engineering standards, saying the changes would increase construction costs in Helena. Earlier this month, city engineering staff shared updates to its standards with the commission, including changes to the building materials approved for use in the city. But the costs of those changes would indirectly raise home prices, a group of Helena-based contractors and developers told the commission. 

“I believe it’s apparent from this analysis that the standards as presented would act as kind of a poison pill for the future development in Helena,” Mountain View Meadow developer Mark Runkle said at the meeting. 

The city plans to continue working with developers to address their concerns before returning to the commission for consideration. 

Architects and engineers working on the new Helena High School recently shared their conceptual design of the building. Input from community members, teachers and students went into the evolving concept, including preliminary designs for therapy and support areas, conference rooms, computer labs and other specialized learning areas. The new school is estimated to cost about $147 million for demolition and construction, which is expected to begin in August, according to KTVH.

Last week, the Lewis and Clark County Commission approved a $215,318 grant application to the Montana Opioid Abatement Trust for the county’s criminal justice services. Funds would be used for opioid treatment and recovery for individuals with addiction issues within the detention center. The county was awarded funding from the MOAT last year for these services, and if approved, the program would be extended through June 2027.  

The city of Helena received an award from the American Association of Retired Persons during last Monday’s commission meeting. AARP Government Relations Director Kristin Page-Nei presented the AARP Montana Outstanding Community Partnership award to the commission to honor the city’s age-friendly community initiatives and land-use planning.   

The Helena area metro planning organization hosted an open house at the civic center last week about its long-term transportation plan. The open house included information about area safety conditions, public transit and proposed policies and programs to address transportation priorities. The public was also asked for suggestions on making routes to school safer and creating a more accessible public transit system. 

Public Notice 

The Greater Helena planning organization has opened a survey to gather local input on the area’s transit priorities. The survey can be found on the transportation plan’s virtual open house and will close Friday, March 20.

Might Be Fun 

The World Ballet Company will perform the fairytale “Cinderella” at the Helena Civic Center Thursday, March 5. Tickets range from $49 to $93 and can be purchased on the civic center’s website. 

The post How will Helena pay for 15 new firefighters? appeared first on Montana Free Press.

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02/23/2025

Helena’s emergency homeless plan went into effect during recent coldsnap 

A few weeks ago, I reported on Helena’s oddly warm winter weather, and, as I’m sure to no one’s surprise, winter finally arrived. Last week, temperatures that had hovered in the 40s dropped, with the lowest of lows hitting below zero and staying there. 

And with Helena’s limited shelter options, it’s hard for me not to wonder about those who don’t have housing and how they survive. According to Helena’s 2025 homeless count, about 140 people are living in the city without a permanent home.

That said, organizers have been preparing for months to step up and address the area’s lack of low-barrier emergency winter shelters when temperatures drop.

Last week’s weather, coupled with some snowfall, launched the Helena Emergency Shelter Plan into action, activating a “code blue” response. 

The code blue triggered the opening of an immediate overnight low-barrier shelter at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 512 Logan St. That means those who need a place to sleep and stay safe throughout the night can go to St. Paul’s without meeting requirements that other area shelters have, like being sober.

In addition to St. Paul’s, Helena’s long-standing shelter, God’s Love, agreed to participate in the emergency plan and house any person in need of a place to stay.  

As of Friday, about 20 individuals had sought refuge at the locations, according to Jeff Buscher, a coordinator with the nonprofit United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area. 

The emergency plan was created and led by the Tri-county Community Organizations Active in Disaster, the city of Helena, United Way and other area nonprofits and faith-based organizations. 

Organizers have searched for available spaces in Helena over the past several months to serve as temporary overnight shelters, but have faced some setbacks. 

In an early February issue of Helena This Week, I wrote an update regarding the COAD and its emergency shelter plan. At the time, COAD had four locations identified as shelter options, including St. Paul’s, but attaining and training volunteers to staff the spaces and obtaining insurance coverage have kept most of these places from being used.

While the COAD responded to the recent cold-induced urgency, its mission is to establish something more permanent.

“Helena has long faced challenges in providing a low-barrier shelter that meets the needs of unsheltered neighbors,” a COAD press release stated last week. “The long-term goal remains to offer a consistent space that provides warmth, safety, and trauma-informed care for individuals who need additional support.”

With last week’s weather and some yet to come this winter, it’s imperative that Helena meet the needs for its most vulnerable residents, Buscher told MTFP Friday.

With last week’s weather and some yet to come this winter, it’s imperative that Helena meet the needs for its most vulnerable residents, Buscher told Montana Free Press Friday.

“ It’s a very difficult struggle, and it’s one that we can do better,” Buscher said. “The need for a permanent sustainable shelter is very much needed in our community, and we have a group that has begun to have a conversation about how we can make that a reality, I hope in the coming years.”

Public Notice 

The local metropolitan planning organization for the Helena area is hosting two open houses to gather public input for its long-range transportation plan — a guide to address growth, transportation and safety needs across Helena, East Helena and the county.

The first open house will be at the Helena Civic Center Tuesday, Feb. 24, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The second will be held at that same time Wednesday, Feb. 24, at the West Valley Fire Rescue Station, 1165 Forestvale Road. The MPO has provided a virtual open house, available here.   

In Case You Missed it

MTFP reporter Mara Silvers and photographer Lauren Miller last week reported on Helena’s flawed public transit system. They followed individuals with disabilities to see how they commute to work, detailing the challenges of either navigating city sidewalks in winter conditions or securing rides from Helena’s Capital Transit, which isn’t always reliable. City officials responded to questions about funding a fixed-route bus system, saying that funding one would impact taxpayers.

Read the full story here.

5 Things to Know in Helena 

Last week, former St. Peter’s Health nurse Aaron Gams, who was charged in 2024 with a felony of sexual abuse of a vulnerable person, appeared at a hearing at the Lewis and Clark Courthouse, apparently to change his plea. But during the hearing, county prosecutors informed the judge that they would amend the initial charge because it did not become a law until October 2024 — two months after Gams allegedly committed his crime. Prosecutors updated the charge Thursday to sexual assault resulting in bodily injury, which has a maximum penalty of 100 years in prison. Gams’ arraignment for the updated charge is scheduled for Wednesday, March 4.

Helena City Attorney Rebecca Dockter provided a brief update to the city commission last Wednesday regarding the Montana Department of Justice investigation into the immigration resolution that the city passed last month. After reanalyzing the resolution and the city’s process of drafting it, Dockter said she still feels “comfortable” that the resolution complies with Helena Police policies and with state law. 

Joel Peden, a Helena resident and disability advocate, died last week. Peden was a part of the Lewis and Clark Public Health’s inclusiveness committee and pushed for more accessibility initiatives in the city, including adding more wheelchair charging stations. At the next city commission meeting on Monday, Feb. 23, Mayor Emily Dean will read a proclamation dedicating the day as Joel Peden Day.

On Thursday, a few dozen students from both Helena and Capital high schools walked out during the school day to protest federal immigration detainments across the country, along with last month’s deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretty. According to an IR story, students held signs that read “ICE OUT” and “NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL.” 

Local students and educators with Helena’s Grandstreet Theatre received several awards from the 2026 Junior Theater Festival West, according to last week’s festival press release. Grandstreet performers Vireo Zackheim and Haddie Dailey were named as Junior Theater Festival All-Stars while Retta Leaphart, a Grandstreet educator, was awarded the Freddie G Fellowship and will receive a $5,000 grant and a trip to New York City. Grandstreet also received the Excellence in Acting award during the festival. 

Eye on Helena

Supporters of Konnor Ralph, a 23-year-old Olympic skier from Helena, react as he lands a trick during the finals of the big air freestyle skiing competition at the Milano-Cortina Olympics. The Tuesday-morning watch party at Ten Mile Creek Brewery in Helena was sponsored by Great Divide Ski Area, where Ralph started skiing as a child. Ralph finished fifth.

Might Be Fun 

Helena’s local brewery,Brothers Tapworks, will celebrate its third anniversary Friday, Feb. 27. The business is owned by former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and his brother Bill Bullock. The anniversary is from 5 to 9 p.m. and will feature live music from local band Copper Queen.    

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02/16/2025

Allegations against the former nurse played role in federal investigation

Montana Free Press last week reported about a 2025 federal investigation into St. Peter’s Health, which found, among other details, that at least two allegations of sexual abuse were made against former hospital nurse Aaron Gams.

This was not the first time we’ve covered Gams. I reported about the former ICU nurse a little over a year ago, after MTFP received a tip that he had lost his nursing license during a Montana Board of Nursing hearing in December 2024.

While reporting that story, I wondered if the allegations against Gams would lead to criminal charges. But, as a local reporter still familiarizing herself with how these legal processes play out, I certainly wasn’t expecting Gams to be arrested during the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2024. 

But once the Lewis and Clark County jail confirmed Gams had indeed been arrested on charges of abuse of a vulnerable person, a felony, we knew this story needed to be published as soon as possible, a task that felt a bit daunting considering it was New Year’s Eve. I was unsure whether attorneys, hospital officials and other sources would be able to provide comments needed for the story’s context. 

With the help of my editor, a former crime reporter, I navigated between emails to the hospital, calls to Gams’ attorney and county prosecutors and several calls back to the jail as I gathered as many details as I could.

Still, I wanted not only to get the story out as quickly as I could, but also to ensure it was reported ethically and accurately. It was just my colleague and me left in the office, and I wondered how comical I must have seemed, hearing me call the jail to ask for details I probably should have asked the first time I reached out.

Working into the evening, we got the story published around 7 p.m., which turned out to be MTFP’s last news article of the year. It was tough to report on a hard issue with sensitive, upsetting details, but the impact would be lasting.

About six days after this story came out, federal health inspectors began their internal investigation into St. Pete’s, uncovering an array of systematic and procedural failures in how hospital staff handled misconduct allegations. 

Gams had pleaded not guilty to the felony charge during his arraignment last January, but recent court filings show that he is scheduled to appear at a change-of-plea hearing Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the county courthouse. MTFP will continue to cover any updates. 

In Case You Missed It

Last week, MTFP reporter Tom Lutey covered Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s announcement of an investigation into the city of Helena regarding the city’s recently passed immigration resolution. During a press conference, the two said that Helena’s resolution, which codified that local law enforcement would “avoid” assisting federal immigration officers, appeared to violate a 2021 state law that bans cities from giving refuge to illegal immigrants. That law includes a $10,000 penalty for every five days that it’s not followed, and, according to Knudsen, that fine was up to $30,000 as of last Wednesday. 

Helena’s public information officer Amanda Opitz subsequently issued a statement that the city’s resolution was legally vetted before it was adopted by the city council.

“The resolution was drafted with careful consideration of applicable local, state and federal law, and the City believes the resolution is consistent with those legal requirements,” the release stated. “The City remains committed to upholding all applicable federal and state laws.”

Read Lutey’s full story here. 

5 Things to Know in Helena 

Helena City Manager Alana Lake updated the commission last week on the status of an interstate connector project. The Federal Highway Administration has fully funded a $1.3 million grant for the city to begin preliminary planning to construct a connecting route between U.S. Highway and the I-5 south interchange. The city was officially notified in January of 2025 that it would receive the grant, but the process stalled due to changes in federal funding. The connector should provide an alternative route for travelers to reach the highway, bypassing the Capitol exit, according to city staff. The city will next seek design consultants for the project. Construction is expected to take up to two years to complete, Lake added.  

The Helena School Board of Trustees approved a $60,000-per-year lease agreement for a commercial building to store district vehicles and equipment. District facilities director Todd Verill presented the proposal last week and said that the facilities department needed a new storage location to accommodate the construction of the new district kitchen. The lease will last for five years.    

The Helena Education Foundation received a $100,000 donation from Boeing last week. 

The education foundation, an organization that provides supplementary funding to local teachers and district initiatives, announced the gift on its social media page, stating that the money will go towards a robotics education program for the district’s high schools.    

Registration for the community’s annual fundraising event, Greater Helena Gives, opened last Friday for local nonprofits, according to Helena Area Community Foundation executive director Emily Frazier. The community foundation facilitates Greater Helena Gives, a 24-hour fundraising drive that raised about $305,000 last year for 117 nonprofits from more than 1,340 donors. This year, the event will be from 8 p.m. May 6 to 8 p.m. May 7. Visit the event website for registration details. 

The city is conducting fire-fuel mitigation work near the Dump Out Trail on Mount Helena, which is expected to last for the next two weeks, depending on weather conditions. A city parks and recreation social media post said there are no trail closures, but caution is advised.

By The Numbers 

The amount of damage across Helena parks caused by a December windstorm that brought down light poles and trees and caused hours-long power outages. According to the Independent Record, wind gusts reached 91 miles per hour and toppled trees in Memorial, Batch, Barney and Beattie parks, resulting in more than 3,450 cubic feet of downed logs.

Public Notice 

The Helena city administration offices, municipal court and transfer station will be closed Monday, Feb. 16, for Presidents’ Day. Capital Transit buses will be in operation, but its office will also be closed. The East Valley and East Helena transit service and administrative office will also be closed.  

Might Be Fun

The Painted Pot is celebrating its 20th anniversary during the weekend of Feb. 20. The DIY pottery paint shop will hold a Grown-Ups Night on Friday, featuring discounted products and a catered dinner. On Saturday, the business will host a party open to the public. Visit the Painted Pot’s website for additional event details.

The post Reporter’s notebook: How we reported about Aaron Gams appeared first on Montana Free Press.

Editor’s note: This article contains references to sexual assault and harassment. 

In the spring of 2024, a cancer patient at St. Peter’s Health in Helena, the longtime local hospital, made a disturbing report to one of the staffers in the oncology unit.

The patient, a 51-year-old woman, said that a male nurse had “touched and fondled her breasts,” according to the recollection of the staffer whom she told. The patient also insisted that she did not want that male nurse to care for her anymore.

In a publicly available report detailing the incident, federal hospital inspectors said the employee then shared the patient’s allegation with an on-duty supervising nurse. Two other staff members later told inspectors that they were also informed about the patient’s claim the day after it was made. 

But according to the 2025 investigation by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, the federal agency that serves as a watchdog for patient abuse and neglect, none of the four staff members who learned of the patient’s grievance documented the complaint in the hospital’s official system for such allegations. That inaction allowed the report to go uninvestigated for several months, and for the staff member accused of assault to remain employed until much later that year. 

In October of 2024, another patient came forward to accuse that same staff member of assaulting her a year earlier, when she was hospitalized in the intensive care unit. That allegation, reiterated in the federal inspection, matches the felony charge and licensing investigation against former St. Peter’s nurse Aaron Gams. Gams has pleaded not guilty to the charge, although a recent court filing shows he is scheduled to change his plea later this month.  

According to the federal inspection, investigators said the lack of official documentation of the complaints against the male nurse was part of a “systemic” failure in how St. Peter’s handled multiple reports of sexual abuse by two staff members in 2023 and 2024. The report indicates that, during its unannounced inspection prompted by an anonymous complaint, the federal agency identified a dozen staffers at St. Peter’s who had failed, on more than a dozen occasions, to file required reports about hospital employees allegedly sexually harassing and abusing patients.

“These failures created an unsafe environment and had the potential to place all hospital patients at risk for sexual abuse,” the inspection stated.

Investigators concluded that the ”severity and cumulative effect” of the hospital’s reporting failures and other violations in patient safety protocol justified putting St. Peter’s in “immediate jeopardy” status — a designation that could have resulted in the hospital losing its ability to bill the public health insurance programs Medicaid and Medicare.

Within a week of that finding, inspectors said, St. Peter’s submitted a plan for correcting how it tracks and investigates reports of sexual abuse. Once that plan was accepted by investigators on Jan. 28, 2025, the hospital’s immediate jeopardy status was lifted.

A nonprofit hospital, St. Peter’s is one of the largest employers in Helena, with roughly 1,800 employees. It serves around 100,000 residents from Lewis and Clark and surrounding counties, according to the hospital’s website. 

A spokesperson for the hospital declined to answer specific questions from Montana Free Press about the findings of the federal investigation and the hospital’s response. The hospital also declined several requests from MTFP to interview hospital CEO Wade Johnson or other administration officials about the report. 

In a series of statements, St. Peter’s spokesperson Jacquelyn Tescher said the hospital has changed its protocols in light of the federal investigation’s findings.

“All of us at St. Peter’s Health are deeply troubled and saddened by what happened. The actions of these individuals do not reflect the care and commitment we have for our patients, families, and this community,” Tescher wrote in an email to MTFP. 

The hospital did not provide specific dates or details about its internal actions, but Tescher said that the repeated lack of documentation flagged by federal investigators didn’t necessarily mean that hospital staff had been unresponsive to patient complaints. 

“While our staff took immediate action and began an internal review on each concern, the initial concern and actions taken were not always immediately documented. In some instances, documentation occurred after a concern was founded and corrective actions had been implemented,” Tescher said. “… We have learned through this process that [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] requires more timely reporting and specific documentation mechanisms be used in addition to the protocols we have in place. We have adopted those updated protocols, and our entire team has been trained to use them.”

Although the Helena hospital appeared to avoid long-term repercussions from federal officials for its mishandling of sexual abuse complaints, the findings of the investigation raise new questions about the internal safety protocols at St. Peter’s after officials there said publicly that one of its longtime cancer physicians, Dr. Thomas Weiner, had harmed patients. St. Peter’s has faced several lawsuits over alleged negligence and malpractice related to Weiner’s care since it fired him in 2020.

Tescher did not directly answer a question about how the hospital intends to rebuild the community’s trust in the wake of the federal investigation. As part of the hospital’s statement, she said St. Peter’s takes “very seriously” the privilege and responsibility of caring for patients’ health and well-being. 

“St. Peter’s is committed to acting with integrity as we continue to rebuild trust and provide the great care and experience our community deserves,” Tescher wrote.

‘STAFF MEMBER A’

The accused male staff member, along with all other employees, is anonymous in the federal investigation and only referred to by a letter of the alphabet. Inspectors labeled the male nurse as “staff member A.” But the details of that employee’s actions and the timeline of his related disciplinary proceedings, as laid out by federal health inspectors, match those included in a felony criminal complaint and a state licensing investigation against Gams, the former St. Peter’s nurse the hospital fired in October 2024.

Federal investigators recounted that, roughly six months after the oncology patient complained about staff member A, another patient contacted a different hospital employee to report that staff member A had abused her when she was incapacitated in the intensive care unit in 2023. 

The patient had, for nearly a year, believed her recollections were a figment of her imagination, according to the report she later filed with local law enforcement. That perception changed when the nurse texted her in late September 2024, introduced himself as Gams and asked to talk about what had happened, according to charging documents. The patient concluded that Gams had obtained her personal cellphone number from her medical records, a breach of patient privacy laws. 

On Oct. 8, 2024, less than two weeks after she first heard from Gams, federal investigators said the patient reported the text messages and her recollections from the ICU to a hospital employee. But health inspectors found that multiple staff members who learned of the incident — either directly from the patient or from colleagues — did not immediately complete an official report about the woman’s account. 

Inspectors noted that another higher-up staff member was informed about the second patient’s accusation the following day, a Wednesday, but that staff member A was not placed on administrative leave until Friday, two days later. At that time, inspectors noted that “no incident report was created,” an omission that they found violated the hospital’s own internal protocols.

Investigators said that someone in the facility eventually entered the incident into the hospital’s official reporting system in mid-November, more than a month after the former ICU patient first reached out.

Asked by MTFP to respond to the federal findings about documentation failures related to staff member A, Tescher pushed back, describing the hospital as having taken assertive action in the case that was also reported to local law enforcement. 

“Upon receiving the report of this nurse’s behavior towards a patient, they never worked another shift, and they never cared for another patient. St. Peter’s Health followed its reporting procedures and fully cooperated with law enforcement in its investigation,” she said in an emailed statement. “To be clear, when an allegation is reported, we take immediate action to protect patients and work with appropriate authorities on next steps.”

But the federal inspection indicates that the first known complaint against staff member A, originating from the since-deceased oncology patient, did not reach the upper levels of the hospital’s administration until January 2025, roughly nine months after it was originally made. 

Two days after MTFP reported on Gams’ arrest on Dec. 31, 2024, one of the staff members who had been told about the oncology patient’s sexual abuse complaint shared the account with a higher-level hospital employee, according to internal emails reviewed by federal investigators and their interviews with staff. 

“Review of a facility email from staff member C to staff member W, dated 1/2/25 at 4:15 p.m., confirmed that allegations of sexual abuse made by patient #2 against staff member A around April 2024, were not communicated to staff member W until approximately nine months after the allegations were made,” the inspection said.

Tescher did not respond to specific questions about the multi-month delay in the report about the oncology patient’s complaint.

Hospital officials did take action after Gams was placed on administrative leave in October 2024 to determine whether he had improperly accessed other patients’ medical records. 

The hospital’s internal audit confirmed that he had. In total, the federal inspection said, St. Peter’s staff found that staff member A had inappropriately accessed “around a dozen” patient records. In an interview with investigators, one upper administration official said there appeared to be “a pattern of staff member A accessing former ICU patients’ charts after they discharged from the facility.”

The federal report did not say whether Gams used those records to contact other patients, but it noted that the administrator said that the hospital had not reached out to the affected patients “to inquire with the patients or their representative if they had concerns regarding their care.”

Tescher did not respond to MTFP’s questions about whether the hospital had notified those patients about its findings since the federal inspection ended. 

Gams’ attorney did not respond to a list of questions from MTFP about the findings of the federal investigators, including the account about another patient who apparently accused Gams of sexual assault in 2024. 

“Because this is an ongoing case, I am unable to comment on your questions,” Gams’ Helena attorney, Misty Gaubatz, wrote in an email, noting that her client had pleaded not guilty to a single pending charge, which prosecutors brought based on the account of the former ICU patient.

ACCUSATIONS AGAINST A SECOND NURSE 

Federal investigators detailed allegations against another staff member accused of harassing and inappropriately touching patients. The report identified her only as “staff member AAA,” describing her as a female nurse who worked on the Behavioral Health Unit. 

According to the inspection, the nurse was accused of sexually harassing and abusing a male patient who had been hospitalized in the psychiatric unit in June 2024. The patient informed other staff members in writing that he had “experienced sexual harassment/abuse” from the nurse during his hospitalization, including, in the patient’s words, “inappropriate touching in private areas kissing hugging trying to have a relationship.”

As part of that complaint, the patient described his confusion about the woman’s treatment of him, adding that he wasn’t “in the right frame of mind” and that it took him “a few days to realize that this behavior is very inappropriate and extremely unprofessional.”

Within days of the patient delivering his written grievance, at least five staff members read or learned about his allegations against staff member AAA, federal investigators found. None of them documented the patient’s complaint in an official incident report, the inspection said. 

One of the employees, when passing the patient’s allegation onto her supervising director, shared other misgivings about the female nurse’s behavior. Among those concerns, that colleague recounted hearing staff member AAA describe another patient as “cute” and that she had given that patient “a backrub.”

Federal inspectors spoke to the male patient who originally reported staff member AAA. In that conversation, the former patient “stated he had been struggling every day since the sexual abuse.” He also told investigators that he was “concerned that staff member AAA had sexually assaulted other patients on the unit.”

In response to questions about the nurse’s current employment status with St. Peter’s, Tescher said that staff member AAA had been a contracted nurse who was “immediately” removed from patient care after the hospital administration learned of the allegations.

“Upon receiving a report of this safety concern, the contracted nurse was immediately removed from patient care. Their employer was contacted and we sent a report to the nurse licensing board. They never worked at St. Peter’s Health again,” Tescher wrote.

Tescher said that the abuse allegations against the female nurse came only from one patient, despite the federal inspection report referencing another staff member’s observations about her conduct toward another patient. 

Tescher did not respond to an additional question from MTFP regarding when the hospital became aware of the report against the contracted nurse and when she was removed from caring for patients.

REBUILDING TRUST

Throughout the report, federal inspectors reiterated the systemic shortfalls in the hospital’s process for documenting and investigating sexual assault complaints. Those failures, investigators said, had put all patients at risk of inappropriate treatment.

In June of last year, hospital officials updated the federal agency on its progress in a report on St. Peter’s letterhead. The hospital said it had increased training about how to handle reports of sexual abuse, including featuring “educational content” in its internal newsroom about the importance of “responding to, reporting, and investigating abuse and neglect.” The hospital also said it had launched in-person training for its employees about “patient safety culture,” facilitated by CEO Johnson. 

That same month, federal officials completed a follow-up inspection about the hospital’s compliance with requirements about documenting abuse reports. Investigators found that St. Peter’s “had corrected the areas of deficient practice.”

In an email earlier this month, a spokesperson for the federal agency confirmed to MTFP that St. Peter’s is in compliance with its policies and regulations. 

“[T]here have been no additional surveys at the facility since,” the spokesperson said. 

Tescher, the hospital spokesperson, said the hospital’s disciplinary status had been removed because of the significant improvement in its protocols.

“The immediate jeopardy classification was lifted because St. Peter’s implemented a robust reporting/documentation training program for all 1,800 caregivers. This focus on reporting/documentation training continues for all employees annually and new employees during their onboarding process,” Tescher wrote. 

“Patients and families trust us to provide quality, safe and compassionate care each time they come to St. Peter’s,” she continued. “We are committed to earning our community’s trust each day by learning and continually improving in everything we do.”

In-depth, independent reporting on the stories impacting your community from reporters who know your town.

The post Inside the ‘systemic’ sexual abuse reporting failure at a Helena hospital appeared first on Montana Free Press.

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02/09/2025

Unseasonable temperatures not great for ski hill, forecast a dry summer

Helena is experiencing above-average temperatures this winter, sparking concerns about a dry summer and hindering the local ski area.

Last week, Helena area residents enjoyed warmer, sunnier days, with temperatures peaking at nearly 60 degrees, according to a National Weather Service report. 

The mid-winter weather is “well above normal” with an average high temperature of 52.3 degrees and an average low of 30 degrees so far in February, National Weather Service Meteorologist Amanda Wilson told Montana Free Press. Temperatures are recorded at the Helena Regional Airport.

Last year, Helena was about 30 degrees colder.

“ We actually had a pretty cool February last year,” Wilson said. “[It] looked like the average max temperature for the Helena airport was 24.1 degrees, and then the average minimum temperature was 6.3 degrees.” 

February’s typical highs in 2024 and 2023 hovered in the 30s, still way cooler than what residents have basked in this year, Wilson added. This week, high temperatures are expected to hover in the 40s.

Helena’s snowfall has also been limited so far this winter, with virtually no snow on the ground in the city and valley areas and only 0.02 inches recorded in the last month.

Wilson said that a small snowpack can lead to dangerous weather this summer, increasing the risk of grass and wildfires.

Another impact, Wilson said, was a “not so great” ski season, which was somewhat reflected at the Great Divide Ski Area near Marysville, about 23 miles northwest of Helena.

Great Divide General Manager Travis Crawford told MTFP that while the area’s snowpack is only about half of what it usually is, most of the mountain is open. Still, getting people to come to the hill is another challenge posed by the warm weather, Crawford said.

“ Our biggest issue is when there is no snow down in Helena or the valley or kind of those surrounding South Hills areas, people just don’t think skiing,” Crawford said. “They’re thinking mountain biking and hiking and fishing, and all those. So currently we are down about 50% of our skier visits for this time of year.”  

The fewer people who come to ski, the less revenue the ski area generates during its season, which, Crawford said, affects its staffing and what long-term improvements the area can fund.

“It is looking like this summer, we’ll probably pull back a little bit and focus more on essential maintenance activities and less of the elective projects,” Crawford said.

Great Divide provides daily weather updates and a live camera on its website and social media pages for those checking the conditions, features that Crawford encouraged skiers to use. 

Public Notice 

Helena Public Schools will host a meeting Thursday, Feb. 19, to share designs for the district’s “reimagined” Helena High campus. Architects contracted with the district will present floor plans for the new school, the new alternative high school and district athletics facilities, followed by a Q&A session. The meeting, scheduled for the existing HHS “Little Theater” from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., is the latest update on three new school facilities, which voters approved in a $283 million bond last fall. 

5 Things to Know in Helena 

During a joint city-county commission meeting last week, city and county staff presented an update on green waste diversion and recycling. While both the city and the county fund the recycling program, the city has managed all Lewis and Clark County solid waste operations since 2015. City public works director Ryan Leland said residents haul about 6,000 tons of green waste — organic debris such as yard clippings, branches, leaves and other tree trimmings — to the transfer station each year. Implementing curbside green waste collection and composting over five years could divert 4,000 tons from the landfill each year, Leland said. He also recommended that the city and county upgrade their composting system to speed up decomposition, cutting the timeline to between 60 and 90 days from six months to a year. No official action was taken. 

The U.S. Forest Service and the Nature Conservancy conducted a prescribed burn of about 1,000 acres in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest last week. The mild weather allowed for burns in the targeted areas south of York in the Big Belt Mountains, where smoke and fire could be seen from the Helena Valley, Canyon Ferry and York. Prescribed burns help reduce wildfire risks by eliminating overgrown vegetation in heavily wooded areas, according to the Forest Service. 

The city of Helena is promoting ways for residents to celebrate Valentine’s Day more sustainably. The city, sharing tips on its social media page, suggested making handmade gifts rather than store-bought items, participating in experiences such as live shows, visiting the Montana Heritage Center, or booking dancing or cooking lessons. Instead of buying cut flowers, another tip is to give flowering plants or paper or wooden flowers.  

Capital High School student Byron Lloyd was named the Montana Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) member of the year. DECA is a national organization that encourages high school and college students to develop careers in marketing, finance and management. The award was presented during the Montana DECA State Career Development Conference held in Missoula last week. The award recognized Lloyd’s performance and dedication to the Montana chapter, according to Capital High’s social media post congratulating him. 

A Helena Public School District teacher was named as the Montana recipient of a national education award, according to a KTVH story last week. Jefferson Elementary’s Kellen Alger received the 2026 National Education Association Foundation Travelers Award for teaching excellence and will represent Montana in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Feb. 13.    

In Case You Missed It

Last Monday, MTFP published a story about a Helena trailer court whose residents are struggling with significant rent increases. Golden Estates Mobile Home Park was sold to new ownership last year, and the residents contend that maintenance issues have been neglected while the rent has nearly doubled. MTFP reporter Mara Silvers, photographer Lauren Miller, and I reported on residents’ concerns, what renters legally can do and the reality of renter protections in Montana. Read the full story here. 

Might Be Fun

The Jester Bar will host a “Heartbreaker’s Ball” beginning the evening of Friday, Feb. 13, and ending in the early hours of Valentine’s Day. The event will feature live music from local DJs, The Fox Den.  

The Rialto Bar will host a speed-dating event Feb. 12, as part of its “F Your Phone February” theme. The event will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $25 and include one drink and can be purchased at Ten Mile Creek Brewery.

The post It was how warm? In February? appeared first on Montana Free Press.

Small details around Lynne Weinacker’s home illustrate a daily story — one about getting by on very little. Plastic containers labeled “flour” and “pancake” are stacked neatly on her kitchen counter, filled with bulk goods. The crate for her rambunctious dog, Ginger, fits like a puzzle piece under her kitchen table.

Over nearly 20 years, Weinacker has made the two-bed, one-bath trailer in the Golden Estates Mobile Home Park a cozy home. She bought the trailer on Helena’s eastern edge, across the highway from Walmart, for about $5,000 around 2007. 

For years, the rent Weinacker paid for the land beneath the trailer was manageable, the 68-year-old said during a recent interview. She raised her son and made ends meet with a paycheck as a school lunch worker. Eventually, she retired and began living on a fixed income, supplemented by her Social Security benefits.

But last February, the mobile home park property changed hands, bought by a Tennessee-based owner named Abraham Anderson. With less than a month’s notice, Weinacker said, she found out about new owners, new property managers and new rent. Instead of $400 a month, she was told to pay $595. 

The increase stung, Weinacker said, but she figured out how to make do. She picked up a part-time job at a local casino, delivering drinks to gamblers. Weinacker said she deals with arthritis and other disabilities, including back pain that plagues her. But she’s been working despite those conditions, at least for two days a week, she said.

“I do what I gotta do,” she said.

Then, in January, the tenants of the Golden Estates got notice of another rent increase, folded into a new month-to-month lease agreement. 

This time, the jump went from $595 to $799 — nearly double what Weinacker and others were paying just a year earlier.

This time, Weinacker started to panic. The math of the new lot rent, set against her limited income, just didn’t pencil out. 

“If I could afford $800 a month, I wouldn’t live here,” she said.

NEW OWNERS ON THE BLOCK

Golden Estates is far from the only Montana mobile home park to have transferred ownership to an out-of-state company in recent years. Likewise, the tenants in Helena are joining many others who have experienced sudden, substantial rent hikes.

But policy makers, tenants and housing advocates have said that the trend now affecting Golden Estates is a serious issue that could create ripple effects across the community. Mobile home park rent spikes undermine a rare affordable housing option, experts say, threatening to push tenants into less stable living scenarios. 

“Oftentimes, it’s the last step before homelessness,” said Rep. George Nikolakakos, a Great Falls Republican lawmaker who has attempted to pass legislation to better protect mobile home park residents. “That rent starts going up on them [and] there aren’t a lot of other options.”

Nikolakakos, a former mobile home park owner himself, said new owners often take a formulaic approach to raising the rents at their parks. It’s not unheard of to charge about half of whatever the market rate is for rent at a two-bedroom apartment in a given community, he said. The increases will likely create turnover, pushing some residents to sell or abandon their trailers outright rather than paying to move them. The open vacancies can then be filled by tenants who can afford to pay the new rate. 

“They’ll just push it as far as they think they can go,” Nikolakakos said.

State business records show that Golden Estates is now owned by Helena MHC LLC, a company that lists Anderson as its sole proprietor. The company’s mailing address is in Sevierville, Tennessee.

Anderson did not respond to repeated emails and phone calls from Montana Free Press about the rental increase at Golden Estates. But in interviews with national business podcasts, Anderson has spoken plainly about viewing mobile home parks as cash-rich investment opportunities. In a 2020 interview with Mobile Home Park University, a coaching program for investors interested in acquiring trailer parks, Anderson said he owned 11 trailer parks across multiple states. In many of those, Anderson said, he had increased profitability by cutting costs and raising rents.

“[R]aising rents, because that’s the easiest. Costs you a postage stamp to raise the rent,” Anderson said during the interview. 

In a January letter shared with MTFP by Weinacker, the new property management company hired by Anderson cited several reasons for raising tenants’ rents. Among them, the new landlord cited increasing operations and maintenance costs, insurance rates and property taxes.

According to county records, property taxes for the land under the Prospect Avenue trailer parks owned by Helena MHC LLC have increased about 19% since 2020. But taxes for the park that includes Weinacker’s home actually decreased in the most recent assessment period leading up to the change in ownership. The taxes went down by more than $900 between 2024 and 2025, to an annual sum of $26,050 from $26,974.

Harold Lesh, another Golden Estates tenant, owns three trailers at the park that he rents to family members. He said he’s struggling to pay rent for the sites of each one — a fact he said is all the more frustrating because he owns the structures on top of that land.

“We’re renting a piece of grass,” Lesh said in an interview with MTFP. “They don’t own the trailer. They just own the piece of the grass that I’m sitting on.”

Weinacker and other tenants say the quality of streets, communal spaces and infrastructure has not obviously improved since Anderson’s company took over. In 2025, tenants repeatedly lost water access and were under boil-water advisories to mitigate risks of E. coli and other contaminants. One notice about a boil order was posted on traffic cones placed in the park’s streets. 

“They have done no maintenance here whatsoever. Whatsoever,” Weinacker told MTFP.

Calls and emails from MTFP to the property manager listed on letters to the tenants were not returned.

OTHER OPTIONS FEW AND FAR BETWEEN

Last Wednesday evening, dozens of tenants from Golden Estates and some other local mobile home parks filled a community room at the county’s public library to talk about possible strategies for coping with the rocketing rent increases.

The meeting was moderated in part by Amy Hall, a senior housing attorney with the nonprofit Montana Legal Services Association, and by a representative from the Prickly Pear Housing Alliance, a local housing advocacy group.

During the discussion, Hall asked the tenants what communication they had received from the new owner and property manager, and whether maintenance work had been addressed.

The room erupted in sarcastic laughter. 

Residents said that they had not seen improvements to the property and that communication from the property managers had been sporadic and, for most, non-existent. Some recounted fallen trees that had not been cleaned up or removed, outdated water service and inadequate water quality. Hall affirmed that those fixes should fall to the property owner, not residents.  

As for potential avenues for legal action, Hall said, there are few protections for tenants under Montana state law. 

“Montana doesn’t put a cap on the amount of rent that can be charged by a landlord,” Hall said in a later interview with MTFP. “There’s nothing in the law that says the rent increase can only be 10% or even 20%.”

Hall pointed out one potential point of leverage that could apply to Golden Estates tenants: Montana’s legal requirement for a landlord to provide at least 30 days’ notice about rent increases. But that timeline only starts when the notice is received by tenants, rather than the date it was postmarked. 

In the case at Golden Estates, Hall told MTFP, many tenants received notice of the increase around Jan. 5, meaning they could be shielded from having to pay the new $799 increase effective Feb. 1. That timeline and legal protection could become important if tenants face eviction for refusing to pay the rent increase in February, Hall said. In that situation, she said, the Montana Legal Services Association would consider representing tenants in court.

“What we look for are cases where we can preserve somebody’s housing and where they have legitimate, solid legal grounds for defense,” Hall said.

During the Wednesday meeting, Hall stressed that the other tool for tenants to consider is collective action. Dozens of tenants asking the new owner for a reversal of the rent increase might go further than a message from one individual, she said. Speaking to MTFP after the meeting, Hall said, the tenants of Golden Estates already seem organized and motivated to push for change.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time. And usually when those evening meetings are set up, especially when they’re so far away from where the tenants live … usually hardly anybody would come,” Hall reflected, saying she expected to see less than a dozen tenants there. “It was astonishing to see 50 people in that room, and standing room only.”

“This is just turning their own lives upside down,” Hall added. “That’s why I think so many people showed up.”

A MOBILE HOME THAT’S HARD TO MOVE

Without a rent decrease or other financial support, Weinacker considered a short list of other options to keep her housing.

She could move in with her son, a 35-year-old Bozeman resident. But Weinacker said she’s reluctant to move to Bozeman, which she describes as “too crowded.” She also said she’s saddened at the thought of not having a space to herself.

Another idea Weinacker had was to move her trailer to a plot of land that her niece owns in the Helena Valley. That option quickly dwindled when she learned that connecting the trailer to water and sewer could cost thousands of dollars. 

Moving the trailer anywhere would be labor-intensive and probably expensive, she said, given that it was originally built in the 1960s. Nikolakakos, the Great Falls lawmaker, said costs for uprooting a mobile home — including unhooking water and gas, detaching the skirting and any outdoor railings or porches, physically moving the structure and then re-attaching everything — would rack up costs in the ballpark of $10,000, at a minimum. 

Nikolakakos pointed to local groups that have tried to address the high moving costs faced by tenants forced out of parks after ownership changes. In Whitefish, local nonprofits raised $160,000 to help 26 families and individuals with relocation costs, giving each household roughly $5,000. Housing support groups said that aid helped prevent many families from falling into homelessness. 

Sometimes, when Weinacker is at a loss for what to do, she thinks about other people like her who might be facing similar hardships. She wishes there were statewide laws that protect tenants from rent spikes. She wishes there were more affordable housing options for low-income people like herself. She wishes all her neighbors could have a place to call home for the long term.

“I don’t know what half of these people are gonna do,” Weinacker said. “We live up here because we’re poor.”

The post Rent hikes hammer residents of Helena trailer court appeared first on Montana Free Press.

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02/02/2025

Lake talks priorities, answers questions about her readiness for top job 

Alana Lake started her new job as Helena’s city manager last week, replacing long-time manager Tim Burton. She was selected from more than 80 other applicants.  

Lake, 34, was raised in Frenchtown near Missoula and graduated in 2014 from Montana State University, where she studied political science and international relations. Coming from a family of veterans, Lake followed in that tradition and joined the Air Force after college, serving for nearly 11 years. 

Upon entering the Air Force reserves, Lake moved to Helena in 2025, after taking  a job as the executive director of the Montana Public Service Commission, a state board that regulates shareholder-owned utilities. Her choice as a finalist for the city manager job sparked some public criticism regarding her qualifications, although she was ultimately selected by the city commission by a 3-2 vote. 

Montana Free Press spoke with Lake on her third day on the job, and she discussed her call to public service, public skepticism and her goals for the city in 2026. Her comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity. 

MTFP: What was your first call to public service?

Lake:  One of the things that was kind of inspiring during my high school years was that I was in an essay contest with the Montana Electric Co-Op Association. They have this youth program, and I was selected as the winner during my junior year and was able to go on their Washington, D.C., trip. That was my first [real] venture out to the nation’s capital, and it had such an impact on me. I got to meet our [then] current sitting legislators when I was there and got time with them. Looking back now, that just had such a profound impact on kind of the trajectory of my lifet. That, I think, encouraged me to start thinking about public service and where I could make an impact.

 You know, I grew up in a family full of veterans. My grandfather on my dad’s side was a World War II vet and Purple Heart recipient. I have a great uncle on the other side of the family who was a bomber during World War II. So, when you’re kind of instilled in that environment as a child, you just kind of start adhering to some of those values, and it kinda shapes who you become and how you think. 

MTFP: What did those values look like? 

Lake:  Well, I think most Montanans would agree, it’s that foundational hard work that you’re not above anybody. There’s no task that you can’t do. Really, that kind of blue-collar mentality. We’re all here to help and support each other and build each other up and contribute to making this a better community. We don’t just complain about problems, but we come up with solutions, and we offer to help. It’s the perseverance. Obviously, there’s a lot of trials and tribulations that come at you throughout your life and knowing how to handle that and brush yourself off and get back up and not let that discourage you.

MTFP: From your professional and military background, how did you come to apply for the city position?

Lake:  It’s funny because I’ve had this conversation with a few people, because I think people are curious, like, “How the heck did you end up here?”  So, actually, some citizens of the city actually approached me. I had no idea that Tim Burton had announced his retirement. I was not aware that they were hiring a new city manager. But I had some citizens approach me who know my background and know me pretty well, and they said, “You know, I think you would be a great fit for this position. What do you think?” And at first, I told them, “You guys are crazy.” That was my first response. So when I hear some people say, “She’s never worked a day in a municipal government,” I feel for them. 

 What I did was I actually looked at the job description.  I read through that, and in there, I didn’t see any need to be a technical expert in all these different departments. I have a sense of a well-rounded understanding of my capabilities and my experiences and my background and what I bring to the table.  I would personally never want to put myself in a position where I was over my head, I felt like I wasn’t well prepared to take a position. I did my homework. I looked at the job description. I actually called a bunch of city managers around the state, and I said, “Hey, do you think this is a crazy thing for somebody to apply to this position who doesn’t have municipal experience?” And resoundingly, they all said no. I was actually pretty shocked. 

They talked through what they observed as the most important qualities of a city manager from their perspective. And a lot of it came down to the fact of that communication, the ability to take policy from a commission, turn that into action and get the impacts at the end. Communicating with the public, communicating with people [and] having good management skills. 

MTFP: What are some top priorities or goals you’d like to see Helena accomplish this year?

Lake:  When somebody comes into a new position, you have to take time to listen and learn. And so my top priority right now is doing just that. In fact, I’ve blocked off my first few weeks just to talk to city employees, to managers, to start understanding what those issues are. 

The budget is gonna be a huge priority; housing is gonna be a huge priority. We have the legislative session coming up where we’re hopeful that we’ll have some solutions put forward through the [Montana League of Cities and Towns] that will assist us with those types of things. But we have also an issue with our fire station, which we’re so grateful that the levy passed for fire station [No. 3], but we don’t have anybody to staff it right now.

 We need to figure out how we can do that. We have huge projects, as you know. The railroad crossing at Montana [Avenue], which is very exciting for many people. We have huge developments that are gonna help try to address some of that housing. Those are some of the priorities that we’re looking at from day one. 

Public Notice 

United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area is conducting the annual homeless population count in Helena. The count began last week and will conclude Feb. 6. Data will then be compiled by the Montana Continuum of Care Coalition and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a future resource for funding and policymaking. 

United Way will have four stations for individuals to connect to surveyors set up across Helena. Station sites include Good Samaritan Ministries Our Place, 1531 National Ave.; St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 512 Logan St.; Lewis and Clark Library, 120 S. Last Chance Gulch; and God’s Love, 533 N. Last Chance Gulch. For more information regarding the count or volunteering, contact United Way at 406-442-4360.

Last year’s results showed that there were about 143 individuals identified as unsheltered in Lewis and Clark County. 

5 Things to Know in Helena

Last week, the Helena Housing Crisis Action Network, a group of nonprofit leaders and area faith-based organizers, met to provide updates about different housing-related initiatives, including the status of establishing an emergency winter shelter in Helena. United Way of the Lewis of Clark Area’s community impact coordinator, Jeff Buscher, reported that there are five locations in the process of becoming emergency shelters. A lack of volunteers and the necessary insurance, however, is keeping those shelters from opening at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Headwaters Covenant Church, The Helena Indian Alliance gym, United Way office and St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. 

While St. Paul’s recently got insurance coverage to operate as a shelter, the site won’t be ready until a few more weeks as staff work to get and train volunteers. In the meantime, Buscher told MTFP in an email that God’s Love, Helena’s only year-round low-barrier shelter, will be open during extreme cold weather.  

Helena Public School’s homeless student liaison, Michele Zentz, reported last week that the district’s homeless student count is 397. Zentz explained that the district identifies homeless students by different categories, including those living in foster or group homes, in shelters, in cars or campers, “doubled-up” in a friend’s home, in a motel or hotel, or who are unsheltered.  

The Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office reported last week that the deceased person found on Mount Helena last October died of natural causes. According to a press release, the person died of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

The city commission last week approved an $83,957 bid from Andela Tool and Machine, a manufacturer of recycling machines, for a glass crusher for the city’s transfer station. The city budgeted $80,000 out of the general fund and used $3,957 from its recycling fund to cover the remaining costs. The crusher will save the city money by processing glass in-house rather than sending it out of state, according to city documents. 

A Helena resident created a “train tracker” website to help address residents’ frustrations with delays at area railroad crossings, KTVH reported last week. Keara Fairclough created a website to help residents find which crossings are clear of trains, with a real-time map of the Helena area and train movements. 

In Case You Missed It

Last week, the Helena City Commission approved a resolution that codified the city’s support of existing local law enforcement policies in response to federal immigration presence in the state and nationally. Additionally, the resolution calls for police to “avoid” assisting federal immigration operations and clarifies that the city won’t enter into a federal partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The resolution, which drew hundreds to the City-County Building on Monday night, passed 4-1, with only Commissioner Sean Logan voting in opposition. Read the full story here.

A makeshift explosive device was reported to Helena police last Thursday near Helena High School, disrupting a student-organized walkout. MTFP reporter Zeke Lloyd covered the incident, which led to the anti-ICE student protest being rescheduled after police advised them to cancel. The “suspected improvised explosive device” was described to be a jug of gasoline and fireworks and was first reported to the police about an hour before the 11 a.m. walkout. Read Lloyd’s full story here. 

Might Be Fun 

The annual Valentine’s Vendor FebFest will be at the Helena Civic Center on Feb. 7, and more than 70 vendors are expected to showcase handmade goods and gifts. The market will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased on the center’s website. Children ages 12 and under enter for free. 

The Rialto Bar will host a speed-dating event on Feb. 12, as part of its “F Your Phone February” theme. The event will be from 6-9 p.m. Tickets are $25 and include one drink and can be purchased at Ten Mile Creek Brewery.

The Great Divide Ski Area will put on its first Big Sky Skimo Cup, an event featuring three ski races during the weekend of Feb. 20. Registration fees range from $30 to $70, depending on the race. For more details, visit the event website.

Brews with the press, cheers to 10 years!

Since our founding in February 2016, Montana Free Press has grown into the state’s largest nonprofit newsroom, made possible by the communities who believed in the mission from day one. Now, we’d love to celebrate that milestone with you.

Join us at Blackfoot River Brewing for Community Night, an evening of conversation, connection, and looking ahead to what’s next. As a bonus, Blackfoot will donate $1 to Montana Free Press for every beer sold throughout the day, meaning every pint helps support independent Montana journalism.

We’ll raise a glass to the stories that shaped our first 10 years and share our vision for the decade to come. After all, this newsroom was built by the community, and the future will be too. 🍻

The post Helena, meet your new city manager appeared first on Montana Free Press.

After months of pressure from local immigration advocates and members of the public, and amid growing national frustration with immigration authorities, the Helena City Commission Monday night approved a resolution calling for its police officers to “avoid” assisting federal authorities with immigration enforcement.

The vote endorsing existing police department policies drew hundreds of members of the public to the City-County Building, filling the commission chamber and the three available overflow rooms to capacity, leaving those remaining to wait in the building hallways. 

After nearly three hours of public comments and its own deliberation, the commission voted 4-1 in favor of a resolution that specifically instructs the Helena Police Department not to enter into a federal partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement known as a 287(g) agreement. 

The resolution further states that the city of Helena will not disclose a person’s place of birth, immigration status or national origin, except when required by law or upon a valid court order.

The resolution also upholds the Helena Police Department’s current policy that it will not stop, investigate, detain or arrest anyone based on their immigration status or suspicion of violating immigration law. Additionally, the resolution calls on Helena police “to request” federal immigration officers to remove any masks and identify themselves when they feel it won’t interfere with federal actions.  

“ I want to thank the community for showing up tonight,” said Commissioner Melinda Reed. “I want to thank the Helena Police Department for earning the trust of your community. I hope you heard it loud and clear tonight. I know I did.”

Commissioner Sean Logan, who cast the sole opposition vote, said that he wouldn’t support the resolution because he believes that the HPD’s current policies already address most public concerns and that the city shouldn’t weigh in on whether federal authorities can wear masks.

“ This will put our officers in a very difficult position and lends itself to the possibility of HPD interfering with or even obstructing federal law enforcement,” Logan said. “Also, it’s asking them to take action for which they have no authority.” 

Advocacy groups Montana For Palestine, Waking Giant and Prickly Pear Housing Alliance began raising concerns about resident safety last summer after a Helena man was detained by immigration agents. In that instance, both local and county officers assisted federal officers. 

Since then, advocates have attended almost every public city commission meeting, urging elected leaders to challenge federal procedures. Those demands intensified after the recent shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Before the vote, about 80 people spoke or submitted written comments in support of the resolution.

“ Commissioners, mayor, you are correct, you cannot control what federal law enforcement does, but you can expect what our Helena Police Department does and how you, as local city government, chooses to interact with ICE and other federal law enforcement agencies or not,” said Montana For Palestine co-leader Lily Clarke. “Here before you is your opportunity.” 

Brian Miller, a Helena attorney who has worked on immigration cases at both the state and federal levels, said the concerns about potential risks to Helena officers are legitimate, but that the resolution is “a good first step.”

“ So what we need to do, I think, is tee this up, do a more comprehensive piece of legislation, and then in order to make sure that you don’t put your officers in a bad spot, you can sue the federal government in federal court and ask a judge to determine how far the lines are, because judges should be determining this,” Miller said. “Not Stephen Miller or Kristi Noem, or someone else who is following fascist ideologies.” 

Prior to the commission meeting, Reed offered three amendments to the resolution, supported by immigration advocates, including one that would have strengthened language on whether federal authorities can wear masks in the city. All three of Reed’s amendments failed.

Separately, City attorney Rebecca Dockter raised concerns regarding  amendments brought forward by members of the public and said those changes were redundant, vague and could potentially present local police with legal issues. 

“ The ultimate aim of this resolution … was to support the practices and policies of the city of Helena, HPD that were already in place,” Dockter said during the meeting. “I don’t recommend adding other burdens or adding any other administrative responsibilities because what the HPD currently does is focus on the safety and protection of the citizens in the community of Helena already.” 

Three people spoke in opposition to the resolution, maintaining that the country’s immigration issues began with the Biden administration. 

“I feel like I, the black sheep in here,” one commentator said. “But I have many other people that I’ve talked to that don’t support the resolution. Safe cities are those that have law enforcement officers … that work together. The terrorized cities are the ones where, unfortunately, the law enforcement officers are being pitted against each other, and that’s insanity.”

Just an hour before the meetings, about 100 people rallied outside the City-County Building, mourning the recent deaths and voicing their support for the resolution’s passage.  

Other Montana cities have been watching Helena’s response to immigration enforcement. 

“ City Commissioners in Billings, Missoula have reached out as well as the Bozeman mayor,” Montana For Palestine and Waking Giant co-leader Ashley Fischer said during the meeting. “What you pass here tonight is going to be implemented in multiple cities across Montana.”

Missoula City Council Member Kristen Jordan told Montana Free Press she is working on a similar resolution.

More so, over the weekend, thousands of Montanans took to the streets to protest against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Rallies took place in Helena, Bozeman, Missoula and Billings in response to immigration enforcement-related killings.   

In-depth, independent reporting on the stories impacting your community from reporters who know your town.

The post Helena commission votes to restrict local police work with ICE appeared first on Montana Free Press.