Democratic lawmakers from Montana’s American Indian Caucus entered the 2021 legislative session with the numbers stacked against them. Minorities within a minority party, Native American lawmakers often found themselves trying to snuff measures seeking to restrict voting access, limit the presence of wild bison on Montana lands, and rework public assistance programming. But there were successes, too. Native American lawmakers passed legislation to support Indigenous language education, and funding to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people was again approved by the Legislature and the governor. The caucus also found success working together on issues and presenting a unified message on social and natural resource issues.
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Montana governor signs recreational marijuana bill as Wyoming debates law enforcement overreach By Brendan LaChance on May 19, 2021
A marijuana legalization supporter at rally outside the Wyoming Capitol. (Dan Cepeda, Oil City File)
CASPER, Wyo. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill into law on Tuesday which will allow the sale of recreational marijuana to begin on Jan. 1, 2022 in the state.
Montana voters passed an initiative during the 2020 General Election which made it legal for adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use starting Jan. 1, 2020, according to Montana Free Press. While that initiative allowed residents to cultivate up to four marijuana plants per household, with Gianforte signing House Bill 701, residents will only be able to cultivate two plants per household.
More Options, Less Access: Chuck Johnson On How Montana’s Journalism Landscape Has Changed
Veteran journalist Chuck Johnson joins Sally and Gwen to talk about the good and bad changes and challenges in Montana journalism over his over 40-year career including decreased access and increased distrust.
Listen now on Parsing The Press, with Sally Mauk and Gwen Florio
Sally Mauk Chuck Johnson is known as the dean of Montana journalists for good reason. He covered state politics for over 40 years for the AP, the
Great Falls Tribune and Lee Newspapers before he retired in 2015. He also mentored legions of Montana reporters, including yours truly. No one is more qualified to talk about what s good and what s bad about journalism today than Chuck, and we re pleased to have him as our guest.