Dalmatian toadflax (Linaria dalmatica) and yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) are two closely related state designated noxious weeds that were inadvertently brought over from Eurasia. Both damage farming, range lands and wildlands. They have yellow flowers that look like garden snapdragon … Read Article
Jefferson County ranchers have struggled for the past five years with falling prices and rising expenses, but the COVID-19 crisis has exposed another crack in the system — a supply chain backup, leading to uncertainty for producers planning to sell their stock in the fall. Read Article
Area medical clinics have so far been able to obtain adequate supplies to conduct COVID-19 testing, with those results being processed by the state Public Health Lab, said Karen Wandel, RN, department supervisor for Jefferson County Public Health. Read Article
Jefferson High School graduates will have an in-person ceremony this year, to be held on the football field with a limited number of family members present. Read Article
On May 8, Jefferson County mailed 7,965 ballots to residents for the June 2 election – which will feature party primaries for governor and other state executives and U.S. and state legislators as well as local ballot initiatives. Read Article
The Whitehall Biological Weed Control Project is up and running this season, modified a bit due to COVID-19. The first step is looking for eight to 10 Canada thistle fungus release sites. This will include two visits to each site, (May/early June) to set up a long-term sampling transect. … Read Article
Jefferson High School and Basin and Clancy elementary schools are the latest Jefferson County schools to decide not to reopen for the remainder of the academic year. Read Article
Local food banks and distributors have not seen a sharp or sustained increase in demand since Gov. Steve Bullock issued the stay-at-home order in March due to COVID-19. Read Article
More summer events are being canceled due to COVID-19 amidst uncertainty about when restrictions on large gatherings will be lifted. Read Article
Members of Friendship Baptist Church in Clancy gathered Sunday for the first in-person service since Gov. Steve Bullock issued a stay-at-home order in late March due to COVID-19. Read Article
The number of inmates at the Jefferson County Detention Center has dropped by about half since late March and following Gov. Steve Bullock’s stay-at-home directive. Read Article
Parent survey results from four county schools — Jefferson High School and Boulder, Montana City and Clancy elementary schools — showed that parents of K-8 students are more inclined to remain closed, while the high school parents are about equally split on the question of reopening. Read Article
A Jefferson County judge declined a request to reduce bond for John Russell Howald, 43, of Basin, who is accused of multiple counts of criminal endangerment, as well as assault on a county deputy. Read Article
Pastor David Klass of Friendship Baptist Church in Clancy is prepared to hold a service Sunday after Gov. Steve Bullock last week began lifting social distancing restrictions due to COVID-19. Read Article
Haley Pesta, a Jefferson High School senior, was selected by Oro Fino Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution to receive the $500 Montana State Society DAR Traveling Scholarship for 2019-2020. A resident of Jefferson City, Pesta will attend Helena College University of Montana to study … Read Article
Jefferson County has managed to keep the number of COVID-19 cases down to two, and it’s been a few weeks since those individuals — a man and a woman — tested positive, said Karen Wandel, RN, department supervisor for Jefferson County Public Health. Read Article
Montana public schools will receive $41.3 million in federal Care Act funds, of which 90% is being distributed to districts based on current Title I funding formulas. The money can be used for a broad range of needs, according to the Montana Office of Public Instruction. Read Article
On April 17, Jefferson County will mail ballots to voters in Jefferson High School District No. 1 and Montana City School District No. 27. Up for vote in the former is one at-large trustee position with a three-year-term; in the latter, one trustee position with a three-year-term. The Monito… Read Article
Jefferson County residents with the desire but no dinero to dispose of a junk mobile home can now apply for $500 to help haul it away. Read Article
Tory Vincent Gee, the man who escaped from Jefferson County Detention Center last Oct. 11 and was apprehended a week later in Lake County, was sentenced April 8 to five years in prison. Read Article
One of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to clean and disinfect surfaces around you. Read Article
A recap of what’s happened in Jefferson County since the March 25 issue of The Monitor. Read Article
Montana has not had a Republican governor since 2005. In the June 2 primaries, three candidates will vie for the chance to change that — among them Attorney General and Clancy resident Tim Fox. Read Article
Your local Jefferson County Radio DES (Disaster and Emergency Services) station will provide COVID-19 news and updates at the top and bottom of each hour for the duration of this emergency. Read Article
When the Jefferson County commissioners voted March 19 to restrict public access to county offices and buildings to minimize the risk of exposure to and the spread of COVID-19, they acted with urgency — and, as a result, with no public notice. Read Article
People can cut up to 12 cords of firewood for personal use cost- and permit-free April 1 to June 1 on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Read Article
The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Jefferson County -- a man in his 50s -- was announced Tuesday afternoon. Read Article
Reported cases of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease it causes, came later to Montana than most of the rest of the country. But soon after the last edition of The Monitor was printed, local urgency heightened quickly: Jefferson County declared a state of emergency and limited ac… Read Article
On Sunday evening, March 15, Jefferson High School Superintendent Tim Norbeck had just arrived at home. He had canceled a motorcycling vacation with friends in the Southwest; that was to have been his first break ever during a school year. Read Article
Montana voters in state and overseas are scheduled to fill out their ballots between April 17 and June 2 to decide on Democratic and Republican candidates for Montana and national offices. A lot is at stake — the Governorship, Attorney General and Secretary of State, U.S. Senate and House se… Read Article
Once each month, the Jefferson County Local Emergency Planning Committee comes together, rotating between locations in Whitehall, Boulder, and Montana City. The agenda is nearly the same at every meeting – parsing the details of one section or another of the county’s Emergency Operations Plan. Read Article
Within hours of declaring a countywide state of emergency Thursday, Jefferson County’s commissioners approved a resolution restricting public access to county offices and buildings to minimize the risk of exposure to and the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Read Article
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, citing “the potential for extraordinary health risks from [the novel] coronavirus in our state,” on Sunday afternoon ordered public K-12 schools to close from March 16 until March 27 — a decision he said was made to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and not… Read Article
The novel coronavirus, until now a seemingly distant threat, surfaced with stark urgency last week in Montana, quickly upending much of life in Jefferson County. Read Article
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, citing “the potential for extraordinary health risks from coronavirus in our state,” on Sunday afternoon ordered public K-12 schools to close from March 16 until March 27. Read Article
Montana is the oldest state west of the Mississippi, and demographic projections show the state growing collectively older as more Montanans enter their senior years. The economic, cultural, and personal impacts of that trend present the state and its residents with new challenges and, with … Read Article
People have been parsing the human lifespan into a taxonomy of ages forever. Aristotle proposed three categories: youthful, prime of life, and elderly. Two thousand years later, Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man carved human chronology into seven slices, with the body’s final frailty circling … Read Article
Instances of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) had been reported in a few dozen states as of March 8, but not in Montana. Meanwhile, worldwide more than 100,000 infected people and over 3,600 deaths had been reported in 101 countries, according to the World Health Organization Situation Report, a… Read Article
The Montana Department of Transportation seeks public comment on a proposal to chip seal 9.6 miles of Highway 69 south of Boulder, beginning at reference post 22.2 and extending north to the intersection of Elkhorn Road at 31.8. Read Article
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality invites public comment on a draft Environmental Assessment for a revision to the reclamation plan of the Montana Tunnels Mining facility about 25 miles south of Helena near Jefferson City. The gold, silver, lead and zinc mine has not operated s… Read Article
After Monday’s 5 p.m. filing deadline, Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Bonnie Ramey and the Office of Montana Secretary of State announced the candidates that filed for county and state offices, respectively. Read Article
A second plea agreement has been accepted in a November 2018 shooting case involving a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy. Read Article
A year ago, much of Jefferson County was a broadband backwater, with pokey, funky Internet service that seemed to sputter as often as it sped. Read Article
A report comparing and contrasting three potential sites for a proposed Western Legacy Center in Boulder has been released and the public is invited to provide feedback at an upcoming meeting. Read Article
Montana City School is rethinking an infrastructure project after receiving only a fraction of the funding it sought from a one-time-only Montana Department of Commerce program. Read Article
One of three men charged in a November 2018 shooting case involving a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy has accepted a plea agreement and another is set to as the alleged gunman awaits trial. Read Article
With the start of March, Jefferson County’s winter burning season gave way to the annual open burn season that lasts until the end of November, according to the county’s Disaster and Emergency Services department. Read Article
At a special meeting held Feb. 21, Jefferson High School District No. 1 board members approved a $12,000 project to assess the condition of Jefferson High School’s buildings. Read Article