Latest news with #BlairMiller
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawsuits challenge three voter-related laws passed by Legislature
Montanans stand in line to register to vote at the Lewis and Clark County Elections Office on Nov. 5, 2024. Three bills passed in 2025 changing voter laws have been challenged in court. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan) Two lawsuits challenging three different voter-related laws passed during the 2025 Legislative Session were filed this month in Montana district courts, pushing back against a suite of bills Republican legislators have said are essential to preserve the integrity of the state's elections. The Montana Federation of Public Employees on Monday filed a lawsuit alleging a bill repealing election-day registration, and a bill strengthening voter ID requirements, are unconstitutional, while the Montana Public Interest Research Group (MontPIRG) filed suit earlier this month against a bill that prevents college students from voting in a community unless they intend to stay there permanently. Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, signed all three bills, which largely passed along partisan lines, into law. House Bill 413, introduced by Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Three Forks, changed the definition of residency in Montana code, stating that individuals cannot become residents, and therefore vote, in a county if they are there for 'temporary work, training, or an educational program.' The bill includes a requirement that voters intend to make a county their permanent home following their temporary purpose in order to vote. MontPIRG, which represents nearly 28,000 students across the state, said the law effectively disenfranchises any college students who move to attend school. 'HB 413 singles out these students and requires them to attest—under penalty of perjury—that they intend to make the county where they are studying their 'permanent home at the conclusion of' their 'educational program,' thus deterring and depriving many students of the ability to exercise their fundamental right to vote,' the complaint, filed in Missoula District Court, states. As an example, court documents say that a student from Sidney who moves to Missoula for college must predict where she will live after she graduates, and if she doesn't commit to living in Missoula County, she 'cannot register to vote there — the community where she lives works, volunteers, likely pays taxes, and studies.' But, if that student drops out of school and gets a job in town, she can register to vote as long as she's been in Montana for 30 days, 'irrespective of her future plans.' While speaking on the bill during the Legislature, Gillette said the bill was not aimed at students, but at temporary workers such as traveling nurses. She also said the bill was about intent — and someone living in a community for several years could still have the intention to leave and that should be taken into consideration before they can vote in that community. 'By imposing special requirements that bar student voters from registering to vote in their communities, HB 413 violates the rights of suffrage and equal protection guaranteed by the Montana and U.S. Constitutions,' according to the complaint. The two bills challenged by MFPE in Lewis and Clark District Court were carried by Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka. Senate Bill 490 tightened the deadline for voters to register to vote to noon on the day of the election under the new law, and eliminates registration on the Monday before an election, but opens it up on the prior Saturday. Previously, anyone in line at the ballot box by 8 p.m. on Election Day could register to vote, which has occasionally led to long lines at voting locations. Last Election Day, some voters waited in line at the Gallatin County Courthouse until the early hours of the morning in order to register and cast their ballot. Cuffe, in an opinion piece published by Lee Newspapers, cited that example — when votes were cast as late as 4 a.m. — as a reason for passing his bill. 'The intent is to smooth out the process and avoid votes being cast many hours beyond the intended closing of the polls at 8 a.m.,' Cuffe wrote. Both of the bills challenged, along with others Cuffe carried in the Legislature, were intended to bolster Montanans' 'confidence in the purity of our elections. That's why I focused so much of my time on the issue,' Cuffe said. Senate Bill 276 enacts photo identification voting in Montana, and expands the variety of ID options allowed to include tribal photo ID cards, military IDs, U.S. Passports, driver's licenses and student ID cards. 'Voter identification is a nonpartisan, commonsense best practice, and I'm pleased that the Montana Legislature agrees,' said Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen in a press release when the bill was sent to Gianforte. 'Enacting these voter ID laws will streamline processes for election officials and provide a better election experience for Montana voters.' The legal complaint from MFPE cites a Montana Supreme Court decision from 2024 that struck down a law passed in 2021 eliminating Election Day voter registration, and another that sought to narrow the list of acceptable photo IDs allowed, as evidence for why the new bills should fail. 'These bills are plainly unconstitutional and clearly contravene the Supreme Court's (decision),' according to court filings. 'This Court must enjoin the Legislature's attempted end-run around binding precedent and the voting rights of Montana citizens.' Attorney Raph Graybill, a former Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor, is representing the plaintiffs in both cases. The Elias Law Group is also representing the plaintiffs. Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief Complaint against House Bill 413
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Montana snowpack near normal for most regions
The Jefferson River near Cardwell, Montana, on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan) As Montana moves towards warmer weather, scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture continue to monitor the status of the state's snowpack and forecast how the waterways will flow this summer. But, much of the state appears to be better shape than the same time last year. Most sites in Montana have passed their peak snow water equivalent accumulation for the season, with a majority of sites reaching near to below normal peak snowpack. That's according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which released its May Water Supply Outlook Report last week. 'The shift to spring brought to a close the bulk of the snowpack accumulation season and started the snowmelt and runoff season,' said Florence Millers, a NRCS hydrologist, in a press release about the report. Weather in April was slightly warmer than normal for much of the state, while precipitation varied. Across the southwest and central Montana, precipitation for the year is near normal, while in the Northwest, an early water deficit has not been overcome, and the region is between 75-90% of median precipitation. 'Several April warm spells that brought periods of above normal temperatures and initiated snowmelt across many low-to mid-elevation SNOTEL sites,' Miller said. As of May 1, snowpack percentages in the southwest and central parts of the state range between 95-110% of median, while snowpack in the western portion of the state has decreased to between 75-90% of median. The Sun-Teton-Marias basis saw 'well below normal' snowpack throughout the winter and is at just 61% of median snow water equivalent. Snow-water equivalent, rather than snow depth, is the measurement used to gauge the amount of liquid water contained within snowpack, which will be released when the snowpack melts. The snowmelt plays a key role in agriculture, hydropower production, water storage, aquatic ecosystem health and recreation such as boating and fishing, as well as flood and drought forecasting. The May water supply report highlights that while some early season melt has already occurred at some monitoring sites across the state, 'there is still a lot of water stored within the higher elevation snowpacks' and weather in the coming weeks will shape the water supply for the summer. In April, the Beartooth and Bighorn mountains saw roughly double their normal precipitation for the month, much of it as snow, bolstering water supply in the regions. The Flathead and Kootenai basins also saw much more precipitation than average, which could benefit Flathead Lake in the early summer months. The Tongue River Basin in the Bighorn Mountains has the highest snowpack compared to the 20-year median, according to NRCS data, at 111%. Meanwhile the Sun-Teton-Marias basin measured just 61% of median as of May 1. Despite relatively good conditions throughout April, much of Montana is under drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Nearly three-quarters of the state is under some level of drought conditions, which range from 'abnormally dry' to 'exceptional drought.' More than 43% of the state is under 'moderate drought' conditions, while a portion of the Upper Clark Fork and Blackfoot basins are classified as 'severe to extreme drought.' The water supply forecast currently predicts much of state the will be near or below normal, ranging from 70-110% of median. At the low end of that prediction scale is the Powder River basin, currently forecast at between 60-70% of normal. The Flathead River Basin is at 86% of median snowpack, compared to 68% at this time last year. Streamflows on the main Flathead River are forecast around 80% of the 20-year average. The Upper Clark Fork Basin is sitting at 91% of median snowpack, a significant improvement from last year when it has just 56% of normal. The Madison River Basin has a snowpack at 86% of normal, higher than at this point last year and is forecast to have streamflows around 85% of normal. The Upper Missouri River Basin had a May 1 snowpack of 74% of median, significantly higher than the 42% seen in 2024. For a complete look at each river basin's snowpack conditions and streamflow forecast, visit the NRCS May report here. Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, has become a contentious point for water policy debates following extreme drought in 2023 that saw the lake fill to less than two feet below normal. During the 2025 Legislative session, Montana lawmakers passed a resolution supporting recreational uses on Flathead Lake to be considered during management discussion by the myriad local, state, tribal and federal partners that coordinate the lake's water level. Energy Keepers Inc., the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes company that operates the Se̓liš Ksanka Qĺispe̓ Dam on the south end of the lake, published regular updates using the latest streamflow predictions to inform the public of where it expects the lake levels to be. According to a May 13 update, Energy Keepers expects the lake to reach its full-pool elevation of 2,893 feet by early to mid-June. So far, the SKQ project has not had to coordinate flood risk management changes to its operating plan, as it has done the last two years when streamflow forecasts were much lower than normal. The latest update from Energy Keepers states that while expectations are for the lake to fill to normal levels, 'both weather and streamflows are highly uncertain.' 'SKQ Project outflows and the Flathead Lake elevation are dependent on many variables including lake inflows, weather, the demand for electricity, and non-power constraints such as the downstream fishery and flood risk management needs.'
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal court halts Homeland Security's attempt to remove two Montana graduate students
The Russell Smith Courthouse, the Missoula Division of the U.S. District Court of Montana. (Photo by Blair Miller) A federal judge has granted an emergency restraining order which will prevent U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting two Montana State University graduate students who were notified that their status as foreign students was being revoked. Montana University System officials reported last week that at least four students in the state had their F-1 visas revoked and their F-1 status terminated. Each of the students say that the federal government was revoking their status, even though the students had not been notified, had not been convicted of a crime, and had not received notice of the change. Two of the students, both graduate-level students in Bozeman have challenged the decision in federal court and are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana. In an emergency motion filed Monday, the ACLU claims that the students learned of the status change as the university system was handling routine status checks. The federal government, through Noem, didn't just eliminate their F-1 visa, which allow a student to enter the country; the department cancelled their entire F-1 status, meaning that the students could deported at any time. One student in the Montana lawsuit is a doctoral student in electrical engineering, the other is a master's level student in microbiology. Both are reportedly set to graduate from their programs during 2025. In an emergency ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Dana L. Christensen found that the case was similar to one in New Hampshire in which the court also found that the federal government had not followed its own procedures for revoking the status, and violated a number of due-process protections, which allows a student to challenge the decision before an independent court. Attorneys for the federal government have not made their appearance to defend the Trump administration's decision, but Christensen noted in his ruling on Tuesday afternoon that attorneys for the ACLU had been trying to get a response from the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Montana. 'As of the date of this order, defendants have not responded to plaintiffs' motion,' Christensen noted in his order. The temporary restraining order says that officials must restore the students' status and must not initiate deportation proceedings for two weeks. It also stops Homeland Security from ordering their 'arrest, detention or transfer' from Montana without proper notice and a chance for attorneys to contest the action. Christensen set a court hearing for the matter on April 29 in Missoula, and ordered the federal government to respond by then. 'The court finds that the plaintiffs are likely succeed on the allegation that (Homeland Security's) termination of (their) F-1 student status … is arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, contrary to constitutional right, contrary to law, and in excess of statutory jurisdiction,' Christensen said.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
It's time to balance access with conservation on public lands and waters
Anglers on the Big Hole River near the Powerhouse fishing access site on Aug. 2, 2023. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan) There was some good news this week when a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that 'corner crossing' from public land to public land is not trespassing on adjoining private lands. Thanks to that ruling, the efforts by another billionaire landowner to lock the public out of our own lands has failed – and corner crossing will now be legal in six Western states. The issue is significant due a horrendous policy mistake when the federal government deeded every other section of public land across the West to railroad barons between 1850 and 1872 as an incentive to lay track. The joke was on the public since many of those deeded lands never saw permanent rail lines built. Indeed it's rare that one can see any railroads from most of the 'checkerboard' sections. Those lands in Montana were infamously logged mercilessly when Burlington-Northern Railroad's subsidiary, Plum Creek Timber Company, decided to 'liquidate its timber assets' in the 1980s. Adding insult to injury, it then turned itself into a Real Estate Investment Trust in 1999 and is now subdividing and selling off those formerly forested parcels across the nation. Other checkerboard sections were purchased by wealthy individuals or corporations, in many instances with the goal of surrounding and locking up public lands and their fish, wildlife, and recreational assets by locking out public access, including 'corner crossing' from one public section to another. That particular ploy has now fallen by the wayside after Wyoming hunters used a ladder to cross the private fence to the adjoining public land and never touched the private sections. Hence, the court's decision that it was not trespassing. Of course the ruling has been applauded by public lands advocates who have increasingly placed 'access' as their main goal rather than conservation of the public resources. And therein lies the rub. Access and conservation are simply not the same thing — especially not when those same public lands and waters are increasingly pressured. A great recent example would be the Montana legislature's recent move to spend a whopping $2.7 million to study who uses Montana's rivers, many of which are now so crowded the once-common opportunity to enjoy a river in the quiet solitude of Nature no longer exists. One wouldn't have to study too long on the Yellowstone, Blackfoot, Bitterroot, Madison or Missouri Rivers to see the flotillas of outfitter and private drift boats, rafts, paddleboards, and inner tubes clogging the river. But when politicians or agencies lack the courage to address a sticky problem, they appoint task forces, advisory councils, and do studies. A great example would be the Upper Madison where, after public outcry over too many outfitters on the river, task forces and studies have been on-going for decades without resolution. At some point, we have to weigh the impacts of use on the resource itself to determine the actual carrying capacity of our rivers and public lands to balance access with conservation. As usual, however, the commodification of those assets by profit-driven entities continues to outweigh the impacts to the public resource. The simple truth is that the conservation of those resources is going to require significant investment. For instance, Montana's list of 'chronically dewatered' rivers and streams has been in existence for decades — yet, most of those rivers remain chronically dewatered. If our legislature really wanted to do the right thing, they'd put half of that $2.7 million into buying and leasing water rights to keep those rivers flowing, the fisheries healthy, and actually conserve the resource — instead of splurging on yet another study to document the on-going decline.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Southern First Appoints Blair Miller as Chief Retail Experience Officer
GREENVILLE, S.C., Feb. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFST), holding company for Southern First Bank, is pleased to announce the appointment of Blair Miller as Chief Retail Experience Officer and Executive Vice President. Miller is a passionate leader with over 20 years of experience, most recently serving as Area Manager and Senior Vice President at Pinnacle Financial Partners for 12 years. As head of Southern First's retail banking team, he will enhance the level of exceptional service and authentic hospitality the bank provides for clients. Miller's life and career are aimed directly at serving others and fostering an engaged culture within the bank. Miller is active in the Upstate community, serving as Chairman of the Greer Chamber of Commerce Board and volunteering with Greer Relief. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and CBA Executive Banking School. "We are excited to have Blair join our team. He dreams big, is full of creativity and passion, and will be a cultural multiplier for us, helping us further our mission of impacting lives in the communities we serve," said Dave Favela, Chief Innovation Officer. "Southern First is laser focused on client service and company culture, which are the two things I am most passionate about. I believe if you do those two things well, anything is possible, and I'm excited to get to work with this team of outstanding bankers," commented Miller. About Southern First BancsharesSouthern First Bancshares, Inc., Greenville, South Carolina is a registered bank holding company incorporated under the laws of South Carolina. The company's wholly owned subsidiary, Southern First Bank, is the second largest bank headquartered in South Carolina. Southern First Bank has been providing financial services since 1999 and now operates in 13 locations in the Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston markets of South Carolina as well as the Charlotte, Triangle and Triad regions of North Carolina and Atlanta, Georgia. Southern First Bancshares has consolidated assets of approximately $4.1 billion and its common stock is traded on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "SFST." More information can be found at Media contact: Art Seaver, aseaver@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Southern First Bancshares, Inc.
