News

During a Nov. 17 hear-
ing, Martha Williams

answered dozens of
questions you’d expect
an incoming director of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to field

from the Congressional com-
mittee considering her nomina-
tion. After she spoke about a life

Montana Rail Link, the Missoula-based 
railroad company
owned by billionaire
industrialist Dennis Washington,
announced Monday that it will
terminate a long-term lease of its
tracks through southern Montana
and return them to owner BNSF
Railway.

“Serendipitous” is an adjective that John Heckler, recently appointed Madison County commissioner, uses. That a retired civil engineer who specialized in water issues was appointed to a vacant seat at a time when water is a top issue could also be described as serendipitous. Or good luck. Or good planning.

Ballots will be posted Jan. 19 to Madison County’s Ennis School District voters. The mail-in bond election represents a 20-year, $59 million ask from Ennis School District.

It doesn’t happen every winter, but the not-so-unusual, yet always awe-inspiring gorge of the Madison River was underway as of Friday, Dec. 31. The rise in ice and water led to temporary closures of the Ennis and Valley Garden fishing access sites, still in place as of Jan. 4.

North winds blew and temperatures struggled to reach zero degrees in the pre-dawn hours of December 29. It was midway through a holiday week, inviting many to sleep in.

Planning to drive over Homestake Pass to visit family in Butte? Or take a sick child to your local emergency room? Or need any kind of emergency help?