CNN: Judge blocks Montana’s TikTok ban from taking effect on January 1. “A federal judge on Thursday temporarily halted Montana’s groundbreaking statewide TikTok ban, which was set to go into effect at the start of 2024, pending a trial on the matter.”
New York Times: After Montana Banned TikTok, Users Sued. TikTok Is Footing Their Bill.. “When five TikTok creators in Montana filed a lawsuit last month, saying the state’s new ban of the app violated their First Amendment rights and far outstripped the government’s legal authority, it appeared to be a grass-roots effort. One relevant fact that the creators and TikTok didn’t mention: The company is financing their case.”
State of Montana: Digitized Haynes Photographs Provide World-Wide Access. “The Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives staff are wrapping up their largest digitization project to date with the well-known photographs by F. Jay Haynes. Haynes’ work is one of the foundational collections of the MTHS Photo Archives. Since the early 1980s, more than 6,000 original glass negatives (and associated reference prints) have been available to in-person researchers in Helena.”
KTVH: New website offers a resource hub for all in child care. “The Montana Child Care Business Connect Program, part of Zero to Five Montana, helps support the start, and expansion, of high-quality, early child care businesses in Montana, and they just unveiled their new online resource hub for all stakeholders in the child care industry.”
NPR: TikTok sues Montana over its new law banning the app. “TikTok has filed a federal lawsuit against Montana after the state passed a law last week intended to ban the app from being downloaded within its borders. The widely expected lawsuit argues that banning a hugely popular social media app amounts to an illegal suppression of free speech tantamount to censorship.”
Associated Press: Montana becomes 1st state to ban TikTok; law likely to be challenged. “Montana became the first state in the U.S. to completely ban TikTok on Wednesday when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a measure that’s more sweeping than any other state’s attempts to curtail the social media app.”
Associated Press: TikTok ban gets final approval by Montana’s GOP legislature. “Montana’s House gave final passage Friday to a bill banning the social media app TikTok from operating in the state, a move that’s bound to face legal challenges but also serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America many national lawmakers envision due to concerns over potential Chinese spying.”
NBC Montana: New tool helps track Montana’s population growth. “The Population Forecasting Data Model is a collaboration between the Montana Department of Commerce and Carroll College. The data model will help plan community development and land use. The model also predicts population at the county level for the next five years.”
KGVO: Montana Chambers Launch Tool to Help You Keep Tabs on Legislature’s Work . “The Missoula Chamber of Commerce announced this week that it’s part of a group of half-a-dozen Chambers of Commerce from around the state who are deploying a new tool to help the ‘right to know’. Using an open software tool known as the Council Data Project, journalists, activists, researchers, and community members can keep appraised on legislation and help hold lawmakers accountable to their constituents.”
State of Montana Newsroom: Montana State Library Digital Collection Of Current and Historic Montana Law Means More Access and Research Possibilities. “The Montana State Library recently partnered with the State Law Library and Legislative Branch to digitize hundreds of historic print volumes of Montana law… This new online collection delivers all the qualities traditional print readers love: the look and ease of print navigation minus the negatives: torn pages, missing copies, coffee stains, pencil marks from previous users, and having to physically travel to a library. Not a minor inconvenience in our geographically big state since only a handful of Montana libraries have law books.”
Lewiston Tribune (Montana): Great Falls Tribune archives find a new home. “Elevator doors open up to the top floor of the History Museum in Great Falls, where overflow and large items not on display are stored, and an entire corner of the room was filled with recently acquired filing cabinets…. The History Museum recently acquired more than 20 filing cabinets filled with newspaper files and several boxes with photographs and photo negatives from the Great Falls Tribune in a massive effort to preserve the records after the Tribune building sale was finalized and everything needed to go.”
Montana State University: Montanan’s 1972 Constitutional Convention retrospective interviews now archived at MSU Library. “Montana State University Library’s Archives and Special Collection has created a searchable online repository of video interviews and transcripts of surviving delegates and staffers from the Montana Constitutional Convention of 1972.”
Montana Public Radio: COVID-19 was the leading killer of Native Americans in Montana last year. “According to a review of death certificates by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, deaths among American-Indian and Alaska Natives spiked 36 percent in 2020 compared to the previous five years, largely due to COVID-19. The analysis shows the rate of COVID deaths among American Indian and Alaska Native people in Montana was also over double that of Indigenous people across the entire country.”
Montana Attorney General: Attorney General Knudsen Launches New Online Missing Persons Database. “Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen launched a new tool today to help law enforcement agencies and the public find missing persons and bring them home. The enhanced Montana Missing Persons Database is easier to use, increases accessibility for cell phones and tablets, and includes other features to provide accurate and timely information.”
CBS News: “Do we need to ration care?”: COVID patients overwhelm Montana hospitals. “Montana, the first state to ban COVID-19 mandates for employees, has one of the lowest vaccination rates and the highest hospitalization rates in the country. Some hospitals have reached the point of not accepting new patients and are preparing to ration care. The intensive care unit at Billings Clinic is operating at 175% capacity. ”
