Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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July 1 Update: Since the publication of this story, an additional lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 has been identified in Valley County. Case #4 is a male in his 30s who is not hospitalized and is isolating at home. The case was identified through contact tracing and had been undergoing quarantine. The individual does not have symptoms. Valley County reported two lab-confirmed cases of Covid-19 on June 28. Both cases affect Valley County residents currently in the county. According to county health officer Dr. Anne Millard, the two cases were inf... Full story
Valley County recorded its first COVID-19 case last week. According to the health department, a local man in his 60s tested positive for the disease while he was outside of Valley County and is being isolated in the county he tested positive in. At press time, no further information had been released about the case to include how long he had been out of the area before testing positive and how many suspected contacts he may have had with local residents while infected. According to the press release, they were working to identify and contact “a... Full story
A primary record 62.71 percent of the registered voting population in Valley County cast ballots in the all-mail state primary on June 2. In total, 2,943 of 4,693 voters cast their ballots with 686 cast for Democrats, seven for the Green party and 2,250 cast for Republicans. In local races, Casey Knudsen held on to his nomination over challenger Joyce Stone across HD 33. Stone managed to carry the portions of the District that reside in Valley County by 53 votes (493 to 440). She lost the overall bid significantly as Knudsen carried 68 percent...
At the beginning of June, Montana Governor Steve Bullock announced the state was making available $2 million dollars to boost in-state processing and storage capacity for local meat processors. The monies will come from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Local meat processors saw a boom in business as the industry giants suffered from virus outbreaks, employee absenteeism, and plant closures. Consumers across the country turned to local processors to fill an expected void as ranchers were left with extra...
Keep it sunny. And safe. A slightly modified catch phrase at the golf course this season, but it is working. In keeping with protocols outlined by Governor Steve Bullock and local health officials, Sunnyside Country Club has been welcoming golfers back to the greens with a few noticable changes. Women's and Men's leagues kicked off last week with the women on the links Tuesday evening, May 26, and the men swinging clubs on Thursday, May 28. Despite new health and safety requirements this year...
While Valley County has not a single confirmed case of COVID-19, the local community is still feeling the effects of the global pandemic in other ways. The county went through the state-wide shelter-in-place directive ordered by Governor Steve Bullock and many local businesses shuttered their doors temporarily. Even before the directive, local grocery stores saw a surge of stockpiling, struggling to get and keep some items, such as toilet paper, on the shelves. Now another shortage is happening...
On May 7, Governor Steve Bullock announced additional guidelines on Phase One reopening to include gyms and fitness studios, movie theaters and museums the option to reopen beginning May 15, provided they follow the strict guidelines regarding capacity, social distancing and sanitation requirements. Locally, Valley Cinemas is waiting on movie studios regarding the release of films before moving forward on opening plans. Further information will be supplied when available. The Children’s Museum of Northeast Montana is attempting a board m... Full story
“Having our events outdoors helps,” Lisa Koski, executive director of the Glasgow Area Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, told the Courier about her organization’s plans to proceed this spring and summer as Montana moves toward reopening through stages. After more than a month of the Chamber’s calendar showing “Cancelled” in front of most every event, organizers are looking forward to hosting their annual Milk River Catfish Days Friday, June 5, and Saturday, June 6, in conjunction with the 21st annual Milk River Catfish Classic, with the fi...
After weeks of social distancing guidelines, stay-at-home orders, quarantines and business, bar and restaurant closures, Montana Governor Steve Bullock announced on April 14 that the state will begin a phased reopening of the economy. It's a move that has delighted and frightened many at the same time but comes as Montana experiences some of the lowest COVID-19 infection rates in the country. Montana also has experienced few deaths, especially when compared to neighboring midwestern and northwes... Full story
Governor Bullock announced a phased reopening plan on April 22 in order to provide Montanans with the ability to return to a little bit of normalcy. The plan included schools having the option to return to in-classroom teaching beginning May 7 while considering cleaning and sanitation protocols, sick policies and limiting class sizes. As a result of the Governor’s May 7 date, the Montana High School Association announced the spring 2020 sports season has been canceled due to in-person instruction not returning by May 4. Following the a... Full story
Over the past several weeks, Montanans have faced unprecedented challenges. Our way of life has changed rapidly. Like every corner of our country, our once thriving economy is ailing. We’ve lost family members and friends. As we have aggressively managed the virus over the past five weeks, we have bought time for our health care workers to prepare and respond, we have protected those most vulnerable to illness from this disease particularly in our nursing homes, and we have been able to increase our testing capacity and secure additional person...
Perhaps one aspect of life Americans have been missing most during the sweep of the coronavirus across the country and the resulting shelter in place orders has been sports. Athletics, professional and amateur, play a defining role in American life, and the sport most closely associated with all things American is baseball. And now, with Governor Steve Bullock instituting a phased reopening of the state, baseball may be the sport that will fill everyone's sports void. Students, fans and coaches...
In a press call on April 17, Governor Steve Bullock said that Montanans were flattening the curve related to the spread of coronavirus in the state. He followed up the announcement by stating that a plan was being considered to begin reopening the economy sometime after April 24—which is when the current statewide orders are set to expire. “We’ve worked to protect our vulnerable populations and removed as many people from the chain of transmission as possible, both to reduce infections but also to save lives,” said the governor. “In short we... Full story
Complying with social distancing and sheltering in place orders makes celebrating birthdays even more unique these days. Building on the local tradition of parades escorting athletes out of town for tournaments, Glasgow is now celebrating children’s birthdays via drive by. Horns honking, waving of posters, cheering, maybe even a blast from a fire truck siren liven up a kid’s special day now. Last week saw two celebrations, with the first one celebrating Kinley Overbey’s fifth birthday, which was April 4, with a drive by party on April 5. Her m...
Looking ahead and self improvement. Before a viral outbreak in China became an epidemic, before that epidemic spread across the world and became a pandemic, and before it was even considered likely that the novel coronavirus, that causes COVID-19, would even appear in Valley County, the County Health Officer Dr. Anne Millard was already preparing for such a scenario. That is because Dr. Millard had seen a need in the community over two years ago and filled her already sparse spare time with... Full story
A program delivered entirely online that aims to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms will be offered for free to hundreds of adult Montanans. The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services is making the program – an internet-based interactive platform known as Thrive – available to many more Montana residents over the age of 18. Previously, up to 1,000 adult Montanans were invited to enroll in the Thrive program for free during the research phase. Now, hundreds of additional free accounts are available for adult Montanans wit... Full story
*Editor's Note: Since this story was written and published, Governor Steve Bullock extended his stay-at-home order through April 24.* In a press call with reporters on April 3, Montana Governor Steve Bullock warned that public health orders, such as the statewide stay-at-home order, would be extended past their April 10 expiration date. The announcement came as the state was approaching 300 total reported COVID-19 cases and its sixth death. “Note that the vast majority of directives we have put in place are set to expire next Friday, April 1... Full story
The COVID-19 pandemic, and the government’s response to it, appear to have impacted most every aspect of Americans’ daily lives, as well as aspects of life that do not occur daily. Elections often bring to mind the image of polling booths, decked out in red, white and blue bunting. But that image has already been fading in parts of the country instead being replaced by voting-by-mail. Montana may prove to be ahead of the national curve in this aspect of responding to the respiratory illness that has disrupted life across the globe however. Mont... Full story
Barnard Pipeline and TC Energy will require workers arriving to work on a cross-border pipeline in the region to quarantine for 14 days before starting work. The plan is an abridged version that required workers to quarantine for 14 days while allowing them to go to work on the pipeline alongside others who were outside the 14-day quarantine window. Concerns about workers were raised to county health officials and solutions to identify workers past quarantine and those not past quarantine were s...
A program delivered entirely online that aims to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms will be offered for free to hundreds of adult Montanans. The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services is making the program – an internet-based interactive platform known as Thrive – available to many more Montana residents over the age of 18. Previously, up to 1,000 adult Montanans were invited to enroll in the Thrive program for free during the research phase. Now, hundreds of additional free accounts are available for adult Montanans wit... Full story
*Editor's Note: After this article was written and published, Governor Steve Bullock extended the closure of all Montana K-12 schools until April 10.* Students and school staff started their second week of unexpected time off on March 23 as a result of Governor Bullock's directive on March 15 closing all K-12 schools for two weeks to help prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Since the Governor's announcement, confirmed cases in Montana have steadily risen, prompting other changes... Full story
Measures Aimed at Preventing Over-Burdened Hospital Valley County has declared a state of emergency as of March 17. The city followed suit on March, 19, declaring a state of emergency at a 3 p.m. emergency meeting of the City Council. The actions come after Governor Steve Bullock and President Donald Trump issued state and nationwide emergencies last week as a result of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic that has spread to all 50 states and territories. “The County has continued to monitor the situation and the circumstances surrounding the s... Full story
Dear Editor, Montanans are no strangers to challenging and unprecedented times. In 2017, we tackled the most expensive fire season on record and the largest since the big burn of 1910. Through economic downturns, we have made sacrifices in order to help neighbors in need and rebuilt again. Even dating back to the Granite Mountain mine disaster over a century ago, we made sure we came out of it a stronger community. With coronavirus now reaching our state, we again face challenging and...
On March 26, Governor Steve Bullock issued a Directive requiring Montanans to stay home and temporarily closes all nonessential businesses and operations to curtail the spread of COVID-19. The order, which goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 28, will buy time for health care workers on the frontlines and seeks to limit long term impacts to the state’s economy. “In consultation with public health experts, health care providers, and emergency management professionals, I have determined that to protect public health and human safety, it is... Full story
Four presumptively positive cases of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, were confirmed by the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) on March 13, two more cases were confirmed on March 14. while two more cases were confirmed on March 16. As of press time, these cases were located in Gallatin, Yellowstone, Silver Bow, Lewis and Clark and Missoula counties, and there are no known cases in Valley County. All tests that tested presumptively positive were sent to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) where the results will be... Full story
