Montana News Roundup: New Digital Licenses Won’t Work Everywhere

If you're anxious for the convenience of having a digital driver's license on your phone, don't expect to be entirely free of the old licenses.

The Montana Motor Vehicle Division is reminding drivers they should still carry a regular license, especially if traveling out of state.

This week, Montana became the 11th state in the country to allow drivers to use "Montana Mobile IDs", which allows you to legally have a digital license on your Android or Apple phone, even an Apple Watch with the Apple or Google Wallet feature. It's free and you can activate the feature yourself using on-screen prompts.

    However, MVD says the digital licenses might not be accepted in other states.

While the state is working to get more businesses signed up, even for ID for alcohol sales, not all establishments are on board. So you should still carry your traditional license.

Sanders County fire now over 2000 acres

The Knowles Fire, burning above the lower Flathead River, is now one of the largest fires this season in Western Montana, passing the 2000-acre mark yesterday evening. The fire is the largest of four blazes that started near Paradise over the weekend. Access is difficult. Ground crews have been needing to use boats to get across the river.

Missoula will probably "miss" 100 degrees this summer

While some locations in Eastern Montana were topping 100 degrees yesterday, Missoula remains on trend this summer to have the first year in over 5 years without a 100-degree day.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jenn Kitsmiller says Missoula's warmest day was 98 degrees on July 8th. And while there have been a number of days in the 90s this summer, it's never been in the triple digits. That hasn't happened since 2019, but she explains a summer with 100 degrees isn't all that rare.

"Looking back over the past 20 years or so, it looks like about 30% of the time we do not hit 100 degrees," Kitsmiller explains. "So not totally unusual. But when you look back over the past five years, this is really the first year in four or five years that we have not hit 100."

"So in recent memory, we've hit 100 every year."

     ️  Kitsmiller says the forecast doesn't favor that happening either, since the latest 100-degree day in Missoula is August 24th, a record that's held since 1969.

State pauses state hospital plans

State officials are going to "pause" their immediate plans for a new state mental hospital in Eastern Montana, after Billings-area leaders and residents expressed concerns about the idea. Governor Gianforte says he's asking the Board of Investments to provide more details on the project before spending the $26-million allocated by the Legislature.

Gianforte hears about grizzly problems on The Front

Governor Gianforte is once again reiterating his call for the state to take over grizzly bear management, saying Montana has a grizzly bear management plan in place and just needs the federal government to delist the bears.

Gianforte made those comments after meeting with residents in Choteau on Wednesday, where they told him stories of various bear encounters, one just 2 miles from the city park. In a flyover, Gianforte's tour also viewed a sow grizzly in a stream just 100 yards from grazing cattle.

FWP Director Christy Clark echoed the governor's views, saying "it's time" to get the bears delisted so their growing numbers can be more effectively managed as a "recovered population."

Trial set in Browning fatal shooting case

A 21-year-old Browning man is pleading "not guilty" to manslaughter charges for the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Jamie Butterfly last winter.

Federal prosecutors say Treyson Lee Sharp pointed a loaded gun at Butterfly and fired the weapon in late December. In addition to voluntary manslaughter, he's also facing an illegal gun charge, since the shotgun wasn't registered to him, or legal, with a barrel shorter than 18 inches.

His trial is set for October 28th in Great Falls.

Formal charges pending in Kalispell pedestrian death

A 48-year-old man is facing deliberate homicide charges for running over a man, who became pinned under his car and died.

The Daily Interlake reports Jeffrey Scott Serio was apprehended when deputies got a call of a man driving through fields and fences north of Kalispell Tuesday evening.