Montana News Roundup: A Wild Cascade County Crime Spree

We're learning how dangerous last week's chase and shooting by a Cascade County car theft suspect truly was, with multiple stolen cars and a suspect threatening people with a gun, and shooting at officers and citizens during the chase that ended a 2-day crime spree around Great Falls.

During a press conference yesterday, Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter explained how multiple reports turned out to be connected, starting with the theft of a truck and trailer, and a confrontation near Ulm.

Slaughter says the suspect, James Dennis, is also believed to have stolen a car near Cascade, his roommate's truck, attempted a burglary in White Sulphur Springs, stealing the Jeep involved in the crash later, and threatening a utility crew that tried to stop him on Highway 89.

     🚔 During the chase, Dennis is charged with shooting at pursuing officers, who also returned fire, before crashing in Great Falls.

High water forces suspension of Carbon County search

Authorities in Red Lodge have opted to suspend the search for a missing hiker who is believed to have drowned while trying to cross the creek below Rimrock Lake on Sunday.

Red Lodge Fire Rescue and the Carbon County Sheriff's Office returned to East Rosebud Creek yesterday, and found that the creek's raging waters were actually higher than before, making an underwater search very dangerous. Search efforts will resume next week if conditions improve.

     -That canyon is also where a young Minnesota hiker drowned last summer.

A record year in Yellowstone?

Yellowstone National Park is booming, and if the trend continues 2025 could end up setting some records.

The Park Service says Yellowstone hosted 566,000 recreation visits in May, which represents an 8% increase over 2024, which had been the strongest year since much of the park was closed for weeks following the floods in 2022.

The May numbers are the most robust on record, with a 20% increase over the "post-pandemic" surge of 2021, with more than 762,000 visits so far this season.

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Glacier NP visits are also up

That pace is on par with what we're also seeing at Glacier National Park. Glacier's figures are only current through April, but show more than 1-hundred 7-thousand visitors, even though most of the park is still closed at that time of the year.

     -That's also an increase of just over 8% above 2024.

Twain brings music, but also food for Montana

"Country Pop Queen" Shania Twain's visit to Missoula means more than fun and music.

Her foundation is also giving donations to every city on the summer tour, starting with the opening show at Washington Grizzly Stadium in Missoula on July 2nd

The Shania Twain Foundation announced yesterday that it's donating enough to amount to a million meals, starting with a $25,000 donation to the Montana Food Bank Network.

Montana Throwback Thursday

It was on June 12th, 2023 the landmark Held v Montana climate change trial started in Helena. The case was remarkable not only for the questions it raised about environmental policies and the Montana Constitution, but the fact that the defendants were teens and young adults.