02 May 2013
Posted by Shane Castle 
In 1878, an Irish immigrant named Richard O’Connell settled with his family in Marysville, where he spent the next three decades digging gold and silver from the rich veins of the Drumlummon Mine. His son, Rob, followed in his footsteps – quite literally into the same shafts – before taking...
Read more → 04 Apr 2013
Posted by Joseph Bullington 
When oil and gas industry executives and lobbyists recently claimed there is no oil boom in Montana, capitol reporter Mike Dennison quickly dove into the data. Freelance writer Joseph Bullington took a different tack and drove a few hundred miles to the heart of Montana's oil country. This is what...
Read more → 07 Mar 2013
Posted by Shane Castle 
Editor's note: March marks the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. The president also recently announced that we will be bringing troops home from Afghanistan early. So we went out and talked to local people who were involved in the wars or who are working with vets as they come home. We thank...
Read more → 07 Feb 2013
Posted by Shane Castle 
Chelsia Rice was camping when she first noticed the blood. She assumed she had a bladder infection, so she went to the doctor's office as soon as she got back to Helena. The practitioner prescribed antibiotics the way one might for a urinary-tract infection and told her to come back if it didn’t...
Read more → 02 Jan 2013
Posted by Shane Castle 
A STATEMENT FROM THE EDITOR I decided to run this special feature in what might very well be a vainglorious attempt to spark serious dialogue about how we're to understand and learn from the recent tragedy in Connecticut. There is a reasonable tendency to respond to something so awful by recoiling...
Read more → 06 Dec 2012
Posted by Laura Cunningham 
Note: Names with an asterisk (*) have been changed to protect source privacy. Many would not have participated in the initial study without promise of anonymity. n the government agency where I work, there is a legend that has endured. The story involves two long-term cubicle mates, Joyce* and Martha*....
Read more → 01 Nov 2012
Posted by Shane Castle 
The city of Helena is poised to start the public-hearing process for a local anti-discrimination ordinance. That simple sentence was 10 months in the making, but for some interested parties, it’s been more like decades. The ordinance would make it illegal for people to discriminate against lesbian,...
Read more → 04 Oct 2012
Posted by Shane Castle 
uess how many political ads related to the Tester-Rehberg race have run or are scheduled to run on broadcast channels in Helena between June and election day. About 17,500. If you find that number appalling, you may not want to read on. The Helena Vigilante just finished an exclusive...
Read more → 06 Sep 2012
Posted by Shane Castle 
The recent anti-coal protest highlighted an ongoing debate not just about Montana’s future but also what responsibility Montanans should bear as it becomes clear that, because of its vast untouched coal deposits, our state finds itself a key player on the world environmental and economic stage. If...
Read more → 02 Aug 2012
Posted by Shane Castle 
It was a little after 4 p.m. when the phones started ringing. People all around Helena had just started noticing a plume of white and brown smoke billowing in the Scratchgravel Hills, so they were frantically dialing friends and family who lived in the area: “Have you seen the smoke?” “What’re...
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