Nicole Girten

Reporter with the Daily Montanan


Master of Science graduate from the Medill School of Journalism

Daily Montanan •

Medicaid providers due at least $8.5M in delayed state payouts, they estimate • Daily Montanan

Jason George has been waiting since September for the healthcare facility he works at in Sheridan to be reimbursed by the state for Medicaid expenses in one case – with facility owners taking out loans to make payroll and using their own funds to cover some patients’ prescriptions. And George isn’t alone. In a survey conducted by the Montana Healthcare Association last month, all of the 21 Montana healthcare providers said they were struggling financially due to delays in payouts from the state...
Daily Montanan •

Lake County to continue law enforcement on Flathead Reservation ‘under protest’ • Daily Montanan

Lake County Commissioners said they are continuing to oversee law enforcement on the Flathead Indian Reservation after the Governor’s Office said their withdrawal from handling federal crimes was invalid. “We’re going to continue to exercise jurisdiction, but we’re not giving our consent to do it,” said Commissioner Gale Decker. “We’re doing this under protest.” Decker said Wednesday following a meeting with Gov. Greg Gianforte earlier this week the county will likely continue handling law enfor...
Daily Montanan •

State Library Commissioner compares Library Association to Ku Klux Klan • Daily Montanan

Montana State Library Commissioner Carmen Cuthbertson on Friday compared the Montana Library Association to the Ku Klux Klan, claiming the organization sent an anonymous letter as part of boycotting a meeting. Cuthbertson said an anonymous letter “doesn’t allow the commission to respond in any way” and is a “very cowardly way to communicate.” “And frankly, puts me in mind of the Ku Klux Klan members who wore masks so they couldn’t be identified,” Cuthbertson said. “You’re engaging in similar beh...
Daily Montanan •

House Speaker calls for a special session on immigration, marijuana tax distribution • Daily Montanan

Montana House Speaker Matt Regier called for a special session to address immigration and state marijuana tax distribution in a letter sent to the Secretary of State on Tuesday. The Kalispell Republican’s letter was signed by 12 other Republican lawmakers requesting the legislature reconvene to address the two hot-button issues. The request follows rhetoric from Montana politicians claiming, without evidence, a Flathead nonprofit used “dark money” and connections to the Biden administration to r...
Daily Montanan •

Gianforte favors some, snubs others in GOP legislative endorsements • Daily Montanan

Gov. Greg Gianforte’s campaign released his endorsements for Republican legislative candidates in the upcoming primaries Thursday with some surprising choices, including choosing not to endorse House leadership. Some snubbed Republican candidates said the only endorsement that matters is from the voters and Gianforte endorsing in a primary only furthers the perception of division in the party. House Speaker Matt Regier and Speaker Pro Tempore Rhonda Knudsen were notably absent from Gianforte’s l...
Daily Montanan •

Manufactured housing advocates skeptical of new development outside Belgrade • Daily Montanan

A new manufactured housing development outside Belgrade is calling itself an “affordable housing solution” for Bozeman. But manufactured home resident advocates worry prices are already high and could go up– a reported pattern the developer has done in other locations. Cameron Crossing, a Three Pillar Development community, was unveiled Tuesday with new manufactured homes starting at $200,000. In a press release, the company said this development would serve as an “affordable housing solution fo...
Daily Montanan •

Circus elephant temporarily wanders loose in Butte • Daily Montanan

Of course in Butte, America, right? A circus elephant temporarily escaped the Butte Civic Center Tuesday afternoon, strutting along Harrison Avenue and into the Town Pump parking lot before safely being brought back by a trainer. The Jordan World Circus is in town for the evening at the Butte Civic Center. The elephant was spooked by a car backfiring, according to Civic Center General Manager Bill Melvin, and she walked about 100 yards from the venue before trainers brought her back. The elepha...
Daily Montanan •

Montana GOP says proposed primary change ‘destructive,’ advocates say it tempers extremism • Daily Montanan

CHOTEAU– Election reform advocates said passing two initiatives that would change how primary and general elections are conducted in Montana would reduce extreme political rhetoric and “brutal” primaries– the same afternoon the Montana Republican party disavowed one of the initiatives as “destructive.” Constitutional Initiative-126 would change Montana primaries to a top-four system, meaning the top four vote-getters regardless of party would advance to the general election. Constitutional Initi...
Daily Montanan •

Medicaid expansion will be up for debate in 2025 legislative session, and its future is uncertain • Daily Montanan

Medicaid expansion is going to end next summer unless lawmakers decide to re-up the program next legislative session. Before expansion, Medicaid only covered extremely low-income Montanans, but under expansion, the program extended health insurance to those at or below 138% of the federal poverty level– currently $28,200 for a two-person household– for about 100,000 Montanans. Medical professionals said expansion resulted in not only more people getting insurance, but also funds more services wi...
Daily Montanan •

Tester’s Bozeman Office vandalized in Pro-Palestine protest • Daily Montanan

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s downtown Bozeman office was vandalized during the weekend with expletives and red and black spray paint reading, “Tester funds genocide.” Police were notified of the spray painted messages, and paint crossing out the U.S. Senate seal, on Saturday night, which were sprayed on the exterior of the office along West Main Street. The vandalism is the latest stunt from agitators who want to see the senator call for a ceasefire in response to the violence in Gaza, something a han...
Daily Montanan •

National Republican party dynamics at play in Cascade County commission primary • Daily Montanan

Rainbow Dam, one of the “Five Falls of the Missouri,” pictured on Sept. 17, 2021. (Photo by Nicole Girten/Daily Montanan) As Cascade County has turned more red, with Republican wins across legislative districts and most local offices in recent years, the commissioner election this year could be a bellwether for what brand of Republican the county wants in local leadership the next six years. It may also be a reflection on whether voters choose the status quo, whic...
Daily Montanan •

Secretary of State attempted to influence elections administrator selection in Cascade County • Daily Montanan

Montana’s Secretary of State told Cascade County Commissioners not to choose former election administrator Rina Moore or her former staff as their new administrator in a February email. “Please do not hire Ms. Moore or a member of her administration as Cascade County’s Election Administrator,” Secretary Christi Jacobsen wrote in a letter to commissioners. “Doing so would directly undermine the voters of Cascade County, among other reasons.” A Secretary of State’s Office spokesperson told the Dai...
Daily Montanan •

Democrats rally around 2024 candidates, Tester interrupted by pro-Palestine demonstrators • Daily Montanan

Underdog Democrats rallied around 2024 candidates up and down the ballot at their annual Mansfield Metcalf dinner in Helena on Saturday. But a night Democrats typically reserve for in-party schmoozing and supporting statewide candidates was interrupted with protests from pro-Palestine demonstrators. Protesters were there to confront U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, incumbent candidate and sole Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation, to end weapons funding to Israel. Demonstrators said the senator...
Daily Montanan •

Cascade County selects former Realtor CEO as new elections administrator • Daily Montanan

Cascade County Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to select former CEO of the Great Falls Association of Realtors Terry Thompson to take over as elections administrator after removing the job from Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant in December. Thompson has no experience running elections, but scored the highest among the four candidates for the job, which included former Clerk and Recorder Rina Moore. Merchant unseated Moore in November 2022. At the commissioner’s meeting, a handful of co...
Daily Montanan •

Local organizations connecting Montanans to social programs fear closure • Daily Montanan

BUTTE — More than a dozen communities in Montana likely won’t have offices that help connect low-income families to employment training and food assistance if the state of Montana seals the deal on a $15 million contract that outsources the work to a Virginia company, a Butte nonprofit and Democrats said at a press conference Tuesday. Late last month, the Department of Public Health and Human Services announced it it was in contract negotiations with Maximus of Virginia, and state officials said...
Daily Montanan •

Heart Butte School Board votes to lay off 30 staff members • Daily Montanan

Heart Butte School District School Board members voted unanimously Tuesday to lay off 30 staff members in an effort to cut costs as the district faces a $2.5 million liability in what state Superintendent Elsie Arntzen said was an unprecedented predicament in the state. Principal and acting district administrator Sandi Campbell was in tears following the decision. “I’m not going to be a functioning school tomorrow,” Campbell told the Daily Montanan. There are still a lot of unanswered questions...
Daily Montanan •

Cascade County Clerk and Recorder stripped of election duties • Daily Montanan

Election duties have been removed from Cascade County Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant after months of errors in recent county-run elections, at least two related lawsuits filed, and a federal election looming in 2024. After hearing from nearly 100 residents from both sides for almost seven hours, Cascade County Commissioners voted 2-1 Tuesday to move election duties under the commission’s purview. Merchant will continue overseeing other Clerk and Recorder duties, like surveying, and the commi...
Daily Montanan •

Cascade County Commission tables election canvass amidst ballot tally confusion • Daily Montanan

Cascade County Commissioners hit pause this week on completing the canvass for the recent municipal election over questions of ballot counts out of Belt and Cascade. Taking about the same time it would to roast an 18-pound turkey, the commission hand-tallied the election machine’s results per precinct, in what former county officials have called an unprecedented nearly five-hour exercise Wednesday night. This method of canvassing differs from how other counties canvass, and at least one expert s...
Daily Montanan •

Federal court blocks Montana drag ban • Daily Montanan

Drag artists in Montana can perform without worry for now.  A federal judge ordered Montana’s drag ban bill be temporarily enjoined on Friday, according to court filings. Judge Brian Morris said in his conclusion House Bill 359, which banned drag performances on public property in view of minors, targeted protected speech and expression. “No evidence before the court indicates that minors face any harm from drag-related events or other speech and expression critical of gender norms,” Morris said...
Daily Montanan •

PSC Commissioner Randy Pinocci arrested, charged with felony witness tampering • Daily Montanan

Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci was arrested on two felony charges of witness tampering in Cascade County on Friday. His lawyer said he denies the charges. Pinocci was previously arrested in September after failing to appear in court for a disputed disorderly conduct charge. Pinocci allegedly got in a physical altercation with the brother of a tenant over a security deposit. Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said in a press conference Friday the tampering charges are part of the s...
Load More Articles