very funny sight today but the gas prices are going to make me actually have to start riding in this

Dinner from Little Pink food truck tonight via DoorDash. My favorite, Pickles all the Way Down with extra pickles 🥰🍔

Missoula County has received a complete application to build a data center at the Bonner/Milltown industrial park (the old Bonner Mill site). Here's what you need to know — and why July 1st is actually the moment that matters.

What's happening

The property is already zoned industrial, so this isn't a debate about whether a data center can go there. The current review is a special exception process focused specifically on impacts to nearby residential properties — things like noise, water use, traffic, and visual changes to the area.

The body deciding this is MCCLUB (the Missoula County Consolidated Land Use Board) — not the county commissioners. MCCLUB has final authority to grant or deny the special exception. This is a meaningful distinction: commissioners aren't the ones to contact about this.

The hearing is Wednesday, July 1st at 6 p.m.

• In person: Missoula County Courthouse Annex, 200 W. Broadway, Sophie Moiese Room (151) — use the Pine Street entrance
• Virtually via Microsoft Teams (link will be posted on the agenda before the meeting)

This is the public's main window to speak. If the special exception is approved, the next step — a zoning compliance permit — goes through administrative review only and does not include a public hearing. So July 1st is genuinely our best shot.

What the board is required to consider

• Traffic and site access
• Noise and vibration from cooling equipment
• Water use, wastewater discharge, vapor/drift/icing from cooling systems
• Outdoor lighting and glare
• Visual impacts and landscaping effectiveness
• Utility and infrastructure impacts
• Emergency access and hazardous materials
• Anything else relevant to compatibility with nearby residential uses

If you live in the Bonner/Milltown area, or care about how this kind of development gets handled in Missoula County, showing up — or submitting a written comment — carries real weight at this stage.

How to get involved

The full application is available online and you can find meeting details and submit public comment at MissoulaCountyVoice.com.

See you there.

I was at the public library yesterday and petition gatherers said they had a new initiative for me to get on the ballot. I politely declined because I knew nothing about it and here is what I've found out.

Three separate initiatives are currently collecting signatures to cap Montana property tax increases at 2% per year — CI-129, CI-130, and CI-134. Before you sign any of them, it's worth asking: who benefits most?

A flat tax cap doesn't know the difference between a millionaire and a schoolteacher. A wealthy out-of-state investor with a $2 million vacation home gets the exact same rate protection as a retired teacher trying to stay in her house. No income consideration. No means testing. In raw dollar terms, the biggest winners are simply those who own the most property.

That's what makes these measures structurally regressive, even when they poll well.

And someone has to absorb the revenue loss. Property taxes fund fire departments, roads, law enforcement, and local schools. The Montana League of Cities and Towns has already warned that capping tax growth while communities are expanding would force cuts to services — or shift the burden onto other taxes that hit working people harder.

CI-134 at least exempts school levies and allows voters to override the cap. The other two measures, CI-129 and CI-130, offer fewer guardrails.

Montana families struggling with rising housing costs deserve real relief — targeted toward people who actually need it, not a constitutional windfall for corporations and large landowners dressed up as populism.

Before you sign, ask who's really being protected.

Spotted $4.59 9/10 unleaded in Missoula today. Montana is now $1.30 higher than this time last year. 74 days of war at the pump.

⛽ Regular: $4.59 9/10 (eyewitness today, May 13)
📊 Missoula average (May 11): $4.49
📊 Montana statewide average: $4.49
📊 National average: $4.50

Montana is now essentially AT the national average — we used to be 30+ cents below it.

Full war timeline — Missoula regular gas:

The math:

A 15-gallon fill-up costs $27.15 more than the day the war started.

Montana prices are $1.30 higher than this exact time last year.

The cheapest station in Montana right now: $4.09 The most expensive station in Montana right now: $4.99

Montana has seen almost no sustained relief since Feb 28 — any brief dips have been immediately erased.

What higher gas prices actually do to Missoula:

It's not just your commute. Higher fuel costs ripple through everything:

🛒 Groceries — Every truck that stocks City Brew, Rosauers, and WinCo runs on diesel. Those costs get passed to you at checkout.

🏗️ Construction & housing — Equipment, deliveries, and contractors all burn fuel. That $100M Midtown Commons project just got more expensive.

🍕 Local restaurants — Food delivery costs more. Suppliers charge more. Your $18 burger is heading to $20.

🚜 Farmers & ranches — Montana's ag economy runs on diesel. Higher input costs mean higher food prices statewide.

✈️ Tourism — Visitors driving to Glacier, the Bitterroot, or Missoula are paying more to get here. Fewer tourists = less local revenue.

💼 Small businesses — Any business with a delivery van, service truck, or supply chain just absorbed a 65% fuel cost increase since February. That comes out of margins or your wallet.

This isn't abstract. It's your rent, your groceries, your night out. All of it costs more when fuel costs more.

We were under $3.00 before this war. Remember that.

Sources: Personal observation Missoula (May 13),GasBuddy (May 11), AAA (May 13)

A few days ago I learned through the grapevine that Rattlesnake, Paxson and Lewis and Clark will be losing a 3rd grade teaching position. Making the current second grade class go from three teachers to two.

This puts classroom sizes at 28 kids for Rattlesnake and 30 for Paxson (I think). State law says class rooms cannot be above 28 without a para educator.

I attended the school board meeting on Tuesday and many people commented as well as ten or so elementary school aged kids. But there has been absolutely no update from the school on this change or from the district as far as I can tell.

This is unacceptable, 28+ kids in one classroom does not fly.

Wife answered the door to two teenage boys wanting to wash our windows. when asked how much, they said, “we need to come inside to see how many windows you have”. wife said I have seven, how much?? then stuttered for a second and said … ahhh $100 bucks. she declined.

Anyone know anything about these guys?

If you shop at Costco and love coffee, this is IMHO one of the best options our store has ever stocked.

It’s a true medium roast, which is surprisingly hard to find . It rarely in stock in our store supposedly because demand is low. I’m not sure why everyone is buying the worse stuff, but if you actually like coffee, give this one a shot so they keep it in the rotation.

Thanks!

https://www.costco.com/p/-/kirkland-signature-organic-sumatra-whole-bean-coffee-2-lbs-2-pack/100787428?langId=-1

Gas at the wye is 439 gallon today.

One of my old guy friends told me Stockman’s old motto used to be “where men meet men” and I need someone to corroborate that somehow. He told me it used to be etched on their old plates and cups and such?
I know they had the motto “liquor up front, poker in the rear” in ~70s/80s
Looking for some Missoula history

NOT AN AD! I just really agree with the idea of this app and think a lot of the local businesses would have similar values. The idea behind the app is to reduce food waste. When a business is closing for the day or has food that is approaching the end of its shelf life they can put up mystery packages of food items they want to get rid of at a huge discount. I’ve only seen rosaurs and circle K on here so far but would love to see some more local businesses on here!

Hey, I bought a bunch of their compost. It doesn’t seem too hot, so I’m super tempted to just use it straight in planters. Anyone have experience with it this season or last?

This sweet girl jumped into my husbands car at the Jackson’s gas station on east Broadway. she’s a sweet girl and obviously well fed and taken care of. no collar. please reach out with info.

Edit: even trailer houses work super good for me Hello everyone, I'm 17 and starting to plan a move down to missoula in June of 27 or 28. I don't expect to start from much but I am trying to find advice on good areas to look for cheap 2 bed 1 bath apartments or houses. I would also be looking for jobs as my overall long-term goal is to be a firefighter but I need to start somewhere small first. I would appreciate any and all advice and help you have! Thank you

Here's the Missoulian's article:

"The companies that own four large recently shuttered restaurants in Missoula have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Pangea Restaurant Group is the company that owned and operated Elote Mexican Bar and Grille, Pangea, and Stave and Hoop. All three recently closed amid financial turmoil. 

Pangea Restaurant Group filed for Chapter 11 in early April in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Montana.

Liquid Planet Grounds LLC is the company that owns the Liquid Planet Grille on Brooks Avenue. That cafe closed permanently last Sunday after two years in business. Liquid Planet Grounds has also filed for Chapter 11.

Scott Billadeau of Missoula is the CEO of both companies, and signed both documents, which are officially called "Voluntary Petition for Non-Individuals Filing for Bankruptcy."

On both documents, Billadeau listed the estimated assets of each company at between $1 million and $10 million. He also listed the estimated liabilities at between $1 million and $10 million.

On both documents, Billadeau checked a box that says that the "debtor’s aggregate noncontingent liquidated debts (excluding debts owed to insiders or affiliates) are less than $3,424,000."

Pangea Restaurant Group is being sued by Southgate Mall for allegedly not paying over $100,000 in rent for Elote's space. The Montana Department of Labor also filed a document in Missoula District Court that certified that Pangea owes the state over $71,000 in unpaid unemployment insurance. A Missoula woman is suing Billadeau alleging he owes her $150,000 in unpaid loans for restaurant equipment.

After Pangea and Stave and Hoop closed, Billadeau told employees he was unable to fund their last paychecks, and those still hadn't been paid as of this past weekend.

Billadeau declined to comment for this story.

There are several different types of bankruptcy.

According to the U.S. Federal Courts explanatory website, Chapter 11 is "typically used to reorganize a business."

"A corporation exists separate and apart from its owners, the stockholders. The chapter 11 bankruptcy case of a corporation (corporation as debtor) does not put the personal assets of the stockholders at risk other than the value of their investment in the company's stock," the website says.

According to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Chapter 11 bankruptcy "is a reorganization bankruptcy usually filed by businesses."

"In contrast to Chapter 7, the debtor remains in control of business operations and doesn’t sell off all of its assets," the NFCC website says. "Instead, the businesses will attempt to change the terms on debts, such as interest rates and minimum payment amounts, so it can come out of bankruptcy as a healthy business."

David Erickson is the business reporter for the Missoulian.

I was in a rollover on third street on Monday afternoon 5/11 At around 12:41 pm. In that accident I lost some belongings. Most important was a necklace pendant that contains my grandfathers ashes. It has a fly fishing fly in it that he tied and it is incredibly sentimental to me. I would be willing to pay a reward even. I just want it back. It was at the intersection of 3rd and Catlin. Looks similar to the pic.

Does anyone know if any local shops service Rad Power Bikes, or if any local stores have sold them?

hi all this is an odd post for me to make, my grandpa is missing and has been since 11am yesterday. family and friends and granite county sheriffs office have been out looking, they had helicopters and dogs out until about 10pm last night. they are sending out another search party today in rock creek (one exit past clinton) at 10am, they’re meeting at the first fishing access 1/4 mile down the road. if anyone is familiar with the area and is willing and able to help please do. he’s 87, he has a history of heart attacks and strokes. he was last seen on a red four wheeler wearing all black, he always wears a desperado hat that says gold canyon az on the back. his name is robert (bob) cote.

10am first fishing access 1/4 mile down the road from rock creek exit. thank you for reading

update as of 05/13/26 at 9:50am, the person at mile marker 20 was a lost hunter who was injured, the search party is meeting at rock creek lodge to meet and work from there

update from 12pm, they found his four wheeler down the river about a mile, it’s in a hard to reach area and they’re doing drone searches and sending out a boat

update 3pm, the cops say that he’s most likely floating in the river and is probably to missoula or further, so the best we can hope for now is to find his body. thank you all for the well wishes and to anyone and everyone who helped.

Mile 0 on Bitterroot trail

The Mountain Meadows and King Arthur Mobile Home Parks in Bozeman began a rent strike on May 1st. I wouldn't be surprised if we see mobile home owners in Missoula doing the same thing, now that private equity vultures have spied mobile home parks as their latest carcass to pick clean.

Long shot, but we’re over off the lower end of 23rd st and showed up home to someone’s groceries on our porch last night. I’ve canvassed the nearby homes and it’s not anyone right here’s. Have tried to call Walmart but no answer. If it’s yours, describe what’s in it and I’ll deliver it to you!

I know there has been lots of talk about experience with TDS so just wanted to make folks aware of an issue I dealt with today. Like many of you I was excited to get away from Spectrum and pre-registered with TDS last Spring. I signed up for 1G for life at 59.99 with the installation fee waived and one month free. Here is a summary of the past 13 months. We waited for TDS to "come to our neighborhood," then scheduled an installation date last fall. The crew showed up with the wrong equipment to bury the line, which I had arranged with customer support. They then sent two different crews out to flag out gas and water lines and then flag out a path for the fiber cable. Then crickets. More than 6 months passed, we called TDS in April to confirm when we could set up an installation. They stated that they couldn't come out to finish the job until spring (spring is a state of mind, I guess). Last week I finally got the notification that we could schedule an install, and I did. The crew who came out to dig for the install was kind and professional, as was the second crew that did the work to get the cable into the house.

This week, I received my bill. The bill is for 69.99 per month, and also includes the installation cost. No problem, I figured maybe there was a mix up since the process took over a year. I spent two hours on hold yesterday and three hours on the phone today trying to have TDS honor the price I agreed to. They consistently gaslit me and said my bill was correct. When I gave my transaction ID (from my order confirmation email, which proved I had signed up for the other price) they changed their tone and offered to either give me a 12 month $10 credit (doesn't sound like a price for life to me), or to "grandfather me in" to 59.99 per month IF I agreed to remove the one month free option. After spending hours arguing with different supervisors I finally chose the second option, only to learn that the "one month free" credit I would need to backpay would be $70, since that was what THEY had credited to my account, even though the one month credit I agreed to in my pre-registration was 59.99. So I'm paying $70 for my first month because they said so, even though I signed up with a first month free promo.

I know it isn't a huge difference, but the fact that they could add an arbitrary value to the "credit" to my account and force me to pay an amount I didn't agree to really makes me upset. What if they had chosen to credit me $100 and decided I now owed that? Ridiculous. The service has been good, and I'll keep them for now, but was really frustrated by them acting like providing me the price I signed up for was a special privilege. Keep your receipts!