11/25/2024“Great Falls This Week” is reported and written by Matt Hudson. Send your news and tips to [email protected] urges hunters to have harvested animals testedChronic wasting disease (CWD) was recently detected in a mule deer taken north of Great Falls. It’s the first time the highly neurological disease has been detected in hunting district 404, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.FWP urges hunters to have their animals tested. A testing site for harvested animals is at the FWP office in Great Falls, Monday through Friday during business hours. Meat can’t be tested; hunters must provide lymph nodes or brain stems. The agency has a video showing how to extract these parts. Proper carcass disposal is another way to reduce the spread.CWD is a fatal neurological disease that causes erratic behavior and degrading appearances and affects deer, elk and moose. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that humans don’t eat meat from an animal that tests positive. There is no known transmission to humans.Hunting regions in northwest and southwest Montana have seen the most positive CWD cases during this hunting season. FWP has a map here.Verbatim“When people get really busy and you don’t receive the ballots from the last voter until after midnight, frankly I call it elder abuse.”— Chris Christiaens, chief election judge in Cascade County, speaking to the board of canvassers on Tuesday, Nov. 19Cascade County election judges worked around the clock on Election Day. They were required to count ballots all night, without pause, because of a new state law that requires judges to count continually until all results have been sent to the Montana Secretary of State.Speaking with the county board of canvassers, Christiaens said that a busy Election Day (and night) wore down the team of judges, who are mostly older.Read a behind-the-scenes account of the 2024 elections in Cascade County here.Public NoticeThe board of trustees for the Great Falls Public Library will consider the management agreement passed by the Great Falls City Commission last week. The library board will discuss the measure during its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 26. The agenda can be found here. Board members will consider the city-approved measure, passed on Nov. 19, that cuts 3.5 mills of funding from the library for fiscal years 2026 through 2029. It’s the result of months of negotiation between city and library stakeholders.Read more about the funding agreement here.The management agreement also revises some structural components of library administration. The library director would report directly to the library board rather than to city administration as a department head.In order for the agreement to take effect, the library board must approve the proposal in addition to the city commission’s prior approval.5 Things to Know in Great FallsA nearly $500,000 federal grant to the historic Union Bethel AME Church in Great Falls is held up by bureaucracy. The grant was originally to be administered through a state-level historical office, but that would have required the state to take a 25% fee of more than $124,000. In order to reduce the funds lost to fees, the state has asked the city of Great Falls to administer the grant for a smaller fee — around 10%, according to a city estimate. During a presentation to the city commission on Nov. 19, officials were cautious about the setup, which could make the city responsible for administering the grant according to federal guidelines. The initial plan also requires Great Falls to front a portion of the grant, which the city may not have available. Kate Hampton, community preservation coordinator for the Montana Historical Society, told city officials over the phone that the state may be able to increase annual historic preservation grants to the city to help cover administrative costs. The city and state will work to iron out details while the church hopes to break ground on building improvements soon. Founded in the 1890s, Union Bethel AME has been a center for religious, community and civil rights action for Black residents in Great Falls.The shipping containers outside of the Rocky Mountain Building on Central Avenue are being removed, but the sidewalk will be closed for up to 12 weeks so construction crews can stabilize the structure and ensure it’s safe for pedestrians below. Alluvion Health abandoned the reconstruction of the building amid financial hardship and is currently trying to sell it for $3.2 million.Cascade County Health Officer Abigail Hill told Great Falls city commissioners on Nov. 19 that the salmonella cases found in Great Falls Public Schools are likely related to a multi-state outbreak. Gene sequencing from lab samples tested at the state level helped make the link, though it doesn’t point directly at a source. Officials are investigating 11 cases among five schools.The city of Great Falls has a dedicated website for its ongoing growth policy development project. Found at futuregreatfalls.com, the site provides updates and public event notices related to the creation of the growth policy, related stakeholders and an option to sign up for email updates.The Cascade County Board of Canvassers will reconvene Monday after a week of delays. A hand recount of seven precincts took place late last week after 117 ballots were found uncounted and placed in the wrong box. The election canvass is set to resume at 10 a.m. Monday in the county commission meeting room.Dept. of CorrectionsThe Nov. 18 edition of Great Falls This Week incorrectly credited a photo of students from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine. That photo came courtesy of Benefis Health System.Programming noteA programming note: Great Falls This Week will not publish on Monday, Dec., 2, as the MTFP staff takes a breather through the Thanksgiving weekend. We will return to our regular publication schedule on Dec. 9.The post First CWD case reported north of Great Falls appeared first on Montana Free Press.