The Pulp

11/03/2024

Understanding the dangerous alchemy that claimed a Missoula mom, and why such mental health crises disproportionately affect women.

11/01/2024

Finding Eva means a devastated Missoula family may, eventually, find closure.

A body recovered from the Clark Fork River on Oct. 13 has been identified as Eva Masin Prather, a 43-year-old mother of two who had been missing for more than nine months.

10/24/2024

With an unprecedented political ad blitz taking over Montana’s airwaves and cluttering our mailboxes and feeds, The Pulp’s election breakdown cuts through the noise and distortion.

10/17/2024

Missoula’s plan to convert Front and Main streets from one-ways to two-ways should make it easier to get around downtown while also boosting businesses. Skeptical? Billings can attest.

Missoula's plan to convert Front and Main streets from one-ways to two-ways should make it easier to get around downtown while also boosting businesses. Skeptical? Billings can attest.

10/17/2024

'The Passion to Persist' — which screens Thursday at the Wilma — captures Hadley Ferguson's perseverance as an artist known for her wildly positive outlook and generosity, despite everything, and whose work seems to get more vibrant all the time.

'The Passion to Persist', which screens Thursday at the Wilma, captures Ferguson's perseverance as an artist known for her wildly positive outlook and generosity, despite everything, and whose work seems to get more vibrant all the time.

10/17/2024

An expedition into the deepest known cave in the continental United States, hidden in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, pushes nearly a half mile underground. How much lower does it go?

10/09/2024

The not-so-tortured poets department of Charlie B’s, now in session.

10/04/2024

Missoula City Council considers with skepticism a resolution requiring more oversight over the Missoula Redevelopment Agency.

09/24/2024

On the Flathead Reservation — and on Indian reservations across the West — state-owned trust lands generate profits while infringing on tribal sovereignty.

09/18/2024

Montana POST used to release data about police officers. Then the attorney general stepped in.

09/12/2024

A half dozen independent child care centers are now operating in the shuttered Cold Springs Elementary School. As the space transforms, new ways of doing the business of child care are emerging, too.

09/11/2024

This is the first edition of Fresh Press, a new weekly newsletter from The Pulp devoted to Missoula government and politics, written and reported by Arren Kimbel-Sannit. Read and subscribe 👇

Does building a tony development in the South Hills do anything to contribute to housing affordability?

09/09/2024

In the early 1900s, Missoula’s red light district and rough-and-tumble saloons were located along West Front Street. As notorious as that made West Front, the alley that ran parallel to Front Street was even more notorious. Bounded by Front, Main, Higgins and Stevens (now Ryman) streets, Missoulians called this little thoroughfare “Paradise Alley,” and, later, “Pig Alley.”

The rise and fall of Missoula's Pig Alley.

09/06/2024

Last night, at the Independent News Sustainability Summit in Chicago, The Pulp was named “New Business of the Year” by LION Publishers. 🏆

In recognizing The Pulp’s startup strategy and pursuit of fiscal sustainability, the award honors the greater Missoula community’s support of this work — the nearly 1,000 individual donors who make it possible — at least as much as us, and we’re profoundly grateful.

But really, it's about the greater Missoula community’s support of this work. And we're so grateful.

09/02/2024

The inaugural Free Press Fest begins Thursday in Missoula, an event convening big-name speakers for conversations about Montana’s biggest issues. Eminent journalism professor Dennis Swibold talks with Montana Free Press founder John S. Adams to get the scoop.

The three-day event is convening big-name speakers for conversations about Montana’s biggest issues. Eminent journalism professor Dennis Swibold talks with Montana Free Press founder John S. Adams to get the scoop.

08/30/2024

What defines Montana hip hop? A local filmmaker invited 23 artists to an Airbnb on Flathead Lake to find out. The album they recorded drops today.

— Last of the Nobodies

What defines Montana hip hop? A local filmmaker invited 23 artists to an Airbnb on Flathead Lake to find out. The album they recorded drops today.

08/29/2024

The proposed Wildroot development project would bring 450 housing units — a mix of luxury apartments, townhomes and single-family residences — to the Moose Can Gully neighborhood in Missoula’s South Hills over the next 20 years.

The proposed Wildroot development project would bring 450 housing units — a mix of luxury apartments, townhomes and single-family residences — to the Moose Can Gully neighborhood in Missoula's South Hills over the next 20 years.

08/21/2024

Last month’s historic windstorm devastated Missoula’s ospreys, sweeping chicks from their nests before they were ready to fly. It shook Missoula’s leading osprey researcher, too. But they’re recovering together.

08/20/2024

As Jeff Ament travels around the state with Montana Pool Service, a non-profit he founded that has built more than 30 skateparks in mostly rural and tribal communities, he encourages kids to embrace the contradictions in their lives.

As Ament travels around the state with Montana Pool Service, a non-profit he founded that has built more than 30 skateparks in mostly rural and tribal communities, he encourages kids to embrace the contradictions in their lives.

08/16/2024

Daisy Chain Presents reawakens Missoula’s DIY music scene with a two-day music fest.

Daisy Chain Presents reawakens Missoula's DIY music scene with a two-day music fest.

08/14/2024

The still-unfolding story of how Ayabe-way-we-tung guided his tribe in the midst of colonization, as excerpted from Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray’s new book, “Becoming Little Shell.”

The still-unfolding story of how Ayabe-way-we-tung guided his tribe in the midst of colonization, as excerpted from Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray's new book, "Becoming Little Shell."

08/09/2024

A once powerful force in state politics, Montana’s Democrats have faced mounting electoral losses in recent decades. As the state’s most popular Democrat faces an uphill battle to reelection in the U.S. Senate, questions about the viability of the party in a post-November landscape loom.

A once powerful force in state politics, Montana's Democrats have faced mounting electoral losses in recent decades. As the state's most popular Democrat faces an uphill battle to reelection in the U.S. Senate, questions about the viability of the party in a post-November landscape loom.

08/05/2024

Audra Loyal recently reopened The Vespiary, both a workshop and bookshop, inside the Warehouse Mall.

08/02/2024

In the aftermath of a wild storm that walloped Missoula, who or what ended up where?

07/30/2024

Traveling along Higgins Avenue to and from downtown and the Hip Strip, taking in views of the river and mountains, is a classic part of the Missoula experience.

But since the new Beartracks Bridge (formerly Higgins Bridge) opened in late 2022 with shared-use paths for foot and bike traffic, the layout has caused confusion. At peak times on summer afternoons, the bridge teems with walkers and cyclists headed in both directions, dodging one another as some try to adhere to the small signs indicating the designated lanes of travel, and others do not.

“With the uptick of market season it becomes something we hear about, largely on the west side of Beartracks Bridge,” says Ben Weiss, a senior planner in the transportation division of Missoula Public Works and Mobility.

He says planners put significant thought into improving bike-ped infrastructure and design on the bridge, which previously had a narrow sidewalk, but the resulting shared path, with half designated for bikes, is imperfect.

Which lane? The shiny new Higgins Avenue bridge is missing bike-lane symbols, and that's likely to be the case for a while