As 2025 closes out, Montana Free Press reporters are reflecting on the work they’ve done over the course of the year — and what they expect to be writing about heading into 2026. My job is using data to help Montanans understand what’s happening around them. In 2025, that meant turning a l ot of messy information into tools and reporting that were useful to our readers. To start the year, I built the 2025 edition of the Montana Free Press Capitol Tracker, a searchable guide that lets readers find their legislators, follow bills and see how policy moves through the Montana House, Senate and governor’s office. As the session closed, I also analyzed which lawmakers were most successful in passing legislation (and which weren’t).Beyond politics, I worked with Montana Department of Transportation data to map where crashes happen most often on Montana highways. Among the takeaways: It’s worth taking some extra care on twisty roads around lakes and over mountain passes.Elections were another major focus. During the 2025 municipal races, I tracked how the state’s new birth-year requirements impacted ballot acceptance rates and examined campaign finance data to show how nominally nonpartisan mayoral races still reflected clear partisan donor patterns. WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON IN 2026? In 2026, I expect my data reporting to continue focusing on helping Montanans understand how big, often abstract economic, policy and political shifts show up in their day-to-day lives.One area I’ll be watching closely is how changes in trade policy ripple through Montana’s economy, particularly agriculture. Whether it’s tariffs, export markets or input costs, those decisions can have uneven effects across regions and commodities. I’m interested in using data to show where those impacts are landing, and who is feeling them most.Energy is another big question mark. As the Colstrip coal plant ages and owners transfer their shares to Northwestern Energy, the cost of keeping it running, as well as how competitive it is with other sources of energy like wind and hydropower, will influence how Montana’s energy mix and reliability look in the coming years. I’ll also be keeping an eye on energy-hungry data center proposals around the state, and what they mean for local infrastructure, water use and the broader energy grid.At the same time, we’ll have another round of elections to cover, as voters pick representatives and senators for the 2027 Legislature — and as Democrats try to unseat Republican incumbents in Montana’s federal delegation. There’s no doubt campaign finance data and political analysis will help keep me busy next year. If you have ideas for data sets I could be looking at — or analyses you’d like an intrepid data reporter to check out — I’m all ears. The post Looking back at a year in Montana data reporting — and the one ahead appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less