Sign up for the free Great Falls This Week newsletter and stay in the loop on Great Falls city government, public school meetings, business news and upcoming entertainment and events. Sign up 8/03/2026 MSU views county contribution as partnership A Cascade County commissioner disagrees with the county contributing to Montana State University Extension services, which operates the 4-H program, among other things. As the 2027 budget is nearing consideration for passage, Commissioner Joe Briggs said he has long insisted that Montana State University should foot the entire bill for extension programs. This year, he will suggest that the county cut the proposed $171,726 contribution to the program. “I don’t feel that it’s appropriate for the county taxpayers to fund an obligation of the state of Montana,” Briggs told Montana Free Press last week. MSU Extension is an agricultural-focused program with a presence in all Montana counties. It conducts research, runs the 4-H program and provides other community services and operates on a $6.6 million statewide budget. In larger counties like Cascade, MSU pays for three extension agents and covers other program costs. Cascade County covers office equipment, staff mileage and office space, among other things. The office space, a 4,600-square-foot classroom building leased from Great Falls Public Schools, costs the county $28,360 each year. County commissioners approved an extension of that lease July 14. The vote was 2-1, with Briggs casting the lone vote against. He said at the meeting that he didn’t want to approve the lease extension until after the final 2027 budget was approved. Tracy Mosley, the MSU Extension regional manager, said at the meeting that the university views the county’s contribution as a partnership. “So the county’s contribution, from our perspective, is not a subsidy for something MSU should be covering on its own,” Mosley said via Zoom at the meeting. “We believe it’s the county’s share of a cooperative investment that brings significantly more back to Cascade County than the county puts in — at a 2:1 ratio.” In a written statement to MTFP, Mosley said that MSU contributed 58% of personnel costs for extension agents last year and covered much of the programming and research activities. The county picked up the rest of those personnel costs, as well as various operational expenses.   It’s likely that county funding for MSU extension will be approved for 2027, as commissioners Eric Hinebauch and Jim Larson have signaled their support. Hinebauch sent a press release to media outlets Thursday reaffirming that position. “MSU Extension and 4-H provide important services to our youth, families and agricultural community,” his statement said in part. “I supported these programs before the recent public concern, and I continue to support them today.” The recent public concern came from social media posts by former county commissioner Rae Grulkowski, who wrote that the county was “moving to defund” MSU Extension. The county hasn’t yet voted on the 2027 budget. The proposed budget does cut a county-funded administrative assistant position. Hinebauch told MTFP last week that this was part of a county-wide effort to reduce expenses, but he hoped to see it resurface as an MSU-funded position. Food service places blame in blood contamination suit Summit Food Services, a contractor for the Cascade County Detention Center, said in a court filing that even if someone contracted Hepatitis C after being served blood-contaminated food last fall, “damages should be limited because Hepatitis C is treatable and curable.” Originally filed with 27 plaintiffs, the lawsuit has expanded to 170 current or former inmates. The lawsuit alleges the inmates were harmed when they were served blood-contaminated food in September 2025 from the jail’s kitchen. A Summit employee allegedly ordered the contaminated food to be served and said that inmates could “scoop around” the blood. The person whose blood got into the food tested positive for Hepatitis C, the lawsuit states. Some defendants tested positive for Hepatitis C for the first time since the incident, the lawsuit says. On July 17, Summit Foods responded to the updated complaint in court. Among the company’s defenses was the claim that the risk of contracting Hepatitis C from contaminated food was minimized because the virus is treatable. The company also blamed the inmates, stating in the court filing that their own “negligence or fault” contributed to their claims for damages. Summit also laid some blame on inmates who worked on the food service line, saying they were “personally involved” and shared liability. Summit noted in court documents that Hepatitis C cannot be transmitted through the ingestion of blood-contaminated food, an issue that arose when the incident went public last fall. An attorney for the inmates previously told MTFP that the inmates believed that they contracted Hepatitis C through cuts or sores on their hands while handling the food. The lawsuit is ongoing before the U.S. District Court in Great Falls.  5 Things to Know in Great Falls Public safety officials celebrated the service of Karen Young, who was director of the Great Falls-Cascade County Emergency Communications Center and retired after 38 years. Young began as a 911 dispatcher and worked with a local team to bring 911 services to the area in 1990, a press release said. It’s estimated that she answered more than 80,000 calls for service before becoming the center’s director in 2016. A search for a new director will begin soon. On Aug. 1, Cascade County reverted to its original Belt-Armington trash dump site. This was the site of a lease dispute that led the county to pursue a new dump site just over the fence, within a stone’s throw from the original location. Now the county has purchased the original site and will continue using it. Republic Services remains the contracted operator. The city of Great Falls removed the parking kiosks from the south parking garage on First Avenue South. After implementing two-hour free parking, the city said that the kiosks generated little revenue and that it became “cost-effective” to remove them. Users are encouraged to use the Passport parking app to record two-hour parking and pay for use beyond that period. The sixth annual Touch-a-Truck event is Aug. 8 at Great Falls College MSU. The kid-friendly event brings big rigs, construction vehicles and other specialty trucks together to be gawked at and seen up close. The expanded event in the college parking lot is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Howard’s Pizza announced that it won’t reopen its downtown pizzeria after a winter fire damaged the building. It has three other locations in Great Falls. The co-located Stein Haus will remain open. Last summer, Howard’s announced the end to another of its icons: the pickup-truck delivery boxes. As KRTV reported at the time, Howard’s moved delivery to app-based platforms like DoorDash. Programming Note The first edition of Great Falls This Week was published July 15, 2024. Now it’s time for a refresh. Updated editions of this newsletter will start hitting inboxes next week. With the update, MTFP hopes to give readers a more direct, useful and personable news digest each Monday morning that brings relevant information but also celebrates our shared community. It will continue to be written and reported by MTFP local reporter Matt Hudson. Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey with their thoughts on the newsletter’s direction. One feature of the updated newsletter is already available. MTFP hopes to answer more reader questions through a recurring segment, Glad You Asked. Readers can submit their inquiries via this online form. The survey is also available on the Great Falls This Week archive page and will appear in future editions of the newsletter. 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