Hello and welcome to News Now, I’m your host Taylor Inman. We’re going over the week’s biggest headlines and what’s coming up for northwest Montana.

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The family of a woman who vanished while paddleboarding in the Hungry Horse Reservoir in July is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.

Relatives of 33-year-old Emily Rea of West Glacier are looking for any information that could lead to her location, including photos, videos and sightings, according to Caspr Communications, the public relations firm hired by the family.

Rea went missing July 16. Anyone with …

Hello and welcome to News Now, I’m your host Taylor Inman. We’re going over the week’s biggest headlines and what’s coming up for northwest Montana.

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The family of a woman who vanished while paddleboarding in the Hungry Horse Reservoir in July is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.

Relatives of 33-year-old Emily Rea of West Glacier are looking for any information that could lead to her location, including photos, videos and sightings, according to Caspr Communications, the public relations firm hired by the family.

Rea went missing July 16. Anyone with information is urged to call the tipline at 406-758-5610 or email tips@flathead.mt.gov.

The $25,000 reward is for the first valid tip leading to the return of Rea by Nov. 30. It applies to non-water recovery information, owing to the intensive search and rescue work underway at the reservoir, according to the communications firm.

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office has been searching for Rea for over a month in the Hungry Horse Reservoir. Boat teams equipped with sonar and underwater robots, K9 teams, ground teams, Two Bear Air helicopters, drone teams and divers have been deployed in the search effort.

Most recently, authorities employed specialized side scan sonar to navigate challenging deep-water terrain. In addition, a communications campaign, #EyesForEmily, and website have been established as a source of information.

A volunteer form and a downloadable missing person flyer can be found on the website as well as a donation link to support the search and the #EyesForEmily campaign. There are also official Facebook and Instagram accounts set up to provide updates.

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The Montana Department of Corrections is eyeing a property in Kalispell as the future location of a 90-bed prerelease facility.

The center would be located on East Oregon Street at the former Greenwood Village Inn & Suites hotel.

The Montana Legislature last year set aside $7.1 million in funding for a prerelease center in Kalispell.

Department of Corrections director Brian Gootkin said prerelease centers are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days per week and require residents to follow rules that support accountability and community safety.

Prerelease centers are designed to assist offenders with their transition from a secure facility back into the community and provide an alternative to incarceration. The state has 10 such facilities in Montana.

Upcoming meetings are planned regarding the proposal.

A project overview is being hosted by WGM Group on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. The Department of Corrections is holding a public hearing on the facility on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. Both meetings take place at the Hampton Inn, 1140 U.S. 2 W in Kalispell.

The state has applied with Flathead County for a conditional use permit to operate the center. The property is zoned residential, which conditionally allows for a community residential facility.

The county Board of Adjustment is set to vote on the permit at its Oct. 1 meeting.

The state has entered a buy-sell agreement for the almost 3-acre property owned by White Chip, LLC, contingent on approval of the center, according to an application with the county Planning Department. The 47-room hotel would be repurposed to be used as the center, but the adjacent RV park would remain.

While in the prerelease center, residents live at the facility but travel out into the community according to an approved schedule, according to a letter as part of the application. Prerelease centers serve a valuable role in communities by providing a supervised setting and residents are expected to maintain a fully structured schedule, which includes employment, treatment and counseling, and educational courses or vocational training, according to the letter, which also said that the center’s residents would be “held accountable for their actions, through monitoring of compliance with facility rules and treatment plans.”

The residents will be able to use the areas around the existing building but will be “restricted from venturing into the adjacent neighborhood and mobile home park,” according to the application.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Planning Department had received a handful of letters from residents saying that the location is not suitable for a prerelease center.

The state contracts with nonprofit organizations to operate prerelease centers in Billings, Butte, Bozeman, Great Falls, Helena and Missoula. The Flathead region – comprised of Flathead, Lake, Lincoln and Sanders counties -- does not have a prerelease center.

The state agency has determined a need for a prerelease center based on population information, showing that counties supporting existing centers are all in the top 10 in terms of population in Montana based on 2023 numbers. Flathead County sits at number four, Lake at number nine and Lincoln at number 10.

In addition, the department reviewed sentencing information for offenders from July 1, 2023, through June 15, 2024, and found that 154 offenders were committed to the Department of Corrections for a full or partial sentence from the Flathead region. In June there were 136 offenders in prerelease centers from the Flathead region.

Had there been a facility in the region, these offenders may have benefited from services provided at the center close to their hometown, the agency noted in a document outlining the need for a prerelease center in the region.

The agency also stated that the region has appropriate mental health and chemical dependency services, adequate job opportunities and opportunities for basic education and postsecondary education.

The state’s unemployment rate was 3.1% for May 2024 and Flathead County’s was 3.3% for the same period. A key component of a prerelease center program is the requirement for residents to work, so the center would potentially add 90 workers to the area, the agency noted.

Heavy opposition arose to a proposed prerelease center on U.S. 93 South in Kalispell in 2009, ending the project. A survey at the time conducted by Montana State University-Billings found that 74% of respondents opposed the 40-bed facility, according to a previous Daily Inter Lake article.

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Tribal leaders in Montana urged Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy to apologize over remarks he made to supporters about Native Americans being "drunk at 8 a.m." and throwing beer cans at him on the Crow Reservation

Audio recordings of Sheehy's derogatory comments were obtained and published by Char-Koosta News, the official publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation.

Sheehy is backed by former President Donald Trump as he challenges three-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in one of the most closely-watched congressional races in the nation.

A Republican victory could help swing control of the closely divided Senate.

Sheehy is heard commenting in one of the recordings that his ranching partner is a member of the Crow Tribe with whom Sheehy ropes and brands cattle on the tribe's southeastern Montana reservation.

Sheey said QUOTE "Great way to bond with all the Indians, to be out there while they're drunk at 8 a.m.," END QUOTE

In another recording, he describes riding a horse in the parade at Crow Fair, an annual gathering in Crow Agency that includes powwows, a rodeo and other events.

He said QUOTE "If you know a tough crowd, you want to go to the Crow res. They let you know whether they like you or not — there's Coors Light cans flying by your head riding by."

The Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, which represents 11 tribes and First Nations in the western U.S. and Canada, said Sheehy's comments perpetuated stereotypes about Native Americans.

Council Chairman Bryce Kirk asked Sheehy to apologize in a Tuesday letter to the campaign obtained by The Associated Press.

He said QUOTE: “You ask for our votes and then you go to your fundraiser, ironically with alcohol flowing and laughter at our expense behind closed doors, and you insult us with a stereotype that only seeks to severely diminish and dishonor our people," END QUOTE

A Sheehy campaign spokesperson did not dispute the authenticity of the recordings, which the tribal newspaper said came from fundraising events held in Montana last November.

Sheehy is a former U.S. Navy SEAL with no previous political experience who moved to Montana a decade ago and founded an aerial firefighting company. He knows members of the Crow Tribe and visits the reservation to work cattle with them, said spokesperson Jack O'Brien.

O'Brien did not say if Sheehy would apologize or otherwise respond to the tribal leaders' request.

Montana has seven Indian reservations and almost 70,000 Native Americans, representing about 7% of its total population, according to U.S. Census data. It's a voting block that's long been considered Democratic-leaning, but Montana Republicans in recent years have courted tribal leaders hoping to gain their support in elections.

Crow Tribe Chairman Frank White Clay did not immediately respond to a message left with his office seeking comment.

Tester's campaign declined to comment on the matter.

White Clay and other Crow representatives attended a rally last month in Bozeman featuring Trump and Sheehy. White Clay told an AP reporter at the rally that their presence was not meant as an endorsement. He said the tribe wanted to maintain good relations with whatever administration holds office.

Char-Koosta News editor Sam Sandoval said Sheehy's campaign had not responded to his outlet's queries about the recordings, which he said came from a credible source who wanted the comments publicized in a tribal newspaper.

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