The Pulp

The Bonner Mill Industrial Park along the Blackfoot River, pictured in March, where a proposed AI data center has stalled after the property owner withdrew support. Credit: John Stember This story was originally published by Montana Free Press. The data center proposed for Bonner, east of Missoula, has stalled after the property owner withdrew support for the project this week, according to a notice provided to county officials Monday.

Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, silhouetted on The Wilma stage at the 2022 James Welch Native Lit Festival. Courtesy photo The acclaimed Blackfeet and Gros Ventre author James Welch is certainly best known for his novels. His 1974 debut, “Winter in the Blood,” is a founding text of the Native American Renaissance — spare, darkly funny, ruthless in its realism — and “Fools Crow,” his 1986 historical epic, is taught in Native literature courses across the country.

Carrots, poached in fat and glory. Credit: Ari LeVaux If given the choice, most omnivores and non-rabbits would choose meat over carrots. This is nothing to be ashamed of if you identify as an orange taproot. It’s just that we humans have been evolutionarily programmed to seek out the captivating savory umami flavor of flesh, and the protein content it signifies. The carrot, meanwhile, though sweet and mildly fragrant, delivers a less seductive dose of fiber, and tastes vaguely of dirt.

Scott Mathson, the new owner of The Recording Center, a studio in downtown Missoula that’s been recording Montana music since 1986. Credit: John Stember When Scott Mathson walked into The Recording Center in early 2023, he was 31, grieving, and aching to get back to music. His father had died a couple of months earlier, leaving Mathson his 12-string guitar.

Third Street Pasta’s Devon Lawler and his wares at the Missoula Farmers Market. Credit: Max Savage Levenson Pasta is not a food that requires much urbanity to impart great joy. The vast majority of us — our Paws Up-frequenting besties notwithstanding — could live a life of utter contentment, I believe, having never dined on a pasta more bespoke than Barilla bowties, served with a glistening sheen of butter and a healthy dousing of Kraft grated parm.

Of the 617 runners who finished the first Missoula Marathon in 2007, only three are still going. Credit: John Stember. Bonner Park is a pleasant neighborhood park during the summer. Friends picnic, dogs catch frisbees, children gallop around the playground and splash pad. But for one Sunday in June, a sweaty, addle-brained mob of distance runners curses the very dirt the green space is built upon.

Well, primary election season is finally, blessedly behind us. And what’s there to do with all that time you spent looking at shirtless pictures of Sam Forstag and trying to figure out who’s actually running for Senate? Honestly, maybe it’s a nice time to not think about the influence of PAC spending and instead catch up on some of the stellar records from Montana artists released this spring as the clouds float overhead and all of Missoula glows green like the Irish countryside.

E.O. Wilson peers into an insect net in a scene from The Little Things That Run the World. In 1987, entomologist E.O. Wilson gave a speech at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., which was celebrating the opening of its new invertebrate exhibit. Wilson took the opportunity to campaign for insects everywhere. “Let me say a word on behalf of these little things that run the world,” he said, and then went on to share some wild examples of the crucial roles insects play.

Recent offerings from the Walmart bakery on Brooks St. include “Salad Fingers,” an R.E.M. tribute, and a Dune crossover no one asked for but everyone (at least on Reddit) needed. Credit: Emma McDowell / The Pulp There are certain desserts one expects to find in the fluorescent glow of a supermarket bakery case. One of those things is cakes — anniversary cakes with pink rosettes, birthday cakes with colorful piping, holiday cakes with predictable messages.

A brown trout in an angler’s net. Credit: Hunter D’Antuono / Flathead Beacon This story was originally published by the Flathead Beacon. For anglers, blue-ribbon trout streams are characterized by free-flowing water that’s clear, cold and full of fish. But in the past decade, the chilly streams that sustain Montana’s prized trout species have been warming up and drying out as a result of rising global temperatures.