Have you ever wondered where that shrink-wrapped package of hamburger or pork chops you purchase at the store come from? How does a cow grazing in the field or a pig wallowing in mud come to be nourishment on our plates? Shane and Tanya Flowers, owners of Ranch House Sausage Company, helped unravel some of the mystery surrounding how meat is butchered into proportions for cooking, and then how items such as bacon and sausage are produced.

Homes in Pryor were without water on the Crow Reservation Thursday.

Power to the pumphouse that pressurizes water in Pryor was shut off yesterday. Cedric Black Eagle with the Crow Tribe Water Resources Department says that was due to unpaid bills.

The National Park Service wants to expand housing for seasonal employees who work for private companies operating in Yellowstone. Wednesday kicked off a 30-day public comment period.

Tourism is the economic lifeblood for many gateway communities around Yellowstone National Park. In Gardiner, Montana, a second-generation fly shop is gearing up for its busiest season.

A conservation group says the Bureau of Land Management is abandoning an option that would preserve 200,000 acres in Central Montana with wilderness characteristics.

The BLM says that’s not true, and that its new draft management plan for its lands in the area will strike a balance between development and other uses.

Montana could be caught in the spillover effects when China levies higher tariffs on U.S. products.

It’s another step in the ongoing trade war between China and the United States.

Last year, tariffs nearly knocked out Montana’s wheat exports to China.

The market has been less than stellar since, according to farmers in the state, which includes Lyle Benjamin, President of Montana Grain Growers Association.

A new economic profile report about Big Sky highlights one of the fastest population growth trends in the state and some of the struggles that come with it. Big Sky’s population has grown 21 percent over the last five years to almost 3,000 residents, according to a new economic profile from Bridge Economic Development released this week.

The city of Billings voted to revitalize a citizen-driven environmental group Monday night.

At a regular meeting, the City Council approved the Billings Commission on Energy and Conservation 10 - 1.

Several people spoke in favor during public comments, including Eric Schmidt, a member of the Yellowstone Valley Citizens Council Sustainability Committee, which is an affiliate of the non-profit advocacy group Northern Plains Resource Council.

The Earth passed a new threshold this week — an observatory in Hawaii clocked the highest levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide in human history. A number of studies say CO2 is part of what’s driving higher temperatures, drought and longer fire seasons in the West. Now ranchers in Montana are testing out a new program that’s trying to put some of that carbon back in the ground.

On May 14, 1974, the Grateful Dead played what would become the only concert performance by the band in the state of Montana. Those who gathered at the Harry Adams Field House at the University of Montana in Missoula were treated to a sprawling, four-hour show with a unique amplification system famously known in Grateful Dead circles as The Wall of Sound.

In the Strangest of Places pays tribute to that concert, with music from the show, recollections from people who were there, and analysis from Grateful Dead experts.