LOCAL NEWS IN BRIEF CHINESE SPY BALLOON SPOTTED OVER MONTANA AS STATE SENATOR MOVES TO CURB FOREIGN ADVERSARIES

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A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon above U.S. airspace was visible from Montana—home to Malmstrom Air Force Base and fields of nuclear missile silos— on Feb. 1, according to reporting from The Associated Press.

Although the Biden administration reportedly wanted to down the balloon on Feb. 1, military officials advised the president that shooting the balloon 60,000 feet in the air could pose undue risk to people on the ground. The balloon continued to drift above the country until Feb. 4 when a U.S. military jet shot it down with a missile over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina.

The balloon was detected days after a hearing on a bill to prevent foreign adversaries from buying up agricultural land in Montana. Sen. Ken Bogner, R-Miles City, is sponsoring the bill heard on Jan. 26 that he said will help protect the U.S. from foreign adversaries, including China.

In a Feb. 2 statement, Bogner said news of the balloon proves that his legislation, which would ban foreign adversaries from owning, leasing or renting critical infrastructure in Montana, is needed.

Um Law Students Free Man Wrongly Convicted Of Murder

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Two students at the University of Montana Alexander Blewett III School of Law were among a cohort that worked with the Montana Innocence Project to free Bernard Pease, a Billings man who was wrongfully convicted of murder 40 years ago.

Brandy Keesee, a first-generation college student and first-year law student, and third-year law student Annabelle Smith interviewed Pease’s family members, researched letters from the 1980s and ’90s, wrote letters on Pease’s behalf, did legal research and helped file appeals to ultimately free the innocent man.

“Students at other schools will get to write papers about people like Bernard Pease,” Keesee said. “We get to actually help.”

Pease was incarcerated based on forensic testing methods deemed invalid with modern DNA testing, according to MTIP Legal Director Caiti Carpenter.

Proposed Bill Would Force Montana Cities To Allow Smaller Home Lots

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House Bill 337, brought to the Montana Legislature on Jan. 31, aims to increase the number of affordable homes in Montana cities by dictating a new minimum lot size anywhere with city-supplied water and sewer.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings, would bar local governments from requiring minimum lot sizes larger than 2,500 square feet. The proposed size is much smaller than the existing minimum lot sizes in many local zoning codes which is 4,000 square feet in Bozeman and 20,000 square feet in an area of Kalispell, according to reporting by Montana Free Press.

Current size restrictions are harsh on development, encouraging sprawl and forcing builders to build bigger, pricier homes, say supporters of the reduction bill. Smaller minimum lot sizes would allow for smaller, more affordable homes.

Opponents argued that lawmakers should leave cities alone, some even dismissing the bill’s ideas as “California solutions.”