Here are some of the headlines from this past week in the Missoulian. To read the full stories, click the link on each headline:
The Missoula Police Department issued a Missing Endangered Person Advisory for a 14-year-old girl on Thursday afternoon.
Honey Stripped-Squirrel was last seen on foot in Missoula on April 9 at 11 a.m. wearing a black sweatshirt, sweat pants and black and white Converse high-top shoes, according to the advisory. She has brown eyes, black hair and is 4 feet, 11 inches tall.
"She is possibly headed toward the Browning, Clinton, or Granite County area," the advisory said, adding law enforcement believe she is in danger and doesn't have a phone to call for help.
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If you have information on Stripped-Squirrel, contact Missoula Police Department at 406-552-6300 or dial 911.
— Missoulian Staff
The Flathead National Forest announced on Thursday it will be hosting a community meeting next week in Condon regarding the historic Holland Lake Lodge.
The purpose of the meeting is for Flathead National Forest officials to provide information and answer questions to help inform public comment submissions.
The meeting will be held on April 17 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Swan Valley Elementary School in Condon.
The Flathead National Forest is currently taking public comment on a permit application for Holland Lake Lodge.
Two businessmen, Eric Jacobsen and Thomas Knowles, are proposing to buy Holland Lake Lodge. They are under contract and have submitted a special use authorization application for the historic resort. The business and lodge buildings are private property that sit on federally-owned public land.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
A former Polson police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to child sex abuse after prosecutors alleged he abused a minor over the course of several years.
Matthew Timm, 42, was initially charged in 2023 by state prosecutors in Lake County District Court with one felony count of sexual abuse of children. Amended charges filed in 2024 added another felony charge of sexual abuse.
Under a plea deal filed a day earlier, Timm pleaded guilty to both felony counts before Missoula County District Judge John Larson, according to minutes from the court hearing.
In exchange for his guilty pleas, the defense and prosecutors agreed to jointly recommend a sentence of 10 years in prison and 30 years of probation. They also agreed Timm should be ineligible for parole during his prison term, and that he should be prohibited from requesting an early release from probation.
— Sam Wilson, sam.wilson@missoulian.com
Almost everyone agrees that rising property taxes are a huge issue in Montana, but there's little consensus on the best way to reform the system.
Governor Greg Gianforte stopped at a Missoula ice-making business on Wednesday afternoon to make a pitch for the so-called Homestead Rate Cut, which is known in the Montana Legislature as House Bill 231. In essence, he's hoping state lawmakers heat up his preferred method.
"We put together a diverse, bipartisan group to study property taxes and the Homestead Rate Cut was their recommendation," Gianforte said. "It would lower property taxes for Montana homeowners by about 15%, and for small businesses like VW Ice by about 18%. And indirectly, it would extend to renters as well."
He said the tax cut would apply to 215,000 primary residences in the state and 32,000 small businesses.
Gianforte, a Republican, is hoping the GOP-dominated Legislature will move decisively on the issue soon. The Homestead Rate Cut passed the Montana House but hasn't passed the Senate Taxation Committee yet. Many other options to reform property taxes are also being explored, with less than 18 possible days left in the session.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
Governor Greg Gianforte speaks at a Missoula ice-making business about House Bill 231 on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.
Maximum residential payments for new sidewalk projects will likely be cut by more than half after the Missoula City Council approved changes to its sidewalk assessment program Wednesday.
In a 7-4 vote, council approved a measure to cap the cost at $3,500 for most homeowners for their portion of new sidewalks on their property, down from a $9,000 maximum.
The council has long grappled with the program and balancing calls from homeowners to lower their cost-burden with a backlog of sidewalks needing to be replaced.
"I am concerned that if we are doing less projects, it doesn't mean the projects go away, it just means there's a backlog of projects," said Councilor Sierra Farmer, who voted against the change. "I know they are not going to get less expensive down the road."
Last fall the city sidelined a sidewalk project along Eaton Street after more than a dozen residents criticized the project.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
A man who Flathead County officials say led them on a chase after kidnapping a woman in Missoula last April has been given a three-year suspended sentence in Flathead District Court.
According to charging documents, Adam J. Whiteman, then 24, stole a woman’s car and attempted to force her to come with him from Missoula to Browning. She escaped near Columbia Falls and called the police. Whiteman fled his car on foot before being caught by authorities, and escaped custody again after being taken to the hospital.
In September 2024, Whiteman reached a plea deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to felony criminal endangerment. In exchange, the Flathead County Attorney’s Office amended the charges from felony kidnapping and dropped two additional misdemeanor charges. The plea agreement recommended a three-year suspended sentence, which Flathead District Court Judge Dani Coffman handed down on Thursday, April 10.
— Andy Tallman, andy.tallman@missoulian.com
Montana’s longest-serving district judge has ceded oversight of the state’s first-ever treatment court, following a string of complaints and concerns voiced by prosecutors, defense attorneys and others over his handling of cases in recent months.
It’s long been a point of pride for Missoula District Judge John Larson that he established the state’s first drug treatment court in 1996, a model that has since been duplicated in dozens of courthouses across the state.
Treatment courts can offer defendants an attractive alternative to jail or prison time: Address the drug or alcohol problems that landed you in front of a judge in the first place, and your case will be wiped from the court records.
But over the past year, attorneys and others who work with Larson grew increasingly concerned about what they’ve called a “hostile” work environment and a pattern of unusual decisions in his juvenile drug court.
In October, the Missoula County Attorney’s Office, the Office of Public Defender and Missoula Youth Probation all withdrew from participation in Larson’s youth drug court. All three offices also have active complaints against Larson pending before the Judicial Standards Commission, which oversees district judges.
In a defiant court filing following the withdrawals, Larson suggested the move had been “coordinated” and vowed to press on without them.
But last month, Larson officially turned over his jurisdiction of the youth treatment court to Missoula District Judge Shane Vannatta, who assumed jurisdiction on March 17. Vannatta declined to be interviewed about his plans for the treatment court or the circumstances leading up to the switch in leadership.
“After 28 years serving as the presiding judge of the Missoula Youth Drug Treatment Court, the undersigned hereby withdraws from jurisdiction and invites the Honorable Shane A. Vannatta to assume jurisdiction,” Larson wrote in a court document filed March 10.
— Sam Wilson, sam.wilson@missoulian.com
Missoula District Judge John Larson, Montana’s longest-serving district judge, has ceded control of the state’s first-ever treatment court following a string of complaints and concerns from attorneys and others involved in his cases in recent months.
Seated in a Missoula County courtroom in February, Zach’s mother found herself shaking uncontrollably. She later described being terrified for her family’s safety as she listened to a judge order her son to serve a sentence in her home despite her pleas to the court.
Her 17-year-old had made multiple threats to shoot people, including the instances for which he was being sentenced. Zach had also, according to his parents, set fires in theirs and their neighbor’s house, run away from home more than a dozen times and was often physically aggressive toward other kids.
“I was in complete panic, for our safety and our younger kids’ safety, and for (Zach’s) safety,” his mother told the Missoulian.
But over the protests from his parents, a youth probation officer and the prosecutor, Missoula District Judge John Larson was adamant: The teen should not be sent to Pine Hills, the state’s prison facility for juvenile criminals on the other side of the state.
“I believe there is more hope here in the community for him than there is in Miles City, Montana,” Larson told the boy’s mother, according to a transcript of the Feb. 19 hearing.
The Missoulian does not name juvenile defendants unless they’ve been charged as adults. This story is omitting the names of the parents and using a pseudonym for the youth to protect his identity.
— Sam Wilson, sam.wilson@missoulian.com
The Montana Opencut Mining Act says the state Department of Environmental Quality has just 35 days to issue permits for dry-land gravel pits whose permit applications meet all requirements. The Montana Environmental Policy Act, however, generally requires agencies to take their own "hard look" at the impacts of such projects — a process of environmental impact analysis, public notice and public comment that takes well over 35 days.
What is DEQ to do?
Should the agency potentially violate the Opencut Mining Act by taking more than 35 days to issue a permit to a qualified applicant because it embarked on an analysis of possible environmental impacts under MEPA?
Or should DEQ refrain from conducting a MEPA analysis — thus skipping MEPA's requirements of public notice and comment — in order to comply with the Opencut Mining Act's 35-day deadline for issuing dry-land permits?
— Joshua Murdock, joshua.murdock@missoulian.com
Missoula City Council preliminarily approved a plan to remove a childcare facility requirement within the Ravara-Scott Street Development on Wednesday, citing a lack of a childcare provider to open up a new space.
The council committee voted 6-1 to remove the requirement, which was first agreed to in 2021 following requests from Northside residents asking for additional childcare services in the area.
The under-construction development will include both permanent affordable housing, public infrastructure for the area and a large swath of market-rate apartments, with parts of the project expected to go on the market in 2026.
"While Ravara understands that there continues to be a need for childcare, specifically 0-3 ages in our community, Ravara is not a daycare operator and was unable to secure a viable operator," development partner Kiah Hochstetler told the Missoulian in an email.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
The Missoula Redevelopment Agency first purchased the 19-acre lot in 2020 and helped finance the affordable housing project under new state laws that passed in 2023.
A Georgia man was sentenced to six years for drug trafficking in Missoula’s Federal District Court on Wednesday after being busted with about 14 pounds of meth.
Andrew Kelly, 29, pleaded guilty to drug possession with intent to distribute last January under a plea deal reached with prosecutors. In exchange, the state agreed to drop the charge of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
Kelly was arrested on Nov. 1, 2023, in Coram near Glacier National Park, unconscious in his car in the center of the highway, according to charging documents. Members of the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office searched his car and found about 14 pounds of meth and more than 33 grams of fentanyl pills, along with a handgun and about $10,000 in cash.
— Andy Tallman, andy.tallman@missoulian.com
A proposal to purchase 16 acres of waterfront property along the Clark Fork River could add to the city's Parks and Recreation programming for mountain biking and river floating.
Officials are considering using approximately $112,000 from the city's 2006 open space bond money to purchase land between a portion of the Kim Williams Trail and the Clark Fork River roughly across the river from Ben Hughes Park and East Missoula.
The site is undeveloped and already has some unofficial public access. There would likely be minimal changes under city ownership, according to city Open Space Program Manager Zac Covington.
"I will say that it's a little bit far away from the community, it's a bit of a bike ride to get up there and quite a walk," Covington said. "But when thinking about programming, in particular kids' programming, there is potential."
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
Missoula officials recently transferred $25,000 from the city budget to the Johnson Street Shelter Housing Sprint Fund meant to find new homes for the facility's homeless guests as the city winds down shelter operations.
The money, the first public funding to be dedicated for the housing sprint, comes from the city's Community, Planning, Development and Innovation budget, according to city Communications Director Ginny Merriam.
"The money is an advance from the city to the housing sprint," Merriam said in a phone call on Tuesday, adding the city felt it was needed to help kickstart the fundraising effort.
The money transfer was listed on the April 7 city council agenda under the city's accounts payable section. Because the money comes from a current city budget, no separate city council approval was required, Merriam said.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
The Bureau of Land Management’s Missoula Field Office plans to conduct prescribed burns in the Lower Blackfoot area, including the Potomac and Greenough communities, as early as next week. The timing is dependent on weather, fuel conditions and air quality.
“These prescribed burns are part of our larger fuels treatment strategy to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health,” said Dan Poole, fire management specialist. “We are watching conditions closely and will act when the timing is right.”
The BLM intends to treat multiple units in the Blackfoot River corridor between Nine Mile Prairie and Johnsrud Park. Unit sizes range from 40 to 650 acres. The burns are designed to remove smaller vegetation, known as ladder fuels, that can carry wildfire into tree canopies. By reducing these fuels, land managers can create natural fuel breaks and increase firefighter safety in the event of future wildfires.
— Bureau of Land Management
Two businessmen who are proposing to buy Holland Lake Lodge have submitted a special use authorization for the historic resort.
And on Monday, the Flathead National Forest announced they had accepted that application from Eric Jacobsen and Thomas Knowles. The business and lodge buildings are private property that sit on federally-owned public land.
The application is not for an expansion, but rather to operate the lodge within the existing footprint and facilities.
Public comments are now being accepted on the application and can be submitted until midnight on May 7.
"Holland Lake Lodge has provided a unique recreation opportunity for national forest visitors for one hundred years,” said Flathead forest supervisor Anthony Botello. “The resort has served as a destination for forest visitors to enjoy the Flathead National Forest and I look forward to working with the new owners and community to continue this opportunity into the future.”
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
The Missoula Parking Commission approved increasing fees for leased parking spots and University District permits, while imposing larger fines for parking violations on Tuesday.
The changes are a result of the Parking Commission's annual review on fees.
The leased parking fee increases are meant to optimize the use of high-demand leased parking lots, the residential parking increase is meant to recoup costs for operating the University District parking system, and the increased fines are meant to deter repeat parking violation offenders, according to Parking Services Director Jodi Pilgrim.
"We are communicating transparently about the things that we are changing because changing parking rates does affect a broad group of people," Pilgrim said at the Tuesday meeting.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
Russ Nasset, a Missoula singer-songwriter, hard-playing honky-tonk guitarist and fixture of Montana stages for almost four decades, died on Saturday, April 5, at age 75.
Nasset had suffered heart problems over the past winter, including the installation of a pacemaker in December, followed by an infection around a prosthetic valve replacement he received several years ago, according to his son Sam Nasset.
The Hi-Line native was known for his twangy, road-tested voice, an expressive squint and a stage presence that suggested there might not be much distance between the song and the person singing it, even if it was a tune he hadn’t written himself.
As the rare musician in western Montana who makes a living solely through gigging, he was a regular presence through solo acoustic shows at the Old Post Pub, performing originals and tunes by Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Bob Dylan, Jimmie Rodgers, and more. With various bands, including the Revelators, he played high-energy sets at venues like the Union Club where the music covered a wide stretch of ground including folk, rock ‘n’ roll, country and western, honky tonk, surf, rockabilly, doo-wop and more.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
Russ Nasset's third solo album, "He Was Singin' This Song," is a collection of 16 traditional folk songs. Nasset's interest in folk music goes back to his earliest days as a working musician.
Here's a quick guide to some upcoming arts and cultural events happening around Missoula in the week ahead.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
Missoula's community cinema is screening a new documentary on the enigmatic comedian, plus the dramedy "The Penguin Lessons" and "The Two Towers."
— Charlotte Macorn, for the Missoulian
HELENA — With just 20 possible days left in the Montana legislative session, lawmakers are at an impasse on how to provide property tax relief, one of the most important tasks before the Legislature this session.
Gov. Greg Gianforte and countless legislators have continually said they received a “mandate” from Montanans this session to provide long-term remedies to the spikes in property taxes state residents saw over the last couple years.
Most legislators are optimistic that meaningful property tax relief will be passed, but some believe there’s a possibility the Legislature adjourns.
“Montanans are expecting action on this issue,” Gianforte said at a recent press conference. “We need permanent property tax relief in this session. Frankly, none of us can leave here until we do that.”
But despite repeated assertations that Montanans need relief and the fact that property taxes are set to rise again, legislators have yet to coalesce around any one bill, let alone a general approach, to addressing the issue.
— Victoria Eavis, victoria.eavis@lee.net
The Missoula City Council approved increasing the housing density allowed on two properties on California Street on Monday night, opening the door for hundreds of new apartments to be built next to the soon-to-be-removed graffiti wall.
The council unanimously approved a rezone and annexation of two properties that allows for up to 380 units and buildings up to 65 feet in height, although concerns lingered over potential flooding hazards and access issues.
"I have some concerns with this proposal with impacts to the floodplain and impacts to the irrigation on the south side of the development," Councilor Bob Campbell said. "At the end of the day, it is consistent with the land use plan and I expect it will set some of our precedent for what we expect for zoning coming forward."
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
HELENA — Montana’s Medicaid rolls have shrunk by more than 100,000 people in the last two years, a numerical drop reflective of human lives — seniors, low income adults, new moms and children.
Some were disenrolled because they entered higher-paying jobs and no longer qualified. Others had marital status changes or passed one year postpartum, making them ineligible. A smaller number passed away.
But many more — tens of thousands — lost health care coverage for reasons like not submitting paperwork on time or failing to provide all the required information.
The greatest hits to the Medicaid roster came during Montana’s 10-month unwinding period between March 2023 and January 2024. During the pandemic, the feds required states to allow anyone enrolled to stay covered. Once the government ended its COVID-19 public health emergency, everyone had to reapply.
— Carly Graf, carly.graf@lee.net
Work at Marshall Mountain Park will begin in the next several weeks, including getting rid of harmful chemicals in the original lodge building that is eyed for removal.
Missoula County officials kicked off the first phase of a master planning process that will add trails, demolish hazardous structures and prime the land for more development in the future.
"This ski hill has sat shuttered for the last 20 years and we need the infrastructure to catch up with all the recreation activity happening here," park manager Jackson Lee said on Monday. "... We still hope to retain and replace some of the core identities of the site that make Marshall great."
Marshall Mountain is a 480-acre former ski hill east of Missoula. Both the city and county government purchased the land for $2 million in 2024.
— Griffen Smith, griffen.smith@missoulian.com
Marshall Mountain park ranger Silas Phillips builds a staircase on Monday, April 7, 2025.
There's a new Asian street food restaurant for takeout and delivery in Missoula. Speaking of deliveries, beer and wine can be delivered in Montana next year.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
A bill that would remove the ability of Montana voters to elect all five of the Montana Public Service Commission members, and instead give the governor and the Montana Senate the power to appoint and confirm three of them, took a big step forward last week.
Senate Bill 561, introduced by Sen. Daniel Zolnikov (R-Billings), passed out of the Montana Senate last week and has now been transmitted to the Montana House of Representatives. On its third reading in the Senate, it passed by a 34-14 margin.
The PSC regulates a large variety of monopoly utilities and businesses in Montana, including NorthWestern Energy, taxi services and garbage hauling businesses.
— David Erickson, david.erickson@missoulian.com
BOZEMAN — Brock Tessman will be the 13th president at Montana State University, the Montana University System announced Monday morning.
Tessman comes to MSU from Northern Michigan University, where he became the school's 17th president in February 2023. Before that, he served four years as the deputy commissioner of higher education for MUS and also was dean of the Davidson Honors College at the University of Montana in Missoula.
Northern Michigan University announced Tessman's departure Monday morning as well. He will start at MSU on July 1 pending Board of Regents approval next month, per MUS.
Tessman succeeds Waded Cruzado, who is leaving MSU this summer after 15 years.
— Bozeman Daily Chronicle
HELENA — A Blackfeet Montana senator filed a lawsuit last week against the Trump Administration’s Department of Homeland Security alleging that tariffs imposed on Canada have caused significant economic harm to tribal nations and individuals that do business across the border.
Sen. Susan Webber, a Democrat whose district flanks the Canadian border and includes the Blackfeet and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nations, filed the suit on behalf of families, businesses and communities “immediately and irreparably harmed by the increased costs of goods” caused by the fees.
Jonathan St. Goddard, a Blackfeet rancher who lives south of Browning, is the other named plaintiff in the case. Running his family ranch has already become more expensive, he asserts in the complaint, in part because the cost of replacement tractor parts has gone up.
— Carly Graf, carly.graf@lee.net
President Donald Trump's administration acted to roll back environmental safeguards around future logging projects on more than half of U.S. national forests under an emergency designation announced Friday that cites dangers from wildfires.
Whether the move will boost lumber supplies as Trump envisioned in an executive order last month remains to be seen. Former President Joe Biden's administration also sought more logging in public forests to combat fires, which are worsening as the world gets hotter, yet U.S. Forest Service timber sales stayed relatively flat under his tenure.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins did not mention climate change in Friday's directive, which called on her staff to speed up environmental reviews.
It exempts affected forests from an objection process that allows outside groups, tribes and local governments to challenge logging proposals at the administrative level before they are finalized. It also narrows the number of alternatives federal officials can consider when weighing logging projects.
— Matthew Brown, Associated Press
HELENA — Dueling marijuana revenue bills cleared an important deadline at the Montana Legislature this past week, setting up a showdown over how to spend the state’s growing pot of money.
Montana is projected to make around $60 million in revenue from marijuana sales tax next year; medical sales are taxed at 4% while recreational "adult-use" sales are taxed at 20%.
The state Legislature set the original distribution of those revenues in 2021, just after voters legalized marijuana in 2020, largely for public lands conservation and habitat efforts, while depositing the remaining funds into the state’s general fund. In the succeeding sessions, lawmakers have debated the merits of that spending but have yet to shake up the original formula.
— Seaborn Larson, seaborn.larson@helenair.com
To cap off the University of Montana’s Law Week, the Montana Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of State of Montana v. Smith at the Dennison Theatre on Friday.
This oral argument is part of a tradition in which the Supreme Court comes to UM once every semester to give the community, especially law students, a chance to see the legal system in action.
“Today, I am so glad you are all here to see our legal system at work,” law school Dean Elaine Gagliardi said. “Lawyers have the privilege and honor of helping people assert their rights and arrive at a peaceful and just solution.”
— Andy Tallman, andy.tallman@missoulian.com
The University of Montana hosts the Montana Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in the case of State of Montana v. Smith at the Dennison Theatre on Friday, April 4, 2025.
It was standing room only on the lawn outside the Missoula County Courthouse on Saturday, as more than 3,000 people gathered to protest Donald Trump's presidency and the actions of special government employee and billionaire Elon Musk.
Cheers and the beats of a drum circle echoed in between seven speakers at the rally, each of whom focused on one of the issues that have ended up in Trump and Musk’s crosshairs. People held aloft signs protesting Musk’s cuts to the government and firing of federal employees, along with the Trump administration’s attacks on minority groups. The flags of America, Palestine, Ukraine and the queer community flew in the wind.
The rally, dubbed "Hands Off! Missoula Fights Back," was organized over the last 10 days by three Missoula activism groups — Indivisible Missoula, Missoula Resists and Stand Up Fight Back — in solidarity with marches under the same name across the country on Saturday. Despite the tight timeline, organizers were prepared for a crowd.
— Andy Tallman, andy.tallman@missoulian.com
Ross Chaney directs traffic and leads chants for fellow protesters as they march down Higgins on Saturday.
A pulp novel cowboy in a bright red shirt is flying in midair after his horse has bucked him, apparently spooked by a grinning blue monster who looks (and is) straight from a horror comic book. The creature seems to be rolling down the mountains in a wave of smoke.
“The Body of the Saint,” a screen print in Dagny Walton’s exhibition at the Missoula Art Museum, mashes up many of the artist’s interests and concerns about the environment, colonialism and Westward expansion in an action-packed, pop culture-saturated collage.
To emphasize the point more, she made a series of three print collages that resemble vintage D.C. covers. They bear title of her show in enthusiastic logo type: “This Land is Haunted!”
Walton’s prints, which all draw on the same types of disparate sources, are set in environments not unlike Fort Collins, Colorado, where she grew up. The landscape itself is the character of note in these images, looming in the background as stereotypical cowboy types run into trouble, often in the form of figures from medieval prints on a backdrop of stock image photography.
— Cory Walsh, cory.walsh@missoulian.com
Missoula artist Dagny Walton pictured inside the Missoula Art Museum at her show, “This Land is Haunted!” on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
Two dozen Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) employees lost their jobs last week as part of the most recent round of federal layoffs impacting employees at the National Institutes of Health.
The National Institutes of Health is expected to layoff about 1,200 people nationwide as part of an effort announced Tuesday, April 1 to reduce the Department of Health and Human Services by thousands of workers. According to an HHS fact sheet released last week, restructuring of the department is proceeding in accordance with President Donald Trump's Executive Order, "Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.”
As part of an effort to reduce HHS from 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000, the fact sheet shows the agency plans on eliminating the following jobs:
- 3,500 at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- 2,400 at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
- 300 at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
In addition, 28 divisions within the department will be consolidated to 15, another 10 regional offices will be consolidated into five, and human resources, information technology, procurement, external affairs, and policy “will be centralized.”
— Jessica Abell, jessica.abell@ravallirepublic.com
