Mad About Montana Podcast

Erik Nylund worked nearly 17 years for U.S. Senator Jon Tester. Bill Foley has covered sports (and more) in Montana for a quarter of a century. Both have a love-hate relationship with their home state and politics that run it. Together they dive into the important issues that affect the people of Montana and beyond. They strive to give voices to the voiceless and whistles to the whistleblowers.Contact Erik and Bill if you have issues you would like to see tackled or would like to be a guest. Email Erik at ecnylund@hotmail.com, and contact Bill at foles74@gmail.com.

Mad About Montana Podcast is a news podcast hosted by Bill Foley, with 27 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Bill Foley hosts Mad About Montana Podcast, a news show with 27 episodes published.

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  Episode #1

  No: 27: Volunteer firefighters

  Sep 22, 20261h 23mS2

  The Mad About Montana Podcast returns to about an important issue: The fate of our volunteer firefighters. That destiny will be put on the ballot this November, and it is a very contentious and confusing issue. We did not want to engage in the Facebook fighting, where some of our volunteers are taking an unfair beating. Instead, we are giving a forum to the volunteers, talking to Racetrack Chief Twoie Mattern, Rocker Chief Jonathan Rice and Big Butte Chief Brandon Dale. Listen in to hear how they stand on a ballot choice they say can make or break the future the volunteer firefighters of Butte and Silver Bow County. As always, we leave the door open to anyone who would like to discuss the matter from any other angle. Our goal is to inform the electorate.

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  Episode #26

  No. 26: Water talk with Guy Alsentzer

  Feb 10, 20261h 15mS1

  Guy Alsentzer is the founder of the Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, a non-profit organization that fights for clean water. The organization is currently involved in a lawsuit to challenge the federal government’s approval of less stringent water quality standards for nutrient pollution in Montana. The suit alleges that the policy shift allows would-be polluters too much leeway by rolling back protective criteria that have been in place for years. If you care about the Bighole River, Guy is fighting for you. If you care about clean water to fish in, swim in and drink, then Guy is fighting for you. Listen in as Guy talks about the importance of fighting for clean water. Listen as he talks about how things might already be bad, and our water resources are under attack. But he said most of Montana’s problems are solvable. You can join Guy’s fight by visiting the Upper MissouriWaterkeeper website and donating today.

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  Episode #25

  No. 25: Maggie Amato and the rise of the machines

  Dec 3, 20251h 6mS1

  Maggie Amato joined the Mad About Montana Podcast today to scare the heck out of us. No, she isn’t telling ghost stories. She is talking about the very real dangers of artificial intelligence and data centers. They threaten our security and privacy. They also threaten our water supplies and power rates. They kill jobs and the environment, threatening our way of life in Montana and around the country. Maggie is a cybersecurity expert and whistleblower. She led aprogram that was credited with helping the United States healthcare industry defend itself from potentially debilitating impacts of the WannaCry ransomware attack. She had Whitehouse security clearance, and she was one of SC Media’s 2022 Women in IT Security honorees. So, it is safe to say Maggie knows what she is talking about when she warns of the dangers of AI and data centers. As Butte-Silver Bow jumps in bed with the data center industry, it is time for us all listen to the scary words of Maggie. It is time for the people to stand up and demand that our government strengthen AI guardrails and tell our local leaders to kill any plans for data centers in Silver Bow County. The time to act is right now because the scariest thing about Maggie’s words is they are the truth.

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  Episode #24

  No. 24: Ain’t nothing like creating a distraction

  Oct 25, 20251h 17mS1

  If you can’t prove them wrong, create a distraction. That seems to be the government playbook in Butte and around the country. In this episode, Erik and Bill start off agitated by the rumors being spread that they said a recently-hired Butte firefighter was not qualified for the job. They were accused of saying he only got the job because his uncle is a member of the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Erik and Bill have done nothing but praise firefighters — paid and volunteer. The brave men and women who sign up to go into a burning building to save lives are nothing but heroes, and Erik and Bill would never profess to be experts on the hiring qualifications of those heroes. They figure that the rumor dates to an episode earlier this year when Trudy Healy mentioned an ethics complaint she made against fellow commissioner Josh O’Neill because he did not disclose a conflict of interest while chairing the Fire Advisory Board. There was no mention of nepotism or qualifications in the complaint, and Erik and Bill had nothing to do with it. You can read the complaint at MadAboutMontana.com. The rumor is nothing more than a distraction to take away from the fact that our local government recently poisoned our water. It is a distraction so we might not notice that our chief executive lobbied the United States Department of Urban Development to raise — yes raise — the acceptable lead standards for affordable housing. Distractions are also been used by dark-money groups to attack citizens over the Bozeman Water Adequacy Ballot Initiative Well, Erik and Bill are not falling for it, and neither should you.

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  Episode #23

  No. 23: ‘A crisis in the courthouse’

  Oct 16, 20251h 13mS1

  Is our local government in Butte-Silver Bow lying about the latest water disaster that shook the community in August? Is it really being transparent when it comes to data centers planned for the Mining City? The answers to those questions are “yes,” “no,” and “whichwater crisis are you referring to?” Anonymous whistleblowers alerted the Mad About MontanaPodcast to the fact that Butte-Silver Bow’s response to the report of possible contamination from Montana Resources to the public drinking water actually made the problem worse. They also said that the imaginary dividing line of FrontStreet was just that. Imaginary. The five dividing valves that would have separated the water from downtown to uptown are on Aluminum Street. So, those who live and work in the blocks between Front and Aluminum were given a false sense of security while the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and Butte-Silver Bow pretended to solve the problem by handing out bottles of water. The whistleblowers will remain anonymous because Butte Silver Bow has a long — and recent history — of retaliating against anyone willing to blow a whistle. This episode also dives into plans for data centers in Butte and the insane amount of water it will take to run them. These plans, by the way, were made with little to know public input, and anyone who asks questions only gets chastised by the Council of Commissioners. The Montana Environmental Information Center will hold adiscussion, which will be moderated by Erik Nylund with the Mad About Montana Podcast, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Montana Tech Copper Lounge.

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