Investigative on The Bozeman Daily Bee

BEE INVESTIGATION: Who Is Actually Buying $800K Homes in Bozeman?

Mon, 04 May 2026 14:00:00 -0600

When the 2026 Gallatin Valley Housing Report confirmed that Bozeman’s median home price has reached $800,000, The Bee asked the question that most residents have been asking for years, usually while staring at Zillow listings with the quiet despair of someone reading a menu in a language they don’t speak: who is actually buying these homes?

The Bee spent two weeks analyzing property transfer records, interviewing real estate agents, and sitting in open houses pretending to be interested in three-bedroom ranches we cannot afford.

BEE INVESTIGATION: The Belgrade Donut — Who Decides What Gets Built in the Hole?

Sat, 02 May 2026 16:00:00 -0600

For years, a ring of unincorporated land surrounding Belgrade — known locally and bureaucratically as the “Belgrade Donut” — has existed in a jurisdictional twilight zone where development rules are applied with the consistency of a coin flip and the transparency of a gravel pit.

The Bozeman Daily Bee spent two weeks investigating who, exactly, decides what gets built in the Donut. The answer, it turns out, is: it depends on who you ask.

Broadview Residents Confront Data Center Proposal Armed With Casseroles and Fury

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 11:00:00 -0700

BROADVIEW — Approximately 130 residents packed the Broadview Senior Center on Monday night to voice concerns about a proposed data center, in what may be the most people inside that building since the Lions Club chili cook-off of 2009.

The mood was tense. The casserole table was fully stocked. The folding chairs were at capacity.

“They want to put a WHAT in my backyard?” demanded longtime rancher Dottie Prewitt, 74, who arrived at the meeting 45 minutes early to secure a front-row seat and what she described as “a tactical sightline to the microphone.”

BEE INVESTIGATION: Where Do All the Orange Cones on North 7th Go in Winter?

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:00:00 -0700

For eight months of the year, North 7th Avenue is a pulsating artery of orange traffic cones, lane closures, and the quiet, simmering rage of 14,000 daily commuters. Then, sometime around November, the cones vanish — and nobody knows where they go.

The Bozeman Daily Bee spent three weeks investigating.

“We don’t track individual cones,” said Bozeman Public Works spokesperson Carl Redmond when reached for comment. When pressed on whether the city tracks cones collectively, Redmond paused for eleven seconds before saying, “I’m going to transfer you.”