David Madison
David Madison is an award-winning journalist and documentary producer based in Bozeman, Montana. He’s also reported for Wyoming PBS. He studied journalism at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and has worked at news outlets throughout Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Montana.
Latest from David Madison

Environmentalists Known As “Tree-Hugging Hunters” Want More Yellowstone Bison Hunted
A group of environmentalists who describe themselves as “tree-huggers who hunt," are uniting around a message that might surprise some: They say it’s time to hunt and kill more bison outside Yellowstone National Park.
David MadisonFebruary 23, 2025

To Boost Bee Immune Systems, Researchers Strap In Honeybees For Live Test Flights
Viruses spread through honeybee hives like the flu virus in a crowded waiting room. Looking to boost bee immune systems, researchers are examining the impact of viruses on honeybee flight performance and testing supplements.
David MadisonFebruary 22, 2025

Jackson Hole Girls Basketball Snaps 79-Game Losing Streak With Last Second 3-Pointer
In a home game against Riverton, four seniors for Jackson Hole High School had never won a high school basketball game until a sophomore sharpshooter sunk a clutch 3-pointer Thursday. The 35-32 win snapped the Broncs’ 79-game losing streak.
David MadisonFebruary 22, 2025

House Committee Kills Bill To Store Radioactive Waste In Wyoming
A House committee rejected a proposal Wednesday to build small nuclear power plants. Assurances that the legislation would not bring radioactive “green slime” to Wyoming weren’t enough to convince committee members.
David MadisonFebruary 19, 2025

Wyoming And Montana Legislators Seek To Ban Lab-Grown Meat
Allusions to “Frankenstein” and “The Matrix” punctuate discussion of bills designed to protect “food traditions” and ban the sale of meat created in a laboratory. Wyoming and Montana are among states trying to ban it.
David MadisonFebruary 17, 2025

Cigar Bars Making A Comeback In A Post-Smoking World
Rocky Mountain states see stogie smoke rising around a growing trend of opening more cigar bars and protecting local cigar shops with tax breaks. Wyoming and Montana both are pushing forward to promote the industry.
David MadisonFebruary 16, 2025

Subzero Camping 101 Required For All At Small Wyoming College
The Wyoming backcountry offers a snowy campus for instructor-led expeditions into the Tetons at Wyoming Catholic College. Students are required to complete a course in subzero camping, and some even have fun.
David MadisonFebruary 15, 2025

In Montana, If You Kill Someone In A Duel, You Have To Provide For His Family
Montana legislators are taking aim at an antiquated law that says if you kill or maim someone in a duel, you have to then provide for his family. That it’s still on the books elicited laughter from the Legislature when the bill to repeal the law was introduced.
David MadisonFebruary 15, 2025

Montana Legislature Requires Public Bathroom Use Determined By Birth Sex
A law requiring bathroom use to correspond with a person’s sex organs at birth passed the Montana Legislature on Monday. Supporters say it will protect women and girls, while detractors worry it will only cause confusion.
David MadisonFebruary 13, 2025

Paranoid Montana Man Draws Prison Time For Pointing Laser At Aircraft
When a Kalispell, Montana, man became convinced he was being followed by low-flying aircraft, he laser-blasted a flight instructor. She used her plane to help police make an arrest, and now he’ll spend 2.5 years in prison.
David MadisonFebruary 11, 2025

It's Not Your Imagination: The Jerky Meat Industry Is Exploding
Riverton's Brian Tucker saw the writing on the wall in the booming jerky industry. His company, which focuses on the do-it-yourself jerky-makers, is one of the largest in the world. It's a $6 billion industry and could grow to $10 billion in the next 7 years.
David MadisonFebruary 09, 2025

Inside the Smoke Shack Underworld At A Ski Resort Near You
You won't find any smoke shacks listed on a trail map, but they're there. Across the Rocky Mountain West, fort building ingenuity lives on in the shadows of ski areas where friends gather to defog their goggles and fill makeshift structures with marijuana smoke.
David MadisonFebruary 08, 2025

Yellowstone to Yosemite with Kevin Costner” TV Show Premieres Saturday Featuring Wyoming Parks
A documentary series premiering on Fox Nation this Saturday explores connections between two of the first national parks, and it follows up Costner’s unscripted project “Yellowstone: One-Fifty.”
David MadisonFebruary 07, 2025

Montana GOP Pushes To Display Ten Commandments At Public Schools
Debate is heating up in the Montana Legislature over a bill that would require putting the Ten Commandments in every classroom in the state. Republicans are pushing the bill, while Native Americans want to include the “Indian Ten Commandments.”
David MadisonFebruary 03, 2025

Sagebrush Murder Mystery Reveals Two Potential Killers Of Range Plant
In Montana’s Centennial Valley, a sagebrush die-off triggered an investigation into what was killing this anchor species of the open range. The killers turned out to be insects native to the sagebrush seas of the West.
David MadisonFebruary 02, 2025

Montana Drug Trafficker Who Wouldn’t Flip Accused Of Bear Spraying Girlfriend
When a drug smuggler busted in Butte, Montana, wouldn’t flip and become an informant, he went on the run. Then a domestic violence call revealed the true scope of his crime spree, including bear-spraying a girlfriend.
David MadisonJanuary 31, 2025

Wyoming Trainer Helps With Rescue Of 86 Neglected Morgan Horses In Montana
When a Montana horse breeder allegedly stopped caring for his herd of Morgans, a pair of ranch hands alerted authorities. A Wyoming trainer has been part of the rescue effort to save 86 neglected Morgans.
David MadisonJanuary 30, 2025

Senate Easily Passes Resolution For Wyoming To Be Part Of A Convention Of States
The state Senate easily passed a resolution Tuesday 22-7 for Wyoming to become part of a growing convention of states movement under the Constitution. In the meantime, a committee killed a bill that would have called for congressional term limits.
David MadisonJanuary 29, 2025

Arrival Of 2 New Businesses Means There’s More Than A Bar In Tiny Pony, Montana
The remote former mining town of Pony, Montana, went bust more than 100 years ago. But the recent arrival of two new businesses downtown, this picturesque outpost at the foot of the Tobacco Root Mountains is experiencing a new kind of boom.
David MadisonJanuary 25, 2025

Drinking Wyoming: The Kitsch, One-Time-Trendy Aprés Ski Cocktails Time Forgot
The 50s, 60s, and 70s were the highpoint of the Après Ski scene -- the post-slope, happy-hour tradition of sipping adult beverages and tasting fondue, preferably while wearing a turtleneck. Here’s a sampling of three classic cocktails, one from each decade of après ski’s golden era.
David MadisonJanuary 25, 2025

Montana Pastor Used His “Karate Lessons” To Sexually Assault At Least One Child
A small-town Montana church pastor was convicted last week of sexually assaulting a child and has been accused of another. He used the self-defense “karate lessons” he taught to get close enough to abuse his victims, court documents say.
David MadisonJanuary 23, 2025

Wyoming Filmmakers Join Campaign To Increase Montana Production Tax Incentives
After failing to convince Wyoming lawmakers to enact tax incentives for filmmakers, two brothers from Sheridan are taking their plans to build a production studio to Montana.
David MadisonJanuary 22, 2025

Montana Bill Would End Online Certificates For Emotional Support Animals Sight Unseen
A Montana state senator says it’s too easy to log online, pay a fee and get a certificate to have an emotional support animal. He says that’s unfair to landlords who are forced to accept these animals, whether or not they really serve a medical purpose.
David MadisonJanuary 21, 2025

Growing Pains In Big Sky, Montana’s Exclusive Playground For The Rich And Famous
Big Sky is Montana’s exclusive playground for the rich and famous. It’s also one of the fastest-growing areas in the region, bringing on growing pains that includes lack of access to a hospital landowners pay taxes for.
David MadisonJanuary 19, 2025

Montana State Rodeo Team Invited To Be In Trump’s Inaugural Parade
A contingent from the Montana State University rodeo team will be part of the Inaugural Parade for President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Monday. They wrangled six local horses and a wagon for the event. UPDATE: After this story was posted, it was announced that because of a forecast for extreme weather and cold for Monday, the inaugural plans in Washington, D.C., have been moved inside. The school issued a statement thanking the organizers for the invitation.
David MadisonJanuary 18, 2025

Rock Climbers Want Legislature To Make It Easier For Landowners To Allow Access
Rock climbers are urging the Legislature to make it easier for landowners to allow access to some of Wyoming’s best climbing areas. A bill would specifically say landowners who allows rock climbers onto their property won’t be liable if they’re hurt.
David MadisonJanuary 17, 2025

Montana Fitness Guru Faces Jail For Selling Unapproved Drugs To Fight Man Boobs
A Montana fitness-based business owner faces jail time for illegally selling bodybuilding drugs that fight "man boobs." He pleaded guilty to selling drugs not approved by the FDA, says the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana.
David MadisonJanuary 15, 2025

California Couple Builds House In Glacier National Park Without Permission
A California couple built a house inside Glacier National Park in late 2022 without permission or permits. Now they’re suing to keep officials from tearing the house down.
David MadisonJanuary 12, 2025

Like It Or Not, Self-Driving Semi-Trucks Are Inevitable; Montana Company Leading The Way
Self-driving technology for the trucking industry is evolving quickly. Many of those advances originate in Montana through a company that researched autonomous trucking technology on the treacherous Lone Peak in Montana.
David MadisonJanuary 11, 2025

Montana Trans Bill Goes Beyond Bathrooms, Includes Prisons And College Campuses
Montana’s Legislature heard testimony Friday on what could become one of the most far-reaching transgender bills in the nation. House Bill 121 goes beyond requiring use of bathrooms by sex at birth at schools, it includes all public spaces.
David MadisonJanuary 10, 2025