Commissioner candidates face public

HELENA (AP) - A series of public meetings in Bozeman, Missoula and Helena this week will give Montanans a chance to meet and question the two finalists to become the next commissioner of higher education.

The state Board of Regents plans to meet next week to make its selection.

That meeting will include a 90-minute closed-door discussion of the two candidates before the regents vote in public.

The finalists are Sheila Stearns, president of Wayne State College in Nebraska and former chancellor at the University of Montana-Western, and Warren Fox, scholar in residence at the University of Cal...