Jill Van Alstyne is a former eastern Montana reporter for the Billings Gazette and city government reporter for the Helena Independent Record. A graduate of St. Olaf College, MSU-Billings, and South Dakota State University, she taught English on the Crow Reservation and in Japan before joining the English department at Helena High School, where she has taught all levels for 20 years. During her sabbatical in the fall of 2021, she wrote articles for Montana Free Press.