Montana’s unemployment rate fell to 3.2% in July, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced, continuing the state’s record stretch of low unemployment and remaining nearly a full percentage point below the national rate, which also declined over the month to 4.1%. “As Montana’s unemployment rate continues to decline, businesses across our state are expanding, creating high-paying jobs, Read More…
A federal court upheld the Trump administration’s authority under the Defense Production Act to oversee operation of the Santa Ynez Pipeline on the California coast, rejecting California’s efforts to block federally mandated oil production through state-level legal barriers — though the same ruling fined Sable Offshore Corporation nearly $1.5 million for violating a federal consent Read More…
U.S. Army Sgt. Adam M. Lee received the Soldier’s Medal during a ceremony at the Belgrade Armory Aug. 16 for heroic actions that saved the lives of two critically injured hikers in California. Brig. Gen. Trenton J. Gibson, adjutant general of the Montana National Guard, presented the award to Lee, a combat medic specialist assigned Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy made a fitting entrance at the Yellowstone International Airshow in Billings on Friday, parachuting onto the grounds at Billings Logan International Airport while carrying a Montana state flag. The former Navy SEAL, FAA-certified commercial pilot and flight instructor arrived during media practice day for the show, joining the U.S. Army Golden Knights Read More…
In a critical step to ensure long-term fleet readiness and secure dominance in the maritime domain, the Navy’s MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter service life modernization program recently announced the industry performers identified to proceed to the first phase of a statement of work collaboration for the MH-60 tailorable architecture leveraging open systems prototype project. Led Read More…
Gov. Kelly Armstrong appointed Tony Hillig, recreation division chief for the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department, as the agency’s new director, effective immediately. Hillig has served as chief of the department’s recreation division since December 2020, overseeing recreation grants, trail management, motorized recreation and safety programs statewide. He joined the department in 2019 as Read More…
Violent crime in the U.S. fell 9.3% in 2025 and murder declined 18.1%, according to FBI figures the White House cited Friday in claiming credit for what it called the largest annual drop in violent crime on record. The underlying data show broad declines across categories. Robbery fell 18.5%, or nearly 38,500 fewer offenses. Aggravated Read More…
Montana’s unemployment rate fell to 3.2% in July, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced, continuing the state’s record stretch of low unemployment and remaining nearly a full percentage point below the national rate, which also declined over the month to 4.1%. “As Montana’s unemployment rate continues to decline, businesses across our state are expanding, creating high-paying jobs, Read More…
Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke received the Excellence in Advocacy Award from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation at a ceremony at the organization’s Missoula headquarters, recognizing his work on public lands, wildlife habitat and America’s hunting heritage. RMEF president and CEO Kyle Weaver and chief conservation officer Blake Henning presented the award. Zinke is only Read More…
Vice President JD Vance remains the clear favorite in a prospective 2028 Republican presidential primary, with 41% of Republicans and right-leaning Independents saying they would vote for him in The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll. The Center Square has conducted four 2028 presidential primary polls since October, and Vance’s latest showing was his strongest to Read More…
National teacher unions contribute at least 10% of their annual budget to lobbying and political activism, which includes calling for the impeachment of Republican President Donald Trump in the 2026 American Federation of Teachers handbook. Efforts also include supporting Democratic causes such as messaging against immigration enforcement. Some teachers raise questions about whether union dues are being Read More…
Montana’s Carpenters Union Local 82 endorsed Republican congressional candidate Aaron Flint during a construction site tour at the new Bretz RV warehouse in Butte, with members of the Ironworkers Union also joining to show their support — a notable show of organized labor backing for a Republican in a race rated Likely Republican by Sabato’s Read More…
On August 5, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division withdrew a business review letter it issued to Institutional Shareholder Services back in 1987. Four months earlier, the Labor Department told the same industry it had been acting as an ERISA fiduciary all along, welcome or not. Two federal agencies, working from two different statutes, landed on Read More…
Americans hear endless talk about the southern border – walls, surges, gotaways – but few know about one of the border’s biggest vulnerabilities: the Tohono O’odham Nation’s reservation. Stretching across roughly 2.8 million acres of Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona, this sovereign tribal land shares about 62 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. That stretch is Read More…
Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s decision to withdraw Steve Bullock’s 2012 term-limit opinion will undoubtedly be portrayed as a dramatic change in Montana election law. The history tells a different story. The real change occurred in 2012. In 1997, Democratic Attorney General Joe Mazurek interpreted the term-limit amendment Montana voters had added to the Constitution just Read More…
Attorney General Austin Knudsen has withdrawn the 2012 opinion of then-Attorney General Steve Bullock and reaffirmed the reading of Montana’s term-limit provision set out in 1997 by Attorney General Joe Mazurek. He was right to do it. The charge that will follow—that Knudsen invented a new rule for a particular election—has the history backwards. Mazurek, Read More…
Nvidia has beaten Wall Street’s earnings estimate in each of the past six quarters, by an average of roughly 5.6%. Its shares have declined the following session all six times. That record, more than any figure on the income statement, frames what is at stake when the company reports fiscal second-quarter results. The published consensus Read More…
Firm’s flagship multistrategy fund rose 5.9% in July, among its best months since 2022 Citadel has unwound more than 80% of the risk tied to the portfolio it acquired from Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness, founder Ken Griffin told clients in a letter Friday, his first public accounting of a transaction that closed at speed last Read More…
Bitcoin and gold both staged dramatic reversals this week after weeks of lackluster performance, with the cryptocurrency posting gains of nearly 24% and the precious metal climbing past $4,600 an ounce as bond market turbulence, Washington policy activity and a cascade of forced short liquidations combined to supercharge both assets. Bitcoin had spent most of Read More…
Three-quarters of Americans and nearly seven in 10 Canadians have sought financial guidance from at least one source in the past year, according to a new study from Gallup conducted in partnership with Edward Jones, though the sources people rely on most are not always the ones they trust most. Among U.S. adults who sought Read More…