The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, a stronger-than-expected showing that offered fresh evidence of resilience in the labor market as manufacturing and construction hiring picked up. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. August payroll growth was well above the average monthly gain over the previous year. The White House pointed to the Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and 15 other state attorneys general have opened an investigation into OpenAI over potential violations of consumer-protection and data-privacy laws following a security incident involving one of the company’s experimental artificial-intelligence models. The investigation centers on an incident this summer in which an OpenAI model allegedly accessed outside computer networks Read More…
Republican Kurt Alme holds a commanding lead in Montana’s U.S. Senate race, according to a new analysis from Decision Desk HQ, as neither Democrat Alani Bankhead nor independent Seth Bodnar has been willing to step aside for the other, leaving the state with a fractured opposition against the GOP front-runner. In 2026, prominent independent candidates Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte is accepting applications and nominations for an upcoming district court vacancy in Montana’s Eleventh Judicial District in Flathead County. The vacancy is expected to arise because District Court Judges Amy Eddy and Dan Wilson are running against each other for one seat on the Montana Supreme Court. The chief justice of the Read More…
The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, a stronger-than-expected showing that offered fresh evidence of resilience in the labor market as manufacturing and construction hiring picked up. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. August payroll growth was well above the average monthly gain over the previous year. The White House pointed to the Read More…
Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Attorney General Raúl Labrador have awarded the Idaho Medal of Honor to nine first responders for acts of courage that went beyond the ordinary demands of their jobs. The recipients include five law-enforcement officers and four firefighters whose actions ranged from entering burning buildings and fast-moving water to confronting an Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and 15 other state attorneys general have opened an investigation into OpenAI over potential violations of consumer-protection and data-privacy laws following a security incident involving one of the company’s experimental artificial-intelligence models. The investigation centers on an incident this summer in which an OpenAI model allegedly accessed outside computer networks Read More…
The day before fall semester classes began, a group of incoming Montana State University business students hiked the iconic “M” trail and continued forming connections with their peers. The college “M” on the Bridger Mountains pictured from Bozeman. MSU photo by Marcus “Doc” Cravens Step-by-step up the dirt trail, climbing over rocky slabs and through green forest, staff from the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship watched the new students get to know each other. Read More…
South Dakota’s U.S. Senate race has effectively become a two-person contest between Republican Sen. Mike Rounds and independent Brian Bengs after Democrat Julian Beaudion withdrew from the race in August. Beaudion, who had been the Democratic nominee, formally withdrew Aug. 4. The South Dakota Secretary of State now lists Rounds and Bengs as the active Read More…
Republican Kurt Alme holds a commanding lead in Montana’s U.S. Senate race, according to a new analysis from Decision Desk HQ, as neither Democrat Alani Bankhead nor independent Seth Bodnar has been willing to step aside for the other, leaving the state with a fractured opposition against the GOP front-runner. In 2026, prominent independent candidates Read More…
North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong used his State of the State address to a special session of the 69th Legislative Assembly to renew his call for lawmakers to ban the unregulated drug kratom, following his executive action last month to temporarily prohibit its sale. “We are here to address a public safety and a public Read More…
Wyoming’s Nov. 3 general election ballot grew more crowded this week as minor-party candidates were certified to appear alongside major-party nominees in several of the state’s top races, headlined by a governor’s contest that already ranks as the most expensive of the primary cycle. In the governor’s race, Republican Eric Barlow and Democrat Kenneth Casner Read More…
Ask most folks what built the Powder River Basin, and they’ll tell you it was hard work and good coal. Both are true, but the trigger was federal policy. When President Nixon signed the Clean Air Act of 1970 and created the EPA, the new sulfur limits sent power companies hunting for low-sulfur coal —Northeastern 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…
The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, a stronger-than-expected showing that offered fresh evidence of resilience in the labor market as manufacturing and construction hiring picked up. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. August payroll growth was well above the average monthly gain over the previous year. The White House pointed to the Read More…
Montana’s technology sector is continuing to broaden its footprint across the state, while a new wave of potential data-center investment could add another major component to the state’s changing economy. The University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research highlighted high-tech businesses, artificial intelligence and data centers as part of its 2026 Midyear Economic Read More…
Investors enter the first week of September with a consequential earnings slate led by Broadcom, Dell Technologies and several major software companies, while Friday’s August jobs report adds another potential market catalyst. Dell Technologies is among the major companies scheduled to report Tuesday, Sept. 1. Investors will be watching the company’s AI-server business and PC Read More…
Netflix shares have climbed about 25% from their 2026 low, as investors take another look at the streaming company following a sharp selloff and signs emerge that its advertising business and new partnerships could provide additional avenues for growth. The stock has rebounded from a mid-July low of $65.08 but remains down roughly 34% over Read More…