Montana’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.2% in August, remaining below the national rate and placing the state among the 15 lowest unemployment rates in the country. The national unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1% in August, according to federal labor data. Total employment in Montana, including payroll, agricultural and self-employed workers, increased by 482 Read More…
A federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama has ordered the release of 24 people held by federal immigration authorities in Cascade County, concluding that the government failed to follow required procedures governing warrantless immigration arrests and detention. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris issued the order Friday as part of an ongoing class-action Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy’s Air Traffic Situational Awareness Enhancement Act advanced out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The bill, co-led by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., is intended to give air traffic controllers additional tools and training to keep American airspace safe. It now heads to the full Senate for consideration. “America has Read More…
Bloom Energy Corp. is scheduled to join the S&P 500 before Monday’s market open as part of the index’s quarterly rebalance, a shift that could trigger substantial buying from the passive funds that track the benchmark. Inclusion in the S&P 500 typically forces index funds and exchange-traded funds that mirror the benchmark to purchase shares Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte recently joined officials from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the U.S. Forest Service to visit the Blacktail Powerline Project near Lakeside on the Flathead National Forest, the first initiative announced under Montana’s Shared Stewardship Agreement. “Through our Shared Stewardship Agreement with the Forest Service, management partners are working Read More…
A Phoenix-area woman was sentenced to 14 years in prison for her role in fraudulently billing Arizona’s Medicaid agency more than $69 million in less than a year for addiction treatment therapy, the Justice Department announced. Many of the patients used to fuel the scheme were Native Americans covered by Arizona Medicaid under a specific Read More…
Montana’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.2% in August, remaining below the national rate and placing the state among the 15 lowest unemployment rates in the country. The national unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1% in August, according to federal labor data. Total employment in Montana, including payroll, agricultural and self-employed workers, increased by 482 Read More…
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, is leaning into an unconventional, deeply historical and highly effective tool for mitigating fire risk: goats. The installation is releasing herds of grazing animals in a targeted effort to reduce dry brush and invasive grasses, a nature-based solution to protect military infrastructure and the neighboring civilian communities. The Operation Read More…
A federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama has ordered the release of 24 people held by federal immigration authorities in Cascade County, concluding that the government failed to follow required procedures governing warrantless immigration arrests and detention. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris issued the order Friday as part of an ongoing class-action Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy’s Air Traffic Situational Awareness Enhancement Act advanced out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The bill, co-led by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., is intended to give air traffic controllers additional tools and training to keep American airspace safe. It now heads to the full Senate for consideration. “America has Read More…
Prescription drug prices posted their sharpest annual decline in more than 60 years in 2026, according to federal data, as the Trump administration extended its Most Favored Nation pricing policy to every state Medicaid program in the country. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the steepest drop in prescription drug prices since 1963, with prices Read More…
Democrat Sam Forstag’s effort to emphasize his working-class background is drawing fresh scrutiny from Republican Aaron Flint’s campaign, which is highlighting Forstag’s years of lobbying and LGBTQ advocacy work in Helena. Forstag recently released an advertisement claiming that he earned $16 an hour as a smokejumper. Flint’s campaign responded by releasing lobbying records it says Read More…
Financial fraud has become a lucrative criminal enterprise. According to the FBI, cyber-enabled crimes defrauded Americans of $21 billion in 2025 alone. Tragically, that figure includes more than $53 million stolen from Montanans. Scammers exploit our trusting, friendly nature to drain the accounts of unsuspecting victims. As state auditor, I’m responsible for protecting Treasure State Read More…
(The Center Square) – The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates this week. Markets now put the odds of a quarter-point hike at roughly 85%. I think the Fed should hold. Inflation is still too high. But the most important question is not whether inflation went up. It is why. Consumer prices Read More…
Last week made the economy look a little less fragile. It did not necessarily make it stronger. Employers added 162,000 jobs in August, unemployment held at 4.1%, and June and July were revised higher by a combined 55,000 jobs. After several weak months, the labor market may have found a floor. But a bottom is 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…
Montana’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.2% in August, remaining below the national rate and placing the state among the 15 lowest unemployment rates in the country. The national unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1% in August, according to federal labor data. Total employment in Montana, including payroll, agricultural and self-employed workers, increased by 482 Read More…
The Federal Communications Commission has approved Paramount Skydance’s request to allow substantial foreign investment in its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, clearing another regulatory hurdle for one of the largest media deals in recent years. The FCC’s Media Bureau approved indirect, non-voting ownership stakes for investors tied to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Read More…
Bloom Energy Corp. is scheduled to join the S&P 500 before Monday’s market open as part of the index’s quarterly rebalance, a shift that could trigger substantial buying from the passive funds that track the benchmark. Inclusion in the S&P 500 typically forces index funds and exchange-traded funds that mirror the benchmark to purchase shares Read More…
U.S. stocks ended a turbulent week on a mixed note as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s first interest-rate increase in three years, a surge in oil prices and renewed pressure from rising Treasury yields. The S&P 500 finished the week down less than 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.7%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Read More…