BISMARCK, N.D. — An interim study committee of the North Dakota Legislature met for the first time Oct. 3 on how to make changes in grain regulation in the wake of scandals like the Hunter Hanson Ponzi scheme. The joint House and Senate Agriculture and Transportation Committee heard a number of policy possibilities, some Read More…
FARGO, N.D. — Microsoft Corp. on Thursday, Oct. 17, announced a $1.5 million, three-year investment into the Fargo-based tech firm Emerging Prairie to help build what Microsoft calls the farm of the future at Emerging Prairie’s Grand Farm project. Among the dignitaries attending the event at the Microsoft campus in Fargo were North Dakota Gov. Read More…
CASPER – At the close of the 2020 census, Wyoming’s lawmakers – like those in half the states around the nation – will sink their teeth into the arduous task of drawing up the legislative districts that will decide the landscape of the state’s elections over the next decade. The Joint Committee on Corporations, Elections Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Wyoming officials say a Cheyenne man has grown a pumpkin that weighs in at 1,491 pounds, a new state record. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported Thursday Andy Corbin grew the gourd in his backyard. For perspective, scientists say newborn elephants weigh about 200 pounds on average. READ FULL STORY
All panics begin with a rational fear that quickly turns dangerously irrational. A threat is identified. The danger posed by the threat is amplified by speculation. Worst case scenarios are obsessed about, and action is demanded. Discussion of unseen consequences are discouraged. Skepticism of the threat is met with suspicion or anger. The current panic Read More…
It’s a fascinating time for fintech. What was once a disruptive force in the financial world has become standard practice for many industry leaders. Fintech industry funding has already reached new highs globally in 2018, with overall funding hitting $32.6 billion at the end of Q3. Some new regions, including South America and Africa, are Read More…
A Boeing pilot warned about problems with the flight-control program on the 737 Max that was implicated in two fatal crashes, said he “unknowingly” lied to regulators, and told the Federal Aviation Administration not to include the system in pilot manuals before regulators deemed the plane safe for the public in 2017, according to messages released Friday. The messages Read More…
Wall Street’s final act of 2019 will hinge on whether investors should believe the messages being sent by corporate credit, crowd consensus and the calendar characteristics. The broad market has been a sloppy stalemate between supportive and antagonistic forces for many months: The S&P 500 is hovering around the 3000 level it first reached in Read More…
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard fired back this afternoon at Hillary Clinton over comments she made suggesting the Hawaii congresswoman and 2020 candidate is being groomed by the Russians. Clinton said in a recent interview, of the Russians, “I think they’ve got their eye somebody who’s currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She’s a Read More…
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is hitting major bumps at a critical moment in the 2020 campaign. A little more than three months before the Iowa caucuses, the former vice president is widely seen as having lost his front-runner position to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). He’s an underdog in Iowa, is coming off another forgettable debate performance and Read More…
PG&E Corp. PCG +2.84% ’s chief executive said Friday that it could take as long as 10 years for the company to improve its electric system enough to significantly diminish the need to pull the plug on customers to reduce the risk of sparking fires. Bill Johnson, who joined the company in May, made the disclosure at a California Read More…
Mark Juras of Montana completed his 3,500-mile rowing adventure Thursday that took him from the Treasure State to the Gulf of Mexico in about four months, and reinforced claims about the astounding power of Gorilla Tape. “I finally made it to the ocean today,” the 32-year-old Great Falls resident said in a telephone interview. “It Read More…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The world’s first all-female spacewalking team made history high above Earth on Friday, replacing a broken part of the International Space Station’s power grid. NASA astronauts Christina Koch, who resides in Livingston, Montana, and Jessica Meir completed the job with wrenches, screwdrivers and power-grip tools, it marked the first time in a Read More…
The Department of Energy cited the same arguments as the Pentagon for why it is unable to cooperate “at this time” with House committees’ subpoena for documents related to President Trump’s efforts to push Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. The big picture: As Axios first reported, President Trump told House Republicans that he made his now infamous phone call to Ukrainian Read More…
Julián Castro’s presidential campaign rolled out dozens of endorsements Monday from current and former state and local elected officials, activists, community leaders, party leaders and Latino leaders. In a bid to make a splash before Tuesday’s primary debate in Westerville, Ohio, Castro released a list of 50-plus endorsements first obtained by POLITICO. Castro is among the dozen Read More…
Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the brash Saudi crown prince who strode confidently onto the world stage two years ago, now cuts a much-diminished, if not humbled, figure. His regional strongman reputation is blunted and his much-vaunted economic plans have failed to move the needle. Pressured into an apparent acceptance of responsibility for the murder of the Saudi Read More…
NBC News on Monday pushed back hard against damning claims made about the network in Ronan Farrow’s new book, Catch & Kill, dubbing some of the allegations a “smear,” “lie,” and “conspiracy theory.” In a lengthy memo sent to staff, NBC News President Noah Oppenheim attempted to fact-check Farrow’s assertion that network higher-ups had advanced knowledge Read More…
Los Angeles (AFP) – Basketball superstar LeBron James was accused of turning a blind eye to Chinese repression on Tuesday after he criticized a Houston Rockets executive for angering China with a “misinformed” tweet supporting protesters in Hong Kong. James told reporters that Rockets general manager Daryl Morey “wasn’t educated” on Hong Kong and should Read More…
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Officials say 40 percent of South Dakota’s corn supply is used for ethanol production. Today Senator John Thune visited one of the world’s largest producers of ethanol following a big announcement from the Trump Administration. Last week the administration announced plans to implement new rules that will increase demand for ethanol, which Read More…
North Dakota’s Commerce Department improperly contracted work for the state’s new logo last year, according to state Auditor Josh Gallion. Gallion’s regular, two-year audit of Commerce found that two temporary employment contracts, totaling about $87,160, should have been treated as one, which would have required soliciting informal bids or proposals through state procurement requirements. Read More…
FORT WASHAKIE — A Wyoming tribe said Monday that it is planning to start allowing its citizens to hunt off-reservation, months after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirmed a different tribe’s treaty right to hunt outside of its reservation. Pointing to rights guaranteed in an 1868 treaty, leaders of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe told the Read More…
BOZEMAN — There was a silver lining to that Montana State loss over the weekend to Sacramento State. Not only were fans surprised to hear that Kenny Chesney will be coming to Bobcat Stadium in July, but more importantly, MSU announced that it has raised the $18 million for its new athletic complex. Construction on Read More…
For four terms I served at the Legislature and one thing has become obvious: liberal governors veto conservative legislation. For eight years conservative legislation has passed the House and Senate but are dead on arrival at the governor’s desk. In 2020 we have the best opportunity in 16 years to take back the Governor’s Read More…
GREAT FALLS — With hunting season in Montana right around the corner, it’s time for hunters to start getting prepared. But what about the meat processing companies? For about five weeks at the end of every year, meat processing companies see their business skyrocket. To make sure that everything is ready for the start of Read More…
In the early 1990s, Wilmot Collins and his wife, Maddie, escaped the Liberian Civil War. Broke and starving, they ended up in Helena, Mont. “Why do you think we fled?” Collins asked. “We fled because we wanted a second chance.” Soon after moving to their first home, a neighbor knocked on their door and alerted Read More…
Where is Montana Attorney General Tim Fox these days? I have attempted to contact his office three times in the past month regarding a complaint I filed against a Montana Highway Patrol trooper back in July, but Fox’s silence has been deafening. After forwarding my complaint up the MHP chain of command without resolution, Read More…
CASPER — A leading air ambulance company formally voiced its opposition to an ambitious plan by Wyoming policymakers to make aerial emergency transports a public utility funded under Medicaid in an effort to curb the cost of the flights. But the comment may be a moot point, as the federal government has signaled to state Read More…
The proposed sale of Blackjewel LLC mines in Wyoming includes a plan to pay all the company’s employees whose last checks bounced in early July. According to an Oct. 7 court filing, Blackjewel hoped to close the sale of the Wyoming properties yesterday. Last week, a West Virginia federal bankruptcy court tentatively approved the sale Read More…
Apple Inc. and Google both removed apps associated with Hong Kong’s antigovernment protests from their digital stores in recent days, thrusting the two Silicon Valley giants into the controversy engulfing U.S. companies related to the unrest. Apple removed from its App Store a crowdsourced map service that allows Hong Kong protesters to track police activity, Read More…
In July, Wealth-X released their findings on which US colleges have produced the most millionaires. The study focused on those alumni deemed to be ultra-high net worth (UHNW) individuals: those with fortunes of $30 million or more. The report analyzed the Wealth-X database of the world’s wealthiest people and used Wealth-X’s Wealth and Investable Assets Model to estimate the number Read More…
Republican Greg Gianforte turned in another impressive quarter of fundraising for his 2020 gubernatorial run this weekend, bringing his four-month total to $1.09 million – more than twice as much as any other rival in either party. Gianforte, currently Montana’s sole U.S. House member, reported raising $507,000 for the past three months, adding to the Read More…
Soon residents in the Mining City will have the opportunity to rub shoulders with representatives from companies like Slack and WeWork as around 200 entrepreneurs and other professionals descend upon Butte next week for the annual Innovate Montana Symposium. The event runs Oct. 14-16 and marks the fourth run of the symposium, which is Read More…
Spenser Merwin, a former staff member for U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, has been named the new executive director of the Montana Republican Party. Merwin has been Daines’ director of coalitions and outreach since 2015. He was the deputy political director for Daines’ Senate campaign during the 2014 election cycle and his regional political director during Read More…
U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt paid a visit to the Rocky Mountain Front Saturday to hear about conflicts with grizzly bears. The secretary heard numerous calls for delisting grizzlies from their threatened species status in and around Glacier National Park, but he says changes may be able to be made prior to delisting. Secretary Bernhardt took Read More…
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock raised nearly $2.3 million for his presidential bid in the third fundraising quarter, his campaign said on Friday. Bullock’s fundraising haul falls short of most of the other candidates who have announced their third-quarter totals so far. But it’s higher than that of at least one of his rivals, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who announced Read More…
FARGO — A Fargo mother has brought a lawsuit seeking damages from a truck driver and his company for a 2018 crash on Interstate 29 that killed her two young boys. The crash happened when Trista Curry and her three young children were making a trip from Fargo to Stephen, Minn., to visit family in Read More…
Montana education leaders have released the latest results in the assessment that measures elementary and middle school students’ math and English-language arts proficiencies – and the data shows there has been little change this year. The Montana Office of Public Instruction announced the results of the statewide Smarter Balanced Assessment for the 2018-2019 school year. Read More…
Montana sports betting is less than two months from launch. The Montana Lottery has now published its draft regulations — the framework of rules that, once finalized, will unleash full-fledged legal and licensed wagering on the Big Sky State. The Lottery said Friday that it expected to launch the market towards the end of 2019, Read More…
Billings resident Nelly Nicol announced today that she is running as a Republican for Montana State Auditor. Nelly is a fourth-generation Montanan, wife, mother, and professional who has spent much of her career working in the insurance industry. “I was raised in a patriotic Marine Corps household and serving others is something that comes naturally Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Medicare is reducing payments to nine Montana hospitals under a program that penalizes costly readmissions within a month of treatment for heart and lung diseases as well as knee and hip replacement surgery. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program evaluated 14 Montana hospitals and will reduce Medicare payments by Read More…