All posts by Big Sky Headlines

Montana State Fund Partners with Rising Medical Solutions for Medical Bill Review Services

7 years ago   Business, Featured, Montana Business News

Helena, MT and Chicago, IL (WorkersCompensation.com) – Montana’s largest provider of workers’ compensation insurance, Montana State Fund (MSF), is partnering with Rising Medical Solutions (Rising), a national managed care company, to administer its medical bill repricing and provider payment program. After awarding its program to Rising, the partnership became operational in January of 2019. “Our Read More…

Daines looks at Rimrock Foundation programs

7 years ago   Featured, Home Featured, Montana News, News

BILLINGS-Senator Steve Daines, R-Mont., visited the Rimrock Foundation in Billings last week. The senator talked with people at the Willow Way Program home. Willow Way allows mothers to go through detox and rehab while staying with their children. Daines learned the importance of these programs are for those going through treatment. “What would happen if you didn’t Read More…

Daines Introduces Bipartisan Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act

7 years ago   Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines introduced the Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act. The bill requires most federal buildings to have dedicated rooms for breastfeeding mothers. “Mothers who are breastfeeding should have a private, clean, and safe place to go in federal buildings,” Daines said. “It’s long overdue new moms have this resource, and I’m glad this bill provides Read More…

Trump bets on North Korea to break his losing streak

7 years ago   Featured, National News, News

Stung by domestic defeat after a losing battle with Democrats in Washington, D.C., this winter, President Donald Trump hopes his negotiating skills can achieve better results some 8,000 miles away when he meets with North Korea’s leader in Vietnam later this month. Trump will travel for his second session with the North Korean dictator Kim Read More…

Staff shortages challenge special-ed programs

7 years ago   Featured, Home Featured, Montana News, News

Facing a nationwide shortage of teachers — and special-education teachers in particular — schools in Montana are feeling it acutely as the number of students receiving special-education services is on the rise. Statewide there are 18,803 students receiving special-education services. This is a more than 10 percent increase over the past five academic years. In Read More…

7 years ago   Featured, Politics, Regional Politics

CHEYENNE, Wyo. Governor Mark Gordon signed the bill Wednesday. It comes in response to tactics used during last years campaign when mailers were sent out from independent groups trying to sway voters. Wyoming Secretary of State Edward Buchanan says it is about transparency. READ FULL STORY

Now is the time for Montana to build

7 years ago   Featured, Opinion

For a decade or more, our Montana Legislature has grappled with the increasing need to renovate both Romney Hall on the Montana State campus in Bozeman and the Montana Historical Society museum facility in Helena.   A compelling case has been made for both these projects, but they have repeatedly come up just short of Read More…

Idaho House panel eyes sales tax plan

7 years ago   Featured, Politics, Regional Politics

BOISE — Idaho’s most populated cities and counties appear to be big winners under a new revenue sharing proposal that was introduced Wednesday in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jason Monks, R-Nampa, revises the formula used to distribute sales tax revenues to local jurisdictions. Barring any major decreases in Read More…

Report: Zinke taking new job with D.C. lobbyist

7 years ago   Featured, Montana News, News

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has a new job with a lobbying firm led by former aides of President Trump. Zinke, also a former Montana congressman, is now a senior adviser at Turnberry Solutions, which was formed in 2017 by Jason Osbourne, Mike Rubio and Ryan O’Dwyer, who all worked on Trump’s 2016 Read More…

Tuition freeze for Montana students OK’d in early vote

7 years ago   Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

A legislative committee has unanimously endorsed the Montana University System’s budget, including $24 million that would freeze tuition for Montana resident students for the next two years.   The Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Education voted 7-0 Wednesday to approve the governor’s two-year budget proposal to spend $404 million from taxpayers on the University System.   Read More…

Glendive native makes hot rod hall of fame

7 years ago   Featured, Montana News, News, Uncategorized

Tom Vogele was born in Glendive in 1950. He grew up ranching with his grandparents in the hills just south of town. As a child, Voglele demonstrated a talent and love for all things mechanical, which quickly turned to obsession. This obsession took him far away from his roots in rural … READ FULL STORY

Real Estate Market Trends

7 years ago   Business, Featured, Montana Business News

Which home styles are sold in greatest (and least) quantities, across the Flathead? Does it vary by city? How many acres (or fractions thereof) come with which home styles, and does that vary by city? I was recently asked about the acreage which comes with home sales. This week, I’ve analyzed the 2018 single-family home Read More…

Helena Democrat proposes $210 Million carbon tax

7 years ago   Energy Business News, Featured, Home Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

Montana lawmakers are considering two bills to tax carbon pollution, and not surprisingly owners of Colstrip Power Plant say the measures would kill the facility.   Democratic legislators are floating two bills creating a $10-per-ton tax on carbon dioxide from various sources, including coal-fired power plants. Theirs aren’t the first attempts targeting Colstrip. Washington State, Read More…

Mismanagement alleged throughout Montana’s Child and Family Services

7 years ago   Featured, Home Featured, Montana News, News

Montana’s Child and Family Services Division is tasked with safeguarding the wellbeing of some of the society’s most vulnerable citizens, but in recent months the agency has been criticized by sources who claim longstanding mismanagement has fostered a broken system. Nearly 20 sources with knowledge of Northwestern Division VI of Child and Family Services in Read More…

Asbestos found in 2nd preschool at University of Montana

7 years ago   Featured, Montana News, News

The University of Montana says it has found asbestos contamination in a second preschool facility. The Missoulian reported Friday that testing found asbestos on surfaces at the Craighead Child Care Facility. University officials say the asbestos levels didn’t pose a health hazard, but the children were moved and the facility was closed for cleaning. The Read More…

Montana airports see flight increases

7 years ago   Business, Featured, Montana Business News

Over the last decade, some of Montana’s larger airports have added new flights or extended certain flight services. The increased traffic is even causing some airports to expand. Since Glacier Park International Airport director Rob Ratkowski started in 2004, the number of direct flights has gone from just four to 11. He thinks the area Read More…

Medical marijuana operations wouldn’t be considered farming under bill in ND Legislature

7 years ago   Featured, Politics, Regional Politics

BISMARCK, N.D. — A bill passed by the North Dakota Senate would remove “the growing or processing of marijuana” from the definition of “farming or ranching,” which would mean growing marijuana would not be included under the state’s ban on corporate farming. North Dakota’s existing corporate farming law limits corporate farming to entities that consist Read More…

Daines, Gianforte, Tester Introduce Clean Water for Rural Communities Act

7 years ago   Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

U.S. CONGRESS – U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester and Congressman Greg Gianforte today reintroduced a bipartisan bill to provide much-needed authorization for Montana rural water infrastructure. “The fact of the matter is that thousands of Montanans still lack access to steady safe drinking water,” Daines stated. “Water is a basic necessity for any community. We depend Read More…