As speaker of the House, it is a goal of mine to have unity within the Republican Caucus and a positive working relationship with the minority party. At the halfway point of the 66th legislative session, we are hitting those marks. Another goal of this session, was to put the K-12 funding bill on the Read More…
Less than a week after raging against cow farts and urging Americans to stop eating so many hamburgers, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was caught oozing with hypocrisy. On Tuesday night, an image scorched across Twitter showing Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, sitting down for dinner together. While sitting no more than a foot Read More…
A Virginia state employee has complained that her eighth-grade daughter was upset during a tour of the historic governor’s residence when first lady Pam Northam handed a ball of cotton to her and another black child and asked them to imagine being enslaved and having to pick cotton. “The Governor and Mrs. Northam have Read More…
An Alaska Airlines plane from Chicago to Seattle was forced to divert Wednesday night as passengers and crew struggled to breathe. The Boeing 737-900, which had 114 people on board, landed in Minneapolis just after 7pm where 12 people were treated for breathing difficulties. An airport spokesman said four crew members were hospitalized and six more were Read More…
Tax refunds increased by 17 percent last week and are now at the same level as last year, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The left and the media have spent the past few weeks arguing that the reduction in tax refunds in the first few weeks of tax filing season meant that families are Read More…
A new bill introduced in the Idaho legislature Tuesday would allow people with an enhanced gun permit to carry a handgun in public schools without first telling administrators. State Rep. Chad Christensen (R) told the Idaho State Journal he introduced the bill because he doesn’t want schools “to be a soft target.” The bill would Read More…
Below-average gas prices across the Gem State are making travelers happy this time of year, one Riggins convenience store operator said. “I think good prices are a good thing for everybody,” said Andrew Puderbach, who has owned the Riggins One Stop gas station and convenience store for about five months. The American Automobile Association recently Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – Hundreds of hunting licenses remain for North Dakota’s spring turkey season. The Game and Fish Department offered 6,025 licenses and recently held a lottery drawing. The agency says 915 leftover licenses in nine hunting units will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis beginning March 18. They’re available only to North Dakota Read More…
Let’s be honest. Most people outside of the U.S. have never heard of Wyoming. Yet, the home of the famed Yellowstone National Park, steep canyons, and gushing geysers is firmly on the cryptocurrency community’s radar. It started about a year ago, with blockchain friendly bills. But things really kicked off in earnest ever since governer Read More…
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon late Tuesday afternoon announced line-item vetoes of 29 items in the supplemental budget passed by Wyoming lawmakers earlier in the 2019 Legislative Session. The governor outlines the items being vetoed and his rationale for doing so in a letter to the Wyoming House of Representatives (see below). In response to the Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. It would give community colleges money to increase access for workers looking for job training who want to switch fields or learn a new skill and increase their pay. One representative says it will give some a chance they otherwise couldn’t get on their own. “This’ll be kind of for unmet needs, quite Read More…
A Wyoming county will open a school to serve a single student By Shelby Copeland, CNN Updated 7:29 PM ET, Wed February 27, 2019 Cozy Hollow Elementary School was active more than a decade ago. Here’s a sign to the school in 2004. (CNN)The nearest school to one Wyoming kindergartner is more than an hour’s Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Montana lawmakers are considering loosening the state’s vaccination requirements even as Washington state deals with a measles outbreak spread mainly by children who haven’t been inoculated. In Montana, parents can opt out of immunizing their children for either medical or religious reasons. In day cares, only medical exemptions are allowed. READ FULL Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. — Five bull bison from Yellowstone National park have been transferred to an American Indian reservation in northwest Montana under an effort to bolster herds of the animals outside the park. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports the animals were released into corrals on the Fort Peck Reservation on Friday. They’ll be under quarantine Read More…
CORAM – A small-town distillery in Montana is being nationally recognized for their whiskey. A February article in Esquire magazine dubbed Wheatfish, a whiskey distilled by Glacier Distilling Company, the best in the state. The article, written by Aaron Goldfarb, recounts different distilleries across the country and features one whiskey in every state. Nicholas Lee has Read More…
A resolution requesting that the American Prairie Reserve’s federal grazing permits not be changed passed out of committee on a party-line vote Tuesday. House Agriculture Committee Republicans endorsed House Joint Resolution 28 that asks the Bureau of Land Management to deny the northeastern Montana nonprofit group’s request to modify its federal grazing permits. “I believe there are Read More…
A proposal to change how the state borrows for major infrastructure projects passed its first vote in the Montana House today by 100 to zero. The unanimous initial vote in the House was a sharp pivot from years of disagreement in the Legislature over whether or how to use debt to pay for major public Read More…
ots” of the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, saying in an interview that lawmakers on Capitol Hill should be more aggressive in digging into alleged ties between President Donald Trump and the Russian government. The 2016 Democratic nominee — who once worked as an attorney for the House Judiciary Committee during the Read More…
One product would arm a school principal with a weapon that would provide less-than-lethal or lethal options when confronting a school shooter. One barrel of the “Protector’s Choice” would fire bean-bag rounds. One would fire live ammunition. A separate product would recycle Styrofoam to manufacture 4-foot-long Lego-style construction blocks that could enhance efforts far and Read More…
Plunging oil prices at the end of 2018 caused worry about an international economic slowdown, but experts say Wyoming could be slightly insulated from the effects – at least for the beginning of the new year. “Any time you’re talking about oil prices, they are notoriously hard to predict, but what we are seeing is Read More…
A once in a lifetime hunt, quite literally! House Bill 390 in Montana’s 66th legislature is introduced to limit the harvest of certain game to one per lifetime. House Bill 390 states, “A person who has killed or taken any game animal, except a deer, elk, or an antelope, during the current license year is Read More…
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…
BUTTE – Our latest blast of winter weather has NorthWestern Energy offering up some winter safety advice. The utility is looking to remind customers to make sure natural gas meters, as well as furnace and appliance vents, are free from snow and ice. Blocked vents could result in a loss of heat or buildup of Read More…
Montana’s House Human Services Committee held an initial hearing Thursday on a bill that would increase legal protections for medical marijuana patients in the state. Rep. Mary Ann Dunwell, a Democrat, is sponsoring House Bill 445, which would make a variety of changes to the state’s medical marijuana law. She said it is intended to Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, sat down with a panel of Kalispell Regional Healthcare officials and employees on Wednesday to discuss the state’s ongoing struggles with drug abuse and how Flathead County is battling what has been, and continues to be, a “major crisis” throughout Montana. The panel highlighted a troubling increase in the number of Read More…
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…
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…
Preventing invasive species from wreaking havoc on ecosystems and regional economies is among the world’s greatest challenges, and with the help of a grant from NASA an investigative team of researchers at the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station is launching a new project enabling officials to predict the spread of aquatic invasive species Read More…
After 25 years as the conductor of the Bozeman Symphony, Music Director Matthew Savery resigned Thursday amid an investigation into his conduct. A release from Great Falls law firm Ugrin Alexander Zadick, P.C. confirmed the resignation on Friday. “Matthew expresses his gratitude for and appreciation to the symphony for the opportunity to serve Read More…
Joe Biden’s big lead in early Democratic 2020 polling might be a bunch of malarkey. While most polls show the former vice president hovering around 30 percent of the Democratic primary vote, well ahead of second-place Sen. Bernie Sanders, two recent surveys paint a starkly different picture — raising the question of whether Biden is Read More…
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…
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…
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
HELENA, Mont. — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is traveling to Iowa this week, his fifth trip to the Hawkeye State since he began exploring a possible 2020 presidential run last year. At least 11 Democrats are running for president or have formed exploratory committees, but Bullock has repeatedly deflected questions about his plans. He says he’s Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — The accessibility of listening to and buying music online is certainly different from the days when fans lined up to buy Elvis Presley records. Brick and mortar record stores have closed all over the country. But in Missoula there’s one shop that’s weathering the changes and even opening channels to music in Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — A gun safety bill championed by a Helena student advocacy group was introduced in the Montana Legislature on the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting in a high school in Parkland, Florida. The measure sponsored by Democratic Rep. Moffie Funk of Helena and developed by Helena Youth Against Gun Violence would fine Read More…
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…
PHILIPSBURG – Blue skies made it much easier for people to travel on Saturday which came in handy for a large group of Montana brewers. The Old Fire Hall in Philipsburg was home to the 7th annual Ice Association Brewfest which featured live music and stations to sample beer from 19 different breweries from around Read More…
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…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Repealing the death penalty, a non-starter in Wyoming each of the past five years, got a serious look Wednesday from a legislative committee that voted to advance the idea to the full Senate for what could be a last dash to the governor’s desk. Repeal proponents significantly outnumbered opponents in over Read More…