All posts by Big Sky Headlines

Eagle Bancorp Montana Earns $573,000 in the First Quarter; Highlighted by Ruby Valley Bank Acquisition; Declares Regular Quarterly Cash Dividend of $0.09 per Share

8 years ago Business, Featured, Montana Business News

HELENA, Montana, April 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT), (the “Company,” “Eagle”), the holding company of Opportunity Bank of Montana, today reported net income was $573,000, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2018, compared to $763,000, or $0.20 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2017. Read More…

Flooded fields, broken roads. Spring flooding already damaging Montana agriculture

8 years ago Featured, Montana News, News

As the flatland flooding around northcentral Montana begins to recede, counties, road departments and ag producers are assessing the toll. At this point the basic assessment is that spring seeding is about a month behind where it should be at this point, and it could be two or three weeks before the ground dries out Read More…

Senate Majority PAC Defends Tester in First Statewide Ad in Montana

8 years ago Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

A Democratic super PAC is defending Montana Sen. Jon Tester from a recent attack by Americans for Prosperity with a TV ad of its own. Senate Majority PAC, which supports Senate Democrats, is debuting its first statewide TV ad in Montana on Tuesday, backed by a $400,000 buy. The ad responds to a $560,000 statewide Read More…

State elections heat up with Gierau’s senate announcement

8 years ago Featured, Politics, Regional Politics

Rep. Mike Gierau, D-Teton, announced this weekend that he will vacate his seat in the state House of Representatives for a chance to join the Wyoming Senate. While switching chambers and flipping a Senate seat blue would be a major victory for the Democratic Party, it’s a big risk. With only three Democrats in the Read More…

Facing Budget Deficit, University of Montana Releases ‘Strategy of Distinction’

8 years ago Featured, Montana News, News

Seth Bodnar, who took the reins as president of the University of Montana in January, sees a world that increasingly values people with diverse, interdisciplinary educations and employment capabilities. His own experience speaks to this assessment: graduate of West Point, “a liberal arts college with a bunch of military training;” Rhodes and Truman scholar who Read More…

Democrats Take Secretary of State to Court over Green Party Votes

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

The Montana Democratic Party, assisted by a prestigious international law firm, is taking Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton to court over approving signatures that allowed the Green Party to qualify for the general election. Green Party spokesperson Danielle Breck said the Montana Democrats have a date in Helena District Court on Tuesday afternoon. “The Read More…

City Attorney Responds to Request for Mountain Water Legal Bills

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

Missoula City Councilman Jesse Ramos wants to see how much a private attorney is receiving in compensation for work on the Mountain Water Condemnation lawsuit, but says he has been blocked from seeing the information by city officials. Missoula Attorney Quentin Rhoades explains. “The Mayor, the city attorney, and apparently the private attorney who has Read More…

Democrats bring in out-of-state lawyer in lawsuit to remove Green Party from the ballot

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

Helena – The Montana Democrat Party has brought in a Washington state lawyer with deep ties to national Democrat organizations to lead its lawsuit to remove the Green Party from the Ballot. Kevin Hamilton, of Seattle, Washington with the firm Perkins Coie was admitted to represent the Montana Democrat Party less than an hour before Read More…

Montana a growing part of $950 billion ‘app economy,’ report says

8 years ago Business, Featured, Home Featured, Montana Business News

The app development side of Montana’s much-lauded tech sector will continue its upward trajectory, according to a newly released report. The sixth annual report, the State of the App Economy — aggregated by ACT The App Association, an industry organization that represents more than 5,000 app makers — details the growth of an almost $1 Read More…

Michael Flynn to campaign for Montana Republican

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, National Politics, Politics

(CNN)Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, will campaign in Montana for a Republican Senate candidate “very soon,” the candidate has announced. Troy Downing, an Air Force veteran and one of the four Republicans vying to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in November, announced the news Friday. “It is time to stand Read More…

Missoula Can’t Continue to Hide Mountain Water Legal Fees, Attorney Claims

8 years ago Featured, Montana News, News, Uncategorized

Report: Zinke Spends Less on Travel than Obama Secretaries

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, National Politics, Politics

Democrats and some in the mainstream media have been desperately trying to attack Ryan Zinke over his travel spending as US Secretary of Interior. However, new data shows that Zinke is spending less than his predecessors who served as Interior Secretary under former President Obama. As The Daily Signal reports: “The Daily Signal’s examination of Read More…

Herberger’s closing sales start Friday in all Montana stores

8 years ago Business, Featured, Montana Business News

The parent company of Herberger’s announced Thursday that going-out-of-business sales at Montana stores will start Friday. That includes the store at Rimrock Mall in Billings. The retailer moved into that spot and renovated the space three years ago after spending decades in a different wing of the mall. The announcement from corporate parent Bon Ton Read More…

Students team up with combat veterans to feed Montana service members

8 years ago Featured, Montana News, News

BILLINGS – In the summer, the field behind the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch is full of fruit. “We had such a huge, I mean huge, amount of fruit last year,” said Jim Klempel, a teacher at YBGR. “Monday mornings we’d start at 6 in the morning and we’d pick all day.” That fruit is Read More…

U.S. Senate candidate’s hunting-license citation morphs into full-blown criminal case

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

HELENA – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Troy Downing says he didn’t falsely portray himself as a resident when buying in-state hunting licenses for the past half-dozen years – and can’t believe the issue has become a full-scale criminal case in a Bozeman court. “It’s crazy,” he told MTN News in an interview last week. “My Read More…

Sheridan Head Start Program Looking for a New Home

8 years ago Featured, News, Regional News

Sheridan Head Start kids need a new place to go, and if they don’t find a place soon, the program could end for them. Parents say Sheridan needs this program and if they don’t have it, preparation for kindergarten may greatly decline. Sheridan parents and teachers rallied together to save the local head start program. Read More…

Wyoming first lady Carol Mead reflects on years past, looks ahead

8 years ago Featured, News, Regional News

CHEYENNE – When Matt Mead was elected to serve as Wyoming’s 32nd governor, his life wasn’t the only one that changed. After Nov. 2, 2010, the lives of his wife, daughter and son were all altered as well. “I remember right after the general election, when Matt had won, then the next morning I woke Read More…

Downing’s accountant: ‘He said he had a home in Montana’

8 years ago Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

U.S. Senate candidate Troy Downing’s accountant says she did not specifically research administrative rules when the Republican candidate asked her to amend past tax returns to change his status as a Montana resident. Downing recently asked Gallatin County Justice Court Judge Bryan Adams to throw out several charges alleging he was not a Montana resident Read More…

Montana AG Tim Fox Recovering From Colon Cancer, Advocates Early Screening

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, Montana News, News

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox is praising his doctor and advocating for cancer screenings after he was diagnosed with colon cancer last month. According to Fox, he went his doctor with symptoms of fatigue and back pain. “[My doctor] recommended some blood tests and asked if I ever had a colonoscopy,” Fox said. “I told Read More…

Bodnar: University of Montana spending is “unsustainable” without “hard” budget decisions

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, Montana News, News

MISSOULA – It will take a combination of “cuts and curriculum” if the University of Montana is going to solve its on-going budget issues. And UM President Seth Bodnar says that’s going to take some “hard decisions”. Everyone on campus has known this day was coming, as the administration grapples with a way to not Read More…

Judge orders the release of 2 men whose 1994 murder convictions were overturned

8 years ago Featured, Montana News, News

(HELENA) Paul Jenkins and Freddie Lawrence, convicted for the 1994 murder of Donna Meagher and a robbery, have been ordered to be released from prison. The order freeing Jenkins and Lawrence comes just days after Lewis & Clark County District Judge Kathy Seeley overturned their convictions and ordered a new trial. In her ruling, Judge Read More…

GOP Tax cuts a win for Montana

8 years ago Opinion

On Tax Day, liberals around the country wake up with a smile, enthusiastically thinking about the endless possible programs they can throw public money at. Today though, they’re a little less eager, quite a bit less cheerful, and according to their recent behavior, a little miffed they haven’t been able to take more money out of the Read More…

Small-business hiring falls to lowest level in over 7 years

8 years ago Business, Featured, Small Business News

Small-business hiring in March fell to the lowest point in over seven years, while hourly earnings grew steadily, a report from human resources firm Paychex said Tuesday. The Small Business Jobs Index decreased 0.12 percent from last month and 1.07 percent from a year earlier. Small-business wages continued to rise, reaching a 2.66 percent (69 Read More…

Military child abuse case raises complex sentencing issues

8 years ago Featured, National News, News

The allegations were shocking: an Army major and his wife accused of abusing their three young foster children through beatings, denial of food and water and forcing them to eat hot pepper flakes as punishment. When John and Carolyn Jackson were convicted of child endangerment in 2015, prosecutors received another shock when the trial judge, Read More…

Trump Tower fire victim was avid art collector who spent time with Andy Warhol

8 years ago Featured, National News, News

NEW YORK — The man killed in a blaze at New York City’s Trump Tower was an art collector who spent time with Andy Warhol, but fell on hard financial times in recent years and went through bankruptcy proceedings. Todd Brassner, 67, died on Saturday at a hospital after a fire tore through his 50th-floor Read More…

Gianforte continues statewide tour in Great Falls

8 years ago Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte (R-MT) is touring Montana talking to businesses about a tax act he voted for in December. The new tax law cuts rates for taxpayers at every income level, expands the standard deduction, doubles the child tax credit and helps Montana’s small businesses. His ‘Tax Cuts and Jobs Tour’ stopped in Great Read More…

Research group: Montana losing its open space

8 years ago Featured, Montana News, News

An independent nonprofit research group says Montana is losing its open space. Headwaters Economics analyzed home construction for the state and laid out the numbers from county to county from 1990 to 2016 in a study titled Montana Losing Open Space. During that period, the study said the number of single-family homes in the state Read More…

Cramer wins North Dakota GOP nod to seek Senate

8 years ago Featured, Politics, Regional Politics

Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., claimed his party’s endorsement for the U.S. Senate race on Saturday in front of a packed ballroom at Grand Forks’ Alerus Center, where delegates at the GOP state convention voted for him unanimously. In an address moments before the vote, Cramer laid out the high-stakes race, which could decide control of Read More…

Kelly Armstrong earns GOP endorsement for U.S. House

8 years ago Featured, Politics, Regional Politics

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Crews are cleaning up here, throwing away political posters that hours ago held so much hope. And with that, North Dakota Republicans named Kelly Armstrong their choice to fill Kevin Cramer’s seat in the House. “Thank you everyone, thank you so much,” said Kelly Armstrong, GOP Nominee for U.S. House. But Read More…

Zinke tells North Dakota Republicans Trump ‘needs allies’

8 years ago Featured, Politics, Regional Politics

GRAND FORKS — U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke rallied North Dakota Republicans here Saturday, April 7, and boosted Rep. Kevin Cramer, his former congressional colleague who was endorsed as the party’s pick for the U.S. Senate earlier in the day. Zinke, a former Republican congressman from Montana, avoided direct mention of his current role in Read More…

New approach to Cheyenne Civic Center sees early success

8 years ago Featured, News, Regional News

CHEYENNE – A Trombone Shorty show isn’t really a place to sit still. The New Orleans phenom floods the room with an ecstatic blend of jazz, hip hop and funk – a portable Bourbon Street party. And that’s what Amy Spieker, 31, had come to the Cheyenne Civic Center excited for Jan. 27 after her Read More…

Grizzly Numbers and Hunts

8 years ago Featured, News, Regional News

The number of grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is estimated to be up from the 2016 count. The report from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study team was delivered in Cody Wednesday. In 2017, the first year that Yellowstone area grizzlies were removed from the endangered species list, scientists estimate there were 718 grizzlies in Read More…

Top execs depart Kalispell Regional

8 years ago Business, Featured, Montana Business News

Kalispell Regional Healthcare is undergoing a transition in its leadership team as three top executives, the director of its digestive health institute and a contingent of its internal design team have either departed or announced plans to retire. In recent weeks, three prominent members of the Kalispell Regional staff who also serve on the hospital Read More…

Signs of the Times

8 years ago Business, Featured, Montana Business News

In the outside, Meissenburg Designs still looks a lot like it did when it was the site of Martin’s Peat, located southeast of Bigfork. Loyd and Laura Meissenburg acquired the property in 2013, with most of the changes occurring inside to accommodate their growing design and fabrication company. The magnificent Swan Mountains rise above the Read More…

Bullock Rejects CoreCivic

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

Gov. Steve Bullock rejected an offer from CoreCivic to extend its contract to manage Montana’s only private prison, because the company asked for a 15 percent increase in payments. Bullock told MTN News that [quote] “It doesn’t make sense for Montanans.” CoreCivic said Wednesday that the net increase under the offer would be only about Read More…

Department of Revenue Verses Private School Parents at MT Supreme Court

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

The Montana Supreme Court held oral arguments in Missoula today, April 6, in the case of Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. The case revolves around a rule from the Department of Revenue which bans use of Statewide Scholarship Tax Credits for those who attend faith-based private schools. The roots of the argument go back Read More…

Rare Tiny T. Rex Unearthed in Montana

8 years ago Featured, Montana News, News

In 2016, students from the Natural History Museum at Kansas University found a relatively small dinosaur pelvis in the Hell Creek formation in Montana. It was the end of their dig season and they didn’t have the time to unearth the rest of the remains. But the fossil was worth the wait; when they returned Read More…

Dems go to court to remove Green Party from Montana ballot

8 years ago Featured, Home Featured, Montana Politics, Politics

he Montana Democratic Party and three of its supporters filed suit late Monday to remove the Montana Green Party from the 2018 ballot, saying some signatures on petitions used to qualify the party are not valid. The lawsuit says at least 180 of the signatures turned in last month are invalid, and therefore the Green Read More…

Consumer sentiment in March hits highest level since 2004

8 years ago Featured, National News, News

U.S. consumer sentiment slipped slightly at the end of March, after shooting up in the mid-month preliminary report, but still recorded its highest level since 2004. The University of Michigan’s report showed consumer attitudes about the economy inched down to a reading of 101.4 at the end of March. Reuters economists expected the reading to Read More…

Trump says he may ‘hold up’ South Korea trade pact until a deal is made with North Korea

8 years ago Featured, National Politics, Politics

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he may “hold up” a major trade deal the U.S. recently made with South Korea, in order to use the agreement as leverage in any upcoming negotiations with North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear program. “I may hold it up until after a deal is made with North Korea,” Trump Read More…