It has been 30 years since the last time our nation’s tax code has been overhauled. In that time, the tax rate we levy on businesses has become one of the highest in the world, the tax code itself has become an incomprehensible mess, and special interests have drilled it full of loopholes that benefit Read More…
Less than two weeks after filing suit to block a $30 million transfer of its funds to help balance the state budget, the state workers’ compensation fund board may vote to withdraw the lawsuit. The Montana State Fund’s board of directors has scheduled an emergency meeting this Wednesday, to consider whether it should withdraw the Read More…
CHEYENNE – Facing deficits in a fast-approaching legislative budget session, Wyoming lawmakers are looking at diverting money that would have otherwise gone to savings to pay for services. For Rep. Mike Madden, R-Buffalo, identifying such diversions is part of a four-pronged approach to addressing the state’s budgetary woes. “We’ve got to look at diverting away Read More…
MONTANA – Governor Steve Bullock has called the Montana Legislature back to Helena for a special session to balance the state’s budget. The session will begin at 12:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 14, 2017. “I have put forth a set of reasonable and thoughtful proposals to balance Montana’s budget for consideration by the Legislature,” Gov. Bullock said. Read More…
MISSOULA — Montana officials are working on determining how much timber burned in summer wildfires at Lolo National Forest is salvageable. The Missoulian reports nearly 10 percent of the 3,125-square mile (8094-sq. kilometer) national forest in western Montana was burnt. Lolo National Forest Supervisor Timothy Garcia says based on their Forest Plan allocations and past experience with Read More…
The Montana Scene opened its fifth location on Nov. 3 at 219 S. Main St. in downtown Kalispell. The Montana Scene’s other locations are in Bigfork, Whitefish, Missoula and Bozeman. Only open for three years, the family-owned business has seen tremendous growth. The mission of the The Montana Scene is to share their passion and Read More…
(HELENA) Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Montana announced Monday that Dr. Monica Berner will be its next president. “I am humbled and excited to build on our past successes and celebrate innovation as we continue to navigate the ever-changing health care environment,” Berner said in a press release. “We are dedicated to making the health care system Read More…
The so-called corruption crackdown in Saudi Arabia over the weekend may be the beginning of a bigger power struggle by the heir apparent to the throne which destabilizes the region for a time and keeps oil prices elevated . Following the creation of an anti-corruption committee by current King Salman, security forces Saturday swept up Read More…
(HELENA) Montana state leaders paid their last respects Friday morning to former Governor Judy Martz, the state’s first female governor. Montana Highway Patrol troopers and Butte-Silver Bow police escorted Martz’s family from Butte to Helena. When they arrived at the Montana State Capitol, Gov. Steve Bullock, Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney, Attorney General Tim Fox and other Read More…
Thursday the Governors Office said they were closer to reaching a deal which would resolve the $200 Million budget deficit. Friday Republicans said that is not the case at all. House Speaker Austin Knudsen wants to make it very clear there is no budget deal. He said they are not even close to a deal. $227 Million, that is Read More…
Inter-Mountain Bancorp, Inc., the Bozeman-based holding company for First Security Bank, has entered into an agreement to join the Glacier Bancorp family of banks. Pending Board and regulatory approval, First Security will officially be under the Glacier Bancorp umbrella in early 2018. The new relationship will eventually lead to First Security Bank’s Golden Triangle locations Read More…
Like three other vulnerable Senate Democrats seeking re-election next year in states where President Donald Trump won, Sen. Jon Tester in Montana sports strong job approval ratings at home. But Tester has an additional edge compared to Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly in Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Manchin from West Virginia, according Read More…
Donna Brazile, former interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, said Hillary Clinton gained control of the political party before she won the presidential nomination in an effort to squeeze out Bernie Sanders. She began investigating whether Clinton “rigged the nomination process” as emails hacked from the DNC and published by WikiLeaks last year had Read More…
Wyoming voters prefer spending reductions over tax increases to balance the state’s budget and are open to cutting administrative education spending, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Wyoming Business Alliance. The survey also showed that voters were opposed to increasing “sales and property taxes” in order to balance the state budget by a Read More…
The Wyoming Legislature will have an additional $141 million in revenue to use while setting a budget for the next three years, a new report shows. The annual document, released Tuesday by the Consensus Revenue Estimate Group, also reveals that the state earned $244 million more than expected during the fiscal year that ended in Read More…
The number of private-sector jobs created in October rose more than expected, with construction jobs surging in the wake of destructive hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The ADP National Employment showed private-sector businesses added 235,000 jobs in the month. ADP was expected to show private employers added 200,000 jobs in October, up from 135,000 in September. Read More…
https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kufm/audio/2017/10/MN-PR-senate-update-10-31-17_0.mp3 Both of Montana’s senators questioned federal oversight of a multi-million dollar contract between Montana-based Whitefish Energy and the Puerto Rican electric utility during a Senate committee hearing today. Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines grilled administrators overseeing power restoration efforts in Puerto Rico during the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Read More…
SHERIDAN — A Sheridan, Wyo., couple was excited to learn they were pregnant earlier this year. But after they received their first ultrasound, they were stunned. “We went in and the doctor scanned and got a serious look on his face and went, ‘Oh, there are twins,” Dustin Olsen said. “And we’re like, ‘OK, that’s OK.’ Then Read More…
HELENA – The company that owns Montana’s only private prison has offered $30 million to help solve the state’s budget crisis – if the Bullock administration would extend the company’s contract for another 10 years, MTN News has learned. The money would come from a fund set aside to help the state buy the privately Read More…
(HELENA) The Montana Supreme Court has found that voter-approved Constitutional Initiative 116, commonly referred to as Marsy’s Law, is unconstitutional. The court concluded that the initiative made at least five substantive and not closely related to changes to the Montana constitution. Montana’s Constitution requires a separate vote for each unrelated change to the constitution. The court Read More…
Helena – Governor Steve Bullock has appointed Billings personal injury attorney Don Harris as the new district court judge in Yellowstone County. Mr. Harris will replace Judge Russ Fagg who retired earlier this year. Mr. Harris is currently a partner at the law firm of Harris, Gannet & Varela PLLC. He received his undergraduate and Read More…
The pollster for President Trump’s campaign says that he believes Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would have defeated Trump in the general election had he secured the Democratic nomination. Tony Fabrizio said at a Harvard University Institute of Politics event Monday that Sanders could have prevailed where Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton did not. “There’s no question that if Read More…
COLUMBIA FALLS — The prominent hotel and convention center. The lineup of renovated and emerging storefronts and apartment buildings populating almost half of Nucleus Avenue. Even the aerial photo of the “Gateway to Glacier” placed front and center on the city government’s website. All courtesy of Mick Ruis. It’s impossible to walk through Columbia Falls Read More…
Sears Holdings Corp. drew down the remaining $60 million on a $200 million loan, signaling that the struggling department-store chain is quickly running through cash. The retailer set up a revised loan on Oct. 4 and borrowed an initial $100 million, according to a filing on Monday. It tapped an additional $40 million on Oct. Read More…
The former House speaker feels liberated—but he’s also seething about what happened to his party. WEST CHESTER, Ohio—He swings the golf club like a right-hander, which he is, but putts as a southpaw. Maybe it’s a metaphor for a conservative politician who often turned to liberals in crunch time, but I’m too busy losing $20 Read More…
HELENA – Judy Martz, the first and only woman to serve as Montana’s governor, has died at age 74. Martz, who had pancreatic cancer, died in Monday morning at her home in Rocker, west of Butte. A Republican from the Democratic stronghold of Butte, Martz served a single term as governor, from 2001-2004. READ THE Read More…
DEER LODGE – Some members of Congress believe the country’s forest management just isn’t cutting it. “I’m of the firm belief if we don’t start managing our forests we’re going to continue to see these catastrophic wildfires,” said U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont. Gianforte invited his Republican colleague from Arkansas, Rep. Bruce Westerman, to tour Read More…
HELENA – Montana officials have decided to decommission all but one of the state’s old airway beacons that pilots used to rely on to find their way at night. More than 1,500 airway beacons used to dot the landscape nationwide but modern navigation equipment made them obsolete. Federal officials began decommissioning the beacons in the Read More…
Puerto Rico’s power authority is working to cancel a controversial contract it awarded to a small Montana-based utility company. Ricardo Ramos, the CEO of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, said he is “asking for a resolution” that would allow for the cancellation of the contract with Whitefish Energy. The $300 million deal with the two-year-old Read More…
MISSOULA – A Missoula man who won a 14-year fight to erase a rape conviction was freed from jail last week and will spend another 200-plus days under state supervision, for a probation violation – but then he’ll be an entirely free man. A state judge last Thursday placed Cody Marble on conditional release for Read More…
Columbia Falls Aluminum Company has reimbursed the federal government for some of the costs of investigating its former Columbia Falls plant. The aluminum mill was permanently closed in 2015 and declared a Superfund site last year. The company is currently investigating the site under the Environmental Protection Agency’s oversight and direction. In its Agreement on Read More…
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s congressional campaign committee bought an RV from his wife then sold it to a friend a year later at a steep discount, a watchdog group said in a Federal Election Commission complaint that alleges an illegal scheme to convert political donations into personal cash. The June RV sale is one of Read More…
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian interference in the election has dramatically escalated, with authorities indicting former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and campaign official Rick Gates with money laundering, making false statements and other charges. It was also revealed on Monday morning that George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy Read More…
The University of Providence continues with President Tony Aretz’s big, bold and fast mission to reinvent itself with three new construction projects. Thanks to a $25 million investment from the school’s partner Providence St. Joseph Health, work on a new University Center, wrestling facility and updates to the Student Union could begin as early as November. Read More…
WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday gave a significant boost to President Donald Trump’s promise to cut taxes, narrowly passing a GOP budget that shelves longstanding concerns over federal deficits in favor of a rewrite of the tax code that Republicans promise will jump-start the economy. The 216-212 vote permits Republicans to begin work on Read More…
Both President and Mrs. Trump both spoke on Thursday about the epidemic of opiod drugs in the U.S,, however Montana Attorney General Tim Fox also emphasized the challenge of both alcohol and methamphetamine. “Attorney General Fox appreciated the president’s announcement of a state of emergency over the opiod epidemic,” said. spokesman Eric Sell. “It’s important Read More…
On Thursday afternoon, Kathleen Williams announced that she will be running as a Democrat for Montana’s lone House seat. Williams is the fifth Democrat to enter the race. She is a former state legislator and said she believes her experience in Helena will help her in Washington, D.C. Dorothy Bradley, another former state legislator, and Read More…
According to the Legislative Fiscal Division, the 2017 wildfire season is expected to cost the state $74.2 million as wildfires burned nearly 1.3 million acres. During the 2017 Legislative session, lawmakers budgeted $32.3 million to fight fires for the fiscal years 2018 and 2019. This year’s fire burned through that entire amount as well as Read More…
A shadowy Bermudan company that has funneled tens of millions of dollars to anti-fracking environmentalist groups in the United States is run by executives with deep ties to Russian oil interests and offshore money laundering schemes involving members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. One of those executives, Nicholas Hoskins, is a director at a Read More…
The last Montana legislative session was a tough one with a trim budget, but there is speculation the money is already running out. Ever since the session ended, there has been talk of either the legislature or governor Steve Bullock calling a special session. Montana House Finance chair Nancy Ballance believes the governor might announce Read More…