Texas’ main power grid struggled to keep up with the demand for electricity Tuesday, prompting the operator to ask Texans to conserve power nearly two months after catastrophic power outages left millions without electricity for days. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said it does not expect customer power outages like those caused in February’s Read More…
Proposals to amend North Dakota’s constitution would be limited to one subject and would need at least 60% of voters in favor, under a measure proposed for 2022. Leaders of the measure group say the state’s constitution is too easy to amend, citing proposed changes in every election cycle over the last decade. Of Read More…
President Biden has announced that the United States will fully withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, which is, of course, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack that rocked the United States in 2001, leaving hundreds dead and a nation in mourning. Though the Trump administration reached a deal with the Taliban to complete Read More…
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) – Help wanted has now turned into help needed for many places like Piesano’s Pacchia. “It’s just hard to get help,” says owner Stacey Livermont. Secretary Marcia Hultman from the Department of Labor and Regulation says initial claims for unemployment are going back to normal rates, but continued claim numbers still Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota’s attorney general who is awaiting his next court hearing involving a fatal crash has announced his promotion in the Army Reserve. Jason Ravnsborg posted on Facebook that he is now a full colonel in the Army Reserve. He’s been in the military for 24 years and through three deployments, his Read More…
Documents filed this week in Natrona County District Court allege that a Casper man gave a 13-year-old girl methamphetamine and then produced child pornography with her. Salvador Salas is charged with the following in district court: Two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor Two counts of sexual exploitation of children Distribution of a Read More…
If you hit it, you can eat it. A new Wyoming law allows drivers to take home wildlife that was accidentally killed by a car, and prepare it for dinner. Salvaging roadkill had been illegal in the state for generations before Monday’s bill singing. Now, Wyoming joins 30 other states where drivers can cook a Read More…
The Texas Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would prevent local governments from cutting their law enforcement budgets without voter approval. It was the Legislature’s most substantial move yet in a political war over police funding in Texas that was sparked last summer. The in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and fatal police shooting of Mike Ramos in Austin prompted Read More…
Bernard Madoff, the Manhattan investment adviser who promised stellar returns to his A-list clients and instead defrauded them of more than $19 billion in history’s largest Ponzi scheme, has died. He was 82. He died Wednesday, according to an emailed statement from Brandon Sample, Madoff’s attorney. No cause was given. Madoff’s home since July 2009 was Read More…
HELENA — The administrator of the Montana Supreme Court, at the center of a battle with Republican legislators over the release of internal emails from the state judiciary, has filed a new request asking the high court to block GOP efforts to obtain and disseminate those emails. The filing from Beth McLaughlin Monday evening came Read More…
GREAT FALLS — Governor Greg Gianforte on Tuesday issued an executive order prohibiting the state-sponsored development and required use of so-called vaccine passports in Montana. “I strongly encourage Montanans to get a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine, which is our best path to protect our family and friends and get back to a more normal life,” Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. – One small business owner is being awarded a $10,000 grant for going above and beyond to support her local community. Nici Holt Cline is the founder of Dig This Chick, an online marketplace and community that encourages people to get outside with their families, get dirt under their fingernails and can foods. She Read More…
Montana has 377 bridges and more than 1,485 miles of highway in poor condition, and 1 in 4 of the state’s public transit vehicles is ready for the scrapyard, according to a new “infrastructure report card” from the Biden White House. The report card, released as part of the administration’s push for a $2.3 trillion Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Missoula International Airport officials tell NBC Montana all flights are coming in and out on time. Brian Ellestad is the new director at the Missoula International Airport. He says enough workers are on hand, doing all the needed duties for planes to take off and land properly, and he sees no demonstrations going Read More…
HELENA – The Montana University System is looking for your input, when it comes to carrying guns on campus. House Bill 102 was passed by the Montana House of Representatives, expanding where people can carry a concealed weapon. The bill would relax gun restrictions in Montana by allowing concealed carrying of firearms on college campuses and allow people Read More…
BILLINGS – Pictograph Cave State Park southeast of Billings will reopen Wednesday, two months after it was closed by a rockfall that blocked the access road and several trails. Since a rockfall in January, Park employees and contractors have worked to clear the road and trails and assess the threat of future rockfalls from the Read More…
HELENA — The Montana House has endorsed a bill that would let the public ask for an election to change local health boards’ actions. It’s the latest of a series of bills debated this session that would put boundaries around the authority of health boards and officers. Senate Bill 108, sponsored by Sen. Doug Kary, Read More…
HELENA — In an escalating political battle between Republican leadership at the Montana Legislature and the state’s judiciary, the Montana Supreme Court Sunday quashed a subpoena lawmakers had used to obtain a cache of internal e-mails from the judiciary. In an unusual weekend order, the high court blocked any further release of the e-mails until Read More…
President Joe Biden unveiled a $2.25 trillion jobs and infrastructure plan last month and has promised to seek input from Republican lawmakers on its ultimate design. That courtship begins Monday when Biden and Vice President Harris meet with a bipartisan group of House and Senate members to discuss the proposal. But his administration has already signaled its willingness to push a Read More…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Thom Tillis announced Monday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and he’ll undergo surgery in North Carolina this week to treat it. The Republican lawmaker said in a statement that his cancer was detected “relatively early” and his “prognosis is good.” Tillis, 60, says his doctors caught the cancer during his Read More…
Since 2017, the IRS owes — that’s right, owes – Americans $1.3 billion in unclaimed tax returns, the agency said on Monday. The IRS said that in total, 1.3 million tax payers who did not file a 2017 Form 1040 federal income tax return are owed a refund. The IRS said the median refund would Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — The public comment period for a Montana plan to clean a polluted 42-acre area just north of downtown Missoula is set to expire on May 2. The Missoulian reported Thursday that the Montana Department of Environmental Quality had proposed a plan to clean the area to standards that would allow future industrial uses. Read More…
Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed legislation banning sanctuary cities throughout the state earlier this week. “We are a nation of laws, and immigration laws will be enforced in Montana,” Gianforte said in a statement,” the governor said in a statement. The legislation allows the state’s attorney general to pursue civil action against jurisdictions that refuse to comply with federal Read More…
Kelly Tshibaka, an Alaska official who on Monday launched a challenge against Sen. Lisa Murkowski, is backed by former aides to President Donald Trump in a race that could prove a test of his appeal agaist the GOP establishment. Tim Murtaugh, the former communication director for Trump’s reelection campaign, Bill Stepien, Trump’s former campaign manager, Justin Clark, Trump’s former deputy Read More…
President Joe Biden announced his first slate of judicial nominees Tuesday, tapping a diverse pool of 11 candidates for the federal bench. Perhaps the most high-profile name on the White House’s list was Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia — a potential Supreme Court pick — whom Read More…
After he canceled student debt for about 72,000 defrauded borrowers two weeks ago, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced on Monday relief measures for borrowers with total and permanent disabilities. Under the previous rule, established under President Barack Obama, anyone determined permanently disabled by a physician, the Social Security Administration, or the Department of Veteran Affairs was eligible for federal Read More…
State Sen. Mary Souza, R-Coeur d’Alene, has announced she’ll run for Idaho Secretary of State in 2022, joining a race that already includes Ada County Clerk Phil McGrane. Current Secretary of State Lawerence Denney told the Idaho Press two weeks ago that he’s probably not going to seek a third term; Denney, like both Souza Read More…
North Dakota’s Senate might revive the question of legalizing recreational marijuana, but through a ballot measure put to voters. The chamber last week soundly defeated a bill to legalize but restrict the drug for recreational use. The 50-page bill, which passed the House, came as an effort by lawmakers to head off a proposed Read More…
The Wyoming Senate voted Monday to pass a bill that would make it illegal to share explicit images or videos without the subject’s consent. House Bill 85 addresses what’s commonly known as revenge porn. As of 2019, Wyoming was just one of four states in the U.S. without any laws concerning the practice. Read More…
Idaho Potato Commission President and CEO Frank Muir plans to retire in mid-September. He prioritized national branding and marketing since leaving a well-established corporate career in those disciplines in 2003 to join IPC. “I was hired as an outside hired gun to do real marketing, and that’s what we’ve tried to do the Read More…
To close out Montana Agriculture Week, Governor Greg Gianforte toured the Feddes’ Family’s Amsterdam Meat Shop in Manhattan, which was awarded a MT Meat Processing Award Grant from the CARES Act. At the site, the governor heard from owners how this investment allowed them to increase their processing capacity and get their beef from pasture Read More…
Sixty officers from 40 different agencies in the state will graduate Tuesday from the Montana Law Enforcement Academy in Helena. Attorney General Austin Knudsen is set to give a keynote address. Glen Stinar, academy administrator, and graduating class representative Thomas Hsu of the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office will also speak, according to a news release. Read More…
(The Center Square) – Montana is the ninth least stressed state in the U.S., according to a new study, in large part because of financial, family and health-related factors. Personal finance website Wallethub ranked the states based on more than 40 indicators across categories such as average number of hours worked per week, personal bankruptcy rate and Read More…
HELENA, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte announced Monday in a release that Montana is one of four states selected to participate in the National Governors Association’s (NGA) 2021 Policy Academy to Advance Whole-of-State Cybersecurity. In the new policy academy, Montana will work with the NGA on developing and implementing cybersecurity workforce development plans. “As one Read More…
HELENA — More than three years into an overhaul of Montana’s criminal sentencing laws, the Legislature is preparing to ask the Corrections Department for extensive reporting on whether rehabilitation programs are working – including a rewritten definition of “recidivism.” “There was a fair amount of frustration that there really hasn’t been good progress made, to Read More…
HELENA — On Monday, Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins has officially announced his intentions to run for re-election. “I want to continue to improve our wonderful home, and make it a better place to live, work, and raise our families – which is why today, I’m extremely honored and humbled to ask for your vote to Read More…
HELENA — One of the most anticipated bills of the 2021 Legislature – the measure containing the Gianforte administration’s proposal to implement recreational marijuana in Montana – was introduced Monday morning. House Bill 701, sponsored by Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, would make many changes to the 2020 initiative passed by voters last November, that legalized Read More…
The Idaho legislature voted Friday to close down until early April after a coronavirus outbreak among six members of the state House. The recess, which will last until April 6, comes after five Republicans and a Democrat in the lower chamber tested positive for the virus. Several GOP lawmakers in both chambers have declined to Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Organizers for the Kenny Chesney concert have rescheduled the show at the Bobcat Stadium in Bozeman for 2022 due to COVID-19 concerns. Montana State University said in a release Chesney is putting on an entirely new show with a different name, different line-up and is including new music for his 2022 tour Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — An attorney for the Montana Democratic Party says a bill requested by the Secretary of State’s Office is an attempt to do an end run around the Montana Supreme Court decision that removed the Green Party from the 2020 ballot. Democrats challenged the minor party’s qualification after it was learned the Montana Republican Read More…