Two environmental groups have filed separate lawsuits to stop the Soldier-Butler timber project in the Ninemile Valley after U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided there was no long-term harm to grizzly bears. On Monday, the Flathead-Lolo-Bitterroot Citizen Task Force sued the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Missoula federal court Read More…
Passenger counts at Missoula International Airport continue to rebound from the deepest days of the pandemic, though they remain far below what they were at the same point last year. Still, the climbing numbers have airport officials feeling more optimistic than they were over the summer, when they were bracing for possible cuts to service. Read More…
With less than one week to go until election day, Montana’s Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) is bringing two of the US Senate’s heavy hitters to the Treasure State. Both Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) and Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) will be in Montana. Rubio hit Great Falls on Tuesday, while Ted Cruz will be in Read More…
“The Big Sky Buy-off.” That’s how they coined the effort by Democrats to get former Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) out of the Senate and into the post as US Ambassador to China. They had to buy-off Baucus, so the Democrats could have a head start on the 2014 US Senate race. Now, there are fresh allegations Read More…
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is getting grilled in Pennsylvania ever since he said during last week’s debate that he plans to “transition” away from the oil industry. In three separate local news interviews in the key battleground state on Saturday, Biden responded to questions about his comment, as well as his mixed messages regarding fracking. “Look I’m from Read More…
Last Thursday night former Vice President Joe Biden created a huge problem for himself. He made an astounding mistake for a career politician — he accidentally told the truth. Most will recall this critical moment in the presidential debate: President Trump: Would you close down the oil industry? Biden: I would transition from the oil industry, yes. Read More…
Businesses in South Dakota now have an extra week to get aid from the state government program established to help make up for losses incurred due to COVID-19. While tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits took advantage of federal aid this spring when President Donald Trump signed the CARES Act into law, Read More…
Gov. Mark Gordon is allocating remaining CARES Act funds to help Wyoming businesses and nonprofits with ongoing coronavirus-related losses and expenses. The Wyoming Business Council is finalizing two new funds for the COVID-19 Business Relief Program: the Agriculture Fund and the Endurance Fund. Applications for both funds will be accepted from Nov. 2 through Nov. Read More…
North Dakota voters are deciding whether to reelect their only congressman, a freshman incumbent, or pick someone new for the next two years. U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., is seeking a second term. He’s challenged by Democratic-NPL nominee Zach Raknerud, a retail manager in Minot, and Libertarian Steven Peterson, a Fargo business owner. In Read More…
A state financial report released Monday showed a General Fund shortfall of $451.1 million and a school funding shortfall of $300 million, according to a news release from Gov. Mark Gordon. The Consensus Estimating Revenue Group’s forecast is slightly better than projected in May, but the state’s revenue collections have experienced a significant decline. “I Read More…
As the unpredictable nature of the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect every industry differently, sawlog prices in Montana are reaching record levels, said F.H. Stoltze Land and Resource Manager Paul McKenzie. “The product demand has increased dramatically in general forest products,” he said. According to the University of Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research Read More…
Responding to a request from the Montana Department of Corrections, Governor Steve Bullock and Major General Matthew Quinn have activated the Montana Army National Guard to provide operational assistance at Montana State Prison, where staff and inmates have been impacted by COVID-19. The facility saw its first positive cases among staff and inmates earlier in Read More…
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee (CCAGW PAC) announced its endorsement for Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) for re-election to the Senate and Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) for governor. CCAGW PAC based its endorsements on the candidates’ lifetime score in CCAGW’s 2019 Congressional Ratings. Sen. Daines has a lifetime rating of Read More…
It’s less than two weeks before election day and Montana on Thursday again set a new record for COVID-19 cases reported in a single day with more than 900. Whoever is elected as Montana’s next governor will inherit oversight of the state’s response to the pandemic. Yellowstone Public Radio’s Nicky Ouellet and Rachel Cramer discuss Read More…
North Dakota’s Game and Fish Department is offering license refunds to more than 9,000 deer hunters due to an outbreak of disease in western North Dakota. State wildlife officials in August began documenting deer deaths due to epizootic hemorrhagic disease — commonly called EHD. “Loss of deer to this disease appears to have extended into Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — The City of Evanston have applied for a $3 million grant and a $1,109,607 loan from the state to build a 60,000 acre square foot manufacturing facility at their Union Center Business Park. The facility would accommodate the relocation of Avalon International Aluminum, according to the Wyoming Business Council. The WBC Board of Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites are proposing a fee increase effective January 1, 2021. The public is invited to attend information meetings as well as submit comments by November 14. Wyoming State Parks Deputy Director Dave Glenn explained the proposal saying, “All revenue collected through visitor fees goes right back to Read More…
A court document containing detailed information about Ghislaine Maxwell and her relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unsealed on Thursday morning in New York just moments before a court-imposed deadline. This document, an April 2016 deposition, is among about a dozen long-awaited Maxwell files that have been unsealed, with the first filing involving Epstein accuser Virginia Read More…
Graphics chip giant Nvidia mopped up the floor with its competition in a benchmark set of tests released Wednesday afternoon, demonstrating better performance on a host of artificial intelligence tasks. The benchmark, called MLPerf, announced by the MLPerf organization, an industry consortium that administers the tests, showed Nvidia getting better speed on a variety of Read More…
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to subpoena Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to testify about allegations of anti-conservative bias, ratcheting up GOP pressure on the social media companies’ content policies before the November elections. How the vote went down: The Judiciary Committee voted 12-0 to authorize the subpoenas, with all Read More…
You have to do something extraordinary to unite Elizabeth Warren and Bill Barr. But that’s what Google has done. President Trump’s attorney general and personal fixer has filed an antitrust suit against the trillion-dollar internet titan. And the Massachusetts senator, who despises everything about the Trump administration and has called on Barr to resign, is cheering Read More…
Sen. Bernie Sanders is hoping to be a part of Joe Biden’s potential administration and has expressed a particular interest in becoming Labor secretary, two people familiar with the conversations tell POLITICO. “I can confirm he’s trying to figure out how to land that role or something like it,” said one person close to the Read More…
MISSOULA — Over the past 20 years, Montana’s registered apprenticeship program has sent more than 3,300 workers into good-paying jobs, with another 2,400 on the way, according to a new report. On Wednesday, Gov. Steve Bullock summarized the findings of a Department of Labor and Industry report on Montana’s Registered Apprenticeship program and praised the role that Read More…
In a press conference today, Governor Steve Bullock joined Yellowstone County Public Health Officer John Felton to announce increased enforcement of health officer orders, along with a website for residents to file complaints. “Just one business not complying with the public health measures, puts an increased risk on everyone else who is doing their due diligence to Read More…
HELENA, Mont. – The Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) Director Sheila Hogan announced Monday that Montana has submitted its draft COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for review. “This is a critical step, and I’m pleased with where we’re at this point in the process,” Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — A new exclusive NBC Montana/Strategies 360 poll shows very close Montana races less than two weeks before Election Day. Strategies 360 conducted a mixed-mode survey of 500 likely November 2020 voters in Montana. Interviews were conducted Oct. 15-20. A combination of landlines, cellphones, and voter file-based online interviews via text message were used Read More…
North Dakota’s oil output soared 14% in August as more wells shut down earlier in the spring because of the coronavirus crisis came back online. “It is nice to note that we are back on the road again to healthy production,” Lynn Helms, director of North Dakota’s Mineral Resources Department, told reporters Friday. Still, Helms Read More…
Some things are easy to predict in Wyoming politics. The liberal enclaves of Jackson and Laramie will continue to favor Democrats, despite Wyoming’s deep red reputation. Natrona County, home to a robust and influential conservative establishment, will continue to elect Republicans under the local, “big tent” tradition. And towns such as Gillette, as conservative Read More…
Why is the union that is supposed to represent Montana school teachers spending $800,000 to campaign against a referendum on the ballot this November? Does it involve teacher pay? Would it take away the pensions of teachers or public employees? Nope. The teachers union is spending $800,000 to campaign against your gun rights. Legislative Referendum Read More…
Montana gas prices are unchanged in the past week, averaging $2.25/g on Oct. 19, 2020, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 615 stations. Gas prices in Montana are 1.3 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 47.3 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. According to GasBuddy price reports, the Read More…
WINDHAM, N.H. – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, campaigning in the battleground state of New Hampshire on behalf of President Trump and fellow Republicans, took aim at Joe Biden over a much-publicized story this week in the New York Post regarding the Democratic presidential nominee’s son Hunter Biden. The president, his reelection campaign and surrogates, have spotlighted the report to charge that Biden’s Read More…
A federal grand jury has charged six Russian nationals with a wide-ranging campaign of cyberattacks — including a highly destructive global malware rampage and a 2018 attack on the Winter Olympic Games — that reflects the scope and intensity of Russia’s digital aggression. As officers of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, the six defendants launched Read More…
The nation’s top military leaders have been cleared to return to work at the Pentagon after having self-quarantined as a precaution following the positive Covid-19 test of a senior Coast Guard official in early October. The go-ahead to resume work from the Pentagon was given last week, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Read More…
CHEYENNE — With Wyoming approaching one of the most crucial legislative sessions in its history, state lawmakers held initial discussions Wednesday afternoon on what COVID-19 precautions will need to be taken to kick off the session in January. While members of the Legislature’s Management Council didn’t finalize a format during their meeting Wednesday, one thing Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Six men in North Dakota were indicted by a Grand Jury Thursday for illegally obtaining firearms within the state. North Dakota U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley says 28-year-old Leoncio Bald Eagle claimed he had never been convicted of a crime when filling out an AFT form to obtain a gun. Wrigley says Read More…
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg told a 911 dispatcher that he had hit “something” in the middle of the road the night he struck and killed a pedestrian, according to a recording of a 911 call authorities released Tuesday. When a 911 dispatcher asked if could have been a deer, Ravnsborg said at first, “I Read More…
The Cascade County Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation into the death of Sally Jane Demarais-Smith, who was found dead on Sunday afternoon. At around 2:30 p.m., her body was found inside her 2005 Toyota Corolla in a storage unit at 3033 Malmstrom Drive, according to Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter. Although located near Malmstrom Read More…
Brucellosis research will expand to outdoor settings in the greater Yellowstone area, the United States Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. USDA under secretary Greg Ibach announced the new research projects in front of stacks of hay at a ranch north of Belgrade. Ibach said the new testing guidelines will help the effort to eliminate brucellosis Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. – President Donald Trump has made several visits to Montana in recent years – in 2016 as a candidate for president, as well as in 2018 in an effort to flip Senator Jon Tester’s seat in the mid-term elections. Now, three weeks shy of Election Day, the president has not set foot in Montana Read More…
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) raised $26.8 million in the third quarter of the year for his bid to unseat Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), making him the latest Democratic Senate candidate to set a fundraising record in his state. Bullock’s third quarter fundraising haul is more than three times the roughly $7.8 million he raised in the second quarter, and Read More…