HELENA — Democrat Steve Bullock had an oversized influence on the Montana judiciary during his eight years as governor, appointing 28 judges and justices – half of the state’s entire judiciary. In part, that influence led to a controversial change this year in how the Montana governor can fill judicial vacancies. READ FULL STORY
If Montana voters approve a Referendum on HB273 (Rep. Skees’ attempt to expedite nuclear development in Montana), the 1978 Nuclear Vote Initiative will once more be Montana law. The referendum asks Montana voters to repeal HB273 for five reasons: In 1978, Montana voters approved Initiative-80, “Nuclear Vote” by 65% to 35%. READ FULL STORY
BILLINGS- The carnival has arrived in Billings setting the stage for the 2021 MontanaFair. However, as COVID-19 cases rise, officials with MetraPark say they’re keeping some safety precautions in place while adding an emphasis on personal choice. Ray Massie with MetraPark says there are some new attractions this year, including fun for the entire family Read More…
GREAT FALLS — The Great Falls Police Department recently acquired two new incident response vehicles thanks to a federal program. One is a mobile crime scene unit, the other is for the department’s High Risk Unit. “These two vehicles provide a lot of different capabilities for us,” noted Captain Doug Otto of the GFPD. He Read More…
Through a small Zoom square from inside a Texas prison, nine immigrants in orange jumpsuits appeared for the first court hearings Wednesday under Gov. Greg Abbott’s new directive for state troopers to arrest people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and jail them for state crimes. Over three hours, each of the men — all from Venezuela — pleaded guilty Read More…
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates said his climate investment fund will commit $1.5 billion for joint projects with the U.S. government if Congress enacts a program aimed at developing technologies that lower carbon emissions. A roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate this week would give the Energy Department $25 billion for demonstration projects funded Read More…
HELENA, Mont. – The Montana National Guard is adding 25 personnel to state active duty to provide logistics and security support to the Lolo Complex Fire burning southwest of Missoula. Beginning Tuesday, a 20 person hand crew will aid in the Alder Creek Fire located southwest of Butte. On Wednesday, the CH-47 crew located in Read More…
BILLINGS — Yellowstone County voters will not get a second chance to overturn the legalization of recreational marijuana sales. A resolution voted on by the Yellowstone County Commissioners on Tuesday that would have put the issue of legalized recreational marijuana back on November’s ballot failed after a 1-1 tie. Board Chairman Don Jones voted in Read More…
GREAT FALLS — U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Port of Sweetgrass in Toole County recently seized 69.5 pounds of cocaine from a commercial vehicle. On Thursday, July 29, 2021, CBP officers encountered a commercial truck operated by a woman from Canada. The trailer contained a commercial load of watermelons and peppers Read More…
The Army recently inked a $3.5 billion contract with Pfizer Inc. for the pharmaceutical company to produce 500 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. But those shots are not planned for soldiers’ shoulders. Instead, the contract award states, they are for “international donation” and procurement is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2022, according Read More…
The district attorney of Albany County, New York, said Tuesday that his office is criminally investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been accused of sexually harassing multiple women. DA David Soares also said his office would “welcome any victim to contact our office with additional information” about Cuomo. And Soares said he plans to request investigative Read More…
CLEVELAND — Mike Gibbons, a Cleveland investment banker running for the Republican nomination in Ohio’s 2022 U.S. Senate race, is planning to spend $10 million on television and radio advertising over the next nine months. The large figure of reserved airtime stands out as millions of dollars begins pouring in to the competitive GOP primary to Read More…
The Wyoming Democratic Party staff is unionizing as a part of the IBEW Local 415 union. Workers handed in their union cards Saturday to Joe Barbuto, the chair of the party, and he voluntarily recognized the union. “A big part of it is walking the walk,” said Lindsey Hanlon, the deputy communications director and a Read More…
Jay Pickett, the actor who starred in “Soda Springs,” an independent movie filmed in Idaho, died on Friday. He was 60. Pickett had credits in over 50 films and was featured in soap operas such as “Port Charles, “Days of Our Lives” and “General Hospital,” according to IMDB. An actor who often played cowboys, Pickett was Read More…
ROCK SPRINGS — Visitors to the Flyrks.com website will now have an easier time finding information about aviation and the range of amenities in Sweetwater County. The new and improved website is part of a wider effort to be more responsive to airline passengers, pilots, and the community in general, said Airport Director Devon Brubaker. “The Read More…
Goldman Sachs will see Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan’s six-figure salaries for entry-level bankers — and raise them $10,000. As early as this week, Goldman Sachs will announce junior bankers can expect an even more generous payday than their peers at rival firms, The Post has confirmed. First-year bankers will now pull in $110,000 in base Read More…
Reese Witherspoon’s media business, Hello Sunshine, is selling itself to a firm backed by private-equity giant Blackstone Group Inc., the companies said, part of a plan to build an independent entertainment company for Hollywood’s streaming era. The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal. People familiar with the matter said it values Ms. Witherspoon’s Read More…
Activists gathered at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) home to demand her eviction in jest. While organizing Saturday in conjunction with Rep. Cori Bush’s (D-Mo.) protest on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, activists demanded a congressional session to extend the eviction moratorium. The notice claims because of rising COVID case counts, people should be Read More…
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has asked businesses in the state to only serve customers who are completely vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to avoid a “worst case scenario,” the governor said on Monday. “I am asking them, and suggesting to them, go to vaccine-only admission,” Cuomo said during a press conference, referring to private Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. – A new community impact study by Billings Police downtown resource officers said 93 people cost Billings’ taxpayers $10,327,665 in 2020. A link to the full study is available here. Officer Brad Mansur with the Billings Police Department said the cost comes from frequent contacts with law enforcement and visits to the hospital. A community Read More…
BILLINGS — A new school year is on the horizon, and there’s still plenty of uncertainty about what in-person classes will look like. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the rise in online learning, and one company is trying to prepare the next generation of students, especially in the most remote areas. “We’re in the mountains Read More…
At the top of the Continental Divide, under the watchful eye of “Our Lady of the Rockies,” sits the town of Butte, Montana. Rayelynn Brandl grew up here, riding bikes like local hero Evel KnIevel on what was once called “The Richest Hill on Earth,” thanks to Butte’s incredibly productive copper mines. “It was wonderful; Read More…
The mayor of Montana’s most populous city, Billings, says some people have moved from coastal states to the area because they want to be around other conservatives. Bill Cole told TIME magazine that he believed three major factors had brought newcomers to the city: affordable housing, people prioritizing their family and community over their work, and politics. Read More…
The fundraiser, coordinated by Michigan-based Republican consultants the Templar Baker Group, features former candidates for the Wyoming statehouse, agriculture leaders and other high-profile political figures. It comes as Noem has been floated as a potential candidate for the Republican Party’s 2024 nomination for president. A representative for Gordon said Noem’s campaign approached him initially, asking Gordon whether he would Read More…
A longtime South Dakota lawmaker and former House majority leader died unexpectedly Friday, prompting tributes from state political leaders from around the state. David Lust died during the overnight hours Friday morning of a suspected heart attack, his law office confirmed to the Argus Leader. Lust was a partner at the Rapid City firm Gunderson, Read More…
BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) – Headlines about housing from 1992 editions of the Idaho Statesman feel eerily familiar. Growth puts squeeze on number of available rentals in area Report says Idaho has housing woes Officials look for ways to ease growth burden Forum focuses on need for more affordable housing That year, Cecil Andrus — Read More…
GREYCLIFF — “There’s nothing like discovering a jewel in the making – finding a building that’s not in so great of shape, and then beginning to dream and imagine what that could be turned back into.” Matthew Brandstadt, born on the Western slope of Colorado, knew pretty early in life exactly what he wanted to Read More…
GREAT FALLS — Not many planes come through Great Falls. They certainly don’t come or go as fast as the fighter jets that used to occupy the tarmac years ago, but now the Montana Air National Guard is going through another aircraft conversion. They are transitioning from C-130 H1 models to newer H3 models, which Read More…
Shortly after daylight on the morning of July 26 Park County deputies found the vehicle Linde had stolen. Linde is still at large and is believed to be driving a 2000 Chrysler Town and Country minivan with MT plate 49-6627D which is also stolen. Linde was last seen around Mile Marker 11 on US Hwy Read More…
LIVINGSTON, MT- There’s a video going viral right now and chances are you’ve seen it, it’s of Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson in Livingston Montana shopping at Dan Bailey’s Outdoor Co. the video gets heated quickly. It was posted by a man named “Dan Bailey,” but the important distinction here is that Bailey shares no Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — A new mission for Miss Montana after being invited to fly in a world-class air show. The restored military plane is headed for Oshkosh, Wisconsin this weekend. Earlier crews were busy getting the plane ready for the journey, from degreasing the plane to loading it with supplies. READ FULL STORY
Southwest Airlines is ready to make the biggest push for business customers in the company’s history with a distribution deal with Southlake-based Sabre Corp. that started Monday. Dallas-based Southwest, which has long been reluctant to share revenue with third-party companies when it sells tickets, went live on Sabre’s global distribution platforms Monday. READ FULL STORY
More than 50 prominent medical organizations Monday called for all health-care employers and long-term care facilities to require COVID-19 vaccinations for their entire staffs. The call for action comes as the delta variant fuels a nationwide surge of COVID deaths and infections among unvaccinated Americans. Last week, the American Hospital Association and America’s Essential Hospitals Read More…
Joe Manchin strongly signaled in 2018 that his brutal reelection campaign that year was his last. Now, as he marshals the entire Senate in his centrist direction, he’s not so sure he’ll call it quits. The West Virginia Democrat is steadily padding his campaign coffers, raising $1.6 million in the first six months this year Read More…
One of the Texas Democrats who fled the state to protest a GOP-backed voter ID bill promoted an event that required park cleanup volunteers to provide multiple proofs of identification—standards the lawmakers have declared onerous and racist. When state representative Erin Zwiener helped organize a neighborhood cleanup in Kyle, Texas, on September 19, 2020, she Read More…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the second consecutive year, U.S. adults’ positive ratings of relations between Black and White Americans are at their lowest point in more than two decades of measurement. Currently, 42% of Americans say relations between the two groups are “very” or “somewhat” good, while 57% say they are “somewhat” or “very” bad. Read More…
A New Jersey health system fired six supervisors who refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19. RWJBarnabas Health announced that over 99% of its nearly 3,000 management staff have been vaccinated against COVID-19 but that six supervisors who were not “are no longer employees of RWJBH.” READ FULL STORY
Government employees are suing Connecticut to avoid returning to work, arguing that commutes contribute to climate change. Public employee unions in Connecticut are insisting their members continue to have the option to work full time from home, citing environmental and legal concerns. Democratic governor Ned Lamont allowed government employees to work exclusively from home during Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – District Court Judge John Grinsteiner retires in one month, which left the Supreme Court questioning whether the South Central Judicial District chambers would be filled, relocated or abolished. Because of the increasing caseload in the area, the judgeship will remain in Mandan. The district consists of nine counties with more than Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) – Wyoming Department of Transportation has received notification from their public affairs office, that a driver’s license phone scam had started circulating July 16th. Text messages are being sent to cell phones regarding false final notices for license waiver validations. Other D.O.T. offices have been experiencing the same scam for the last 6 to 8 Read More…