HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Department of Labor and Industry unveiled a new online Wage and Hour Portal designed to give workers a faster way to report wage concerns and provide employers a more convenient method for responding to those claims, the agency announced. The portal connects users with the department’s Employment Standards Division through Read More…
(The Center Square) — A federal judge has overturned a New Hampshire law that required unregistered voters to provide proof of citizenship to cast ballots in state elections. The ruling late Thursday by U.S. District Court judge Samantha Elliott sided with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups who sued to block the law, Read More…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department, Commerce Department, and FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office moved against an Iran-based procurement network that impersonated American small businesses to fraudulently obtain restricted technology for Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, federal officials announced. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated multiple individuals and entities connected to Read More…
(The Center Square) – As state track and field championships commenced Friday at Buchanan High School in Clovis, Calif., protesters set up across the street to take aim at transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports. Those who spoke at the press conference in central California criticized the California Interscholastic Federation’s 13-year-old policy to allow transgender Read More…
(The Center Square) – A proposal to create the largest U.S. currency denomination in more than 50 years could unintentionally benefit drug cartels, money launderers and tax cheats, according to experts and Treasury Department records. The Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act, introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., would create a new denomination featuring President Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — The Trump administration selected Montana as one of ten states to receive federal funding to expand access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services announced. Through the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Medicaid Demonstration Program, Montana will participate in a four-year federal Read More…
Retired combat veteran and conservative broadcaster Aaron Flint won the Republican primary for Montana’s Western Congressional District Tuesday, defeating Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen and former state senator Al Olszewski to capture the Republican nomination for the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Ryan Zinke. Flint’s victory was decisive, powered by a broad endorsement coalition Read More…
WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense announced the award of a five-year, $9.7 billion enterprise software agreement to Dell Federal Systems of Round Rock, Texas, covering Microsoft productivity, cloud, and communications technology across the entire U.S. military and defense enterprise. The Microsoft Department of War Enterprise Software Agreement II Core Enterprise Technology Agreement, structured as Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Former U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme and Air Force veteran Alani Bankhead emerged Tuesday as the Republican and Democratic nominees for Montana’s open U.S. Senate seat, setting up a three-way November race that could include independent Seth Bodnar pending signature certification. Alme, twice appointed as U.S. Attorney by President Trump, was the first Read More…
The Las Vegas Strip is facing a wave of consolidation unlike anything seen in a generation, with two major casino takeover deals announced in the span of days that could fundamentally reshape the American gaming industry. Media mogul Barry Diller’s holding company People Incorporated — formerly known as IAC — submitted a non-binding proposal Monday Read More…
(The Center Square) – Since Florida launched its immigration enforcement effort, Operation Tidal Wave, in February, nearly 25,000 arrests have been made statewide. “Florida will continue to use every available resource to identify dangerous individuals, support federal immigration enforcement and keep our citizens safe,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “No state has moved faster or done more Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Gov. Greg Gianforte continued his annual 56 County Tour this week, visiting small businesses, energy facilities, agricultural operations, and infrastructure projects across six counties along Montana’s Hi-Line and Rocky Mountain Front. The governor began his day in Toole County at Prairie Peddler in Shelby, a local gift and coffee shop that reopened Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. — The South Dakota Arts Council awarded six grants of $5,000 each to support community-based arts and cultural initiatives celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States, the agency announced. The grants were awarded through SDAC’s America 250 Community Arts program, which encouraged organizations across the state to create public programming highlighting local Read More…
WASHINGTON — Kevin Warsh begins his first full week as chairman of the Federal Reserve today with markets watching closely for early signals on monetary policy direction as stubbornly high inflation complicates the new chair’s opening days in office. Warsh was sworn in May 22 in a White House ceremony — the first time a Read More…
Montana voters will cast ballots Tuesday in primary elections that will shape the state’s most competitive federal races of the 2026 cycle, with talk radio host Aaron Flint entering primary day as the clear frontrunner in the Republican contest for the Western Congressional District. Flint carries the full weight of the Republican establishment behind him, Read More…
NEW YORK — A former TD Bank employee pleaded guilty to exploiting his insider access to steal confidential customer information and bribe an employee at a second financial institution to falsify bank records, facilitating more than $3.4 million in fraud losses, the Justice Department announced. Cheungkin Lam, 28, of Queens, New York, also known as Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez traveled to Missoula Thursday to headline a campaign rally for Democratic congressional candidate Sam Forstag, bringing national progressive star power to Montana’s competitive Western District primary in its final days before the June 2 vote. The event was held at The Wilma in downtown Missoula, a venue with Read More…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order directing federal health officials to review and potentially update the United States’ childhood vaccine schedule to better align with practices in peer developed nations, citing findings that the U.S. currently recommends more childhood vaccines than any comparable country. The order directs the Centers for Disease Control Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Billings City Council voted this week to establish an independent governmental authority to oversee Billings Logan International Airport, ending nearly a century of direct municipal control over one of Montana’s busiest commercial aviation facilities. The council approved the measure following a presentation from Billings Aviation and Transit Director Jeff Roach and Read More…
A recent settlement with the Department of Justice in Texas has flung open the doors for the very first time for detransitioner medical care. Attorney General Ken Paxton announced earlier this month that after a lengthy investigation into the alleged misuse of Medicaid funds to perform transitions at Texas Children’s Hospital, they would open a Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Independent U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar appears on track to qualify for Montana’s November general election ballot after county election officials certified more than 18,000 signatures and forwarded them to the Secretary of State’s Office for final verification, according to an unofficial tally released Friday. Bodnar’s campaign needed 13,327 valid signatures to Read More…
WASHINGTON — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined Vice President JD Vance, the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, and attorneys general from 15 other states at an anti-fraud roundtable focused on combating wasteful spending, abuse, and fraud in federal benefit programs including Medicaid and SNAP. The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud Read More…
Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate Tuesday, ending over three decades of Sen. John Cornyn’s electoral dominance in what amounts to a watershed moment for GOP politics in Texas. The Associated Press called the race for Paxton shortly after 8 p.m., about an hour after most polls closed in Read More…
(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania government has a $5.7 billion problem, and close observers of those running the state don’t anticipate seeing a full solution 46 days from now when the 2026-27 budget deadline arrives. The latest projection from the state Independent Fiscal Office is for a budget deficit of $5.7 billion next fiscal year. Read More…
The Department of War has awarded $27.3 million to Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company, bringing its total investment in the solid rocket motor supply chain to $191 million since December 2024, as the Pentagon moves aggressively to close production gaps in a segment it considers strategically vital. The latest award, funded through the Defense Production Read More…
For years, litigators, activists and scientific experts have called on the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the litany of local lawsuits related to the herbicide glyphosate. As the court deliberates on the case Monsanto v. Durnell, they will soon get their wish. The case is nominally about pesticide labels. The question lurking behind Read More…
North Central Judicial District Judge Todd L. Cresap has announced he will retire effective July 17, 2026, ending a judicial career that spans nearly two decades in northwestern North Dakota. Cresap was first appointed to the bench in 2009 by Gov. John Hoeven to serve as District Court Judge for the North Central Judicial District Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a coalition of ten state attorneys general in calling on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to conduct a rigorous review of any filings submitted by OpenAI ahead of the company’s anticipated initial public offering, citing concerns about undisclosed conflicts of interest involving chief executive Sam Altman. In Read More…
As the fourth largest state in the U.S. with the sixth smallest population, each agency relies on another for niche expertise, whereas bigger agencies can potentially accomplish everything on their own, said Adam Pankratz, deputy chief of Montana State University’s police department. These relationships start to form during basic training, which 14 future officers from Read More…
Montana has vaulted from 22nd to 8th in national fiscal health rankings over the past four years, according to a new report from Truth in Accounting, a nonpartisan think tank that annually evaluates the financial condition of all 50 states. The 2025 Financial State of the States report credited Montana’s rise in part to revenues Read More…
(The Center Square) – Parental rights group the American Parents Coalition is urging Congress to review federal funding of the American Academy of Pediatrics, alleging that the organization prioritizes politics and gender ideology before children’s health while using tax dollars. Executive director of American Parents Coalition Alleigh Marré told The Center Square that “President [Donald] Trump’s Read More…
A new endowment at the Montana State University Alumni Foundation aims to support Montana students for generations to come, thanks to a $1 million investment from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation. The endowment will permanently fund the D.A. Peressini Legacy Scholarship, named for father and son Donald and Daniel Peressini. Both attended MSU and Read More…
UND’s Vets2Wings program will continue helping veterans and National Guard members pursue aviation careers through 2030 following a new $3 million federal investment secured by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. The additional funding extends a program that launched in late 2022 through a partnership between UND, the Federal Aviation Administration and congressional leaders. The program is Read More…
AZ Lemonade Stand, an Arizona-based premium lemonade brand, is rolling out across Montana retailers this month, bringing five flavors to Town Pump, Super 1 Foods, Rosauers, and Thriftway Food Stores locations statewide as the company pushes deeper into western markets. The launch includes the brand’s Original, Strawberry, Mango, and Prickly Pear varieties alongside a Huckleberry Read More…
Six Montana airports will share more than $25 million in federal grants to fund a range of safety and infrastructure improvements, the office of Rep. Ryan Zinke announced, with the largest single award going to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport for a taxiway extension project. The grants come from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program Read More…
Bozeman has earned recognition as one of the country’s leading entrepreneurship hubs, with Gallatin County landing in the 98th percentile on a national index measuring entrepreneurial activity in rural communities, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced at an event in the city this week. The ranking comes from the Center on Rural Innovation’s Rural Entrepreneurship Index, developed Read More…
July 4, 2026, marks our nation’s 250th birthday. For two and a half centuries, patriotic men and women have fought and sacrificed so this country remains free, sovereign, and governed by “we the people,” not by federal bureaucrats. A 250th anniversary is rare in a nation’s life. It is also a unique opportunity for a Read More…
A new survey of likely GOP primary voters in Montana’s 1st Congressional District shows Aaron Flint holding a narrow lead in a race where one-third of voters remain undecided, with significant room for ballot movement ahead of the June 2 primary election. The poll, conducted May 5-7 by Public Opinion Strategies, surveyed 400 likely Republican Read More…
Wall Street closed out a turbulent week on a sour note Friday, with all three major indexes posting sharp declines that erased much of the gains built up through a historic midweek rally, leaving investors to weigh record stock prices against rising inflation, elevated oil prices, and unresolved geopolitical tensions. For the week, the S&P Read More…
(The Center Square) – Democratic senators are advancing a series of proposals to tax America’s wealthiest households, with supporters projecting trillions in new federal revenue. Critics, however, argue the plans would generate far less than promised while creating economic and legal complications. Democrats have introduced four major proposals this year aimed at millionaires and billionaires. Read More…