At least $3.8 million was spent to influence Montana lawmakers’ work during the first three months of 2019. That’s with one more month’s worth of lobbyist spending reports for the 2019 legislative session yet to be filed. The deadline for that is today. Lobbying dollars can include things like paying a lawyer to speak against Read More…
As both Samsung and Huawei are left reeling from various troubles, Apple is taking the opportunity to kick its opponents while they are down. And only a few weeks ago it seemed like Apple was being crushed by the competition. Speaking to The Independent, Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, lifts the lid Read More…
BISMARCK — North Dakota state transportation officials kicked off a $370 million highway construction season Wednesday, May 22, months after lawmakers rejected a gas tax increase to boost road funding. The plans include reconstructing and rehabilitating sections of Interstate 94, reconstructing parts of Interstate 29 between Fargo and Wahpeton as well as reconstructing and rehabbing U.S. Read More…
CHEYENNE — A wealthy Republican political donor from Wyoming says he’s thinking about running for U.S. Senate in 2020. Foster Friess told The Associated Press in a statement Wednesday he will be weighing a possible run in the months ahead. Republican Sen. Mike Enzi recently announced he will retire at the end of his current Read More…
The governor of South Dakota says she does not plan to stop the execution of a death row inmate who claims jurors were biased against him because he’s gay. The American Civil Liberties Union is urging Gov. Kristi Noem to grant clemency to Charles Rhines. He was convicted of stabbing 22-year-old doughnut shop employee Donnivan Read More…
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is doing some digging to figure out who exactly owns fossils found buried in Montana. The long-standing dispute is between landowners and mineral estates in Garfield County, who are making competing claims for the rights to the valuable finds. On Monday, the federal appellate court bounced the case back Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. — A Montana organization has been awarded a $500,000 contract to develop a village of 200-square-foot homes for people who are homeless. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports mortgage company Fannie Mae announced Wednesday that Bozeman-based Human Resource Development Council was among the five winners in a competition looking for innovative proposals addressing affordable Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said Wednesday he applauds President Trump’s tough stance on trade with China, since he saw firsthand how difficult it is to do business there. But his patience is finite, he warned Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. Mr. Daines, a Republican, said farmers and retailers back home are fretting over tit-for-tat tariffs with the Read More…
WASHINGTON – There have been multiple reports of sexual harassment and hostile work environments at national parks, including Yellowstone National Park. Eight incidents occured from January 2016 to June 2017, according to the Office of Inspector General. Wednesday, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., addressed U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, saying if more is not Read More…
From Representative Gianforte’s Office WASHINGTON — Congressman Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) and a bipartisan group of legislators introduced Savanna’s Act, a bill to address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women. Native American women face a murder rate 10 times higher than the national average, and 84 percent experience some form of violence in their Read More…
Barbara Barrett, a former U.S. ambassador and one-time Arizona gubernatorial hopeful, is President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Air Force. Barrett is well-known among business-minded Republicans, the cohort who attend Chamber of Commerce luncheons. She and her husband, former Intel chairman and CEO Craig Barrett, regularly donate money to Republican candidates. They’ve also given millions Read More…
This week, Austin Knudsen announced his candidacy for Montana Attorney General for the 2020 election. Knudsen is a 5th generation Montanan, current Roosevelt County Attorney and former two-time Speaker of the House. He told KGVO News there are two issues he wants to vigorously pursue if elected as the state’s Attorney General. “Meth is beyond Read More…
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency is planning to add more than 20,000 spaces to its Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, part of the “Alternative to Detention” system for immigrants awaiting hearings. The expansion, from 99,500 places in the current fiscal year to a projected 120,000, was not formally announced by ICE, but a request Read More…
Amazon has reached an informal settlement with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration for unsafe workplace conditions at its new, local delivery center in Nampa. OSHA cited the company in March with four violations, including failing to log an injury to a worker that required treatment beyond first aid. The modular delivery center went up in November Read More…
Mothers gave birth to 6,551 babies in Wyoming last year, the lowest number in more than 15 years, the Wyoming Department of Health said Tuesday. The downward trend began in 2015. That year — which coincided with the state’s largest energy bust in decades, mothers gave birth to about 7,700 babies. Wyoming’s population dropped in the first three Read More…
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Native American rights in a 5-4 decision in a case out of Wyoming. Justice Neil Gorsuch, the only Westerner on the court, provided the decisive vote in this case, showing himself again to be sensitive to Native American rights. The court held that hunting rights for the Crow tribe Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – The North Dakota Department of Health says the state’s second medical marijuana dispensary is set to open next week. The facility will be located in Grand Forks. Jason Wahl, director of the department’s Medical Marijuana Division, says the dispensary operated by We-Mend LLC is set to open Wednesday. READ FULL STORY
BISMARCK, ND — A Courtenay, North Dakota man is behind an effort to change the state constitution and end prohibition of the cannabis plant. John C. Bailey is the chairperson of the sponsoring committee. He has turned in a petition request to the secretary of state’s office in Bismarck. The secretary and attorney general will review Read More…
DES MOINES, Iowa — The two dozen Democrats seeking the party’s presidential nomination have found few applause lines more likely to earn a standing ovation than a pledge to overhaul campaign finance rules. Now, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) is putting the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision at the center of his long-shot bid for Read More…
Montanans are constantly bombarded with robocalls and Congressman Greg Gianforte is trying to help solve the problem. At a Communications and Technology subcommittee hearing, Gianforte pressed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on the issue. “Montanans have told me one of the worst things they face day to day are illegal robocalls,” Gianforte said. “They’re Read More…
HELENA – Highway Patrol Trooper Wade Palmer will return home to Montana on Wednesday, May 22. He is currently receiving treatment at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where his doctors have determined he is ready to transition to the next phase of care. Palmer will be flown to Missoula and is Read More…
They said it couldn’t be done. A Liberian refugee who escaped a civil war could never be elected to office. And certainly couldn’t do it in Montana. They do not know Montana. They do not know America. Where if you dream, and if you work hard, anything is possible. I may not look or Read More…
BOZEMAN – Congressman Greg Gianforte announced the winners of the 2019 Congressional Art Competition, Jessie Graveley, a student from Powell County High School, is Montana’s winner. “Every year, I’m impressed with the talent of our high school artists. Every piece submitted was unique and showed a different aspect of our state. Thank you to all of Read More…
BUTTE, Mont. — Organizers announced the remaining performers for the annual Montana Folk Festival in Butte this summer. Led Kaapana, Mick Moloney, Rahim AlHaj Trio, Charlie Walden, Jasmine Bell and North Bear, Yuliyana Krivoshapkina, Rahzel and Himalayan Heritage Band are slated to perform. There will be 21 performers at the event. “We can now give everyone Read More…
Former Speaker of the House Austin Knudsen announced Monday that he is seeking the Republican nomination for Montana’s Attorney General race in 2020. Knudsen served as a representative from Culbertson in the state Legislature from 2011 to 2017, serving as Speaker of the House during his last four years. He’s the second Republican to enter the Attorney Read More…
MEQUOKETA, Iowa — When Gov. Steve Bullock hits the campaign trail as a presidential candidate, his security detail of two Montana Highway Patrol officers comes along, too — at taxpayer expense. The Montana Republican Party, in a statement earlier this week, asked why state taxpayers “should have to swallow the cost of his executive protection Read More…
Washington (CNN)America is about to get a tantalizing look into the hidden fortune on which Donald Trump made his name but is at the root of some of the most mysterious unresolved questions about his presidency. The expected release of the President’s latest financial disclosure forms on Thursday will trigger a now annual controversy about Read More…
A federal trial in a whistleblower lawsuit filed against the state of Idaho that was slated to start April 15 has been canceled because the state has settled the case. Former Idaho Department of Labor purchasing agent James Cryer sued the department in December 2016, claiming the department retaliated against him and fired him for Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – North Dakota regulators say the state’s oil production remained at a near-record level in March. The Department of Mineral Resources says the state produced an average of 1.39 million barrels of oil daily in March. That was down from a record 1.4 million barrels a day from the record set in January. Read More…
Gov. Mark Gordon is pulling together a citizen’s group to help find a happy medium between energy and conservation interests seeking regulatory certainty around migration corridors in the southwestern quadrant of the state, his office announced Tuesday. In a statement, Gordon called on Wyoming residents representing industry, agriculture and conservation to find a state-level Read More…
University of Montana President Seth Bodnar is taking his message statewide. On Tuesday, he spoke to service club members at the Meadowlark Country Club in Great Falls. Bodnar, who took over the top job at UM in January of 2018, said the University needs to do a better job of telling its story to combat Read More…
James Stack’s career as a financial advisor is testament to the fact that you can understand the movements of the stock market while working 2,200 miles away from it. A native of western Montana, Stack made a decision to forgo life in a financial center for the pleasures of working in Whitefish, in the middle Read More…
The number of prisoners in Montana under jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authority on Dec. 31 decreased by 3 percent between 2016 and 2017, according to a report recently released by the national Bureau of Justice Statistics. The 43-page report is packed with a variety of stats related to a snapshot taken of people Read More…
Top Democrats in Montana and Washington are really excited about Gov. Steve Bullock running — for the Senate, not the presidency. The Montana governor’s seemingly quixotic presidential run comes as nearly everyone in the party is begging him to challenge GOP Sen. Steve Daines and transform the 2020 Senate map. Unlike any other Democratic candidate Read More…
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester has entered into an agreement to write a memoir, Publishers Weekly reported in its April 22 edition. It is to be co-written by Aaron Murphy, the former chief of staff for the Montana Democrat, the article stated, adding a fall 2020 publication date is planned. Tester entered into an agreement with Read More…
There is little less unifying than our collective hate of robocalls. It’s a bipartisan issue, and unwanted calls, by far, elicit the most complaints to the Federal Communications Commission. I often receive as many robocalls over the course of a day as regular calls. And, in recent months, it has only gotten worse. For everyone. Read More…
Sen. Kamala Harris, the California Democrat and 2020 presidential candidate, said she doesn’t support eliminating all private health insurance under Medicare-for-all after suggesting in January that she does. Harris told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview that aired Sunday that “supplemental” private health insurance wouldn’t be eliminated under Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-all legislation, which she Read More…
ATLANTA (AP) — A spokeswoman says former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says he has broken his hip. Spokeswoman Deanna Congileo said in a statement Monday afternoon that Carter fell at his home in Plains, Georgia, while leaving to go turkey hunting. READ FULL STORY
Now that the trade war between the US and China is on, observers on both sides are wondering what more China will do to retaliate against the US. One measure China could take that keeps popping up in conversation is that the country could start dumping its massive hoard of $1.1 trillion worth of US Read More…
Apple stock plunged nearly 6% Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Apple customers can sue the company over prices on its App Store. The 5-to-4 ruling lets consumers move forward with a long-running lawsuit that claims Apple (ticker: AAPL) is using its market dominance to inflate prices via a 30% commission at its Read More…