Montana State Auditor James Brown announced his office has helped stop more than $5 million in unsupported payouts by Mountain Health Co-Op, making it the second health insurer in Montana identified as a victim of a fraud scheme that targeted vulnerable Native communities using a loophole in the Affordable Care Act. The latest announcement brings Read More…
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign said he would debate state Rep. James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race after Talarico challenged him to do so Thursday morning. Talarico, the Democratic nominee, said he had accepted invitations from Texas media groups for three televised debates and urged Paxton, who has not participated in debates Read More…
The total cost of employer-sponsored family health insurance now exceeds the median monthly mortgage payment for recent homebuyers, but employers cover most of that insurance bill. The average employer-sponsored family plan cost $26,993 in 2025, according to KFF’s latest annual survey. That works out to $2,249 per month. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported a national median mortgage payment Read More…
The man who led the U.S. response to the global pandemic in 2020 told Congress on Wednesday he wouldn’t answer questions about it. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right to protect against self-incrimination in a hearing about his role as Read More…
Montana State Auditor James Brown announced his office has helped stop more than $5 million in unsupported payouts by Mountain Health Co-Op, making it the second health insurer in Montana identified as a victim of a fraud scheme that targeted vulnerable Native communities using a loophole in the Affordable Care Act. The latest announcement brings Read More…
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign said he would debate state Rep. James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race after Talarico challenged him to do so Thursday morning. Talarico, the Democratic nominee, said he had accepted invitations from Texas media groups for three televised debates and urged Paxton, who has not participated in debates Read More…
The total cost of employer-sponsored family health insurance now exceeds the median monthly mortgage payment for recent homebuyers, but employers cover most of that insurance bill. The average employer-sponsored family plan cost $26,993 in 2025, according to KFF’s latest annual survey. That works out to $2,249 per month. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported a national median mortgage payment Read More…
The man who led the U.S. response to the global pandemic in 2020 told Congress on Wednesday he wouldn’t answer questions about it. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right to protect against self-incrimination in a hearing about his role as Read More…
Four Twin Cities men pleaded guilty to defrauding Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program out of approximately $2.2 million and using artificial intelligence to fabricate records when auditors came calling — a case federal prosecutors say highlights a growing trend of fraudsters deploying AI tools to conceal healthcare fraud. Moktar Hassan Aden, 31, Mustafa Dayib Ali, Read More…
Paramount has agreed to delay closing its $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery until at least June 2027, a stunning development that comes as a federal judge considers a challenge from 12 states seeking to block the deal entirely. In a court filing Friday, Paramount said it would not move forward with the transaction Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions Friday on four individuals and nine entities tied to Iranian financier Babak Zanjani’s sprawling sanctions evasion network, targeting his domestic conglomerate and a web of foreign firms that supported his cryptocurrency exchanges. “The Iranian regime continues to pay a steep economic price for its reckless behavior, with Read More…
A group of nine Montana Democratic attorneys published an open letter this month urging the Montana Democratic Party’s State Central Committee to consider not nominating a replacement candidate if Democratic Senate nominee Alani Bankhead withdraws — a legal argument designed to clear the path for independent candidate Seth Bodnar to face Republican Kurt Alme one-on-one. Read More…
See the latest fundraising totals, where the money is coming from and how super PACs are spending in what’s poised to be Texas’ most expensive Senate race. The race for Texas’s senate seat is shaping up to be one the most expensive competitions in the nation. Democratic nominee James Talarico is setting records, raising more Read More…
SpaceX shares have fallen roughly 50% from their post-IPO peak, and Morgan Stanley is warning that a further slide to $100 — a level many investors consider realistic — would mean the market is assigning no value whatsoever to the company’s artificial intelligence business. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas made the case in a note Read More…
Montana’s U.S. Senate race entered a turbulent new phase as the national Democratic Party’s campaign arm publicly declared it would not support the party’s own nominee, a major veterans organization endorsed independent candidate Seth Bodnar, and President Trump weighed in to attack Bankhead on social media — all while both candidates insisted they were staying Read More…
Hundreds of people, including Montana State University faculty, staff, students and alumni, along with community members, legislators and industry professionals, gathered Friday to celebrate the completion of the Combined State Labs building. The tri-lab agricultural facility, located on the west side of South 19th Avenue, brings together MSU’s Montana Agricultural Experiment Station Wool Lab, the Montana Department of Livestock’s Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, the Montana Department of Agriculture’s Analytical Lab. Established at Read More…
Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, delivered a deeply personal and impassioned floor speech Wednesday urging the Senate to reject a War Powers Resolution that would have directed President Trump to halt U.S. military operations against Iran, choking up as he pointed to a bracelet honoring a fallen friend killed by an Iranian Read More…
Montana State Auditor James Brown announced his Securities Division prevented more than $1 million in fraud-related losses for Montanans in the second quarter of 2026, bringing the year-to-date total to more than $2 million. Working in conjunction with financial industry partners, the Securities Division prevented $1.15 million in fraud-related losses for 10 Montanans between April Read More…
The North Dakota Department of Commerce has opened registration for the 2026 Global Talent Summit, a one-day event bringing together employers, workforce professionals, educators, community leaders and government partners to explore strategies for addressing workforce shortages through global talent. The summit will be held Sept. 3 at the National Energy Center of Excellence on the Read More…
Nvidia has built its dominant position in the artificial intelligence chip market by consistently delivering on promises that once seemed impossibly ambitious. Now, with expectations running at record highs and rivals closing in, the company faces a different kind of challenge — convincing investors that what comes next will be as good as what came Read More…
A federal judge on Friday blocked South Dakota from enforcing a new state law restricting advertising for abortion pills against a New York-based reproductive health nonprofit, dealing a temporary setback to the state’s effort to crack down on abortion pill information campaigns. U.S. District Judge Camela Theeler issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of House Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy rejoined the U.S. Navy Reserve in a ceremony at the Oval Office on Tuesday, where President Donald Trump administered the oath of enlistment to the Montana Republican and former Navy SEAL. Sheehy, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2008 and completed SEAL training before serving as a Navy SEAL Officer Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines used a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday to press two Treasury Department nominees on the need for a comprehensive federal tax framework for digital assets, arguing that outdated tax rules are pushing American entrepreneurs and innovation overseas. Daines questioned Francis Brooke, nominated to be deputy secretary of the Treasury, and Sriprakash Read More…
Cocaine and methamphetamine seizures in Montana increased sharply during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period last year, while fentanyl seizures continued a downward trend, Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced. “Fentanyl and other dangerous drugs continue to threaten communities, and the battle against the cartels that are bringing them into our state Read More…
First Interstate BancSystem has been named to TIME magazine’s inaugural America’s Best Companies 2026 list, a recognition the Billings-based regional bank’s leadership credited to its people and its approach to community banking across the West. The list, produced in partnership with Statista and announced July 9, ranks 1,000 U.S. companies based on three equally weighted Read More…
Wall Street posted weekly losses across the board as a sell-off in semiconductor and technology stocks outweighed a string of solid earnings reports, snapping what had been a period of broad market strength. The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% for the week, ending Friday at 7,457.69. The Nasdaq Composite fared worse, falling 2.9% as chipmakers came Read More…
A Lewis and Clark County District Court judge this week narrowed the scope of a temporary restraining order against the Montana Republican Party’s newly adopted bylaws, partially lifting a block placed on the rules after a group of party members sued to invalidate them. Judge Michael McMahon issued the original restraining order on July 9, Read More…
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joined Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and Idaho Gov. Brad Little in Big Sky on Tuesday to announce a proposed federal rule that would give Western states significantly more flexibility to manage grizzly bears — the first major management reform since the species was listed as threatened under Read More…
Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Chris Gallus issued a decision finding campaign finance violations by three political committees — Big Sky Fiscal Guardians, Treasure State Stewards and Montana Business Advocates for Sensible Elections — ordering two to reclassify and referring the third to the county attorney for potential prosecution. The decision, dated July 8, stems Read More…
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador joined a bipartisan coalition of 49 attorneys general in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to strengthen rules that would cut off scammers’ access to legitimate telephone numbers, the latest step in a years-long multistate effort to combat illegal robocalls. “Idahoans are tired of scammers swindling their families and flooding Read More…
A former general in Afghanistan’s Border Force and first deputy speaker of the Afghan National Assembly’s House of the People has been extradited to the United States and charged with conspiring to import hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine and provide an arsenal of military-grade weapons to a drug trafficking organization. Abdul Zahir Qadeer, Read More…
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is requesting public comment on revised water quality goals for Belt Creek, following the completion of a $13 million water treatment plant that has begun removing acid mine drainage from the creek for the first time in more than a century. DEQ has drafted a revised Missouri-Cascade and Belt Read More…
Canada has suspended several animal exports from Texas due to concerns about the New World screwworm, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is immediately suspending the export of horses, pigs, cattle, bison, sheep, goats, deer, elk, moose, llamas and more. Imports from other states are permitted, provided the Read More…
A bipartisan coalition of Gulf Coast lawmakers is pushing to change a 73-year-old law that limits their states’ maritime boundaries to 3 miles offshore, potentially reshaping the regulation of local fisheries and generating billions of dollars in tax revenues from offshore energy and minerals leases. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Miss., and a group Read More…
Gov. Larry Rhoden marked the completion of South Dakota’s new Women’s Correctional Facility in Rapid City Friday, cutting a strand of razor wire in place of a traditional ribbon to signal the $87 million facility is ready for inmates. The 102,750-square-foot facility on Rapid City’s north side includes three 96-bed housing units along with a Read More…
Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced several new appointments across state government, headlined by the naming of Alberto Gonzalez as director of the Idaho Transportation Department following the retirement of longtime director Scott Stokes. Gonzalez, who most recently served as Idaho’s chief information officer and administrator of the Office of Information Technology Services, officially assumed the Read More…
Thirty-seven Montana students competed at the 2026 National History Day National Contest, held June 14-18 at the University of Maryland in College Park, in what organizers described as the largest Montana delegation to the national competition in recent memory. Montana students earned special prizes, Smithsonian showcase selections and top-20% finishes across multiple categories. This year’s Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy’s bipartisan VA Home Loan Awareness Act has officially become law as part of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which took effect July 11 after President Trump declined to sign the broader housing package, allowing it to become law automatically under the Constitution’s 10-day rule. The legislation, the first bill Sheehy Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte suspended Public Service Commissioner Brad Molnar without pay for one year, effective immediately, citing findings from two independent investigations that concluded Molnar had engaged in sexual harassment, retaliation against staff and fellow commissioners, and continued retaliation after being warned to stop. The action, taken Thursday, is believed to be the first time Read More…
Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced the appointment of Kimberly Kutch as administrator of the Montana Department of Justice’s Forensic Science Division, which oversees the state crime lab and supports law enforcement agencies statewide. Kutch brings 30 years of experience in state and county government leadership to the role. She most recently served as a human Read More…
Department of Homeland Security purchases facilities in California’s Kern and San Diego counties Private prison operator CoreCivic has sold two Southern California immigration detention centers to the federal government for $1.5 billion. Under the deal, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security takes ownership of the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County for $739.2 Read More…
Legislation meant to protect American teens and children online recently passed the U.S. House with strong bipartisan support, but civil liberties groups are warning that the bill could have unintended consequences. The Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, which passed the House in a bipartisan 267-117 vote, is a compilation of bills that, among Read More…
Two Romanian brothers illegally in the United States pleaded guilty in federal court to orchestrating a fraud scheme that stole more than $760,000 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits from recipients across multiple states. Marian Ovidiu Dumitru, 37, and Catalin Dumitru, 39, both Romanian citizens who were residing unlawfully in the United States, each pleaded Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury released an analysis of the first filing season under the Working Families Tax Cuts, the sweeping tax legislation President Trump signed into law one year ago, showing American families and workers claimed more than $82 billion in individual tax relief through the April filing deadline. According to Treasury’s analysis, Read More…