X Story Stream recent articles In March of 2017, with the battle for control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, raging just miles away, I was driven into the town of Karamles, recently liberated from ISIS control. Together with a journalist friend, the parish priest of the town and an American adviser to the Catholic Read More…
A Billings businessman who claimed he was abducted by a biker gang in Virginia is scheduled to admit charges of wire fraud, money laundering and lying to federal investigators, according to documents filed in federal court. Larry Wayne Price Jr., 38, would also be on the hook for $23 million in restitution under a plea Read More…
Resident Kali Wicks became Commissioner Kali Wicks effective Monday night as city commissioners confirmed the Liberty County native and senior manager of government relations at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana to replace Rob Farris-Olsen on the Helena City Commission. “I have been particularly impressed with Ms. Wicks’ commitment to this community,” said Commissioner Read More…
Lately we’ve heard a lot from Democrats about GOP dirty tricks. Topping their complaints is the claim that Republicans have weaponized the drawing of electoral districts to their advantage. But a recent attempt at gerrymandering in New Jersey is a reminder that Dems, too, have a penchant for ruthless power politics. New Jersey state Senate Read More…
X Story Stream recent articles In March of 2017, with the battle for control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, raging just miles away, I was driven into the town of Karamles, recently liberated from ISIS control. Together with a journalist friend, the parish priest of the town and an American adviser to the Catholic Read More…
A Billings businessman who claimed he was abducted by a biker gang in Virginia is scheduled to admit charges of wire fraud, money laundering and lying to federal investigators, according to documents filed in federal court. Larry Wayne Price Jr., 38, would also be on the hook for $23 million in restitution under a plea Read More…
Resident Kali Wicks became Commissioner Kali Wicks effective Monday night as city commissioners confirmed the Liberty County native and senior manager of government relations at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana to replace Rob Farris-Olsen on the Helena City Commission. “I have been particularly impressed with Ms. Wicks’ commitment to this community,” said Commissioner Read More…
Lately we’ve heard a lot from Democrats about GOP dirty tricks. Topping their complaints is the claim that Republicans have weaponized the drawing of electoral districts to their advantage. But a recent attempt at gerrymandering in New Jersey is a reminder that Dems, too, have a penchant for ruthless power politics. New Jersey state Senate Read More…
In yet more proof that tech jobs will come to New York City without massive special subsidies, Google on Monday announced plans to double its presence here, to 14,000 jobs. What a contrast to the Amazon deal, where Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo ponied up $3 billion in various subsidies to lure 25,000 jobs Read More…
JACKSON, Wyo. — Hundreds of Teton County businesses could owe more in taxes this year as the Teton County Assessor’s Office seeks commercial personal-property taxes that have gone uncollected for years. “This is not anything new,” Assessor Melissa Shinkle said. “This is just a matter of catching up because it hasn’t been done for years Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming legislators have endorsed allocating nearly $5 million for security improvements at K-12 schools. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that the Joint Appropriations Committee added the money to a supplemental school construction bill on Friday. Local districts would identify projects they need. Del McOmie, director of the State Construction Department, says a Read More…
In November, Montana’s Board of Public Education revoked the license of a former Ronan middle school teacher who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a high school student who was 18. It’s a devastating career impact for a teacher, effectively wiping out their ability to teach in Montana. But the state’s top school Read More…
US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will leave his post at the end of the year, in the latest high-profile departure from President Donald Trump’s administration. When announcing it on Twitter, Mr Trump did not give a reason for Mr Zinke’s departure but the former congressman from Montana has come under scrutiny for his use of Read More…
The FBI is investigating reports of human remains found on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. In a Friday press release, the agency’s Salt Lake City Division announced that its Evidence Response Team was working to recover the remains and assess the location where they were found, in cooperation with Blackfeet Law Enforcement, the Bureau of Indian Read More…
In a 6-1 decision Tuesday, the Montana Supreme Court overturned a legal opinion by Attorney General Tim Fox, ruling that Gov. Steve Bullock acted within the law when he circumvented the Montana State Board of Land Commissioners to finalize an eastern Montana conservation easement. As a result of the ruling, the Land Board will Read More…
BILLINGS — Federal investigators say tests results on a public water system serving 1,300 residents on Montana’s Crow Indian Reservation have indicated fecal material contamination that exceeds safety standards. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Inspector General said in a memo released Thursday that the contamination was found in tests conducted in April and May on the Read More…
Former long-time Miles City high school athletic trainer James Eric “Doc” Jensen was arrested Thursday and jailed in Custer County on 10 counts of possessing child pornography. Some of the pornographic images were of boys as young as age 9, the charges state. The 78-year-old Jensen is being held on $100,000 bail. “The criminal investigation Read More…
U.S. Sen Jon Tester wrangled just enough votes Wednesday to get Senate approval for his bill to turn back a new Internal Revenue Service practice allowing nonprofits to keep the names of major donors off their books. The Democratic senator from Montana, elected to this third term last month, was targeting an IRS policy shift Read More…
Montana State University’s Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship is seeking local and regional businesses and nonprofit organizations that are willing to offer students practical business experience in return for research, issue analysis or operational advice during spring semester, which runs from Jan. 9 through May 3. Participating students will be enrolled in a Read More…
GILLETTE, Wyo. — A facility that plans to allow companies to build pilot plants to test coal conversion technologies has been pushed back three years. The Gillette News Record reports officials have requested for the completion deadline of the Advanced Carbon Products Innovation Center planned for a site near Gillette to be moved to June Read More…
The Trump administration closed the spigot on Obama-era water regulations Tuesday, sparking a mixed reaction from Montana industry and conservationists. Stakeholders have long been split over the EPA’s enforcement of the Clean Water Act, which under President Barack Obama meant traveling upstream to regulate water quality even on some streams and water bodies that didn’t Read More…
Sales and use taxes collected in Park County will soon return to 4 percent. Park County treasurer Barb Poley says the 1-cent specific purpose tax is nearing an end date six months ahead of schedule. Based on historic tax revenue, Poley had projected the tax would likely expire in August 2019. Now it appears collections Read More…
Conservationists are warning Montana regulators against permitting a 10-square-mile coal mine expansion in southeast Montana for bankrupt Westmoreland Coal Co. Opponents to the expansion question whether Montana should be giving Westmoreland a green light to break new territory at the Rosebud Mine near Colstrip, given the company’s poor financial condition. The Colorado-based mining company has Read More…
Helena – Governor Steve Bullock unveiled his budget on Thursday that included about $100 in tax increases. Many of the tax increases where already voted down by the legislature in 2017. Mr. Bullock also included an increase in the tobacco tax which voters rejected at the ballot box just weeks ago. In addition to raising Read More…
By Tucson News Now | November 15, 2018 at 11:22 AM MST – Updated November 15 at 11:36 AM TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) – U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on Thursday, Nov. 15, that part of the border wall in Arizona will be built by a Montana-based company. According to information from the Read More…
Tuesday’s midterm elections weren’t a slam dunk for either party, not by anyone’s estimation. Democrats managed to avoid another apocalyptic election meltdown and keep their base from flipping out by flipping the House, if barely, and Republicans added slightly to their already slight majority in the Senate. We sent at least three Red State fake Read More…
Helena – Governor Steve Bullock has appointed two longtime Democratic legislators and political operatives, Hal Harper and Dave McAlpin, to prestigious state board positions. On Monday, Governor Bullock’s office announced the appointment of Hal Harper to the Judicial Nominations Commission and Dave McAlpin to the Tax Appeal Board. Mr. Harper is a longtime Democrat state Read More…
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has been referred an investigation into Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, raising the possibility for criminal charges, according to the Washington Post and CNN. The probe was one of several the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General had opened into allegations that Zinke, who heads the agency, used his office for personal Read More…
Vice President Mike Pence will be in the Flathead Valley on Nov. 5 campaigning for U.S. Senate candidate Matt Rosendale on the eve of the midterm election. Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said his office was meeting with the U.S. Secret Service on Thursday and that the rally will be held at Glacier Park International Read More…
University of Montana Police have released photos and are asking for the public’s help in identifying two men who reportedly attacked a bus as they disembarked near UM housing at the Lewis and Clark Village on South Higgins Avenue. “We got a report of disorderly conduct on one of the UM transportation buses,” said UM Read More…
Helena – The Montana Chamber Foundation announces its second grant from the Gianforte Family Foundation to achieve its 10-year strategic plan, Envision 2026. The goals of that plan are to increase jobs, per capita income, and gross state product, through focusing on workforce, entrepreneurship, business basics and infrastructure. “We are grateful for the continued support Read More…
ENNIS, Mont. — Louie Baur confessed he doesn’t know much about Matt Rosendale, after meeting the Republican challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Tester as he glad-handed supporters and posed for selfies along Main Street in this historic hunting outpost. But Rosendale has President Trump’s seal-of-approval in Montana’s suddenly competitive Senate contest — and that’s good enough Read More…
President Donald Trump defied climate scientists, intelligence specialists and even his own defense secretary on Sunday evening, capping a week of freewheeling press engagements with a sprawling prime-time network television interview in which he portrayed himself as an isolated but eminently empowered commander in chief. “I felt comfortable at the beginning, other than it was Read More…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – Another NASA space telescope has shut down and halted science observations. Less than a week after the Hubble Space Telescope went offline, the Chandra X-ray Observatory did the same thing. NASA said Friday that Chandra’s automatically went into so-called safe mode Wednesday, possibly because of a gyroscope problem. Hubble went Read More…
MISSOULA – Seven people protesting the Senate vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh were cited after occupying the Montana GOP office on Friday afternoon. Protesters with the Western Montana Democratic Socialists of America arrived around 2 p.m., sat down in the office and refused to leave. Meanwhile, several other protesters stood outside waving signs against Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. (Billings Gazette) — A 66-year-old man who was caught watching child pornography as he fled Washington state on a bus with $10,000 strapped to each of his legs pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Missoula. Eric Franklin Rosser pleaded guilty to accessing the internet with intent to view child pornography after Read More…
Eagle Jet Solutions has found a new nest in the Electric City. Construction has just begun for the new private hangar at the Great Falls International Airport and will be the largest private hangar in the state of Montana. The new aircraft hangar will have the ability to hold two 737 airplanes. A 737 aircraft Read More…
MISSOULA – Beer enthusiasts of all kinds gathered for the 10th annual Montana Brewers Fall Rendezvous over the weekend in Missoula as several dozen local craft brewers from large and small companies presented their finest. Judges from the local homebrewers association tasted and judged the best beers, and also hosted classes to show how different beers Read More…
Public officials in Missoula County, located in the U.S. state of Montana, have decided to look into new regulations around cryptocurrency mining rather than seek to ban the activity entirely. As previously reported, miners have been drawn to the region thanks to access to cheap electricity, but local concerns about power rate spikes and noise Read More…
Kalispell Regional Healthcare has reached a much-anticipated settlement with the Department of Justice in a whistleblower lawsuit alleging its physicians received illegal compensation in exchange for patient referrals to in-house services, according to a federal court order filed Wednesday. The order, submitted by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, dismisses the case with prejudice — meaning Read More…
The office of Montana state auditor Matt Rosendale, who’s running for the Senate in November, dismissed fines and dropped sanctions against a donor to his political campaigns, according to a report from the Montana Free Press. Rosendale’s office dropped the fines and dismissed two of three allegations against Friedell LLC, a bail bond company, a day after the Senate Read More…
Montana is moving ahead with the idea of creating a reinsurance program for the state’s health insurance market. The program may reduce premiums between 10 and 20 percent, said Governor Steve Bullock and Department of Administration Director John Lewis. A bipartisan workgroup will evaluate new ways to address high insurance prices for Montana residents. The Read More…
The Treasury Department announced new actions Wednesday directed at Chinese and Russian companies that the department said have facilitated illicit shipments on behalf of North Korea. The department announced designations against one individual and three companies. Those businesses include a Chinese logistics company and its affiliate in Singapore, as well as Russia-based Profinet and its Read More…
President Donald Trump has withdrawn ex-CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, in a move hitting one of the administration’s most vocal critics. The action, announced Wednesday by press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, appears to be more of a political than practical move. Brennan and most other prominent former White House officials do not use their Read More…