A representative from Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen’s office appeared before a legislative committee Thursday to answer questions from lawmakers about the office’s public mailings and their handling of state voter data. Jacobsen’s elections director and chief legal counsel spoke to the Legislative Audit Committee on questions about mailers, billboards and voter data. In Read More…
Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Thursday used his line-item veto authority to reverse a legislative cut to the state’s graduate medical education program, warning that the reduction would have disrupted the training of eight current medical residents mid-residency and undermined the state’s credibility with its healthcare workforce pipeline. Mr. Little signed but partially vetoed House Read More…
North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong on Friday directed state agencies to prepare leaner budgets for the next two-year spending cycle, warning that a widening gap between ongoing revenues and expenditures represents an unsustainable fiscal trajectory that must be corrected by 2032. Speaking to agency leaders and fiscal officers at the state Capitol, Mr. Armstrong framed Read More…
The Laramie County School District 1 Board of Trustees authorized roughly $6 million in facility upgrades, service contracts and legal expenses at its regular meeting this week, while also appointing a new principal for Prairie Wind Elementary School. The board moved through its agenda swiftly, approving all items within roughly 10 minutes following public comment Read More…
GREAT FALLS – A new regulation regarding abortion services and federal funding has Montana residents on both sides of the issue speaking out. The new rule originally implemented earlier this month does not permit clinics receiving government funding to give abortion referrals. Two other key changes include physical and financial separation of abortion services from providers Read More…
Often lauded as one of the state’s major business success stories, owners of a prominent Montana farm have sold their land. Wheat Montana, based in Three Forks, sold its mills and bakeries to a private equity firm in 2015 and sold its farm to a new family in January 2019, co-owner Dean Folkvord said. Though Read More…
Elon Musk applauded China’s national space program in a tweet Thursday. The SpaceX CEO was responding to a New Scientist article about China’s Tiangong-2 space station, which is due to fall out of orbit Friday after circling the Earth for almost three years. Tiangong-2 — which means “heavenly palace” — was never meant to be a permanent Read More…
Though the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale officially opened to the public on Friday, July 19, the bargain hunting had already been well underway for an exclusive group of people — Nordstrom card holders. For several years, the department store has granted its most loyal shoppers special access to the annual sale, an effort to generate buzz and clout Read More…
Amazon’s cloud services business recently hired one of President Donald Trump’s campaign bundlers, Jeff Miller, to lobby on its behalf, according to a recently posted disclosure form. Amazon Web Services hired Miller, who is CEO of Miller Strategies, to lobby on “issues related to cyber security and technology,” according to a lobbying registration form. The filing Read More…
New York State has awarded two offshore wind contracts with a combined capacity of almost 1,700 megawatts (MW) in waters off Long Island. The contracts were awarded to Norwegian firm Equinor and a joint venture between Danish company Orsted and U.S. business Eversource. The Empire Wind and Sunrise Wind developments were announced as the winners of New York’s Read More…
Alec Manfre co-founded the tech start-up Bractlet as a student in Atlanta where he went to college, then ran it from an incubator in Santiago, Chile. But it was Texas where he and his two co-founders ultimately put down roots. They got hooked on doing business in the state after moving the start-up to Houston Read More…
Bank of America Merrill Lynch has paid a hefty $40 million to settle “churning” allegations involving a former broker, according to filings and sources familiar with the case. It’s the largest such settlement in at least a decade. The recipient of the settlement is Robert Levine, co-founder of one-time network equipment maker Cabletron Systems, according to Read More…
Walmart is making further organizational changes as it continues to integrate its store and digital operations and leadership, according to a memo obtained by CNBC that was sent by CEO Doug McMillon to the retailer’s employees. “Our customers want one, seamless Walmart experience,” McMillon wrote to employees. “Earning more of our customers’ business in food and Read More…
Joe Biden has the fundraising muscle, the lead in the polls and the cachet with voters from his years as Barack Obama’s No. 2. But John Delaney says he’s got something to offer that the former vice president does not. “He doesn’t have any new ideas, and he’s effectively just running an old playbook,” Delaney, Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KCND) – Next June, North Dakota will be hosting the Western Governors Association. Governor Burgum was recently elected chairman of that organization. He says the meeting will be held in Medora. In 1997, when then-Governor Ed Schafer headed up that group, he chartered a train from BNSF, from Bismarck to Medora. Burgum says Read More…
Former Sen. Duane Mutch, 93, of Larimore, died the night of Wednesday, July 17. Mutch served in the North Dakota Senate for 47 years and was known by some as the most conservative Republican in the Legislature. District 19 first elected Mutch in 1958. He lost re-election in 1976 but regained his seat in 1979. Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo.– Governor Mark Gordon announced today he has appointed members to a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Task Force. The Governor was inspired to create the Task Force after attending an event at the University of Wyoming organized by the Native student group, Keepers of the Fire, which sought to shine a light on Read More…
The nation’s treasury secretary initially thought lawmakers wouldn’t have to raise the debt ceiling until October or November, but White House officials have moved that deadline to early September. That’s because projected federal revenues are way down, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a wonky think tank that tries to avoid the partisan tit-for-tat that’s Read More…
Jon Tester said the way for Democrats to win in states President Trump won in 2016 is to “punch him in the face” during an interview on Morning Joe Thursday morning. The Montana Democratic senator notably won reelection in 2018 despite the president campaigning for the Republican challenger Montana State Auditor Matt Rosendale multiple times in the Read More…
Montana Lt. Governor Mike Cooney today was awarded the first-ever Recycling Impact Award, a nationwide recognition of his work on recycling stewardship. The Recycling Impact Award is presented to a National Lieutenant Governors Association (NLGA) member who is committed to working within a state, region, and/or communities to positively impact resource conservation and recycling. “Lt. Governor Read More…
It may look like marijuana, but industrial hemp with CBD is now legal to grow across the country. Unlike its cousin with THC, hemp won’t get you high. Instead, many use CBD for pain management, anxiety, insomnia and more. For the first time, Clarence Laub III can grow CBD hemp after several years of growing Read More…
A Laramie native who was serving consecutive prison terms for taking indecent liberties with a child and drug possession has died, the Wyoming Department of Corrections announced Tuesday. Department spokesman Mark Horan said Lorenzo S. Montez, 53, died of a long-term illness Tuesday at the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution in Torrington. An autopsy has been Read More…
A 15-year-old Montana girl who escaped from a mental health hospital has died after being struck by a pickup truck on a nearby interstate highway, police say. Kayla Neal, of Missoula, was walking on the southbound lanes of I-15 around 2 p.m. Monday in Helena when she was hit by a 56-year-old woman driving a Dodge truck, police there told KURL-TV. Minutes before, she had run Read More…
MISSOULA – The University of Montana is quietly hitting a very high mark in the on-going effort to retain newly-trained physicians to work in Montana, with a strong majority of graduates deciding to stay and serve patients across the state. Just five years ago, there was a growing concern of finding enough physicians to meet Read More…
BOZEMAN – Twenty current and emerging leaders from Montana’s natural resource industries have been selected to take part in Class IV of REAL Montana (Resource Education and Agriculture Leadership). Class IV will begin their leadership journey on September 12, 2019 at their first seminar in Bozeman. “REAL Montana continues to strengthen its mission of building Read More…
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock on paper has a strong case for the Democratic nomination for president: He’s a twice-elected governor from a state Donald Trump won in 2016, he worked with a GOP-controlled legislature to expand Medicaid this year, and he is running against dark money in politics. But so far, none of that seems Read More…
Communicating face-to-face provides an essential way for farmers and ranchers to address their concerns with government officials. During the Montana Farm Bureau Fly-In, June 10-13, in Washington, D.C. Montana Farm Bureau members had excellent opportunities to meet with lawmakers and agency personnel. The Fly-In participants—Susan Lake from Ronan, Don Steinbeisser, Jr. from Sidney and Kris Read More…
BILLINGS- The two Democrats vying to take on U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana next year in the 2020 election reacted Tuesday to a recent tweet from the Republican defending President Trump. Helena mayor Wilmot Collins, who came to the United State as a refugee from the civil war in Liberia, released a video Tuesday Read More…
Nearly three years after he began serving one of the longest prison terms ever for a member of Congress, former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah returned to federal court in Philadelphia on Friday to push for a lighter sentence now that some of his convictions were overturned on appeal. He left disappointed. Citing his still-standing convictions on 13 other Read More…
Not so long ago — as recently as the cover of the March 2019 Rolling Stone, in fact — they seemed like the best of friends. I’m referring to Nancy Pelosi and the members of “The Squad”: Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and (not pictured) Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley. They shared some good times. It was Read More…
BISMARCK — North Dakotans had grown accustomed to electing a state auditor named Bob Peterson. After all, the father and son pored over the state’s books in successive tenures that lasted more than 40 years. But that consistency was shattered with the election of Josh Gallion in 2016. Now, the new auditor is at the center Read More…
Former Rep. Cynthia Lummis announced a bid for Senate in Wyoming Thursday, becoming the first Republican to jump into the race and setting up a potential clash with her successor in the House, Rep. Liz Cheney. Lummis, also a former two-term state treasurer, was first elected to the House in 2008 and retired after the Read More…
Montana Democrat John Mues officially launched his Senate campaign Thursday to unseat one-term Sen. Steve Daines (R). Mues, a fourth generation Montanan, is a former U.S. Navy officer and public school teacher and currently works as an engineer in the energy sector. He hammered Daines over his opposition to the Affordable Care Act and support for President Trump’s tax cuts. Read More…
Rep. Greg Gianforte said he has gotten language included in the new defense bill that calls on the Secretary of the Air Force to consider improvements at existing facilities, such as fixing the runway at Malmstrom Air Force Base, rather than build new ones. “Malmstrom Air Force Base is home to the 341st Missile Wing which Read More…
President Donald Trump is pushing better forest management as a big part of his plan to stop the number of large wildfires that have caused devastation in the western United States in recent years. In a speech at the White House this past week, the president touted an executive order signed last December promoting more Read More…
MANHATTAN, M.T. – According to the U.S. Geological Survey a 4.0 magnitude earthquake occurred at 7:52 p.m. Mountain Time, 2 miles northwest of Manhattan, Montana. More than 500 people have reported feeling the quake. READ FULL STORY
When someone in Montana enters a hospital with private insurance, the price for care can be two-to-four times beyond what the federal government sets as fair. Rand Corporation, a global think tank, released a study earlier this summer that showed private insurance companies paid twice what Medicare paid for the same services nationwide from 2015 through 2017. Read More…
A Wyoming attorney and former municipal court judge has been disbarred after admitting that he engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with a client and lied to cover up the affair. Gregory L. Knudsen, of Torrington, will be disbarred effective July 15, according to an order from the Wyoming Supreme Court. For reasons still not Read More…
The chairman of the North Dakota House’s energy committee recently defended a business relationship with the state’s top oil and gas lobbyist. Mandan Republican Rep. Todd Porter and North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness are both listed in state records as partners in a commercial real estate investment group. Porter owns 5% of Read More…
U.S. marshals arrested an Iowa man on the run for nearly eight years last week on a remote Montana ranch, USA Today reports. Michael Duane Strain, 62, was one of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’s (ATF) most wanted fugitives. The department said he’d been evading the law since 2011 after being indicted Read More…
HARLOWTON, Mont. — Bridger Brewing, Montana Space Grant Consortium at Montana State University and Bozeman-based Crooked Yard Hops have partnered on a project that sent beer ingredients into space. The retrieved ingredients were then used to brew a commemorative beer celebrating the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. While other breweries are Read More…
The month of June was the deadliest on Montana roadways in a decade. With the alarming increase in crashes, the Montana Department of Transportation is urging travelers to drive safely this summer. Memorial Day to Labor Day is known as the “100 Deadliest Days of Summer” due to the increased traffic deaths nationwide. At other Read More…
MISSOULA – Are you buying a used car that previously may have been used to transport meth? Or is your child going to a daycare that could have been a meth lab in the past? These are the questions a Montana pair are trying to answer with a new form of methamphetamine testing. The Montana Department Read More…
ANACONDA – According to U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, this year’s open house at the Anaconda Job Corps Center was anything but routine. While the Anaconda Job Corps’ open house is an annual event, Tuesday’s had a special feel to it. Last May, the career-training program was set to be closed, and some Job Corps participants Read More…