Two hundred and fifty years after 56 delegates affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, the United States is marking its semiquincentennial — one of the rarest milestones a nation can reach — with a yearlong wave of celebrations, commemorations and reflection stretching from coast to coast. July 4, 2026 is the Read More…
Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance James Brown announced that a series of enforcement settlements with entities that failed to properly file required notices of business activity in Montana has added roughly $60,000 to the state’s Securities Fraud Restitution Assistance Fund in 2026. The fund provides financial assistance to Montana residents harmed in cases prosecuted Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced it will accept large philanthropic contributions of publicly traded stock to support Trump Accounts, the federal child investment program launching July 4 to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary. Under the new process, eligible philanthropic contributors may transfer approved publicly traded stock to Treasury, which will then distribute the Read More…
A watchdog group wants the Department of the Interior to investigate whether the National Wildlife Federation misused federal grant money tied to political spending in Montana’s 2024 U.S. Senate race. The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) filed the complaint Thursday with the department’s inspector general. The complaint says the Bureau of Land Management Read More…
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has released its first round of funding opportunity overviews under the Rural Health Transformation Program, marking a significant step forward in the state’s effort to reshape healthcare delivery in underserved communities across Idaho. The funding opportunity overviews are designed to give stakeholders an early look at the expected Read More…
(The Center Square) – California is suing U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies to stop construction of what plaintiffs say is an ICE holding facility near an agricultural city. Blueprints show plans for some kind of federal facility, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it isn’t building a new detention center. Read More…
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has approved an Exploration License Amendment for Sentinel Metals and issued a final Environmental Assessment for the Columbia Gold Project, located near Lincoln in Lewis and Clark County. DEQ accepted public comment on the draft EA from March 20 through April 13, 2026, drawing significant public interest. The agency Read More…
The Justice Department announced a final settlement with the state of North Dakota in the case of North Dakota v. United States, resolving litigation stemming from the violent and disruptive protests surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. While the federal government disputed the district court’s legal analysis of North Dakota’s claims and its own Read More…
A Montana ballot initiative promising to strip dark money from elections is itself being bankrolled almost entirely by a so-called dark money organization — a glaring contradiction that even its own organizers can barely keep a straight face about. The Montana Plan, known as Initiative 194, is being pushed by the Transparent Election Initiative, a Read More…
(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Education confirmed a whistleblower’s allegations that the agency violated a federal court order while handling Title IX cases tied to gender identity and sexual orientation, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. OSC told President Donald Trump and Congress this week that the department’s supplemental investigation backed Read More…
Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke joined House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) in introducing the Great American Outdoors Act 250, legislation designed to reauthorize and modernize one of President Trump’s signature conservation achievements ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Zinke, a former Secretary of the Interior and Read More…
A Montana district court judge has dealt a significant blow to embattled state Sen. Jason Ellsworth, rejecting all five motions filed by his attorneys seeking to dismiss a criminal corruption charge — while simultaneously reinstating him to office after a suspension tied to the ongoing case. Ellsworth, a Hamilton Republican and former Senate president, was Read More…
(The Center Square) – A federal agency suspended taxpayer funding to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority on Thursday, effective immediately. A letter was sent to the city of Los Angeles on Thursday by Andrew D. Hughes, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Hughes accused the city of abusing hundreds of Read More…
Britney Tennant, chief executive of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter and longtime nonprofit leader, announced her candidacy for the Wyoming House of Representatives in District 11, running as a Democrat on a platform centered on unity, public education and economic opportunity. Tennant brings deep Wyoming roots to her campaign. A fifth-generation Wyomingite and graduate of Cheyenne Read More…
Elon Musk’s SpaceX priced its initial public offering Thursday, raising $75 billion and cementing the rocket maker’s place among the world’s most valuable companies in what stands as the largest IPO in U.S. history. On Friday, Wall Street delivered its verdict: investors wanted in. The offering valued SpaceX at approximately $1.77 trillion at its IPO Read More…
Sixteen Montana State University student-athletes will travel to Casper, Wyoming, next week to compete in the College National Finals Rodeo, representing the Bobcats as Big Sky Region champions for the third consecutive year in both the men’s and women’s divisions. Competition runs June 14-20 at the Ford Wyoming Center, where MSU will send nine men Read More…
Montana State University student Peyton Summerhill has wanted to be a scientist for as long as she can remember. “For so many years as a kid, I was looking around trying to figure out where the scientists were, and they were here the whole time,” said Summerhill, who grew up in Bozeman and is majoring Read More…
WASHINGTON — One of the lawyers who defended Attorney General Ken Paxton during his three-year-old impeachment trial endorsed Democrat James Talarico Monday in Texas’ U.S. Senate race. Dan Cogdell, a veteran Houston attorney who represented Paxton in his long-running felony securities fraud case and his 2023 impeachment, announced his support for Talarico in an interview Read More…
(The Center Square) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged in two congressional hearings this week to cut the federal deficit to 3% of GDP, a target the government’s own budget projections do not currently support. Bessent repeated the goal before both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, telling lawmakers Read More…
KALISPELL, Mont. — Kristopher Schreiner, an 18-year veteran of Kalispell Middle School’s history department, was named the 2026 Centennial Bell Montana History Teacher of the Year, recognized for an immersive approach to Montana history that has students mining for gold, tanning hides, and constructing log cabins alongside traditional classroom instruction. The awards committee selected Schreiner Read More…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order reclassifying approximately 8,000 policy-influencing federal positions into a new category called Schedule Policy/Career, making it significantly easier for agencies to remove employees who perform poorly, engage in misconduct, or resist presidential directives. The order targeted the highest-ranking career positions outside of the Senior Executive Service, with Read More…
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Gov. Greg Gianforte announced that Janicki Industries selected Great Falls as the site of an $800 million manufacturing campus expected to create more than 1,000 jobs in its first five years and ultimately employ more than 2,000 people once fully built out. John Janicki, president of the company, made the announcement Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and the Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation called on Montanans to take steps to protect children from online predators during Internet Crimes Against Children Prevention Month, releasing new data showing a sharp rise in reported exploitation nationally and thousands of tips received in Montana over Read More…
(The Center Square) – In a reversal, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has ordered that surveillance cameras be turned on during the FIFA World Cup Tournament. Wilson said in a statement Friday that the decision to activate the cameras followed updated information from Seattle police and the FBI “on the current global and local threat environment.” Read More…
(The Center Square) – The United States has about 20 years to change course on its national debt before it reaches the estimated limits of its debt capacity, according to new research from the Penn Wharton Budget Model. Researchers estimate the outer limit of U.S. debt capacity at about 210% of gross domestic product. At Read More…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal jury convicted four current and former leaders of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers on racketeering, embezzlement, and fraud charges, finding that they stole millions of dollars in union dues through lavish foreign travel, no-show jobs, unauthorized loans, and personal expenses charged to the union over a 15-year period. The Read More…
National Democrats on Wednesday unveiled their most ambitious list of targets in the Texas House in years, adding a dozen districts, on top of three previously announced seats, to their battleground docket for the fall midterms. Twelve of the Texas districts targeted by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, an arm of the national party that Read More…
HAMILTON, Mont. — The Department of Justice charged two researchers from the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton with conspiracy to smuggle monkeypox into the United States and making false statements to federal law enforcement, U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy announced. The two researchers charged were Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe, both foreign nationals working at the Read More…
(The Center Square) – Spokane Public Schools adopted a standalone immigration policy on Wednesday that requires federal agents to obtain the superintendent’s permission to access the district’s property. The SPS Board of Directors unanimously adopted the proposal, which the officials said largely mirrored existing language “buried” in a broader law enforcement policy. It follows the state Read More…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum establishing a new framework to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across the U.S. military and intelligence community, directing the rapid deployment of advanced AI systems to warfighters and intelligence professionals while setting strict accountability standards for their use. The memorandum directed the national Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led a 14-state coalition of attorneys general in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, asking the justices to reverse a Ninth Circuit decision that upheld California’s requirement that physicians complete diversity, equity, and inclusion training as a condition of maintaining their medical licenses. Read More…
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson used the weekly House Republican Leadership press conference Tuesday to highlight new Treasury Department data showing the Working Families Tax Cuts delivered the largest share of tax relief to lower and middle income earners, while simultaneously calling on Democrats to support a trio of Republican bills targeting waste, fraud, Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. — Gov. Kelly Armstrong announced that North Dakota Health and Human Services launched a new two-year strategy to strengthen oversight, prevent fraud, and ensure the integrity of the state’s Medicaid program, with enhanced scrutiny of three high-risk provider categories set to begin July 1. The strategy was developed in response to an April Read More…
WASHINGTON — A new analysis from the U.S. Treasury Department found that American families and workers claimed $82 billion in individual relief from the Working Families Tax Cuts, with the overwhelming majority of benefits flowing to households earning less than $200,000 annually. The analysis, released as the tax filing season drew to a close, showed Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal district court’s dismissal of Lighthiser v. Trump, a climate-related lawsuit that Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had intervened in last year to help defend the Trump administration’s energy policies. The ruling marked the second court to side against the plaintiffs in the case, Read More…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate confirmed Katie Lane to a lifetime appointment as a federal district court judge for the District of Montana on Tuesday in a 52-46 party-line vote, with all Republicans in support and all Democrats opposed. Lane, 34, a Bozeman native who most recently served as an attorney for the Republican National 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…