WHITEFISH—Republican congressional nominee Aaron Flint and Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino joined local residents in Whitefish on Friday for a rally supporting Border Patrol and local law enforcement, while Flint used the event to criticize Democratic opponent Sam Forstag’s lobbying record on immigration and criminal-justice issues. The gathering drew roughly 40 people near the Whitefish Read More…
WASHINGTON—The federal government is putting greater emphasis on investing, digital finance and fraud prevention as part of an updated national strategy aimed at improving Americans’ financial knowledge and decision-making. The Financial Literacy and Education Commission released its 2026 update to the U.S. National Strategy for Financial Literacy, establishing four priority areas: youth financial capability, saving Read More…
WASHINGTON—Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy is calling for greater congressional scrutiny of former special counsel Jack Smith as lawmakers consider changes to the rules governing secret government demands for private records. Sheehy’s comments follow disclosures from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation of Arctic Frost, the federal inquiry that ultimately became part of Smith’s investigation of President Read More…
Amazon plans to invest more than $1 billion over the next five years in communities where it operates data centers, as the company responds to growing political and public concern over the rapid expansion of artificial-intelligence infrastructure. The money will support education, workforce training, water and energy conservation projects and other local priorities in areas Read More…
Snowflake, the cloud-data company based in Bozeman, delivered one of its strongest quarters in recent years, sending shares sharply higher as investors responded to accelerating growth and stronger demand for its artificial-intelligence products. Shares of Snowflake jumped about 17% after the company reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $1.55 billion, up 35% from a year earlier. Read More…
Musk’s super PAC recently dropped almost a quarter-million dollars boosting the Republican Senate nominee, who has seen a recent surge in outside support yet continues to lag in fundraising. WASHINGTON — Elon Musk’s America PAC waded into Texas’ U.S. Senate race for the first time in recent days, dropping almost $250,000 to boost Attorney General Ken Read More…
(The Center Square) – As inflation concerns dominate the midterm landscape, the candidates in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race are offering competing solutions to bring costs down. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is challenging incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, in a race the Cook Political Report rates a toss-up. Republicans hold a slim 53-45 majority in the Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is scheduled to speak at the Republican National Committee’s 2026 Midterm Convention in Dallas, joining a national lineup of Republican officials and candidates as the party turns its attention toward the November elections. Knudsen, who also serves as chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association, is scheduled to address the Read More…
The Justice Department announced an agreement with Mount Sinai Health System that resolves an investigation into potential violations of federal law arising from the provider’s administration of gender-affirming care to minors. Under the agreement, Mount Sinai, one of the largest health care providers in New York state, will cease providing such interventions to minors, including Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte is calling for new protections for children and teenagers on social media, saying parents need more support as concerns grow over screen time, addictive design and the effects of online platforms on young people. Gianforte visited Skyview High School in Billings, where he met with students, parents, educators and lawmakers to discuss Read More…
The Billings Gazette is preparing to leave its longtime downtown headquarters and move several blocks away to Granite Tower, the latest real-estate move by parent company Lee Enterprises as the newspaper chain continues to reshape its business amid years of financial pressure. The Gazette said its staff will work remotely before moving into the new Read More…
South Dakota’s U.S. Senate race has effectively become a two-person contest between Republican Sen. Mike Rounds and independent Brian Bengs after Democrat Julian Beaudion withdrew from the race in August. Beaudion, who had been the Democratic nominee, formally withdrew Aug. 4. The South Dakota Secretary of State now lists Rounds and Bengs as the active Read More…
The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, a stronger-than-expected showing that offered fresh evidence of resilience in the labor market as manufacturing and construction hiring picked up. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. August payroll growth was well above the average monthly gain over the previous year. The White House pointed to the Read More…
Idaho Gov. Brad Little and Attorney General Raúl Labrador have awarded the Idaho Medal of Honor to nine first responders for acts of courage that went beyond the ordinary demands of their jobs. The recipients include five law-enforcement officers and four firefighters whose actions ranged from entering burning buildings and fast-moving water to confronting an Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and 15 other state attorneys general have opened an investigation into OpenAI over potential violations of consumer-protection and data-privacy laws following a security incident involving one of the company’s experimental artificial-intelligence models. The investigation centers on an incident this summer in which an OpenAI model allegedly accessed outside computer networks Read More…
Republican Kurt Alme holds a commanding lead in Montana’s U.S. Senate race, according to a new analysis from Decision Desk HQ, as neither Democrat Alani Bankhead nor independent Seth Bodnar has been willing to step aside for the other, leaving the state with a fractured opposition against the GOP front-runner. In 2026, prominent independent candidates Read More…
Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Robert Edward Galer was a fighter pilot during World War II and went on to serve more than 20 years on active duty. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the skies over Guadalcanal in 1942. Galer was born Oct. 23, 1913, in Seattle. He was Read More…
The South Dakota State Fair Foundation has launched the “Every Stall Counts” fundraising campaign to purchase 350 new portable horse stalls for the state fairgrounds, with a fundraising goal of $500,000. The project builds on the success of the DEX by improving the aging Hippodrome stalls and increasing portable stall capacity for larger national events. Read More…
North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong used his State of the State address to a special session of the 69th Legislative Assembly to renew his call for lawmakers to ban the unregulated drug kratom, following his executive action last month to temporarily prohibit its sale. “We are here to address a public safety and a public Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte is accepting applications and nominations for an upcoming district court vacancy in Montana’s Eleventh Judicial District in Flathead County. The vacancy is expected to arise because District Court Judges Amy Eddy and Dan Wilson are running against each other for one seat on the Montana Supreme Court. The chief justice of the Read More…
The Montana Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and life sentence of Jason Allen Miller for the attempted homicide of Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Lewis Johnson, rejecting a series of challenges to his 2025 trial. Miller was convicted in June 2025 after prosecutors said he ran over Johnson in February 2023, seriously injuring the trooper. Read More…
Montana State University will hold a grand opening ceremony for Gianforte Hall, a new building housing computing-related fields including cybersecurity, film, photography and music technologies, at 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10. The outdoor event is free and open to the public. Scheduled speakers include Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, MSU President Brock Tessman, College of Arts Read More…
Wyoming’s Nov. 3 general election ballot grew more crowded this week as minor-party candidates were certified to appear alongside major-party nominees in several of the state’s top races, headlined by a governor’s contest that already ranks as the most expensive of the primary cycle. In the governor’s race, Republican Eric Barlow and Democrat Kenneth Casner Read More…
Final EIS moves 525-kilovolt line linking Western and Eastern power grids closer to construction approval The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement for the North Plains Connector Project, a major transmission line proposed to link the Western and Eastern U.S. electrical grids, clearing a key hurdle in the state’s Read More…
The North Dakota Department of Commerce has awarded nearly $270,000 to three regional projects aimed at addressing workforce shortages and improving employee retention in healthcare, energy and education. The funding comes through the state’s Regional Workforce Impact Program, which supports locally developed strategies designed around the workforce needs of individual communities and industries. “RWIP continues Read More…
More than a dozen Texas public school districts are at risk of triggering a potential state takeover if they do not improve student academic performance before the next year’s A-F accountability ratings, data shows. At least 14 districts had at least one campus with a fourth consecutive failing grade, according to the preliminary 2026 ratings. Read More…
(The Center Square) – Drivers across Washington are paying more at the pump as gas prices continue their upward climb while more than half the country saw relief while filling up heading into the busy Labor Day weekend. Washington’s average for gasoline reached $5.37 per gallon on Tuesday, data shows. The increase marks a continuous Read More…
(The Center Square) – A Michigan citizen-only voting ballot proposal that failed to make it on the Nov. 3 ballot is now before U.S. Supreme Court. On Tuesday, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh requested a response from Michigan officials named in the case by noon Wednesday. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers, Secretary of State Jocelyn Read More…
Executive order creates NASA-led panel to draft plans for a new federal academy training astronauts, engineers and space-industry leaders President Trump on Friday signed an executive order creating a presidential commission tasked with laying the groundwork for a new federal academy dedicated to training the next generation of American space professionals. The order establishes the Read More…
Montana’s technology sector is continuing to broaden its footprint across the state, while a new wave of potential data-center investment could add another major component to the state’s changing economy. The University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research highlighted high-tech businesses, artificial intelligence and data centers as part of its 2026 Midyear Economic Read More…
Lawrence & Schiller, Lou Hammond Group and Miles Partnership win multiyear contracts after fifty firms competed for the work Travel South Dakota has selected three marketing and public relations firms to guide the state’s tourism promotion efforts, capping a competitive bidding process that drew interest from agencies across the country. The state tourism office said Read More…
Investors enter the first week of September with a consequential earnings slate led by Broadcom, Dell Technologies and several major software companies, while Friday’s August jobs report adds another potential market catalyst. Dell Technologies is among the major companies scheduled to report Tuesday, Sept. 1. Investors will be watching the company’s AI-server business and PC Read More…
Montana could receive more than $127 million from a sweeping multistate settlement with Meta Platforms over allegations that the company designed Facebook and Instagram to encourage compulsive use among children while misleading the public about risks to young users. The state is guaranteed nearly $89 million under the agreement, according to Montana Attorney General Austin Read More…
Idaho will receive at least $89.2 million and could collect as much as $127.7 million under a sweeping $17.1 billion multistate settlement with Meta Platforms over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to encourage addictive use among children. The agreement, announced by Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, resolves claims brought by states and Read More…
Most North Dakotans will never set foot on a drilling rig or analyze rocks from thousands of feet beneath the surface of the Bakken Formation, but nearly everyone in the state has benefited from what lies below. For more than two decades, the Bakken Formation in western North Dakota has helped fuel North Dakota’s economy, generating more than $35 billion in tax revenue Read More…
For most of the past 15 years, the hardest question surrounding Tim Cook was whether he could follow Steve Jobs. He answered it by building a different kind of Apple. Cook didn’t replicate Jobs’s theatrical product instincts or preside over another invention quite as culturally disruptive as the Macintosh, iPod or iPhone. Instead, the industrial Read More…
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Prosecutors in Cascade County are investigating potential signature-gathering fraud by at least one firm that worked for the independent campaigns of U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar and U.S. House candidate Michael Eisenhauer, according to the Cascade County Attorney’s Office. The Cascade County Attorney’s Office and the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office are Read More…
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The Federal Reserve’s chairman used his first appearance at the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole symposium to lay out a leaner approach to communicating future policy moves, while cautioning that inflation remains too high despite a resilient economy. Marking his 100th day in the role, the chairman told an audience of Read More…
Ruling cites inadequate water-supply analysis, as delay costs state more than $8,000 a day A Yellowstone County district judge has halted all construction, groundbreaking and permitting on Montana’s proposed forensic mental health facility in Laurel, a ruling that is now costing state taxpayers more than $8,000 a day as the project sits idle. The state Read More…
U.S. stocks ended the week on a softer note Friday, with the major indexes retreating from recent records even as broader market gauges pointed to a resilient run for equities so far in 2026. The S&P 500 closed at 7,711.76, down 0.25% on the day but still up 0.77% over the past five trading sessions Read More…
(The Center Square) – A slew of candidates running as democratic socialists appears to be raising alarms with a majority of American voters, according to a new poll. The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll – Logo – White Background The Center Square’s Voters Voice Poll found 63% of Americans are concerned with the growth of Read More…
Christian Castro was released a day after a federal judge rejected Minnesota’s bid to keep him jailed while Gov. Greg Abbott decides whether to sign extradition papers. BROWNSVILLE — The immigration officer at the center of a Minnesota-Texas legal fight was released from a South Texas jail Thursday, a day after a federal judge rejected Read More…
The Republican Attorneys General Association is highlighting a new Michigan advertisement from its affiliated Safer Michigan Fund as part of a nearly $7 million political spending campaign across 13 states ahead of the November elections. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen serves as chairman of RAGA, which is working to elect and defend Republican attorneys general Read More…
Idaho Falls-based Teton Auto Group has acquired Audi of Bozeman and Volkswagen of Bozeman, marking the family-owned auto retailer’s first expansion into Montana and adding the Audi luxury brand to its portfolio for the first time. The transaction became effective August 10. The two Bozeman dealerships join Teton Auto Group as established, award-winning operations with Read More…