(The Center Square) – Gov. Greg Abbott has directed state agencies to investigate potential Medicaid fraud In Texas. Abbott on Friday directed the Texas Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General and Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to investigate potential Medicaid fraud to safeguard taxpayer money, maintain access for eligible Texans, Read More…
(The Center Square) – Republican U.S. senators, led by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, have introduced the ICE Protection Act to increase penalties for those who assault and injure U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The bill was filed as an unprecedented amount of assaults continue against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as they perform Read More…
A ballot initiative designed to keep corporations from spending on elections in Montana is a little too ambitious, the state Supreme Court has found. The new proposals included in Ballot Issue 4 violate the rules for wording such initiatives, the court ruled. State Attorney General Austin Knudsen made that argument to the justices over a Read More…
(The Center Square) – The second largest natural gas producer in northwest Louisiana and east Texas has sold its assets to Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi. Aethon, a Dallas-based company that operates in the prolific Haynesville shale formation, agreed to a deal worth approximately $7.5 billion, according to an announcement on Friday. Mitsubishi agreed to pay $5.2 Read More…
MONTANA – The Montana Department of Commerce today announced that the Prospera Business Network will join the Montana Small Business Development Center Network. The local business and community development nonprofit will continue to serve Gallatin and Park counties in its new capacity. The Montana Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, headquartered at the Montana Department Read More…
In 2020, the U.S. lost 4,400 farms and ranches totally 2,019,000 when compared to 2019. A year-over-year trend that has occurred for decades. Those figures come from the latest Farms and Land in Farms Highlights report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The losses were heaviest in the nation’s largest farming regions, namely California and Read More…
Glacier National Park will hold a virtual community discussion on Thursday, March 18, regarding challenges the park and visitors will face in the upcoming 2021 season. Park Superintendent Jeff Mow will provide an overview on topics, such as the proposed ticketed entry system, park visitation numbers, COVID-19 mitigations, and challenges with seasonal housing. Glacier National Read More…
The Bozeman School District on Friday reached a tentative two-year pay raise agreement with its teachers union and outlined avenues for continuing conversations related to the COVID-19 pandemic. About 500 teachers in the district will receive a 4% increase in pay over the next two years, including a 2.5% increase beginning next school year followed Read More…
The Montana Highway Patrol (MHP) commissioned 15 new troopers today at the 70th Advanced Academy Graduation ceremony at Helena’s Civic Center. MHP Colonel Steve Lavin and Attorney General Austin Knudsen addressed the graduates at the event before their badges were pinned and they were sworn in to their new positions as Highway Patrol Troopers. Of Read More…
The Adaptive Performance Center celebrated its one-year anniversary on Saturday. During the COVID-19 shutdowns, it was considered essential of fitness and mental health therapy. Veterans say they enjoy working out at the Adaptive Performance Center (APC). “It’s a nice quiet atmosphere,” said Jim Carnathan, a U.S. Navy and U.S. Army veteran. “A lot of times Read More…
President Biden hasn’t held a solo press conference 54 days into office. The president addressed the nation last Thursday after signing the $1.9 trillion spending package and spoke about the country’s progress in defeating the coronavirus. However, he has gone more than seven weeks without holding a press conference, the longest for a president in nearly 100 years. Every president Read More…
Mayor Bill de Blasio called Monday for an investigation into phone calls that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s vaccine czar made to county executives across the state — describing them as “the definition of corruption.” “If vaccine supply is being given out for political reasons, that, in many ways, is the single worst thing we’ve heard in all of Read More…
Rioters targeted the federal courthouse in Portland, Ore., on Thursday evening in renewed clashes between demonstrators and federal police. The attack on the courthouse came one day after authorities removed fencing initially erected over the summer, in response to continued riots following the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed during his arrest Read More…
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, whose criminal fraud trial was scheduled to start in July, is asking for a delay because she’s pregnant. In a court filing on Friday, her defense attorneys and prosecutors asked Judge Edward Davila to delay the start of her trial by six weeks to begin on August 31, 2021. “On March Read More…
Dozens of violent anti-cop protesters clad in black descended upon an Oregon courthouse, where they set fires and damaged the building Thursday night as federal officers responded with tear gas and flash-bang grenades, according to video and reports. Footage from outside the Mark O. Hatfield US Courthouse in downtown Portland late Thursday shows a small fire outside Read More…
The city of Sioux Falls in South Dakota will allow its mask mandate to expire after a 9-year-old girl read a letter before the city council saying she was “bullied” in school and called “stupid” for not wearing a face covering. Mayor Paul TenHaken broke the four to four tie vote on the city council and Read More…
OLIVER COUNTY, N.D. (KFYR) – The Oliver County Sheriff says approximately 25 head of cattle are dead in the Missouri River after they fell through the ice on March 3. Oliver County Sheriff David Hillard says it is believed the cattle walked on to and fell through the ice. The Department of Environmental Quality is Read More…
Former state representative Luke Simons won’t go to court over his expulsion from the Legislature. Simons, R-Dickinson, announced his decision Thursday morning in a lengthy statement. “The legislature has effectively disenfranchised the people of my district. Unfortunately, the only way I can immediately correct this injustice is to allow someone else to serve,” he said. Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming currently has a 4% statewide sales and use tax. State law allows local sales and use taxes up to 3% (so-called “fifth, sixth and seventh penny”) additional sales and use taxes. The Wyoming House of Representatives are working on a bill that would potentially make the so-called “fifth penny” tax permanent Read More…
The Bigfork School District Board of Trustees voted Wednesday night to extend the district’s mask mandate through April 9 after the teachers union expressed concerns over an earlier decision to lift the rule at the end of this week. The trustees voted 6-0, with one abstention, to continue requiring masks in school buildings based on Read More…
GREAT FALLS — The Montana Department of Commerce’s Housing Division is urging people to prepare to take advantage of a new rental assistance program. As of Thursday, the program was still being developed but was expected to start sometime in the spring, and meant to help people who have been impacted by the pandemic. The Read More…
GREAT FALLS — Since the launch of the Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Company almost three years ago, business has been steadily on the rise. The company with a constant eye on efficiency decided now was as good a time as ever to expand. “We started realizing, hey, we’re not able to make enough beer for what orders are Read More…
(The Center Square) – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined 11 other state attorneys general on Monday in filing a lawsuit in an attempt to block the Biden administration from unilaterally implementing parts of the so-called “Green New Deal” without Congressional approval. The lawsuit challenges President Joe Biden’s executive order that seeks to impose Read More…
HELENA — On a nearly party-line vote, Republicans in the Montana House Thursday endorsed the first “school choice” bill of the 2021 session, to use public-education funds to help pay some expenses of disabled children who attend private school in Montana. The House voted 68-32 to advance House Bill 329, which sets up an educational Read More…
PIERRE — A Hughes County judge has ruled that a voter-approved amendment to the South Dakota Constitution ending marijuana prohibition in the state shouldn’t go forward. Circuit Court Judge Christina Klinger ruled Monday that Constitutional Amendment A violates the state Constitution on two grounds: It violates the single subject rule, meaning it encompassed more than one Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) – There are only 16 women in the Wyoming State Legislature, as a while the Equality state ranks in the bottom five of the nation for having a diverse state legislature. When it comes to representation in local offices it’s just as bad. Out of the 93 County Commissioners in Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – North Dakota has another new State Health Officer. Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., named Dr. Nizar Wehbi to the post and is expected to take responsibilities on May 1. Wehbi will be the fifth person to hold the office in either a permanent or interim basis in the past year. “Dr. Wehbi Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Press Release) – Governor Mark Gordon announced Wyoming will remove its statewide mask requirement and allow bars, restaurants, theaters and gyms to resume normal operations on March 16. The decision reflects the state’s continually improving health metrics and is consistent with the Governor’s approach of balancing public health with protecting livelihoods. Wyoming has Read More…
Boeing CEO David Calhoun declined a salary and performance bonus for most of last year but still received stock benefits that pushed the estimated value of his compensation to more than $21 million, according to a regulatory filing Friday. The aerospace giant struggled last year with the continuing fallout from two deadly crashes involving its Read More…
Leaders of the effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday they’ve collected 1.95 million signatures a little more than a week before the deadline, a number they believe will be more than enough to trigger a special recall election. County and state elections officials still need to verify that nearly 1.5 million are Read More…
JEFFERSON CITY — In an announcement that instantly shook Missouri’s political landscape, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt said Monday morning he would not run for reelection in 2022. “After 14 general election victories — three to county office, seven to the United States House of Representatives and four statewide elections — I won’t be a candidate for Read More…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now advising that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can gather indoors with others who have the jab — without masks or social distancing. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the CDC, said Monday that fully vaccinated people can follow the looser guidelines about two weeks after their final shot. “CDC Read More…
The U.S. and South Korea have reached agreement on a new accord that would resolve a yearslong dispute on how to share the cost of American troops based on the Korean Peninsula, officials from the two countries said Sunday. The new accord, which would last through 2025, would provide for a “meaningful increase” in the South Korean Read More…
The U.S. is on course for an employment boom this year once pandemic restrictions ease and the economy reopens, according to economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “Reopening, fiscal stimulus, and pent-up savings should fuel very strong demand growth,” Chief Economist Jan Hatzius and colleagues wrote in a report highlighting an outlook that’s more optimistic than Read More…
On January 15, in its last days, President Donald Trump’s State Department put out a statement with serious claims about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. The statement said the U.S. intelligence community had evidence that several researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory were sick with Covid-like symptoms in autumn 2019—implying the Chinese government had Read More…
Miles City, MT – Stockman Bank is pleased to announce Jim Drummond as the newest member of its Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2021. Jim brings more than 43 years of banking and agricultural and commercial lending expertise. He worked for Stockman Bank from 2003 to 2017, serving as the Stockman Bank Gallatin Read More…
A guitar manufacturer is planning a major expansion at its factory in Bozeman amid increasing demand for guitars during the COVID-19 pandemic. James “JC” Curleigh, president and CEO of Gibson Brands, Inc., said at a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday that last spring’s COVID-19 shutdown initially brought about “more questions than answers” for the company. Read More…
Camping World Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CWH) (“Camping World”), America’s Recreation Dealer, today announced expansion plans in Delaware, Nebraska and Montana. The company owns or is in the process of acquiring land in these three states to support the continued march towards a national recreational dealer platform. “We continue to fill in the missing pieces towards Read More…
Bozeman’s longest-running clinic is working on a new home. Bozeman Clinic opened in the 1930s and, while it’s remained an independent clinic, has leased a location on the Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital campus since the 1980s. But construction has begun on the clinic’s new two-story location at 1245 N. 15th Ave., at the corner Read More…
Researchers at the University of Montana have released a study that says a booming short-term rental market could have a significant impact on the state’s economy and affordable housing, if left unchecked. The face of Montana’s tourism industry has already changed a lot in the last five years, says Jeremy Sage, the interim director of the Institute Read More…
KALISPELL, Mont. – Before sunrise Tuesday, the red lights of a small, fixed-wing airplane blinked in the sky against the dark silhouette of the Northern Rocky Mountains, heading to Glacier Park International Airport in northwest Montana. The private charter plane landed, taxied and came to a stop. Stairs were dropped and five health care workers Read More…
Hertz‘s unsecured creditors are proposing a restructuring of the car-rental firm that clashes with the company’s plan to exit from bankruptcy via a sale to two investment funds, Bloomberg reported Thursday. As part of the planned shakeup, the lenders want to convert their holdings in the bankrupt firm into shares of the reorganized company which could be taken Read More…
A Long Island doctor is facing murder charges after five patients allegedly died between 2016 and 2018 due to prescriptions he wrote. George Blatti, 75, was arraigned Thursday on five counts of murder in the second degree and 11 counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree. Blatti was remanded and is due back in Read More…
Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., announced Thursday that he and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., formed three screening conferences that will recommend candidates to fill federal judicial openings as well as vacant U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal positions in their state. The panels, one for each of Florida‘s judicial districts, will interview and vet candidates and then report their Read More…