The U.S. Senate passed the bipartisan Fire Ready Nation Act by unanimous consent, advancing legislation aimed at strengthening the nation’s ability to prevent, forecast, and combat wildfires. The bill, introduced in January by Senator Tim Sheehy (R–Mont.) and Senator Maria Cantwell (D–Wash.), formally establishes the Fire Weather Services program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Read More…
U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R–Mont.) emphasized the importance of expanding energy production in tribal communities during a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing this week. Speaking with David Conrad, Acting Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs, Daines highlighted the potential for tribal energy projects to strengthen sovereignty and fuel Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a 27-state coalition urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Washington state’s ban on firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. The coalition filed an amicus brief Monday in Gator’s Custom Guns, Inc. v. State of Washington, arguing the law violates the Second Amendment. In May, the Read More…
Governor Greg Gianforte this week signed an executive order creating a new Energy Task Force charged with developing strategies to expand affordable, reliable energy production in Montana. “With increasing demand on our energy grid, we must meet the challenge head-on to ensure affordable, reliable power for Montanans now and into the future,” Gianforte said. “After Read More…
Gov. Brian Kemp appointed financial executive Kelly Loeffler to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, selecting the co-owner of Atlanta’s WNBA franchise over a congressman that President Donald Trump repeatedly urged the Republican to pick. During remarks in Kemp’s ceremonial office, Loeffler presented herself as a lifelong conservative who is “pro-Second Amendment, pro-military, pro-wall and pro-Trump” Read More…
The case against Michael Bloomberg’s presidential run seems strong. He’s a political chameleon, who went from Democrat to Republican (in order to find a place on the New York City ballot in 2001) to Independent to Democrat (again). He spent a lot of money in politics. Some of it helping Republicans, such as Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Read More…
HELENA — A former Helena elementary school teacher – who also is married to Democratic state superintendent of public instruction candidate Melissa Romano — was charged Tuesday with felony drug possession, including cocaine, LSD and methamphetamine. The charges against Eric Lehman, who resigned his teaching post at Hawthorne Elementary School as of Nov. 1, said Read More…
China avoided measures related to trade in its first actions retaliating against the U.S. over a law supporting Hong Kong’s protesters, instead vowing to sanction some rights organizations and halt warship visits to the city. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing Monday that U.S. groups targeted for sanctions included the National Endowment Read More…
The Haverford School’s leafy campus, arched doorways, and neatly uniformed boys would seem to denote the sort of class and privilege that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has decried on the campaign trail. That may be why Warren, confronted by a school-choice activist in November, denied that her kids had attended private schools. The 2020 Read More…
In the entire U.S., only one state — Wyoming — lacks legal protections for journalists who refuse to give up the names of confidential sources when law enforcement comes calling. After years as an outlier — and at least one close call for a reporter who faced legal pressure to reveal his sources — Read More…
GRAND FORKS — State Sen. Ray Holmberg remembers when the relationship between the North Dakota University System and the Legislature was more tenuous. Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, a longtime member of the Legislature and leader of the Senate Appropriations Committee, says that around 2013, the relationship was especially fractured. “The relationship was, shall we Read More…
HOUSTON, TEXAS – A North Dakota soldier was honored in the NFL’s Salute to Service at the Houston Texans’ stadium and his son shared this video of the moment with us. Master Sgt. Al Herda Jr., of Devils Lake, and his 8-year-old grandson, Ben Herda, got to stand on the sidelines of Sunday night’s Texans – Read More…
FORT WASHAKIE – A Wyoming tribe is looking to hemp and medical marijuana as potential ways to bolster the Wind River Reservation economy and treat illnesses, an approach more and more tribes view as potentially lucrative. In late September, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe’s General Council voted to approve a resolution to have a group Read More…
Montana Governor Steve Bullock is ending his presidential campaign, citing an inability to gain traction with Democratic primary voters and, in a setback for Democrats, he has no plans to pursue a 2020 Senate bid. “While there were many obstacles we could not have anticipated when entering this race, it has become clear that in Read More…
BILLINGS — Montana clothing company All Season All Terrain (ASAT) Outdoors is suing New York-based fashion company Supreme for copyright infringement after Supreme sold clothing printed with a copyrighted camouflage design, according to court documents. Stevensville based ASAT Outdoors filed the suit on Nov. 11 in New York District Court. The Montana company claims to Read More…
MISSOULA — State wildlife officials have released the final numbers for the big game hunting season in Western Montana. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) reported checking 10,225 hunters with 837 harvested game animals at its three long-standing check stations in western Montana from opening day on October 26 until the general big game hunting Read More…
People living in many of Montana’s rural communities and on Native American reservations have no dentists, a problem Montana State University is working to solve. MSU is working with the University of Washington’s Regional Initiatives in Dental Education (RIDE) program to bring dental students from the Spokane-based program to train in Montana’s rural and Read More…
Once again, tickets for The Montana Lotttery’s Montana Millionaire game have sold out at a record pace. All 180,000 tickets were sold out by 1:12 p.m. on Monday, five days earlier than in 2018. The Montana Lottery has yet to set an official date, but the grand prize drawing will be held sometime between Dec. Read More…
CHEYENNE – Gov. Mark Gordon will officially proclaim Wyoming Women’s Suffrage Day with a ceremony at the Wyoming State Capitol at 9 a.m. Dec. 10, the governor’s office announced Tuesday in a news release. The ceremony will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the passage of the first law in the United States guaranteeing women unconditional Read More…
President Donald Trump says he will designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorists because of their role in drug and human trafficking. “They will be designated … I have been working on that for the last 90 days. You know, designation is not that easy, you have to go through a process, and we are well Read More…
New York Jets cornerback Brian Poole is usually the one trying to grab footballs out of people’s hands. But following last Sunday’s Jets victory over the Oakland Raiders, it was Poole looking for a ball snatched from him. Poole, playing in his 58th career game, scored his first NFL touchdown on Sunday. During a celebration Read More…
Crow Chairman Alvin “A.J.” Not Afraid Jr. was among several Native American tribal leaders who traveled to Washington D.C. this week to visit President Donald Trump as he signed an executive order regarding Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. According to a post on the Crow Tribe of Indians Facebook page , Not Afraid stood near the president Read More…
A Republican-aligned super PAC is taking aim at Montana Gov. Steve Bullock — not because of the Democrat’s presidential bid, but because of a prospective Senate bid. The Senate Leadership Fund, an ally of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, bought a five-figure digital ad campaign attacking Mr. Bullock for spending time outside the state on the presidential campaign trail. Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Forecasters say a snowstorm is expected bring more than a foot of snow to parts of Montana and create difficult driving conditions for people traveling for Thanksgiving. National Weather Service officials say near-blizzard conditions are expected along the Rocky Mountain Front and near Monida Pass at Montana-Idaho border starting Tuesday night through Thursday. Read More…
BILLINGS — Montana’s first suspected case of CWD in a wild elk killed near Red Lodge was recorded Monday, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. In addition, three deer killed in south-central Montana also tested positive for the disease Monday. They included a mule deer taken on national forest land near Crooked Creek in Read More…
The FBI is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying persons responsible for placing skimming devices on ATMs in Washington, then using the skimmed information in Montana. In early March, the unknown suspects placed skimming devices on ATMs at various locations in Vancouver, Washington. The devices were installed for the purpose of recording information from Read More…
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) voiced support for decriminalizing the use of all drugs on Sunday. The freshman congresswoman tweeted that drug decriminalization, as well as marijuana legalization, are “matters of public health.” This marks a development in Ocasio-Cortez’s drug policy platform. Previously, she called for decriminalizing the use and research of psychedelics, emphasizing the therapeutic potential Read More…
BISMARCK — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum announced Tuesday, Nov. 19, the state would continue to receive refugees as long as local governments agree to it. The announcement comes in response to a September executive order issued by President Donald Trump, which allowed state and local governments to decide whether to receive resettled refugees. On Read More…
Kanye West has been denied a permit to build an amphitheater on his ranch in Wyoming. The Park County Planning and Zoning Commission made the decision Tuesday after the rapper changed his plans for the structure near Cody. West told county officials he now wants to include residential space. READ FULL STORY
LARAMIE, Wyo. — The board of trustees at the University of Wyoming has voted unanimously in approval of several new educational programs. The Laramie Boomerang reports voting, which took place during the board’s November meeting, granted approval for a new computer science education certificate, a master’s in “environment and natural resources in society,” and go-ahead for a neuroscience and Read More…
U.S. Attorney General William Barr, already scheduled to visit Kalispell Friday, will travel first to the Flathead Reservation to discuss missing and murdered indigenous persons. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes announced the visit Thursday morning. On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines’ office announced that Barr would visit Kalispell with Daines, a Republican representing Montana, to Read More…
The committees overseeing plans to expand the Montana Historical Society could finalize their report on possible sites for the building by the end of the week. The steering and building committees met in Helena Wednesday, for their final meeting before submitting their report on locations for the Montana Heritage Center. The report will go to Read More…
Elizabeth Warren prohibits special access for big donors — but her campaign treasurer and another close ally are organizing wealthy supporters for Warren behind the scenes while she rips on the rich. The pair, Boston businessman Paul Egerman and activist Shanti Fry, have maintained campaign titles as Warren’s finance co-chairs, even as her campaign sheared Read More…
T-Mobile CEO John Legere is stepping down in May 2020, the company announced on Monday morning. His replacement is coming from within T-Mobile: Current COO and president Mike Sievert is taking the reins from Legere next May. It’s not clear just yet where Legere is going, but as of November 11 he was reported to be Read More…
Kylie Jenner has sold a majority stake in Kylie Cosmetics to beauty conglomerate Coty Inc. Coty, owned by the European investment firm JAB Ltd., acquired a 51% controlling stake in the company for $600 million, valuing the brand at $1.2 billion. The Wall Street Journal reports that Jenner will remain the “public face” of the brand. Jenner founded the brand in 2015, and Read More…
HELENA – In a few weeks 27 young ladies from around the country will be vying for the title of Miss Rodeo America and one of those contestants is our very own Miss Rodeo Montana Kayla Seaman. The pageant will be held December 1st -9th at the Tropicana in Las Vegas in conjunction with the National Finals Rodeo. She will go through eight days Read More…
Montana Supreme Court Justice Laurie McKinnon, who announced five months ago she would not run for re-election for a second term, said Sunday she’s changed her mind and will be running in 2020. McKinnon told MTN News that while she initially wasn’t looking forward to another potentially partisan campaign, she decided that wasn’t a good-enough Read More…
In October of this year, the BLM released an environmental assessment for adding more wind turbines to Wyoming’s Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project. BLM Rawlins Field Manager Dennis Carpenter, was quoted then in a BLM press release when he said, “The project fulfils many of the agency’s priorities, including sustainably developing energy resources, modernizing Read More…
For years Montana values have been under attack by liberal Democratic governors in Helena. They impose their radical agendas on the state, and Montana becomes less and less the state we all know and love. In November 2020, we need to put a stop to this. We need to elect strong conservatives up and down Read More…
HALL, Mont. — About 20-years-ago a rancher near Hall decided to semi-retire. But Ed James got bored. So he and his wife Sue, decided to start a new business. Now, the couple’s value added, family-owned company has clients all over the country. For our Montana Moment, we visited Sugar Loaf Wool Carding Mill. The mill stands in Read More…
Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, are calling on White House senior adviser and immigration policy architect Stephen Miller to resign after the release of hundreds of emails promoting white nationalist content and extremely restrictive immigration policies. “Trump’s architect of mass human rights abuses at the border … has been exposed as a Read More…
In a vacuum, the case to impeach President Trump is straightforward. He used presidential powers for his private, political gain. If further investigation corroborates the facts already known, then Trump committed an obvious abuse of power that many members of Congress will view as impeachable — and perhaps many more would if the party labels Read More…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, was found guilty Friday of witness tampering and lying to Congress about his pursuit of Russian-hacked emails damaging to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election bid. Stone was convicted of all seven counts in an indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, Read More…
BUTTE, Mont. — A rescue mission in Butte is opening a “low-barrier” homeless shelter to take in persons who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The Montana Standard reports the Butte-Rescue Mission is opening the shelter Friday at the urging of Silver Bow County officials and community leaders. Modular units in the city Read More…