Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke celebrated the release of $53,889,068 in Payments in Lieu of Taxes funding for Montana counties, an increase of more than $7.3 million over 2025 disbursements. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Zinke said he played a major role in securing the funds. “Public Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led a coalition of 23 state attorneys general in urging the U.S. Senate to confirm Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as the next attorney general of the United States. In a letter sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, Ranking Member Richard Durbin and other committee members, Knudsen urged Read More…
(The Center Square) – Betting on a football score isn’t gambling. At least not according to the federal Commodities Futures Trading Commission. The commission recently proposed rule changes to strengthen its governance over prediction markets and sports betting. The changes involve how the panel defines “gaming” and “gambling.” The proposal defines limitations for the CFTC’s Read More…
The Center Square) – Minnesota’s special districts reported $5.4 billion in outstanding long-term debt in 2023, while increasingly relying on state funding as pandemic-era federal aid declined. This is according to a new report from the Minnesota Office of the State Auditor. The 91-page report examined 572 special districts that submitted financial data to the auditor’s Read More…
GREAT FALLS — Delta is rebuilding its flight schedule across the nation. The airline is raising its capacity to 80% later this year. It’s been operating at 71% of its regular capacity. Here in Montana, it’s a bit of a different story right now. Recently, Delta cut its direct flight from Great Falls to Minneapolis. Read More…
It was the early afternoon of June 17, 1876, when a bullet ripped through Cpt. Guy Henry’s cheek. For several hours, he was one of more than 2,000 people fighting in the largest battle of the Plains Wars. The fighting involved the United States government, committed to confining the Indigenous peoples of the continent to reservations, and the Cheyenne and Read More…
MISSOULA — The University of Montana confirmed to MTN News Thursday morning that the Dean of the Alexander Blewett II School of Law, Paul Kirgis, submitted his resignation. University spokesman Dave Kuntz said Kirgis sent an email to UM President Seth Bodnar shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday announcing his resignation. READ FULL STORY
HELENA, Mont. – Multiple police and sheriff’s offices in Montana have had grants approved that will help them obtain and train new canine units. The canine units will help local law enforcement crackdown on illegal drugs being trafficked into Montana according to the Department of Justice. “Dangerous drugs like methamphetamine and fentanyl are coming in Read More…
BILLINGS — The family of soldiers in the Montana National Guard 1063rd Maintenance Company said goodbye to their loved ones in Billings on Saturday before a 400-day deployment to Southwest Asia. The 147 soldiers in the 1063rd are primarily from Montana and headquartered in Billings with a detachment that drills in Dillon. The company will Read More…
BILLINGS – Rocky Vista University – Montana College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVU-MCOM) broke ground Monday for its new Billings campus. RVU-MCOM will be the first ever four-year medical school with a dedicated campus in Montana. Langlas & Associates began construction on the 12-acre campus and 135,000 square foot state of the art building on Billings Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — A district judge in Missoula has denied a request by several parents to halt mask mandates in Missoula schools while a legal challenge of the mandates is underway. The parents sued several Missoula schools in August over their mask requirements, arguing they violated the state’s constitution. READ FULL STORY
The Whitefish Planning Board recently voted in support of two separate proposals to build new hotels in the city, one on a prominent lot downtown and the other off U.S. 93 south of the core business district. Both projects require conditional-use permits and approval from the Whitefish City Council to move forward, with developers of Read More…
BUTTE, Mont. — Workers wrapped up soil remediation at two schools in Butte after finding high levels of lead and arsenic. Now they’re working on three more. Out of 21 sites tested, five showed signs of lead and arsenic. “Butte High School, the Silver Bow Montessori school, West school, the former Lincoln school, which is now Read More…
Amtrack CEO Bill Flynn released a statement regarding the Amtrak train derailment that happened in Buelow, Montana Saturday: “We are in mourning today for the people who lost their lives due to the derailment of the Empire Builder train Saturday, near Joplin, Montana, on the BNSF Railway, as well as the many others who were injured. We have no Read More…
National Auction was ready for about 200 to come out to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks trophy sale in Billings Saturday. Some estimated the crowd as double that, and it was an opportunity for people, including non hunters to get some wildlife. “We are doing a live auction for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks,” Read More…
At a Sept. 14 Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitor Bureau luncheon at the Hilton Garden Inn, Gov. Greg Gianforte promoted Montana as a competitive business state while emphasizing its economic resiliency during the pandemic. Gianforte spoke following a visit with GL Solutions, a software company that recently relocated to Kalispell from Bend, Oregon, Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — A Browning man, Steven Ray DeCarlo, has admitting to dealing methamphetamine on the Blackfeet Reservation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The following was sent out by U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Montana: A Browning man accused of being a methamphetamine dealer on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation admitted to a trafficking crime today, Read More…
BUTTE — Both the State and the defense rested their cases in Lloyd Barrus’ deliberate homicide by accountability trial Monday morning, in which Barrus is accused in the death of a Broadwater County Sheriff’s deputy in 2017. The judge decided to dismiss the jury until Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. when closing arguments will begin. Read More…
Jurors on Friday heard the last words Broadwater County Deputy Mason Moore ever spoke as he tailed a Chevy Suburban at 100 mph on U.S. 287 and relayed information to a dispatcher. The dispatcher alerted the Montana Highway Patrol and other law enforcement and then lost contact with Moore, and minutes later, a trooper came Read More…
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Every year in Yellowstone National Park, huge bull elk perform loud and wild mating rituals. Sometimes the crazed animals pose a threat to nearby people, and much of the activity happens right in one of the most-visited parts of the park, the Mammoth village. The rut, or elk mating season, peaks in September, and people flock Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. — The Gallatin County Planning Department released the final draft of a new growth policy for the county. The policy is called Envision Gallatin: Tomorrow Together. It centers around three major themes — open space, heritage and opportunity. The Gallatin County Commission will vote on the policy at the public meeting Sept. 21. Developing Read More…
MISSOULA — Attention is once again turning to a legislative solution to wildfires as the Northern Rockies fire season winds down, and California’s rages on. MTN News takes a closer look at the proposals being floated by U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT). Whether it’s logging projects to thin the forest or other measures like prescribed Read More…
Citing rising Delta variant COVID-19 cases, Crow Tribal Chairman Frank Whiteclay announced he is reinstating a mask mandate inside all public buildings, including schools, on the reservation. The Apsalooke Service Corp main office in Crow Agency at the old casino will help provide masks and cleaning supplies for the community, Whiteclay said in a release. Read More…
Students are returning to fall classes at Montana Universities at a time when COVID cases are increasing. Mask mandates are now in place at Montana’s two largest universities. Two days after classes began at Montana State University in Bozeman, mask guidelines for inside classrooms changed from a recommendation to a mandate. The university had previously Read More…
KALISPELL, Mont. – Over the summer months, the Kalispell Fire Department has had to close or reduce services more frequently due to short staffing. Now, it sounds like these closures will happen less often. The Kalispell City Council approved a request to add two more firefighters in this upcoming year’s budget. This will make it Read More…
HELENA — There are a couple of unavoidable aspects of getting older. Firstly scammers are more likely to target you, and secondly, there will be BINGO. A group of senior citizens and residents at Edgewood Senior Living Facility enjoyed a fun round of BINGO and learned how to protect their wallets from scammers this week Read More…
BILLINGS — Bow and rifle hunting season is upon us, which is why one Montana-based company is aiming to educate people around the country on the sport. For the Love of Hunting (FORLOH), an outdoor apparel company, has traveled across the nation to educate people on hunting and its responsibilities. But they also offer fun opportunities around Read More…
CARBON COUNTY, Mont. — The body of a 23-year-old from Idaho who disappeared on a solo mountain-climbing trip in July has been found. The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the remains belong to Tatum Morell, a graduate student at Montana State University who had been attempting to climb five mountains in five days when she went Read More…
A Washington state man who admitted to selling methamphetamine on the Flathead Indian Reservation was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen. Alberto Escareno-Sanchez, 27, of Sunnyside, Washington, pleaded guilty in March to possession with intent to distribute meth. Escareno-Sanchez also will be on probation for five years, according Read More…
LOCKWOOD — It’s been eight years since Jessica Stiles was in Afghanistan doing detainee operations at the prison on Bagram Air Base. It’s a time she still sometimes lives with. “I get night terrors and had a hard time adjusting at first,” the Lockwood resident said this week. Stiles is one of the thousands of Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. – As tourism bounces back across the treasure state, hotel availability is dwindling while prices are skyrocketing. To put this in perspective, when I search for a hotel room here in Missoula for Friday, there’s absolutely nothing available. The city’s completely sold out. So, just how hard is it to find a place Read More…
GREAT FALLS — The Great Falls Police Department recently acquired two new incident response vehicles thanks to a federal program. One is a mobile crime scene unit, the other is for the department’s High Risk Unit. “These two vehicles provide a lot of different capabilities for us,” noted Captain Doug Otto of the GFPD. He Read More…
HELENA, Mont. – The Montana National Guard is adding 25 personnel to state active duty to provide logistics and security support to the Lolo Complex Fire burning southwest of Missoula. Beginning Tuesday, a 20 person hand crew will aid in the Alder Creek Fire located southwest of Butte. On Wednesday, the CH-47 crew located in Read More…
The mayor of Montana’s most populous city, Billings, says some people have moved from coastal states to the area because they want to be around other conservatives. Bill Cole told TIME magazine that he believed three major factors had brought newcomers to the city: affordable housing, people prioritizing their family and community over their work, and politics. Read More…
LIVINGSTON, MT- There’s a video going viral right now and chances are you’ve seen it, it’s of Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson in Livingston Montana shopping at Dan Bailey’s Outdoor Co. the video gets heated quickly. It was posted by a man named “Dan Bailey,” but the important distinction here is that Bailey shares no Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — A new mission for Miss Montana after being invited to fly in a world-class air show. The restored military plane is headed for Oshkosh, Wisconsin this weekend. Earlier crews were busy getting the plane ready for the journey, from degreasing the plane to loading it with supplies. READ FULL STORY
Billings, Montana, has become the place to buy a home in the United States — at least according to The Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index. The rise to the top of the index isn’t completely out of the blue for the city, which has a population of 184,000, since it was previously in the fourth spot. But Read More…
New food trucks have rolled into nearly every corner of the Flathead Valley this summer, vending everything from tacos to hot dogs and specialty soda. “COVID, I think, definitely had a huge impact on that,” said Amanda Hart, a co-founder of Kalispell’s Rescue Dog. Hart and her husband, Colten, launched their hot dog truck in Read More…
Town and Country foods will open sometime this summer. It’s a little bit behind schedule because of COVID and delivery delays. Management at Town & Country and at some of the other shops at West Park say it’s really important to not have that building be empty. “They gutted Lucky’s (Market) at the auction,” said Read More…
Montana environmental regulators are dropping their case to disqualify Hecla Mining from getting future mining permits in the state. The company’s CEO was previously an executive with Pegasus Gold, which abandoned mines in Montana. Critics say there could be consequences for not seeking penalties under Montana’s “bad actors” law. Montana Department of Environmental Quality Director Read More…
BOZEMAN — The Bozeman Yellowstone International airport is participating in a survey in an effort to prevent human trafficking via air travel. “Is it happening, are we having girls that we know are coming in on airplanes- yes. They then are typically setting up ads in Bozeman and Billings where they have major airports,” Andrew Read More…
Glacier National Park drew more than a half-million visitors last month, charting its second-busiest June on record despite imposing a ticketed-entry system aimed at blunting the acute congestion that in recent years has led to paralytic gridlock in the park’s key arterials. As approximated through June, the overall visitation estimates peg Glacier’s year-to-date totals as the second Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Cora Neumann has announced a run for Montana’s new U.S. House seat, becoming the third Democrat to join the race. Neumann is a public health expert from Bozeman. She told the Montana State News Bureau this week she would fight for good jobs and wages in Congress. READ FULL STORY
BILLINGS, Mont. – The Billings YWCA is looking to build a second emergency shelter due to the nearly 40% increase in partner and family member assaults during the pandemic. “We have been really struggling to figure out how to house everyone who needed support,” Billings YWCA CEO Merry Lee Olson said. “So, during the pandemic, we ended up Read More…