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Sheehy Praises Trump Announcement of New Military Training Range in Montana

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy praised President Donald Trump’s announcement of plans to establish a next-generation military training range in Montana, describing the project as an investment in modernizing the nation’s defense capabilities. The proposed facility would support integrated military exercises and testing involving emerging technologies, including electronic warfare, hypersonic weapons, space systems and advanced targeting Read More…

Attorney General Austin Knudsen

Attorney General Sues OpenAI Over Alleged Risks to Children and Teens

HELENA, Mont.—Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the artificial intelligence company of misleading consumers about the safety of ChatGPT and exposing children and teenagers to harmful advice and inadequate privacy protections. The lawsuit, filed Oct. 14 in Lewis and Clark County District Court, alleges OpenAI violated the Montana Consumer Read More…

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Knudsen Urges Congress to Act on MMIP Crisis

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen testified Tuesday before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance on the missing and murdered Indigenous persons crisis, outlining jurisdictional challenges that hamper coordination among tribal, federal and local law enforcement in addressing the issue. During the hearing, titled “Missing and Murdered Indigenous People: Strengthening Public Read More…

Forstag’s Lobbying Record Draws Scrutiny in MT-01 Race

Democrat Sam Forstag’s effort to emphasize his working-class background is drawing fresh scrutiny from Republican Aaron Flint’s campaign, which is highlighting Forstag’s years of lobbying and LGBTQ advocacy work in Helena. Forstag recently released an advertisement claiming that he earned $16 an hour as a smokejumper. Flint’s campaign responded by releasing lobbying records it says Read More…

Big Sky Broadcasting to Acquire Two Missoula-Area Radio Stations

Big Sky Broadcasting has filed to acquire two Missoula-area radio stations in a transaction that would expand the company’s media portfolio into broadcast radio. The company is acquiring KMSO (102.5 FM) and KHDV (107.9 FM) from Sheila Callahan & Friends, Inc. Both stations are currently off the air. According to the transaction filing, the deal Read More…

Gianforte Seeks Nominations for 2026 Montana Governor’s Veteran Commendation

Nominations are now open for the 2026 Montana Governor’s Veteran Commendation, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced. “Our veterans answered the call to serve our country, and many continue that service long after taking off the uniform,” Gianforte said. “The Montana Governor’s Veteran Commendation gives me the honor and opportunity to recognize these outstanding men and women, Read More…

Treasury Flags $17.5 Billion in Suspected Health Care Fraud

  The U.S. Treasury Department said its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network identified about $17.5 billion in suspicious financial activity potentially connected to health care fraud, highlighting the scale of schemes targeting Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers. The findings come from an analysis of 5,702 Bank Secrecy Act reports filed by financial institutions between March 1, Read More…

Gillman Makes More History as Grizzlies Improve to 3-0

Montana running back Eli Gillman added another chapter to his record-setting career Saturday, rushing for 147 yards and three touchdowns as the Grizzlies beat Utah Tech 35-14 at Washington-Grizzly Stadium. The fifth-year senior continued his climb through both the Montana and Big Sky Conference record books. After breaking Chase Reynolds’ Montana career rushing-touchdown record a Read More…

Zinke Announces Introduction of the A River Runs Through It Act

MISSOULA, Mont. — Rep. Ryan Zinke announced the introduction of the A River Runs Through It Act, a locally developed public lands package bringing together more than two decades of work by communities throughout the Blackfoot and Clearwater valleys. Zinke unveiled the legislation at Smoke Elzer Barn in Missoula alongside local elected officials, members of Read More…

Flint Touts Working-Class Background

Republican congressional candidate Aaron Flint is using his first two general-election advertisements to emphasize his working-class upbringing, military service and support for skilled-trades education as he campaigns for Montana’s 1st Congressional District. Flint’s newest ad features his mother, Karen, recounting how she raised him as a single parent while working two jobs. She says Flint Read More…

Trump Announces $500 Obamacare Refunds for Nearly 1 Million Americans

President Trump announced that the federal government will return hundreds of millions of dollars in Obamacare overcharges collected under the Biden administration, issuing refunds of $500 per person to nearly 1 million Americans across 30 states. According to the White House, the Biden administration overcharged Americans through Obamacare exchange “user fees” that were passed on Read More…

Billings Gazette

Billings Gazette Leaves Longtime Home

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…

U.S. Economy Adds 162,000 Jobs in August, Beating Expectations

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…

Attorney General Austin Knudsen

Knudsen Launches Investigation Into OpenAI

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…

Alme Favored in Montana Senate Race

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…

Montana Supreme Court Upholds Attempted-Homicide Conviction in Trooper Johnson Case

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…

DEQ Issues Final Environmental Review for North Plains Connector

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…

Attorney General Austin Knudsen

AG Knudsen Lands $127 Million Meta Settlement for Montana

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…

Tim Cook to Step Down as Apple CEO, Hand Reins to John Ternus

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…

Cascade County Investigates Signature-Gathering Fraud Tied to Bodnar, Eisenhauer Campaigns

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…

Judge Halts Construction on Montana’s Proposed Laurel Mental Health Facility

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…

Knudsen-Led AG Group Targets 13 States in Election Push

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…

Montana’s Unemployment Rate Falls to 3.2%

Montana’s unemployment rate fell to 3.2% in July, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced, continuing the state’s record stretch of low unemployment and remaining nearly a full percentage point below the national rate, which also declined over the month to 4.1%. “As Montana’s unemployment rate continues to decline, businesses across our state are expanding, creating high-paying jobs, Read More…

Federal Court Backs Trump’s Authority Over California Pipeline

A federal court upheld the Trump administration’s authority under the Defense Production Act to oversee operation of the Santa Ynez Pipeline on the California coast, rejecting California’s efforts to block federally mandated oil production through state-level legal barriers — though the same ruling fined Sable Offshore Corporation nearly $1.5 million for violating a federal consent Read More…

Sheehy Parachutes Into Yellowstone International Airshow

Sen. Tim Sheehy made a fitting entrance at the Yellowstone International Airshow in Billings on Friday, parachuting onto the grounds at Billings Logan International Airport while carrying a Montana state flag. The former Navy SEAL, FAA-certified commercial pilot and flight instructor arrived during media practice day for the show, joining the U.S. Army Golden Knights Read More…

Attorney General Austin Knudsen

Knudsen Restores Pre-Bullock Term Limits Rule

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen issued a legal opinion reversing a 14-year-old interpretation of the state’s constitutional term limits — a move that could remove prominent Republican lawmakers from the November ballot just days before the state must certify candidates. The opinion withdraws a 2012 interpretation issued by then-Attorney General Steve Bullock, now a former Read More…

Circle Plans September Launch of Arc Blockchain to Expand USDC’s Role

Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, said its Arc blockchain mainnet is scheduled to launch Sept. 16, a move that would give the company its own financial infrastructure for payments, capital markets and tokenized assets. The launch marks Circle’s attempt to move beyond simply issuing digital dollars and toward owning a larger share of Read More…