The Department of War has awarded $27.3 million to Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company, bringing its total investment in the solid rocket motor supply chain to $191 million since December 2024, as the Pentagon moves aggressively to close production gaps in a segment it considers strategically vital. The latest award, funded through the Defense Production Read More…
As the fourth largest state in the U.S. with the sixth smallest population, each agency relies on another for niche expertise, whereas bigger agencies can potentially accomplish everything on their own, said Adam Pankratz, deputy chief of Montana State University’s police department. These relationships start to form during basic training, which 14 future officers from Read More…
Montana has vaulted from 22nd to 8th in national fiscal health rankings over the past four years, according to a new report from Truth in Accounting, a nonpartisan think tank that annually evaluates the financial condition of all 50 states. The 2025 Financial State of the States report credited Montana’s rise in part to revenues Read More…
Six Montana airports will share more than $25 million in federal grants to fund a range of safety and infrastructure improvements, the office of Rep. Ryan Zinke announced, with the largest single award going to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport for a taxiway extension project. The grants come from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program 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…
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…
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…
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…
FARGO — After a year of construction, the 18-story Block 9 building in downtown Fargo reached its full height of 235 feet when the roof was poured Thursday, Nov. 14. The structure that is changing the city’s skyline is now the second-tallest building in the state behind the state Capitol. A flag has been hung on the Read More…
On any given day, thousands of packages from Walmarts, Targets, and stores around the country travel north along a two-lane road out of Billings, Montana — past the Tumbleweed Saloon, past cows grazing on empty rangeland, past the Busy Bee Cafe and stands of short pines — to the town of Roundup, where they will be Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. — The first caregiver organization signed up for the Montana Apprenticeship Program Thursday. The program will provide 14 caregivers with dementia training at First Choice Home Health in Bozeman, where they say most of their patients are suffering from some form of dementia. In 2017, there were 287 deaths caused by dementia and Alzheimer’s Read More…
The owner of three struggling Powder River basin coal mines says it’s negotiating with a new broker to back the bonds required to keep the mines operating after the Navajo Nation said it’s pulling its financial support. Erny Zah, a spokesman for the Navajo Transitional Energy Company (NTEC), said Wednesday the firm doesn’t foresee a Read More…
IDAHO FALLS – Police in Idaho are looking for information after equipment was stolen from a Montana fire crew on their way home from fighting fires in California. According to a Facebook post from the Idaho Falls Police Department, a crew stopped at the Super 8 in Idaho Falls to spend the night Sunday. Sometime between Read More…
In a decade when many American universities are struggling with falling enrollment, Montana State University’s student population has grown, along with its graduation numbers and spending on instruction. MSU’s fall report card on itself also showed that while the Bozeman campus still has more tenured and tenure-track faculty than non-tenured or adjunct instructors, the Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Defense Department says a soldier from Montana — 23-year-old Nathaneil G. Irish — has died as a result of a non-combat related incident in Iraq. According to Sgt. Irish’s Facebook page, he was a proud Senior Bronc, attending the high school from 2010 to 2013. Several posts on his Facebook page indicate Sgt. Read More…
A Montana hunter shot and killed a grizzly bear Saturday in apparent self-defense, bringing to three the number of “human-caused” grizzly bear deaths to have occurred during the past week. Saturday’s incident occurred in the Eureka Basin of the south Gravelly Mountains. The hunter, who was not injured, contacted the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — The state of Montana has spent more than $2 million on snow plowing so far this year surpassing what costs were this time over the last two years. The Independent Record reported Tuesday that snow plowing costs for the state Department of Transportation increased by more than 250% since last year. Department officials Read More…
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) became the latest member of the influential “Squad” to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president when she appeared at his campaign rally in Detroit on Sunday night. Why it matters: It’s a welcome boost for Sanders as polls indicate his popularity has slipped. Tlaib is the third member of the quartet of freshman Democratic lawmakers Read More…
HELENA – Montana Gov. Steve Bullock endorsed Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney in the 2020 gubernatorial race on Friday, saying Cooney’s long history of public service made him the right person for the job. Democrats have held on to the governor’s post for nearly 14 years. Republicans said they were not surprised by the announcement. The nod Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. — A Montana landowner is suing the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service to halt the hunting of bison just outside Yellowstone National Park’. The complaint filed by Gardiner, Montana landowner Bonnie Lynn and Neighbors Against Bison Slaughter contends the agencies have failed to analyze the consequences of the hunt on private property Read More…
According to the Montana Census Complete Count Committee, Montana will need thousands of U.S. Census workers to help complete the 2020 census. The census helps determine how much federal money Montana will receive for things like infrastructure, medical assistance, educational programs, and public assistance. Currently, Montana receives about $2 billion in federal funds each year Read More…
Mark Juras of Montana completed his 3,500-mile rowing adventure Thursday that took him from the Treasure State to the Gulf of Mexico in about four months, and reinforced claims about the astounding power of Gorilla Tape. “I finally made it to the ocean today,” the 32-year-old Great Falls resident said in a telephone interview. “It Read More…
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The world’s first all-female spacewalking team made history high above Earth on Friday, replacing a broken part of the International Space Station’s power grid. NASA astronauts Christina Koch, who resides in Livingston, Montana, and Jessica Meir completed the job with wrenches, screwdrivers and power-grip tools, it marked the first time in a Read More…
BOZEMAN — There was a silver lining to that Montana State loss over the weekend to Sacramento State. Not only were fans surprised to hear that Kenny Chesney will be coming to Bobcat Stadium in July, but more importantly, MSU announced that it has raised the $18 million for its new athletic complex. Construction on Read More…
GREAT FALLS — With hunting season in Montana right around the corner, it’s time for hunters to start getting prepared. But what about the meat processing companies? For about five weeks at the end of every year, meat processing companies see their business skyrocket. To make sure that everything is ready for the start of Read More…
In the early 1990s, Wilmot Collins and his wife, Maddie, escaped the Liberian Civil War. Broke and starving, they ended up in Helena, Mont. “Why do you think we fled?” Collins asked. “We fled because we wanted a second chance.” Soon after moving to their first home, a neighbor knocked on their door and alerted Read More…
Republican Greg Gianforte turned in another impressive quarter of fundraising for his 2020 gubernatorial run this weekend, bringing his four-month total to $1.09 million – more than twice as much as any other rival in either party. Gianforte, currently Montana’s sole U.S. House member, reported raising $507,000 for the past three months, adding to the Read More…
Montana sports betting is less than two months from launch. The Montana Lottery has now published its draft regulations — the framework of rules that, once finalized, will unleash full-fledged legal and licensed wagering on the Big Sky State. The Lottery said Friday that it expected to launch the market towards the end of 2019, Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Medicare is reducing payments to nine Montana hospitals under a program that penalizes costly readmissions within a month of treatment for heart and lung diseases as well as knee and hip replacement surgery. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program evaluated 14 Montana hospitals and will reduce Medicare payments by Read More…
HELENA — Bidding is open for seven alcohol licenses in Montana, including Bozeman and Belgrade. According to a press release from the Montana Department of Revenue, on-premises beer licenses are available in Helena, Bozeman, Hamilton, Belgrade, and Polson. All-beverage floater licenses are available in Bozeman and Missoula. A “floater” license allows the applicant to purchase, Read More…
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) will apply to receive public financing for his struggling presidential campaign. In a memo Monday, Bullock’s campaign manager Jennifer Ridder cast the decision to seek out public funds for his presidential bid as a show of the governor’s commitment to campaign finance reform, an issue that he has put at the center Read More…
BUTTE, Mont. — A Montana mine company has laid off dozens of workers, but could hire again as it aims to prevent acid rock drainage. The Montana Standard reported that Golden Sunlight laid off 28 out of its 49 remaining workers Monday following a 2015 layoff after stopping open pit mining. Company officials say Toronto, Canada-based Read More…
Reminder: Montana has one year left before REAL ID requirements go into effect, and travelers without REAL ID won’t be able to board commercial flights. Montana, Washington and Idaho are among states where the REAL ID extension will expire in October 2020. READ FULL STORY
BILLINGS, Mont. — Beartooth Pass has closed in Wyoming for the winter season but remains open on the Montana side of the border. The Billings Gazette reports the Montana side of U.S. Highway 212 is expected to close sometime over the Columbus Day week, but bad weather could bring that about sooner. The National Park Service Read More…
GREAT FALLS — The annual Montana Association of Counties conference in Great Falls this week is connecting county commissioners from across the Treasure State. “It travels around, so to speak, in each of our major towns: Missoula, Great Falls, Helena, Billings, Kalispell,” said Jim Hart, MACo president and Madison County Commissioner. The 110th annual event Read More…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans remain largely mistrustful of the mass media as 41% currently have “a great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly.” This latest reading represents a four-percentage-point dip since last year and marks the end of improvements in back-to-back years after hitting an Read More…
Depriving a transgender inmate with severe gender dysphoria of sex reassignment surgery is a form of “cruel and unusual punishment,” a federal appeals court ruled Friday, affirming a lower court ruling. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the state of Idaho to provide the surgery for trans inmate Adree Edmo. The ruling is Read More…
CODY, Wyo. — Thousands turned out to the Powwow Garden at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyo. Saturday to see Kanye West perform a free Sunday Service. The free service is a different kind of cultural event then the town of Cody is used to. “It was really cool for them Read More…
A Billings teacher accused of sexual assault allegedly exchanged “inappropriate” text messages with two female students, ages 11 and 12, and touched them under their underwear in class, according to charging documents released Friday. Brent Skelton, who resigned from his job teaching fifth grade at Orchard Elementary School, faces between four years and life in Read More…
On the same day and in the same area, three hunters in Montana were injured in two separate grizzly bear attacks, state wildlife officials said. Officials have not determined if the same animal was involved in both attacks this week in the Gravelly Mountains, which are southwest of Bozeman. The three hunters suffered injuries described Read More…
An internet safety report published by safewise shows that Montana has a lot of work to do to make the online experience safer for children. Montana earned a D when it comes to current measures in place to protect kids online. That’s the lowest grade awarded by the safety and security brand. The cowboy state Read More…
Jeff Bridges is urging people to donate to his “good buddy,” Steve Bullock, so the Montana governor can make it onto the next Democratic presidential debate stage. “I don’t care if you vote for somebody else,” the “Big Lebowski” actor said in a video posted on Twitter on Monday. “But it’s so important to have Steve Bullock’s Read More…