(The Center Square) – As colleges and universities scale back diversity, equity and inclusion programs amid federal funding pressure from the Trump administration, supporters of the cuts argue DEI has negatively affected academics and higher education. Approximately $3.7 billion in federal research funding has been targeted for cuts, disrupting hundreds of clinical trials and research Read More…
SpaceX has secured commitments for a $40 billion financing arrangement to purchase advanced artificial intelligence chips, but the transaction is drawing attention to borrowing costs and growing investor concerns about the capital required to expand AI infrastructure. The company, which trades under the ticker SPCX, announced Oct. 26 that it had reached a binding commitment Read More…
— Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Montana Department of Labor and Industry announced a $1.5 million grant to develop a statewide digital career platform designed to connect students, job seekers and employers with education, training and employment opportunities. The grant, awarded by nonprofit Britebound, will support development of Montana’s Talent Marketplace, an artificial intelligence-powered Read More…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined senior federal law enforcement officials to announce expanded efforts to combat government benefits fraud in Minnesota, including new financial reporting guidance, a $25 million whistleblower incentive program and additional enforcement actions targeting alleged Medicaid fraud. The announcement came one day after federal investigators executed search warrants and arrested four individuals Read More…
Montana’s Carpenters Union Local 82 endorsed Republican congressional candidate Aaron Flint during a construction site tour at the new Bretz RV warehouse in Butte, with members of the Ironworkers Union also joining to show their support — a notable show of organized labor backing for a Republican in a race rated Likely Republican by Sabato’s Read More…
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…
Army Tech. Sgt. Ted Takayuki Tanouye posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions in western Italy during World War II. Tanouye was born to Nikuma and Momoye Tanouye Nov. 14, 1919, in Torrance, California. He was the eldest of six children. He graduated from Torrance High School in 1938, where he played Read More…
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…
Kellogg said it will remove artificial colors from all its cereals by the end of this year, moving up a timeline the company set just last August by more than a year. Kellogg had said in August 2025 that it would eliminate synthetic dyes from its cereals by the end of 2027. The company said Read More…
Two former NBA players, Royce White and Enes Kanter Freedom, say they intend to declare for the WNBA draft in 2027, arguing that the league’s collective bargaining agreement fails to clearly define who is eligible to play. White, a former NBA player and Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Minnesota, said Sunday that the league’s lack Read More…
The White House launched a website, fraud.gov, to publish the actions and recoveries of its Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, saying Americans should be able to track federal enforcement efforts in one place. The administration said the task force has uncovered nearly $230 billion in fraud since beginning its work, blocked $56 billion in fraudulent Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy introduced legislation that would create a dedicated pharmaceutical trade negotiator within the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and expand federal oversight of foreign drug pricing policies. The Use Sovereignty to Reduce Rx Act, or USTRx Act, targets what its sponsors describe as price control regimes in wealthy countries that suppress payments Read More…
The Montana Democratic Party published a statement praising Democrat Alani Bankhead for suspending her Senate campaign before she had actually done so — a stunning blunder that laid bare how certain party leaders had become that their own nominee would step aside. The statement, first surfaced by Semafor’s Burgess Everett on X, reads: “The Montana Democratic Read More…
Montana State Auditor James Brown has suspended the insurance producer license of a Kalispell bail bondsman accused of exploiting people under his supervision, including allegedly trading bond services for sexual favors. The suspension order, issued Aug. 3, bars Laine Kendall Callahan from operating as a bail bondsman in the state pending a revocation hearing, which Read More…
Army Cpl. Jake Allex earned the Medal of Honor for extraordinary courage while leading his men forward under heavy fire during the Battle of Amiens in World War I. Allex was born Angelko Allex Mandushich July 13, 1887, in Streska, near Prizren, in the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire, present-day Kosovo. He was of Read More…
Barrick Mining will report second-quarter earnings Monday morning, with investors looking to see how much the surge in gold prices is flowing through to the mining giant’s bottom line. Barrick is scheduled to release results at 6 a.m. Eastern time Monday, Aug. 10, before the market opens, with management holding an earnings presentation and webcast Read More…
Pressure to narrow the field in Montana’s U.S. Senate race intensified this week, but with a Monday evening deadline approaching, none of the candidates has shown any willingness to step aside. Seth Bodnar, running as an independent, said at a news conference in a Billings park Friday morning that he was staying in through November, Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Montana will end the “orphan tax” — the longstanding practice of diverting Social Security survivor benefits from children in foster care to cover the cost of their state care — following a federal directive earlier this year calling on states to end the practice. For more than two decades, the Montana Read More…
Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced the Montana Motor Vehicle Division is extending its fee waiver for driver license and identification card renewals and replacements through September 30, following a strong response to the program that saw more than 18,000 Montanans add the new citizenship marker to their credentials in July alone. The waiver, originally set Read More…
Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy introduced two pieces of legislation in recent weeks — one bipartisan bill to strengthen Buy American requirements for school meals and one to extend nationwide concealed carry privileges to elite special operations veterans. On July 30, Sheehy and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the American Food for American Schools Act, with Read More…
SpaceX posted its first earnings report since its record June IPO Tuesday, beating revenue estimates by a wide margin but sending its stock down roughly 8% in after-hours trading as capital expenditures came in far above expectations. The company reported revenue of $7.81 billion for the second quarter, up 92% from $4.1 billion a year Read More…
A new University of Montana study finds that Meagher County — one of the least densely populated counties in the continental United States — has quietly become one of Montana’s most entrepreneurially vibrant communities, driven not by government programs or outside investment but by decades of investment in education, a culture of civic participation, and Read More…
Professors sue Texas A&M System over limits on teaching race, gender Four professors and a national faculty group asked a federal judge Monday to block the Texas A&M University System’s restrictions on teaching about race, gender and sexuality and to reinstate courses canceled under the policy. The university system bars professors from “advocating” race or Read More…
New York’s push to unmask ICE agents is on hold after a federal judge blocked provisions of a newly minted state law that restricts local cooperation with immigration crackdowns. In a Monday ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Mae A. D’Agostino said that the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause doesn’t permit New York to regulate federal law enforcement Read More…
Montana State Auditor James Brown announced his office has helped stop more than $5 million in unsupported payouts by Mountain Health Co-Op, making it the second health insurer in Montana identified as a victim of a fraud scheme that targeted vulnerable Native communities using a loophole in the Affordable Care Act. The latest announcement brings Read More…
The man who led the U.S. response to the global pandemic in 2020 told Congress on Wednesday he wouldn’t answer questions about it. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right to protect against self-incrimination in a hearing about his role as Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions Friday on four individuals and nine entities tied to Iranian financier Babak Zanjani’s sprawling sanctions evasion network, targeting his domestic conglomerate and a web of foreign firms that supported his cryptocurrency exchanges. “The Iranian regime continues to pay a steep economic price for its reckless behavior, with Read More…
A man accused of orchestrating a $547 million Medicare fraud scheme through diagnostic laboratories in Louisiana and other states has been captured overseas and returned to the United States after nearly four years as a fugitive, federal officials said Tuesday. Khalid Ahmed Satary was captured Monday and transported back to the United States on Tuesday. Read More…
Montana’s U.S. Senate race entered a turbulent new phase as the national Democratic Party’s campaign arm publicly declared it would not support the party’s own nominee, a major veterans organization endorsed independent candidate Seth Bodnar, and President Trump weighed in to attack Bankhead on social media — all while both candidates insisted they were staying Read More…
Hundreds of people, including Montana State University faculty, staff, students and alumni, along with community members, legislators and industry professionals, gathered Friday to celebrate the completion of the Combined State Labs building. The tri-lab agricultural facility, located on the west side of South 19th Avenue, brings together MSU’s Montana Agricultural Experiment Station Wool Lab, the Montana Department of Livestock’s Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, the Montana Department of Agriculture’s Analytical Lab. Established at Read More…
Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, delivered a deeply personal and impassioned floor speech Wednesday urging the Senate to reject a War Powers Resolution that would have directed President Trump to halt U.S. military operations against Iran, choking up as he pointed to a bracelet honoring a fallen friend killed by an Iranian Read More…
Independent candidates have officially qualified for Montana’s U.S. Senate race and the state’s eastern congressional district, deepening a strategic divide among Democrats over whether the nonpartisan campaigns help or hurt their chances of winning seats away from Republicans. The Montana Secretary of State’s Office confirmed this week that former University of Montana president Seth Bodnar Read More…
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joined Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and Idaho Gov. Brad Little in Big Sky on Tuesday to announce a proposed federal rule that would give Western states significantly more flexibility to manage grizzly bears — the first major management reform since the species was listed as threatened under Read More…
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is requesting public comment on revised water quality goals for Belt Creek, following the completion of a $13 million water treatment plant that has begun removing acid mine drainage from the creek for the first time in more than a century. DEQ has drafted a revised Missouri-Cascade and Belt Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy’s bipartisan VA Home Loan Awareness Act has officially become law as part of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which took effect July 11 after President Trump declined to sign the broader housing package, allowing it to become law automatically under the Constitution’s 10-day rule. The legislation, the first bill Sheehy Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte joined Janicki Industries leadership to break ground on the company’s $800 million, 1.6 million-square-foot manufacturing campus in Great Falls, marking the formal start of what is expected to become one of the largest private investments in Montana’s recent history. The ceremony brought together Janicki leadership, state and local officials, and members of Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte suspended Public Service Commissioner Brad Molnar without pay for one year, effective immediately, citing findings from two independent investigations that concluded Molnar had engaged in sexual harassment, retaliation against staff and fellow commissioners, and continued retaliation after being warned to stop. The action, taken Thursday, is believed to be the first time Read More…
Legislation meant to protect American teens and children online recently passed the U.S. House with strong bipartisan support, but civil liberties groups are warning that the bill could have unintended consequences. The Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, which passed the House in a bipartisan 267-117 vote, is a compilation of bills that, among Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury released an analysis of the first filing season under the Working Families Tax Cuts, the sweeping tax legislation President Trump signed into law one year ago, showing American families and workers claimed more than $82 billion in individual tax relief through the April filing deadline. According to Treasury’s analysis, Read More…
A Gallatin County man accused of strangling his now-deceased wife has been offered a plea deal that would result in no prison time, drawing public outrage and calls for the Montana attorney general to intervene — the latest controversy for a county attorney’s office already embroiled in a lawsuit over its refusal to cooperate with Read More…
Billings Police Chief Rich St. John announced Friday he plans to retire Sept. 30, ending a 45-year law enforcement career in Montana’s largest city and one of its most crime-challenged. St. John began his law enforcement career in 1981 as a Billings patrol officer, a role he held for six years before moving into the Read More…
Two hundred and fifty years after 56 delegates affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, the United States is marking its semiquincentennial — one of the rarest milestones a nation can reach — with a yearlong wave of celebrations, commemorations and reflection stretching from coast to coast. July 4, 2026 is the Read More…
Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance James Brown announced that a series of enforcement settlements with entities that failed to properly file required notices of business activity in Montana has added roughly $60,000 to the state’s Securities Fraud Restitution Assistance Fund in 2026. The fund provides financial assistance to Montana residents harmed in cases prosecuted Read More…
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced it will accept large philanthropic contributions of publicly traded stock to support Trump Accounts, the federal child investment program launching July 4 to coincide with America’s 250th anniversary. Under the new process, eligible philanthropic contributors may transfer approved publicly traded stock to Treasury, which will then distribute the Read More…