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…
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…
GREAT FALLS – A retired Great Falls priest intends to plead guilty to a receipt of child pornography charge. Court documents indicate that Lothar Konrad Krauth, a retired Catholic priest, plans to change his plea to guilty at a hearing next week. Court documents state Homeland Security agents received a cyber report from the National Read More…
State Rep. Tom Winter, a Democrat from Missoula, is running for Montana’s sole seat in the U.S. House in 2020. The seat is held by U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, a Republican who is expected to announce a 2020 bid for governor. Winter, 32, is the first to announce for the U.S. House seat. In 2018 Gianforte Read More…
HELENA – A new report shows a slow decline in Montana’s homeless, although there’s still the population of one of our small towns that don’t have shelter on any given the night. That’s the data shared Monday as the first-ever statewide conference on homelessness opened in Helena. The numbers, which are based on the most Read More…
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox joined with the Ohio attorney general, both Republicans, to oppose a ruling by a federal judge in Texas that struck down the Affordable Care Act last year. The ACA, also known as Obamacare, is still in place as the case moves through the appeal process. The Texas judge in Read More…
A district judge on Friday overturned a state decision allowing a Creston water-bottling facility to begin production near the Flathead River, ruling that the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation erred when it granted a permit that would have allowed a company to produce more than 1 billion 20-ounce bottles per year. The order Read More…
If you are planning on driving anywhere and look up from the pump at the price of gas, you might be noticing an uptick in cost. According to the fuel price tracker Gas Buddy, prices are expected to climb for the sixth straight week across the country. Right now, the average price of gas across Read More…
A Montana-based organization is helping jump start high-tech startups through a business pitch competition held in Missoula, Billings and Bozeman to encourage tech industry development and job opportunities. Early Stage Montana, a nonprofit coalition, is looking for entrepreneurs who need help planning and growing their businesses. Participants will pitch their business plans and products to Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Many outdoorsmen are still celebrating after President Donald Trump signed the Public Lands Package into law. The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee Chairman, Lisa Murkowski and Senator Steve Daines discussed the recent legislation at the Wild Sheep Foundation in Bozeman Sunday. The president signed the bipartisan John D. Dingell Jr. Read More…
KALISPELL, Mont. — Dozens of Montana National Guard soldiers have returned home following a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan. The Daily Inter Lake reports soldiers from the 495th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion arrived at Glacier Jet Center in Kalispell late Saturday, greeted by a crowd of family and friends. U.S. Army Cpt. Dan Bushnell says the Read More…
GREAT FALLS – Youth Dynamics reports that every year almost 4,000 Montana children enter foster care due to abuse, neglect and other serious difficulties within their families. “There’s nowhere near that many homes,” Youth Dynamics Family Development Coordinator Bethany Grohs said. Grohs says there is a need for more couples to become foster parents, “I would Read More…
Scott Sales, Montana Senate President, was a guest on The KMMS Morning Soapbox with Tom and Shane today. In a KMMS exclusive interview Sales announced his proposed run for Montana Secretary of State replacing Cory Stapleton who is running for Governor of Montana. (Listen to the entire interview below) Scott has served as both the Read More…
Bozeman lawyer Matthew Monforton has asked the Gallatin County District Court to review the decision by the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices to dismiss his ethics complaint against the office’s former commissioner, Jonathan Motl. Monforton, a former Republican state representative, is accusing Motl of illegally using public resources to oppose the 2016 reelection Read More…
The Montana School Choice case ruled unlawful by the Montana Supreme Court has officially been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Lead attorney for the Institute for Justice headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Erica Smith, said the appeal was filed early Tuesday morning. “The Montana Legislature passed this program in 2015, and it’s been helping lots Read More…
A Montana State Fair carnival worker has been arrested in connection to a 2017 sexual assault. Lyle Oka made his initial appearance for one count of sexual intercourse without consent. In July of 2017, the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office responded to Benefis Health System for a report of a sexual assault, according to court documents. Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – Once again the North Dakota unemployment rate is lower than the national rate of 4.4 percent. The state stands at 3 percent for January. That’s even with a labor force loss of more than 9,000 since 2014. In a North Dakota Job Service release, it says the greatest loss was from 2017-2018 Read More…
BOZEMAN- Nonprofit Serenity Ranch, which provides equine therapy for women veterans, is trying to raise $300,000 after a barn roof caved under heavy snow. The Serenity Ranch’s double mission is to take in unwanted horses while providing equine therapy programs for female veterans. The owners were asleep in bed in the early hours of the Read More…
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently proposed to cut hours for four of Montana’s 16 ports of entry. The proposal would affect ports in Morgan, Opheim, Raymond and Scobey. The following changes would take place if the proposal is passed. Port of Raymond, which is currently open 24 hours, would be closed between the hours Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. — The North Dakota Legislature wants to make sure that when consumers buy meat, they know they’re buying “the edible flesh of an animal born and harvested for the purpose of human consumption,” and not something developed in a lab. The Senate on Monday, March 4, passed House Bill 1400, which defines meat Read More…
BOZEMAN — Glendive native and former Montana State offensive lineman Mike Person has agreed to three-year contract extension with the San Francisco 49ers, ESPN reported on Sunday. The deal will reportedly pay Person $9 million, with $3 million guaranteed. Person was set to become an unrestricted free agent next week before signing the deal Monday Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. — Five bull bison from Yellowstone National park have been transferred to an American Indian reservation in northwest Montana under an effort to bolster herds of the animals outside the park. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports the animals were released into corrals on the Fort Peck Reservation on Friday. They’ll be under quarantine Read More…
A resolution requesting that the American Prairie Reserve’s federal grazing permits not be changed passed out of committee on a party-line vote Tuesday. House Agriculture Committee Republicans endorsed House Joint Resolution 28 that asks the Bureau of Land Management to deny the northeastern Montana nonprofit group’s request to modify its federal grazing permits. “I believe there are Read More…
A proposal to change how the state borrows for major infrastructure projects passed its first vote in the Montana House today by 100 to zero. The unanimous initial vote in the House was a sharp pivot from years of disagreement in the Legislature over whether or how to use debt to pay for major public Read More…
BILLINGS-Senator Steve Daines, R-Mont., visited the Rimrock Foundation in Billings last week. The senator talked with people at the Willow Way Program home. Willow Way allows mothers to go through detox and rehab while staying with their children. Daines learned the importance of these programs are for those going through treatment. “What would happen if you didn’t Read More…
Facing a nationwide shortage of teachers — and special-education teachers in particular — schools in Montana are feeling it acutely as the number of students receiving special-education services is on the rise. Statewide there are 18,803 students receiving special-education services. This is a more than 10 percent increase over the past five academic years. In Read More…
Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana will travel to Iowa at the end of the week as he further explores a run for the Democratic presidential nomination, his Big Sky Values PAC told POLITICO on Tuesday. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat who just won his 10th term in November, will escort Bullock to a Read More…
Montana lawmakers are considering two bills to tax carbon pollution, and not surprisingly owners of Colstrip Power Plant say the measures would kill the facility. Democratic legislators are floating two bills creating a $10-per-ton tax on carbon dioxide from various sources, including coal-fired power plants. Theirs aren’t the first attempts targeting Colstrip. Washington State, Read More…
After taking a trip to what border patrol agents claim is the highest illegal activity sector of the Mexican-American border, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana says that border patrol agents are “pleading” for something to be done. Daines, along with Georgia’s Sen. Perdue met with border patrol around 2 a.m. last night at the Rio Read More…
Montana’s Child and Family Services Division is tasked with safeguarding the wellbeing of some of the society’s most vulnerable citizens, but in recent months the agency has been criticized by sources who claim longstanding mismanagement has fostered a broken system. Nearly 20 sources with knowledge of Northwestern Division VI of Child and Family Services in Read More…
A tongue-in-cheek online petition has a creative solution to paying off the national debt – although Montanans may have mixed feelings about it. The Change.org petition proposes simply to “Sell Montana to Canada for $1 Trillion to eliminate the national debt.” It goes on to say “We have too much debt and Montana is useless. Read More…
MISSOULA- Health officials say the amount of confirmed flu cases is on the rise, with over 200 cases reported in Missoula County alone, and nearly 500 new cases reported across the state last week. “When you have more people interacting together, you have more illness out in the community; people are going to get sick. Read More…
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D.) apologized Saturday for keeping secret sexual harassment claims against a former aide, allowing the aide to find new employment in a prominent government office where he again came under fire for sexual harassment. Bullock hired Kevin O’Brien in 2015, when Bullock served as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. O’Brien Read More…
The U.S. government is preparing to begin construction of more border walls and fencing in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, likely on federally owned land set aside as wildlife refuge property. Heavy construction equipment was expected to arrive starting Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said. A photo posted by the nonprofit National Butterfly Center Read More…
A bill that would create a $15 million low-income housing loan program in Montana could be headed for the state House floor for discussion as soon as next week. House Bill 16, sponsored by Whitefish Democrat Rep. Dave Fern, would direct $15 million of coal tax trust fund money to start a program to provide Read More…
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday ripped Montana Gov. Steve Bullock for not telling his administration that a senior staffer had been fired for sexual harassment before he was hired by City Hall. “Clearly they had information and when DOI reached out, they did not share the information they had,” de Blasio said about the Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock’s spokeswoman says the governor thought a former senior staffer of his wouldn’t harass any more women after being fired from the Democratic Governors Association. Bullock spokeswoman Ronja Abel said Tuesday that it’s clear that Kevin O’Brien’s 2015 firing from the DGA hadn’t been enough since O’Brien was forced out Read More…
VIRGINIA CITY – Montana’s historic Old West saloons are setting the scene for the set of supermodel Cindy Crawford’s latest photoshoot – and yes, that’s a live wolf and bear. Cindy Crawford and photographer David Yarrow organized the photoshoot as part of a fundraiser for animal conservation, according to Elijah Allen, executive director with the Read More…
Late January in the Flathead means its skijoring time in Whitefish. The 16th annual Whitefish Winter Carnival World Invitational Skijoring races up the ante this year with teams traveling from all over the West to compete for more than $20,000 in cash and prizes. The skijoring event will be held this weekend at Big Mountain Read More…
Montana’s snowpack is closer to average than our mild winter might suggest, as residents across the state grew accustomed to snow-less sidewalks in December and celebrated a decidedly not-white Christmas. The close-to-normal snowpack is largely thanks to autumn snowfall, when storms provided a base in the mountains before the tap ran dry for a prolonged Read More…
Bozeman – 2018 Democrat congressional candidate and former state legislator Kathleen Williams told Lee Newspapers she’s running in 2020 but will not say which office she’ll seek. According the Billings Gazette, Williams says she will run again in 2020 and the she is “keep my options open”. Williams raised over $4 Million in her bid Read More…
HELENA — Taxes are shaping up to be one of the big debates of the 2019 Montana Legislature. The budget estimates from the governor’s office and the Legislative Fiscal Division are roughly the same — about $10 billion over two years to fund a variety of state agencies and programs. The budget includes everything from Read More…