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…
U.S. Senate candidate Troy Downing wants a Gallatin County judge to throw out several charges alleging he was not a Montana resident when he bought resident hunting licenses, claiming past accountants made errors in his tax filings. Christopher Williams, Downing’s attorney, filed a pretrial motion in Gallatin County Justice Court and said the residency status Read More…
HELENA – A Lewis & Clark County District Court Judge says author Jon Krakauer should be given access to university documents concerning a high-profile rape case on the University of Montana campus five years ago. However, the judge ruled that Krakauer will only receive a redacted version of those documents, protecting the identity of the Read More…
On Monday, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox joined a coalition of 37 state Attorneys General, demanding answers from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s business practices and privacy protections. “In the news recently, Facebook has had a practice of either voluntarily sharing private and personal information of its Facebook users, or more recently where Read More…
he Washington Post has tabbed Montana Governor Steve Bullock as the 15th most likely Democrat in the country to be elected President of the United States. According to the Post: ‘If Democrats want pragmatism over anything else, they would struggle to do better than Bullock. A two-term governor of red Montana, he won reelection by Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Former New York Giants linebacker and Montana State star Corey Widmer has declined his nomination to the Montana Football Hall of Fame, saying the sport “destroyed my life.” Widmer said after numerous concussions he fears he suffers from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease. He has depression and memory problems, suffers Read More…
HELENA – A Libertarian candidate booted from the election for not filing all his paperwork on time said he asked the state to reconsider, but a state official said the decision stands. Ron Vandevender, 59, a Cascade resident who filed to run for House District 80, was among the seven candidates disqualified for not filing Read More…
Pondera County Sheriff Carl Suta has agreed to resign from his position, following months of legal battles. Two misdemeanor charges against Suta were resolved without trial recently. On Friday, March 16, Suta pleaded no contest to one charge of partner/family member assault, and also agreed to a deferred prosecution on a charge of official misconduct. Read More…
Governor Steve Bullock (D-MT) is getting called out by Politifact for using false statistics when it comes to the gun control debate. Bullock, desperate to be named as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, was recently in Milwaukee, Wisconsin raising money for Wisconsin Democrats. Politifact analyzed a line by Bullock where he argued that Read More…
A select bipartisan, bicameral committee has been asked to examine more than $1.2 million in state employee settlements since the beginning of 2017. The committee, consisting of six Republicans and four Democrats was appointed by Senate President Scott Sales and Speaker of the House Austin Knudsen. Senate Majority Leader Fred Thomas explained the genesis of Read More…
The Forest Service will be receiving a property tax bill from Mineral County this year. County Commissioners Laurie Johnston, Roman Zylawy and Duane Simons signed the letter March 9 requesting property tax revenue for 2017. The “historic letter” as defined by Rep. Denley Loge, describes the plight Mineral County is facing as options to fund Read More…
The Montana Legislative Finance Committee met on Monday and Tuesday this week with an update on the state budget. Committee Chair Nancy Balance says a group of state Democrats came to the meeting asking them to either appropriate money, declare a state of emergency or to create a supplemental budget allocation to address cuts in Read More…
Senator Steve Daines was on Dominick In The Morning today discussing the STOP School Violence Act. Danies talked about being at a press conference earlier with Orrin Hatch, Marco Rubio, Joni Ernst, Bill Nelson, Dan Sullivan and students from Florida’s Parkland High School. The press conference was to push the STOP School Violence Act which Read More…
Montana made the bracket. The University of Montana Grizzlies made it into the NCAA March Madness tournament, according to the brackets posted by NCAA March Madness on Facebook Sunday. The Griz will face off against The University of Michigan in the opening round played in Wichita, Kansas. READ THE FULL STORY.
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox is urging congressional leaders to pass legislation supporting victims of child pornography. He is encouraging the House of Representatives to support and vote for the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act. “This is a very important piece of legislation,” said Fox. “As you know, child pornography is Read More…
Five Senate Democrats would lose to Republican candidates if the elections were held today and three have approval ratings under 50%, according to new Axios/SurveyMonkey polls. Why it matters: Democrats are defending 10 Senate seats in states that President Trump won in 2016. In six of those states, Trump’s approval is higher than 50% (compared to Read More…
HELENA – U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., paid his candidate filing fee Thursday to run for re-election, likely completing the filed of competitors for Montana’s only congressional seat. Gianforte won the seat last May 25, in a special election to succeed Ryan Zinke, who resigned after becoming U.S. Interior secretary. In a statement Thursday, Gianforte Read More…
POPLAR — A Fort Peck Tribal officer has indicated he will plead guilty next week to burglarizing the Fort Peck Tribal Law and Justice Building. Mikkel Shields, 33, is charged in U.S. District Court in Great Falls with four counts of burglary. As part of a plea agreement, Shields will only plead guilty to a Read More…
On Monday, Montana Governor Steve Bullock and other governors from around the country met with President Donald Trump to discuss the issue of guns and school safety. During his brief time at the microphone, Bullock asked the president to work on adding new elements to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System or NICS. “We Read More…
BILLINGS – As students and School District 2 are in talks about how best to handle a planned walk-out later this month, some students are opposed to it. The walkout is part of a larger movement across the country, set for the one-month anniversary of the shooting at a Florida school that left 17 dead. Read More…
Scrolling through the Instagram account managed by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, a conservative Republican from Bozeman, it’s clear he’s hewed a well-established groove in the firmament of Western outdoors pursuits. Populating the first-term senator’s social media feed are pictures of him on backpacking trips deep in the Beartooth Mountains; him bagging ungulates on sunbaked foothills Read More…
18 year-old MacLean Kaiser is being held in the Ravalli County Jail without bond for allegedly posting an online threat to the Darby High School using Snapchat. Sheriff Steve Holton said the incident was first investigated by the Darby Marshal’s office. “Yesterday the school district got some information regarding a Snapchat post referencing the recent Read More…
You could feel the excitement. You could feel the cheering. As Mike Dennison detailed the millionaire after millionaire running for office this Fall, you could just imagine how excited the success-bashing Leftists were, sitting in their living rooms as they watched his report on the Montana Television Network. And then, you can imagine how the Read More…
The Montana and Idaho Community Development Corporation recently received $65 million in New Market Tax Credits from part of the annual allotment distributed by the U.S. Treasury. The nonprofit organization with hubs in Missoula, Bozeman and Boise will sell the tax credits to investors, and use the cash they get in exchange to offer subsidies Read More…
BUTTE, Mont. — It’s official. Meth is back in Montana and it’s more dangerous than ever. Opioid abuse has gotten a lot of the headlines in recent years but in Montana, methamphetamine has slowly become the drug that law enforcement officials deal with frequently. What used to be made in Montana labs in the eighties Read More…
Democratic Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) voted in support of sanctuary cities Thursday. The vote prompting one of his potential Republican challengers to tie Tester once again to the vote to shutdown the government over illegal immigrants. As The Hill reports, several other more moderate Senate Democrats voted to crackdown on sanctuary cities, while Tester voted Read More…
HELENA – Montana may have the wealthiest member in all of Congress – Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte – but he’s far from being the only multimillionaire running for federal office this year in Montana. Three of the four Republicans running in the U.S. Senate race and one of the five Democrats vying to take Read More…
An Illinois kid named Doug Betters made his way, serendipitously, to the University of Montana for the first time more than 40 years ago as a highly touted football defensive lineman. Since then, Betters has ridden life’s roller coaster with grace, from the heights of sports stardom, including the 1983 NFL Defensive Player of the Read More…
BILLINGS – Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton stopped by Billings West High School Thursday, to talk to students about the importance of getting involved. Stapleton spent over an hour with senior students at the high school answering questions. From social media to Indian Reservations and health care, Stapleton’s message to students was the importance Read More…
Montana is the sixth most prosperous state in the country, according to new research from Prosperity Now. The Prosperity Now Scorecard tallied up 62 measures in five areas and says Montana rose from 10th place in 2017 to sixth place this year. READ THE FULL STORY.
BOZEMAN – Montana State University announced its spring headcount this week: 15,496 students, a record, and one that marks 10 straight years of spring enrollment growth. This spring’s number is up almost 300 students compared to the same time last year, according to Tony Campeau, the university’s registrar. University leaders credited the growth chiefly to Read More…
A Montana Department of Labor employee announced on Wednesday that he was quitting in protest of officials who “hunt down” undocumented workers. In a series of tweets, Jordon Dyrdahl-Roberts said he put in his notice at the department because he’d been asked to help prepare information for ICE officials to use in finding undocumented workers. Read More…
Rene Elena Carter, a former Helena teacher, has been charged with sexual intercourse without consent involving a student several years ago. Carter appeared in Lewis & Clark County Justice Court on Thursday. READ THE FULL STORY.
HELENA – Gov. Steve Bullock says he won’t rush into a new contract with the operator of the private prison in Shelby – even though it could yield the state as much as $30 million to offset planned budget cuts of “essential services” for the poor and disabled. In an interview this week, Bullock told Read More…
President Donald Trump’s approval rating is now higher than former President Barack Obama’s on the same date of his first term, Rasmussen Reports daily tracking data shows. In its presidential daily tracking poll released Thursday, the Rasmussen Reports showed Trump’s approval at 48 percent, statistically tied with his disapproval rating of 50 percent. READ THE Read More…
Granite County Commissioner Scott Adler has been summoned to a court appearance this month on one charge of Official Misconduct and one charge of Theft by Embezzlement after the Department of Criminal Investigation looked into accusations that Adler had used county equipment and employees to install recycled asphalt on his personal driveway. In court filings, Read More…
A super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a new digital ad Tuesday attacking Montana Sen. Jon Tester. The ad, the group’s first of the cycle targeting the vulnerable Democrat in this year’s midterm elections, seeks to tie Tester to national party figures and calls him “just another Washington liberal.” It’s paid Read More…
HELENA – A leading Republican lawmaker Friday said the Bullock administration must share the blame for looming budget cuts to human services in Montana – and that the governor could help defray the cuts if he chooses. Sen. Llew Jones of Conrad, an architect of the November budget deal that closed a $227 million shortfall Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. – Senator Steve Daines was in Billings Friday to promote the positive impacts of the new tax cuts that took effect January 1st. Daines toured True North Steel, visiting with Montanans, and discussing added jobs and bigger paychecks. The senator was all smiles as he toured True North Steel and discussed the positive Read More…
Every Democratic senator from a Republican-leaning state voted Monday to reopen the government, from the liberal Sherrod Brown of Ohio to the conservative Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Every one, that is, except Jon Tester. Republicans are determined to make him pay. The plainspoken Montanan was on a glide path to a third term despite Read More…
WHITEFISH — Maggie Voisin straightened her multi-colored K2 skis, leaned forward slightly and took flight, spinning around and sticking the 180 with the grace expected of someone who does this sort of thing for a living. She proceeded to hit another small ramp and spin smoothly back into a forward-facing position, eliciting oohs and aahs Read More…