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…
Montana officially began implementing community engagement requirements for its Medicaid expansion program July 1, making the state one of the first in the nation to enforce the new rules, which stem from federal legislation signed into law last year. The requirements, known formally as community engagement requirements, mandate that most adults between the ages of Read More…
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled the federal government can’t hold undocumented immigrants for more than 90 days without a bond hearing, rejecting a Trump administration policy that requires immigration agents to hold immigrants until they are deported. In 2-1 ruling, the three-judge panel based in New Orleans said the federal government 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…
(The Center Square) – In a reversal, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has ordered that surveillance cameras be turned on during the FIFA World Cup Tournament. Wilson said in a statement Friday that the decision to activate the cameras followed updated information from Seattle police and the FBI “on the current global and local threat environment.” Read More…
NEW YORK — Billionaire entrepreneur and Cost Plus Drugs co-founder Mark Cuban argued that the American health care system has become so unnecessarily complicated that the most effective reform would be to strip it back to the basics of a simple transaction between patient and provider — a model he likened to health care in Read More…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A federal jury convicted four current and former leaders of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers on racketeering, embezzlement, and fraud charges, finding that they stole millions of dollars in union dues through lavish foreign travel, no-show jobs, unauthorized loans, and personal expenses charged to the union over a 15-year period. The Read More…
BOZEMAN — Kollen Pipinich keeps his schedule full. It’s a delicate balance, he said. As a full-time student at Montana State University, he spends much of his day in classes. As a mechanical engineering student, he spends a great deal of time studying. As a helper by nature, Pipinich has volunteered hundreds of hours to Read More…
SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Navy christened its newest John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oiler, USNS Thurgood Marshall, during a ceremony Saturday morning at the General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company shipyard in San Diego, adding the seventh ship of its class to the Navy’s Combat Logistics Force. The christening took place on the Read More…
HAMILTON, Mont. — The Department of Justice charged two researchers from the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton with conspiracy to smuggle monkeypox into the United States and making false statements to federal law enforcement, U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy announced. The two researchers charged were Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe, both foreign nationals working at the Read More…
(The Center Square) – Spokane Public Schools adopted a standalone immigration policy on Wednesday that requires federal agents to obtain the superintendent’s permission to access the district’s property. The SPS Board of Directors unanimously adopted the proposal, which the officials said largely mirrored existing language “buried” in a broader law enforcement policy. It follows the state Read More…
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The FBI arrested three men Friday morning in Kansas and California on charges that they conspired to provide material support to ISIS, allegedly discussing violent attacks on U.S. service members, pledging allegiance to the terrorist organization, and collectively contributing more than $2,000 to an individual they believed to be an ISIS Read More…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum establishing a new framework to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across the U.S. military and intelligence community, directing the rapid deployment of advanced AI systems to warfighters and intelligence professionals while setting strict accountability standards for their use. The memorandum directed the national Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led a 14-state coalition of attorneys general in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, asking the justices to reverse a Ninth Circuit decision that upheld California’s requirement that physicians complete diversity, equity, and inclusion training as a condition of maintaining their medical licenses. Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. — Gov. Kelly Armstrong announced that North Dakota Health and Human Services launched a new two-year strategy to strengthen oversight, prevent fraud, and ensure the integrity of the state’s Medicaid program, with enhanced scrutiny of three high-risk provider categories set to begin July 1. The strategy was developed in response to an April Read More…
WASHINGTON — A new analysis from the U.S. Treasury Department found that American families and workers claimed $82 billion in individual relief from the Working Families Tax Cuts, with the overwhelming majority of benefits flowing to households earning less than $200,000 annually. The analysis, released as the tax filing season drew to a close, showed Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal district court’s dismissal of Lighthiser v. Trump, a climate-related lawsuit that Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had intervened in last year to help defend the Trump administration’s energy policies. The ruling marked the second court to side against the plaintiffs in the case, Read More…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate confirmed Katie Lane to a lifetime appointment as a federal district court judge for the District of Montana on Tuesday in a 52-46 party-line vote, with all Republicans in support and all Democrats opposed. Lane, 34, a Bozeman native who most recently served as an attorney for the Republican National Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Department of Labor and Industry unveiled a new online Wage and Hour Portal designed to give workers a faster way to report wage concerns and provide employers a more convenient method for responding to those claims, the agency announced. The portal connects users with the department’s Employment Standards Division through Read More…
(The Center Square) — A federal judge has overturned a New Hampshire law that required unregistered voters to provide proof of citizenship to cast ballots in state elections. The ruling late Thursday by U.S. District Court judge Samantha Elliott sided with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups who sued to block the law, Read More…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department, Commerce Department, and FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office moved against an Iran-based procurement network that impersonated American small businesses to fraudulently obtain restricted technology for Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, federal officials announced. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated multiple individuals and entities connected to Read More…
(The Center Square) – As state track and field championships commenced Friday at Buchanan High School in Clovis, Calif., protesters set up across the street to take aim at transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports. Those who spoke at the press conference in central California criticized the California Interscholastic Federation’s 13-year-old policy to allow transgender Read More…
(The Center Square) – A proposal to create the largest U.S. currency denomination in more than 50 years could unintentionally benefit drug cartels, money launderers and tax cheats, according to experts and Treasury Department records. The Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act, introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., would create a new denomination featuring President Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — The Trump administration selected Montana as one of ten states to receive federal funding to expand access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services announced. Through the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Medicaid Demonstration Program, Montana will participate in a four-year federal Read More…
WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense announced the award of a five-year, $9.7 billion enterprise software agreement to Dell Federal Systems of Round Rock, Texas, covering Microsoft productivity, cloud, and communications technology across the entire U.S. military and defense enterprise. The Microsoft Department of War Enterprise Software Agreement II Core Enterprise Technology Agreement, structured as Read More…
(The Center Square) – Since Florida launched its immigration enforcement effort, Operation Tidal Wave, in February, nearly 25,000 arrests have been made statewide. “Florida will continue to use every available resource to identify dangerous individuals, support federal immigration enforcement and keep our citizens safe,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “No state has moved faster or done more Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Gov. Greg Gianforte continued his annual 56 County Tour this week, visiting small businesses, energy facilities, agricultural operations, and infrastructure projects across six counties along Montana’s Hi-Line and Rocky Mountain Front. The governor began his day in Toole County at Prairie Peddler in Shelby, a local gift and coffee shop that reopened Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. — The South Dakota Arts Council awarded six grants of $5,000 each to support community-based arts and cultural initiatives celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States, the agency announced. The grants were awarded through SDAC’s America 250 Community Arts program, which encouraged organizations across the state to create public programming highlighting local Read More…
WASHINGTON — Kevin Warsh begins his first full week as chairman of the Federal Reserve today with markets watching closely for early signals on monetary policy direction as stubbornly high inflation complicates the new chair’s opening days in office. Warsh was sworn in May 22 in a White House ceremony — the first time a Read More…
Montana voters will cast ballots Tuesday in primary elections that will shape the state’s most competitive federal races of the 2026 cycle, with talk radio host Aaron Flint entering primary day as the clear frontrunner in the Republican contest for the Western Congressional District. Flint carries the full weight of the Republican establishment behind him, Read More…
NEW YORK — A former TD Bank employee pleaded guilty to exploiting his insider access to steal confidential customer information and bribe an employee at a second financial institution to falsify bank records, facilitating more than $3.4 million in fraud losses, the Justice Department announced. Cheungkin Lam, 28, of Queens, New York, also known as Read More…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order directing federal health officials to review and potentially update the United States’ childhood vaccine schedule to better align with practices in peer developed nations, citing findings that the U.S. currently recommends more childhood vaccines than any comparable country. The order directs the Centers for Disease Control Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Billings City Council voted this week to establish an independent governmental authority to oversee Billings Logan International Airport, ending nearly a century of direct municipal control over one of Montana’s busiest commercial aviation facilities. The council approved the measure following a presentation from Billings Aviation and Transit Director Jeff Roach and Read More…
WASHINGTON — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined Vice President JD Vance, the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, and attorneys general from 15 other states at an anti-fraud roundtable focused on combating wasteful spending, abuse, and fraud in federal benefit programs including Medicaid and SNAP. The White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud Read More…
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…
North Central Judicial District Judge Todd L. Cresap has announced he will retire effective July 17, 2026, ending a judicial career that spans nearly two decades in northwestern North Dakota. Cresap was first appointed to the bench in 2009 by Gov. John Hoeven to serve as District Court Judge for the North Central Judicial District Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a coalition of ten state attorneys general in calling on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to conduct a rigorous review of any filings submitted by OpenAI ahead of the company’s anticipated initial public offering, citing concerns about undisclosed conflicts of interest involving chief executive Sam Altman. In 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…
A new endowment at the Montana State University Alumni Foundation aims to support Montana students for generations to come, thanks to a $1 million investment from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation. The endowment will permanently fund the D.A. Peressini Legacy Scholarship, named for father and son Donald and Daniel Peressini. Both attended MSU and Read More…
UND’s Vets2Wings program will continue helping veterans and National Guard members pursue aviation careers through 2030 following a new $3 million federal investment secured by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. The additional funding extends a program that launched in late 2022 through a partnership between UND, the Federal Aviation Administration and congressional leaders. The program is 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…
Bozeman has earned recognition as one of the country’s leading entrepreneurship hubs, with Gallatin County landing in the 98th percentile on a national index measuring entrepreneurial activity in rural communities, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced at an event in the city this week. The ranking comes from the Center on Rural Innovation’s Rural Entrepreneurship Index, developed Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen filed a response with the Montana Supreme Court this week asking it to dismiss a petition brought by Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell, escalating a months-long dispute over whether local officials must share criminal justice records with federal immigration authorities. The clash traces back to October 2025, when Cromwell advised Read More…