The U.S. Supreme Court threw out a federal appeals court ruling in an immigration case Tuesday and returned the case to the court for an alternative ruling. In a 6-3 decision along partisan lines, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that immigration officers have broad authority to decide if restrictions should be placed on a returning Read More…
The Center Square) – Minnesota’s special districts reported $5.4 billion in outstanding long-term debt in 2023, while increasingly relying on state funding as pandemic-era federal aid declined. This is according to a new report from the Minnesota Office of the State Auditor. The 91-page report examined 572 special districts that submitted financial data to the auditor’s Read More…
Former Montana utility regulator will lead the $4 billion federal power-marketing agency serving the Pacific Northwest U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced Travis Kavulla as administrator and CEO of the Bonneville Power Administration, putting the former Montana utility regulator in charge of the agency that markets wholesale power across the Pacific Northwest. “Travis Kavulla’s Read More…
Army Pvt. Joe Gandara was a paratrooper who fought in France during World War II. Little is known about him other than that he was the son of Mexican immigrants. However, his bravery and selflessness earned him a posthumous Medal of Honor — nearly 70 years after he sacrificed himself to save his battle buddies. Read More…
At the top of the Continental Divide, under the watchful eye of “Our Lady of the Rockies,” sits the town of Butte, Montana. Rayelynn Brandl grew up here, riding bikes like local hero Evel KnIevel on what was once called “The Richest Hill on Earth,” thanks to Butte’s incredibly productive copper mines. “It was wonderful; Read More…
The mayor of Montana’s most populous city, Billings, says some people have moved from coastal states to the area because they want to be around other conservatives. Bill Cole told TIME magazine that he believed three major factors had brought newcomers to the city: affordable housing, people prioritizing their family and community over their work, and politics. Read More…
BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) – Headlines about housing from 1992 editions of the Idaho Statesman feel eerily familiar. Growth puts squeeze on number of available rentals in area Report says Idaho has housing woes Officials look for ways to ease growth burden Forum focuses on need for more affordable housing That year, Cecil Andrus — Read More…
GREAT FALLS — Not many planes come through Great Falls. They certainly don’t come or go as fast as the fighter jets that used to occupy the tarmac years ago, but now the Montana Air National Guard is going through another aircraft conversion. They are transitioning from C-130 H1 models to newer H3 models, which Read More…
Shortly after daylight on the morning of July 26 Park County deputies found the vehicle Linde had stolen. Linde is still at large and is believed to be driving a 2000 Chrysler Town and Country minivan with MT plate 49-6627D which is also stolen. Linde was last seen around Mile Marker 11 on US Hwy Read More…
LIVINGSTON, MT- There’s a video going viral right now and chances are you’ve seen it, it’s of Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson in Livingston Montana shopping at Dan Bailey’s Outdoor Co. the video gets heated quickly. It was posted by a man named “Dan Bailey,” but the important distinction here is that Bailey shares no Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — A new mission for Miss Montana after being invited to fly in a world-class air show. The restored military plane is headed for Oshkosh, Wisconsin this weekend. Earlier crews were busy getting the plane ready for the journey, from degreasing the plane to loading it with supplies. READ FULL STORY
More than 50 prominent medical organizations Monday called for all health-care employers and long-term care facilities to require COVID-19 vaccinations for their entire staffs. The call for action comes as the delta variant fuels a nationwide surge of COVID deaths and infections among unvaccinated Americans. Last week, the American Hospital Association and America’s Essential Hospitals Read More…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the second consecutive year, U.S. adults’ positive ratings of relations between Black and White Americans are at their lowest point in more than two decades of measurement. Currently, 42% of Americans say relations between the two groups are “very” or “somewhat” good, while 57% say they are “somewhat” or “very” bad. Read More…
A New Jersey health system fired six supervisors who refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19. RWJBarnabas Health announced that over 99% of its nearly 3,000 management staff have been vaccinated against COVID-19 but that six supervisors who were not “are no longer employees of RWJBH.” READ FULL STORY
Government employees are suing Connecticut to avoid returning to work, arguing that commutes contribute to climate change. Public employee unions in Connecticut are insisting their members continue to have the option to work full time from home, citing environmental and legal concerns. Democratic governor Ned Lamont allowed government employees to work exclusively from home during Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – District Court Judge John Grinsteiner retires in one month, which left the Supreme Court questioning whether the South Central Judicial District chambers would be filled, relocated or abolished. Because of the increasing caseload in the area, the judgeship will remain in Mandan. The district consists of nine counties with more than Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Wyoming News Now) – Wyoming Department of Transportation has received notification from their public affairs office, that a driver’s license phone scam had started circulating July 16th. Text messages are being sent to cell phones regarding false final notices for license waiver validations. Other D.O.T. offices have been experiencing the same scam for the last 6 to 8 Read More…
Wyoming Game and Fish commissioners backed agency staff last week and approved compensation for trophy game damage to stock that amounted to $388,696 less than two ranchers claimed. With one dissenting vote in the two separate cases, the appointed citizen commission approved $71,339 to Josh Longwell of HD Ranch and $11,626 to Christian Peterson of Read More…
HELENA — Hundreds of local governments and associations in Montana are seeking federal COVID relief money to pay for water and sewer infrastructure projects – and state leaders are facing decisions about which of those projects are going to get funding. During the Montana legislative session, lawmakers identified these projects as a top priority. In Read More…
Billings, Montana, has become the place to buy a home in the United States — at least according to The Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index. The rise to the top of the index isn’t completely out of the blue for the city, which has a population of 184,000, since it was previously in the fourth spot. But Read More…
Montana environmental regulators are dropping their case to disqualify Hecla Mining from getting future mining permits in the state. The company’s CEO was previously an executive with Pegasus Gold, which abandoned mines in Montana. Critics say there could be consequences for not seeking penalties under Montana’s “bad actors” law. Montana Department of Environmental Quality Director Read More…
BOZEMAN — The Bozeman Yellowstone International airport is participating in a survey in an effort to prevent human trafficking via air travel. “Is it happening, are we having girls that we know are coming in on airplanes- yes. They then are typically setting up ads in Bozeman and Billings where they have major airports,” Andrew Read More…
Glacier National Park drew more than a half-million visitors last month, charting its second-busiest June on record despite imposing a ticketed-entry system aimed at blunting the acute congestion that in recent years has led to paralytic gridlock in the park’s key arterials. As approximated through June, the overall visitation estimates peg Glacier’s year-to-date totals as the second Read More…
TOKYO (AP) — Kara Eaker, an alternate on the United States women’s gymnastics team, has tested positive for COVID-19 in an Olympic training camp in Japan. Al Fong, the personal coach for both Eaker and fellow Olympic alternate Leanne Wong, confirmed the positive test in an email to The Associated Press on Monday. The coach Read More…
Ten people were wounded in two mass shootings in Chicago Wednesday — just 12 hours apart, police said. The first of two mass shootings occurred in West Garfield Park on the city’s West Side, where a gunman approached a group standing outside and opened fire, striking four women and a man, police said. The victims, Read More…
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Les Schwab Tire Centers, the nation’s highest-ranked, most customer-focused tire retailer, announced Monday it has reached an agreement to acquire Plains Tire Co., an 80-year-old tire company with nine stores in Wyoming. Les Schwab will purchase Plains Tire for an undisclosed sum, said Les Schwab CEO Jack Cuniff. READ FULL STORY
Based on data from the Wyoming department of administration and information, the state’s economy continues to struggle to recover, as taxable sales are still negative, while some counties see greater gains. Dr. Wenlin Liu, Chief Economist with the state of Wyoming, Economic Analysis Division, said: “As the resurgence of the virus diminished, Wyoming’s economy continued to Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. – The Billings YWCA is looking to build a second emergency shelter due to the nearly 40% increase in partner and family member assaults during the pandemic. “We have been really struggling to figure out how to house everyone who needed support,” Billings YWCA CEO Merry Lee Olson said. “So, during the pandemic, we ended up Read More…
To address transportation and ticketing issues while simultaneously offering guided hikes, the Glacier Institute is taking enrollment for its Going-to-the-Sun Road Day Program. New in July, the program offers educational hikes and can shuttle 70 passengers per day using five 14-passenger buses leaving from Columbia Falls. The course acts as a Going-to-the-Sun Road ticket, and Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Social media censorship has become a hot button issue across the nation, especially for conservatives. Jordan Hall, who used Facebook for his online publication: The Montana Daily Gazette, says his reach has been limited due to content that did not meet the site’s community standards. He said he has lost revenue Read More…
BOZEMAN — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen sat down to talk about drugs in Montana on today’s Montana This Morning. Knudsen is currently touring the state talking with law enforcement and local leaders about crime and drugs in their areas. He recently met with Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer who told him this area is Read More…
(The Center Square) – Wyoming is launching a reemployment campaign to help encourage Wyomingites back into the workforce following the pandemic. It’s a campaign simply to let people know they exist and offer a wide variety of services for free, according to Ty Stockton, communications manager for the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. He noted the pandemic Read More…
With his sunglasses and cowboy hat, Bart Slaney smiles from his arena-side table as a capacity crowd begins to fill the stands of the Bigfork Summer Rodeo last Wednesday. After a year away from the sport in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Whitefish cowboy is excited to see the rodeo world returning to Read More…
GREAT FALLS — Governor Greg Gianforte, Montana Commission on Community Service Chair Kevin Myrhe, and the Governor’s Office of Community Service Director Sarah Sadowski presented five people and two organizations with their 2021 ServeMontana Awards. The awards were presented on June 25th in Helena. A news release says the purpose of the awards is to Read More…
Gen. Austin Miller, the commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, is stepping down on Monday — a symbolic end to America’s longest war that comes as the Taliban continue to gain territory in the absence of American troops. Miller, who has been commanding the coalition since 2018, will relinquish his post during a ceremony at Read More…
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A Haitian man arrested under suspicion of playing a leading role in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse appears to have presented himself as a potential leader of the impoverished Caribbean nation for as long as a decade. Police say Christian Emmanuel Sanon, 63, planned to assume the presidency and hire some of the men involved Read More…
Protesters took to the streets in Cuba on Sunday to protest shortages and the high cost of food amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Associated Press, protesters believe the Cuban government isn’t doing enough to help. The protests, which began around 2 p.m. local time, saw hundreds take to the street of San Lázaro, the Read More…
Alawsuit filed in federal court in late June alleges that Paul McCown, the former chief financial officer at Wyoming Catholic College, defrauded an investment firm out of $15 million. According to the suit, filed by New York-based advisory firm Ria R Squared, McCown is accused of faking bank statements that falsely said his bank account Read More…
Don and John Mueller are brothers who share a love of the history of the nation’s oldest national park and a love of the old buses that used to tour it in the years before World War II. Driving down Broadway Avenue in Red Lodge in a bright yellow bus made by White Motors in Read More…
Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who became famous for representing adult film star Stormy Daniels and publicly sparring with then-President Donald Trump, was sentenced in New York Thursday to 30 months in prison for trying to extort millions of dollars from Nike. Avenatti, 50, was convicted last year on charges that he tried to extort up to Read More…
About 125 soldiers from a Bismarck-based National Guard unit will be sent to the U.S. border with Mexico later this year for an undetermined amount of time, the North Dakota guard said Tuesday. The soldiers from the 957th Engineer Company are expected to begin the deployment this fall, the military said. READ FULL STORY
CASPER, Wyo. — Governor Mark Gordon is donating a wild bison hunting license to be raffled in order to raise funds to support Wyoming wildlife conservation. It is the third year in a row Gordon has donated a wild bison license for such efforts. “The bison is the symbol of Wyoming and a fitting hunt Read More…
Last month was the fourth hottest June on record in Kalispell, thanks in large part to the extreme heat wave that roasted the region the final week of the month. According to climate statistics from the National Weather Service in Missoula, the average temperature in June for Kalispell was 63.9 degrees, which is 6.3 degree Read More…
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) is seeking public comment on a proposal to purchase a conservation easement on more than 27,000 acres of timberland near Libby as part of an effort to protect the parcel for wildlife habitat and recreation while maintaining a working forest. The property is currently owned by Stimson Lumber Company, Read More…