Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a 24-state coalition urging the Trump administration to investigate the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the National Science Foundation, and to cut off federal grant funding tied to a climate science chapter used in a judicial reference manual. In a letter sent this month to Read More…
First Interstate and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines are providing $700,000 in combined support to 34 nonprofit organizations across South Dakota, expanding funding for groups working on some of the state’s most pressing community needs. The total includes a $200,000 contribution from First Interstate, matched up to three times through FHLB Des Read More…
Montana’s Land Board approved a series of revenue-generating actions at its March meeting expected to produce more than $1.63 million for the state’s trust beneficiaries, including support for public education. The actions approved by the board included an estimated $1,093,308 from timber sales and $532,944 from an oil and gas lease sale. Combined, the measures Read More…
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has released its 2025 State of the Environment Report, highlighting the agency’s work over the past year in air monitoring, water management, land reclamation and regulatory compliance. According to the agency, the report focuses on DEQ’s core responsibilities across air, land, waste and water, while also pointing to ongoing Read More…
Staff of the North Dakota Supreme Court Law Library have been discarding more than 67,000 books over the span of more than a year. “I can tell you, it’s been devastating to see them go, but we understand the impetus,” Legal Self-Help Center Director Catie Palsgraaf said. The 2019 Legislature budgeted $970,000 to Read More…
The former executive manager of the now-dissolved Flathead Joint Board of Control pleaded not guilty to a host of charges in U.S. District Court in Missoula on June 3, all related to her alleged misuse of board funds for personal expenses. Johanna Estella Clark could face significant fines and a lengthy prison term if convicted Read More…
There are some additional openings and services available at Glacier National Park. The west entrance gate will no longer close at 4:30 p.m. and Going-to-the-Sun Road is open to Avalanche and the campground is available for day-use parking. The restroom at the shuttle stop is also now available. Camas Road is now open and the Read More…
Tyler Stosich’s wheelchair is controlled by a straw. Normally, he doesn’t think twice about it. But COVID-19 turned normal on its head, so Stosich decided to innovate. “I was just sitting in the shower where my best ideas come to me, and I was like, man, I’m just going to route a piece of tubing Read More…
Updated public health orders that take effect June 15 will continue to ease restrictions on public gatherings in Wyoming, Governor Mark Gordon announced today. The updated orders allow indoor gatherings of up to 250 people with restrictions, permit parades to occur (with appropriate social distancing), and allow K-12 schools, community colleges, the University, and other Read More…
Bill Tietz, the hard-charging maverick whose tenure as Montana State University president laid the foundation for the Bozeman campus to become a modern research university, has died. “It is with great sadness that I write today with news of the passing of Montana State University President Emeritus William J. Tietz,” President Waded Cruzado wrote Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — The Department of Labor and Industry says Montana has paid out more than $10 million in potentially fraudulent unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also says it has stopped more than $220 million in fraudulent claims since late April. READ FULL STORY
The rise in coronavirus cases seen in about half a dozen states across the U.S. isn’t the feared “second wave” — it’s still the first, scientists and infectious disease specialists say. To be defined as a second wave the virus would need to retreat and reappear, or a new variant would have to emerge, said Ian Lipkin, a professor Read More…
While covered head to toe in protective equipment, New York City officers appear to be neglecting one necessary item of protective gear: masks. And protesters feel it’s a snub to their safety in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. According to TIME, officers have been seen not donning the protective face coverings in the midst of Read More…
When COVID-19 forced the temporary closure of Glacier National Park in late March, many residents of Northwest Montana assumed the pandemic would stall one of the region’s most prominent rites of spring — the plowing of the famed Going-to-the-Sun Road. Turns out, not even a global pandemic could halt the rumbling fleet of safety-yellow snowplows Read More…
The coronavirus pandemic could be a disaster or a blessing for Montana State University. It would be a disaster if hundreds of Montana students don’t show up for the fall semester, figuring they’d rather take a gap year than online classes. Even worse would be if hundreds of out-of-state students – on whom MSU Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. — Montana is moving ahead with its attempt to ease crowding on one of its most popular rivers. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has put forward a proposal for regulating fishing outfitters and easing crowding on the Madison River, one of the top fly-fishing destinations in the world. The proposal would cap the number Read More…
HELENA, Mont. – Montana Department of Commerce Director Tara Rice announced the state received a shipment of 30,000 surgical masks as a gift from Taiwan. The Export Montana team at the Montana Department of Commerce coordinated the shipment from Taiwan to the state’s warehouse. “The Montana Department of Commerce has long valued our state’s Read More…
For the first day in months, New York City witnessed zero confirmed deaths due to coronavirus, current records show. The first confirmed COVID-19 death in the Big Apple occurred on March 11 with the death toll reaching its horrible peak at 590 on April 7, according to records put out by the city. Those same Read More…
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Authorities say a South Dakota couple is facing charges for giving drugs to children and using cattle prods on them over several years. Lance Long and Chrystal Long face 14 charges, including aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, Capt. Josh Phillips of the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday. Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – North Dakota’s top prison administrator is resigning after 15 years to take a job in the private sector. Gov. Doug Burgum announced Thursday that Leann Bertsch is stepping down as head of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on July 31. Dave Krabbenhoft, the agency’s head of administration, will serve as interim Read More…
GOSHEN COUNTY, Wyo. Goshen County Economic Development Corporation provides information about how small businesses throughout Wyoming can join a free Cybersecurity Competition. Any small Wyoming business can enter the competition and receive free basic cybersecurity business counseling services. READ FULL STORY
MISSOULA — For the Class of 2020, their families and friends, this year has been surreal. So it seems fitting to add another special memory to an unexpected end to their school careers. All this week, the University of Montana has been paying tribute to the graduates of all five of Missoula’s urban high schools, Read More…
Non-residents will be able to camp in Wyoming beginning Monday, as the state continues to gradually relax COVID-19 restrictions. In a news release, Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources Director Darin Westby said the criteria for opening camping to non-residents has been when surrounding states open their camping and their COVID-19 cases began leveling. “Now Read More…
The OL Reign announced Sunday it was headed to train in Missoula, Montana, in preparation for the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup. The Challenge Cup is a 25-match tournament, which begins June 27 in Salt Lake City, in lieu of a 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Reign are training in Montana because the team Read More…
BOZEMAN — The Montana State University Black Student Union and the Montana Racial Equity Project hosted the Bozeman Rally for Black Lives Sunday afternoon. The event was one of many happening in solidarity nationwide after 46-year old George Floyd was killed in police custody last week in Minneapolis. Speakers at the rally addressed concerns for Read More…
BILLINGS- Eight female inmates at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility have tested positive for COVID-19. Sheriff Mike Linder says RiverStone Health tested 43 inmates and 41 jail staff for the coronavirus on Friday, May 29, and results of those tests came back Saturday, May 30. Only one inmate has been hospitalized and is currently recovering. Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Melisia Muscat had been thinking of moving to Billings for about a year, but COVID-19 sealed the deal. It helped that in February she got a good offer on her home, a condo in a highly sought-after building in the lush seaside city of Anacortes, Washington, north of Seattle. “It was Read More…
The Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) and the Department of Livestock (DOL) encourage safe handling of live poultry to prevent potential human illness. According to public health, spring is a common time for Montanans to be raising young birds but want to make sure you are aware of the risks. Poultry can Read More…
BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Coronavirus cases are spiking in the food and meat processing plants of Jerome and Burley. Both plants are in rural areas, but what they process ends up in major cities, including Boise. That caught Boise Mayor Lauren McLean’s attention. “We talk regularly with Central District Health about the status of COVID in Read More…
The person who oversees North Dakota’s Department of Health has resigned in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, with Gov. Doug Burgum naming her interim replacement within a matter of hours. State Health Officer Mylynn Tufte submitted her resignation letter Wednesday, saying “I feel it is time for me to return to the private Read More…
Montana State University has started distributing $5.3 million in federal coronavirus relief to more than 7,400 low-income students. The university announced that direct student aid started going out this week from the federal CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act. Undergraduate and graduate students are receiving grants of $300 to $900 each, depending on Read More…
HELENA — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana announced a $100,000 donation to the Montana Community Foundation. The money will benefit The Rebound Montana Relief Fund. The fund is a partnership between the Montana Television Network, AMB West Philanthropies and Montana Community Foundation. The fund will grant directly to nonprofit intermediary organizations such as community foundations and Read More…
Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf has been arrested for misdemeanor domestic battery in Palm Springs, California. TMZ Sports first reported it. Leaf was taken into custody on Friday afternoon. Details of the incident itself are not clear. All that’s currently known, according to the information available on the Riverdale County Sheriff’s Department’s website, is that Leaf was Read More…
Officials from the theme park, located in Orlando, Florida, announced their proposed phased reopening on Wednesday during a meeting with a local economic recovery task force. Jim McPhee, senior vice president of operations at Disney World, said that as part of the plan, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom would reopen on July 11. Epcot and Hollywood Studios Read More…
On March 12, a collaboration of 16 Montana newsrooms launched the first story of a series titled Graying Pains, months in the making, exploring Montana’s status as the demographically oldest state west of the Mississippi. The next day, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock announced the state’s first four documented cases of COVID-19. If you read, watch, Read More…
UNDATED (NewsDakota.com) – Although first established in 2018, it wasn’t until earlier this year that the North Dakota Ethics Commission welcomed its first executive director. The Commission is still working on finalizing procedures for dealing with complaints and penalizing guilty parties. However, under the guidance of its new director, it will be looking at ethical misconduct and Read More…
For the first time in more than two months, no new coronavirus cases were reported in Wyoming on Friday. The Wyoming Department of Health, in its daily coronavirus update, said the number of confirmed cases in the state stayed steady at 608. The news came one day after the Health Department reported the 12th coronavirus-related Read More…
Ever since Montana’s stay-at-home order expired on April 24, Glacier Park International Airport Director Rob Ratkowski has noticed a gradual rise in travelers as summer approaches. With an all-time low of 21 passengers on April 18, Ratkowski says he’s seeing an average of 76 people daily this month, with 133 on Saturday, May 16. “Those Read More…
Every summer, thousands of cattle from this region are marketed through video sales. And with another busy summer video sales season already upon us, Superior Livestock Auction (SLA), like others, continues to persevere through these very unprecedented times. SLA’s president Danny Jones says they’re continuing to monitor and adapt to local, state and national restrictions, but they’ve Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — With the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been a lot of focus on state leadership. We wanted to check in with our national delegation via video chat to gauge their concerns and ask what they want to see done in Washington, D.C., to help Montanans. Here is out extended interview with Senator Steve Daines where Read More…
GREAT FALLS — In an effort to honor the families of fallen servicemen and women, Great Falls Flower Growers and Rainbow Garden Club raised money to install a Gold Star Memorial marker along the western edge of the Montana Veterans Memorial. Rainbow Garden Club president Patricia Schlaeger explained the Gold Star Memorial marker’s purpose. “Every Read More…
Amidst widespread coal layoffs throughout the Powder River Basin in recent months and an industry rocked by plummeting prices and decreased demand, Decker Mine reverses course, offering a but of good news for the future of western coal. After laying off nearly 30% of its workforce earlier this month, all 98 furloughed Decker Coal Company Read More…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence’s chief spokeswoman said Tuesday that she has recovered from coronavirus and is back at work. President Donald Trump confirmed on May 8 that Katie Miller, Pence’s press secretary, had tested positive for COVID-19. She is one of two people working at the White House complex known to have tested positive for the virus. Miller Read More…
A lot will be riding on the 230-foot rocket that lifts off this week from Cape Canaveral: The lives of two NASA astronauts. The United States’ ambitions to reclaim its independence as a spacefaring nation. And hopes for a reimagined era of space travel in which private companies ferry humans to low-Earth orbit and beyond. Read More…