CHEYENNE, Wyo.—Gov. Mark Gordon has appointed Nancy Vehr as interim director of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality following the retirement of longtime director Todd Parfitt. Vehr, who has been serving as the department’s deputy director, took over the role effective Oct. 2. She previously led DEQ’s Air Quality Division for nearly a decade and Read More…
BOZEMAN—Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Montana Chamber of Commerce will host the third annual Big Sky, Bright Future Economic Summit on Oct. 15 in Bozeman, with this year’s event focused on technology and innovation in Montana. The summit will bring together business leaders, policymakers and technology executives to discuss artificial intelligence, national security, precision agriculture, Read More…
WASHINGTON—The Justice Department said UCLA School of Law discriminated against white and Asian applicants in admissions for its 2023, 2024 and 2025 incoming classes, finding that the school continued to consider race after the Supreme Court restricted race-conscious college admissions. The department’s Civil Rights Division said its investigation found UCLA Law violated Title VI of Read More…
(The Center Square) – Fraud could cost federal taxpayers as much as $521 billion annually, according to a Foundation for Government Accountability report citing a federal estimate. The report estimates that improper payments by the federal government have totaled about $3 trillion since 2003. Liesel Crocker, the report’s author and senior research fellow at FGA, spoke with Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — The Natrona County School District will no longer require students or staff to wear face masks in schools starting Friday. NCSD said on Thursday that their request for a variance from statewide mandate requiring masks in schools was approved Wednesday. “Starting May 14th, 2021, face coverings will be OPTIONAL for all NCSD Read More…
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a $25 million judgment and trial verdict finding Bayer’s Roundup caused a California resident’s non-Hodgkin lymphoma, dealing a blow to the chemical company’s hopes of limiting its legal risk over the weed-killer. The trial judge did not misapply the law when he allowed the lawsuit by Edwin Hardeman Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — A bomb threat was called in at a Montana Trappers Association gathering in Dillon Saturday evening. According to the Montana Trappers Association’s Facebook page, an anonymous person called in the threat shortly after the banquet was served. The Dillon Police Department exited people out of the building and ushered them to a safe Read More…
FORT HARRISON — The Montana National Guard has received numerous phone calls regarding scams targeting civilians. According to the MT National Guard, these scams involve the sales of vehicles that don’t exist, asking for money to support deploying soldiers, and using the addresses of Montana National Guard facilities as business locations.
U.S. government officials were working closely with top U.S. fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline on Sunday to help it recover from a ransomware cyberattack that forced the company to shut a critical fuel network supplying populous eastern states. The attack is one of the most disruptive digital ransom operations reported and has prompted calls from Read More…
Southwest Airlines announced on April 30 that it will add several new nonstop flights flying out of Boise Airport this summer. Included among the mix of new routes is nonstop service to Orange County and Dallas Love Field. The airline will also bring back daily service to Chicago-Midway, San Diego and San Jose, along with Read More…
Private job growth accelerated in April but fell a bit short of Wall Street expectations, according to a report Wednesday from payroll processing firm ADP. Companies added 742,000 workers for the month, a jump from March’s upwardly revised 565,000 but a bit shy of the 800,000 forecast from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. Leisure and Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. –The State of Wyoming filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s Executive Order “pausing” oil and gas leasing on Federal lands, Governor Mark Gordon’s office announced Tuesday. “The current de facto leasing moratorium is bad policy for Wyoming and contrary to law,” Governor Gordon said. “This Read More…
Governor Greg Gianforte on Tuesday announced two measures to address the state’s severe workforce shortage and provide incentives for unemployed Montanans to reenter the labor force. A news release says that the State of Montana will launch a return-to-work bonus program, utilizing federal funds authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act. Return-to-work bonuses will be Read More…
Governor Greg Gianforte recently signed HB 226, making cocktails to-go permanent in Montana. A news release says that “this measure supports hospitality businesses devastated by COVID-19 and provides increased convenience to consumers.” The law states: “Curbside pickup constitutes the sale of alcoholic beverages in original packaging, prepared servings, or growlers that was ordered online or Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – The Dickinson Public School District is now offering a permanent kindergarten through 12th-grade online academy option for students. Administrators say the decision comes after students expressed interest for the program. More than 280 students are enrolled in distance learning, and some of them are to looking to continue in that mode Read More…
GILLETTE, Wyo. — Yesterday, Governor Mark Gordon announced that Wyoming’s Integrated Test Center will host one of two projects selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for Phase III funding of a large-scale pilot carbon capture project. DOE announced yesterday that it has awarded $99 million to two projects for Phase III of their Demonstration Read More…
The eldest child in the former reality television family, the Duggars, was arrested Thursday for charges related to child pornography. The U.S. Marshals Service in Arkansas arrested Josh Duggar, whose family had been the center of the TLC show 19 Kids and Counting. He was charged with possession of and receiving child pornography and pleaded not guilty Friday. Read More…
Recognition in the annual IBM Watson Health top hospital and health system ranking is the Pulitzer Prize of health care. Once again, Idaho has two health systems serving Idahoans on its lists for 2021 as well as three hospitals. Just like last year, both the St. Luke’s and Saint Alphonsus health systems were among the Read More…
Elk herds are thriving in Wyoming, which means more opportunity for more hunters. Last week, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) announced that the state wildlife commission approved the addition of 2,000 more licenses for the upcoming elk season. According to the Jackson Hole News & Guide, the “major herds are nearly 30% over objective” and there’s Read More…
A press release put out by the Wyoming Department of Health announced the mistaken exposure of lab test result data with the health information of over 160,000 Wyoming residents. The department said they became aware of the exposure of approximately 164,021 Wyoming residents on March 10, 2021, with a workforce member mishandling health information as early as November 5, 2020. READ FULL Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — University of Montana officials have issued an alert warning community members that an aggressive bear has been spotted just south of campus. Several people called 911 at around 3:30 a.m. Friday, complaining that an aggressive bear was in garbage cans in the 1600 block of Madeline Ave., growling, and acting aggressively. Officers have Read More…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) believes the U.S. can convince Canada to re-open its borders to normal traffic if more people follow through on getting their COVID shots. We’ve been telling you about the emotional turmoil facing residents in Montana’s border communities from the continued pandemic shutdown of the Canadian border. READ FULL Read More…
BILLINGS – Nearly four years ago, seven Billings residents decided to take Montana’s largest city to court, alleging that fees it had added to water bills were an illegal sales tax. Since then, two of the group have died and at least five different judges have touched the case before retired Gallatin County Judge Mike Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Housing prices in Montana continue to soar. There’s not enough property for sale and not enough units for rent. And in many cases, not enough money to pay for either. We’re working for you to find what it means to be stuck in the middle of what some are calling Montana’s housing crisis. Read More…
A group of female high school track athletes is appealing a Sunday federal district decision forcing them to compete against transgender athletes. The case was dismissed by Judge Robert Chatigny on procedural grounds because the two transgender athletes in question have since graduated from high school, making the case moot. Chatigny wrote, however, that if Read More…
GUARERO, Venezuela — They bring drinking water to residents in the arid scrublands, teach farming workshops and offer medical checkups. They mediate land disputes, fine cattle rustlers, settle divorces, investigate crimes and punish thieves. They’re not police officers, civil servants or members of the Venezuela government, which has all but disappeared from this impoverished part Read More…
Passenger numbers at North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports in March increased from the previous month and year but remained well below pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. The airports in Bismarck, Minot, Williston, Dickinson, Grand Forks, Fargo, Devils Lake and Jamestown collectively had 72,504 passenger boardings last month, up from 51,240 in February and from 60,821 in March Read More…
LARAMIE, Wyo. – University of Wyoming football recruit Tony Evans Jr. was shot and killed early Sunday morning at a hotel in Dallas, Texas, according to police in the Dallas area. The 17-year-old senior was a 2021 recruit from Lancaster, Texas. The fatal shooting around 1:30 a.m., which wounded another person at the Hawthorn Suites Read More…
Wyoming’s economy is powered by some of the oldest industries in human history, including mining, agriculture and tourism. But in recent years the state has emerged as an unlikely champion of far newer inventions: cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that powers them. Now, the Cowboy State is arguably the most crypto-friendly jurisdiction in the United Read More…
BELT — Belt Public School junior Brady Drummond is representing Montana in the national Poetry Out Loud semi-finals. Drummond was confident about her entries. “There are three poems I had to memorize. The first one has to be pre-20th century, one has to be 25 lines or fewer, and then the other one is just Read More…
They were known as the Montana Freemen, and 25 years ago, they would put the national spotlight on Montana for a long, bizarre armed standoff with FBI agents that would drag on for months. For almost two years, the Freemen had refused to be evicted from their secluded 960-acre farm near Jordan. They called it Read More…
Walter Mondale, who transformed the role of U.S. vice president while serving under Jimmy Carter and was the Democratic nominee for president in 1984, died Monday at 93, according to a family spokesperson. The big picture: President Biden, who was mentored by Mondale through the years, said in 2015 that the former vice president gave him a “roadmap” Read More…
The Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health appointed Elva (Cookie) Allan, Marybeth Flachbart and Jenny Robertson to its board of directors. Allan has worked for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe since 1999 and is the director of strategic initiatives and development office. She has been an advocate for Latino and Native American issues dating back Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — After a nearly year-long delay, the new Missoula Public Library will open on May 3 with some limitations, including the number of visitors, hours and services. “The idea is to get people as much access to resources as we can, but continue to try and keep people safe and prevent future infections,” said Read More…
GREAT FALLS — Family and friends of Carl Mock, who was attacked by a grizzly bear on Thursday morning, say that he passed away on Saturday morning. The West Yellowstone man, who was 40 years old, was taken to a hospital in Idaho Falls after being attacked by the bear. According to GoFundMe account created Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Many residents in the Troy and Thompson Falls area are without power Sunday night. Northern Lights outage map shows roughly 1,000 customers affected by the outage in northwest Montana. READ FULL STORY
BILLINGS — Scientists have developed a new way to test live animals for chronic wasting disease that holds promise for one day detecting the illness in the wild. “We need to do more in the form of field testing to verify its utility,” said Byron Caughey, chief of the TSE/Prion Biochemistry Section at the National Read More…
GREAT FALLS — The Boy Scouts of America collected donations for the Great Falls Community Food Bank on Saturday for their 27th annual “Scouting For Food” drive. Informational flyers were given to Great Falls residents on April 10th with instructions for the food drive event. Those wishing to contribute placed bags and boxes filled with Read More…
The fight over Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky’s $30 million payday is heating up. The state of Illinois, charitable organization OxFam and several religious organizations have filed letters with the Securities and Exchange Commission opposing his pay. The letters urge shareholders to vote no on a “say on pay” proposal set for consideration at Read More…
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) – Help wanted has now turned into help needed for many places like Piesano’s Pacchia. “It’s just hard to get help,” says owner Stacey Livermont. Secretary Marcia Hultman from the Department of Labor and Regulation says initial claims for unemployment are going back to normal rates, but continued claim numbers still Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota’s attorney general who is awaiting his next court hearing involving a fatal crash has announced his promotion in the Army Reserve. Jason Ravnsborg posted on Facebook that he is now a full colonel in the Army Reserve. He’s been in the military for 24 years and through three deployments, his Read More…
Documents filed this week in Natrona County District Court allege that a Casper man gave a 13-year-old girl methamphetamine and then produced child pornography with her. Salvador Salas is charged with the following in district court: Two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor Two counts of sexual exploitation of children Distribution of a Read More…
If you hit it, you can eat it. A new Wyoming law allows drivers to take home wildlife that was accidentally killed by a car, and prepare it for dinner. Salvaging roadkill had been illegal in the state for generations before Monday’s bill singing. Now, Wyoming joins 30 other states where drivers can cook a Read More…
Bernard Madoff, the Manhattan investment adviser who promised stellar returns to his A-list clients and instead defrauded them of more than $19 billion in history’s largest Ponzi scheme, has died. He was 82. He died Wednesday, according to an emailed statement from Brandon Sample, Madoff’s attorney. No cause was given. Madoff’s home since July 2009 was Read More…