The Center Square) – Nearly a year after a nine-person jury found Greenpeace liable for $667 million in damages in a case related to the Dakota Access Pipeline, a North Dakota judge has said the environmental organization will soon be ordered to make good on the damages. In court papers filed Tuesday, Judge James Gion Read More…
Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced a landmark settlement agreement with The Vanguard Group, Inc. this week, resolving allegations that the asset manager conspired to artificially constrict the coal market through anticompetitive trade practices. The settlement stems from a 2024 lawsuit filed by Knudsen against Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street Corporation. The suit alleged the firms Read More…
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines visited the Sibanye-Stillwater Columbus metallurgical complex last week, meeting with miners and touring operations as he praised recent federal trade action aimed at protecting Montana’s palladium industry. Daines credited Donald Trump for imposing a preliminary 132% tariff on Russian palladium imports, describing the move as a critical step toward leveling the Read More…
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston on Thursday signed an executive order barring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from operating on city-owned property and directing local police to protect peaceful protesters during federal immigration enforcement actions. The order prohibits ICE agents from staging or conducting operations in city buildings, parks, shelters, parking facilities, libraries, and other municipal Read More…
**Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article implied the business is in Wyoming, Michigan. It’s actually in the state of Wyoming. LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) — The Michigan Attorney General’s Office has warned a business in Wyoming state to stop falsely marketing the types of face masks it sells, also sending it a cease-and-desist letter for Read More…
HELENA — Montana Department of Labor & Industry Acting Commissioner Brenda Nordlund announced Tuesday that Montana has begun paying the additional $600 Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefit established with the passage of the recent federal stimulus package, or CARES Act. DLI began paying the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) benefit on the evening of Monday, April Read More…
MISSOULA — The University of Montana on Monday placed 63 employees on temporary furlough, saying the financial strain brought on by the coronavirus pandemic necessitated the decision. The university reached out to the individuals on Monday and issued a campus-wide memo later in the day announcing the decision. The workers will remain on furlough through Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock says he doesn’t have a timeline for things to return to normal in Montana after the coronavirus outbreak. He spoke to residents in a telephone town hall on Monday, saying he’ll continue issuing his stay-at-home orders in two-week intervals based on advice from medical professionals. Bullock says indicators such Read More…
The Public Service Commission is holding two hearings on proposed projects this week, one Tuesday for a natural gas pipeline in Mountrail and Williams counties and another Friday for a wind farm in Burke County. Liberty Midstream Solutions is proposing a 4.7-mile steel transport to carry 80 million cubic feet per day of residue gas, Read More…
President Donald Trump on Saturday granted state leaders’ request for Wyoming to be declared a major disaster area because of the effects of the coronavirus. The declaration means state, local and tribal governments in Wyoming will be eligible for federal aid to help recovery efforts. As of Friday, Wyoming had recorded over 300 confirmed and Read More…
A Johnson County man who was infected with the novel coronavirus has died, the first such death in Wyoming, the Department of Health confirmed Monday. There has now been a death in every U.S. state. “This is a sad development we hoped we wouldn’t see in Wyoming and we want this person’s family to Read More…
Financial concerns also continue to mount during this pandemic. Scams aimed at seniors can always be a problem and even more now. State Auditor and Securities and Insurance Commissioner Matt Rosendale, a Republican, is warning Montanans about fraud exploitation. His office, along with the Montana attorney general, the U.S. Attorney and several other agencies formed Read More…
HELENA — Jim Murphy, Montana’s chief epidemiologist, has heard the same stories most everyone in the state has heard about residents who’ve made unsuccessful attempts to get themselves tested for COVID-19. But even as national headlines worry over testing backlogs in some parts of the country, he says testing constraints haven’t hampered Montana’s coronavirus response. Read More…
BILLINGS – Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming (GSMW) are sending cookie donations to hospitals throughout Montana and Wyoming during the pandemic, they announced Monday. GSMW are giving a total of 8,000 boxes of cookies as a thank you to healthcare employees at 13 hospitals in Montana and Wyoming. READ FULL STORY
KALISPELL — A seventh COVID-19 related death is being reported in Montana. The Flathead City-County Health Department confirmed Monday the first death related to COVID-19 in Flathead County. The individual was over the age of 65 and was a resident of Flathead County who had had underlying health conditions, according to a news release. “We Read More…
Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman expects the novel coronavirus outbreak to wipe out nearly a quarter of US economic output this year. “We have a GDP of somewhere around $21 trillion and we’re probably going to miss $5 trillion of it,” the chief of the private equity titan told Bloomberg on Tuesday. The pandemic is temporarily “putting Read More…
State officials now believe the coronavirus outbreak in the state will peak sometime in May and restrictions on social interactions should be relaxed a little later that month, Governor Mark Gordon said Friday. “What we’re looking at is our peak coming sometime in early May and our behaviors, we will look at on a regular Read More…
CHEYENNE — In a video message to Wyoming students, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow told students they may finish the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year at home. The YouTube video was posted on the Wyoming Department of Education’s Facebook page on Monday, April 6. “With school closures in Wyoming extended, it’s possible that you Read More…
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) has seen about a sharp drop in reports of child abuse and neglect since the Governor directed schools to close to slow the spread of COVID-19. From Mar. 8-14, which was the week prior to the closures, 765 calls a week were made on average Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — There’s some promising news coming out of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation that shows all the work we’re doing staying home is actually making a big difference. We first showed you this site on March 30. On that date, the site predicted Montana would reach its COVID-19 peak in cases at the very Read More…
The UK plans to roll out “immunity passports” to Brits who have already contracted the COVID-19 disease in order to allow them to return to “normal life,” the Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Thursday. “We are looking at an immunity certificate,” Hancock told a Downing Street press conference. “How people who have had the Read More…
The FDA announced Thursday that it is relaxing some of the recommendations regarding blood donations to address “a dramatic reduction in donations” amid the COVID-19 pandemic — but the department still recommends that sexually active gay men should not give blood. According to a press release from the department, it is now recommending that male donors can Read More…
Glacier National Park has awarded its labor services contract for the 2020 Visitor Transportation Service to LC Staffing of Kalispell. The contract with the company is valid for up to two years and provides drivers, dispatchers and supervisors for the park’s 35-bus fleet that provides shuttle service along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Jim Foster, chief of Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Red Ants Pants Music Festival, that is usually held in July outside White Sulphur Springs has been canceled due the COVID-19 pandemic. This would have been the 10th year for the music festival. “It is with heavy hearts we have made a difficult, but we feel the most responsible, decision to cancel Read More…
LIVINGSTON – Popular musician John Mayer approached a Livingston nonprofit to help combat COVID-19 in Park County. The Livingston Enterprise reported Mayer made a financial contribution to the Livingston HealthCare Foundation to provide Park County residents with more ventilators. Livingston HealthCare hospital spokesperson Whitney Harris told The Enterprise Mayer got in contact with the nonprofit to Read More…
Violators of Yellowstone County and Montana state orders to limit group gatherings and maintain social distance could face up to 90 days in jail and fines, county officials said during a news conference Wednesday in Billings. Law enforcement officers said they will not be stopping drivers on the road for no reason or putting up Read More…
Holly Michels Following a surge in calls to a state-funded phone line by people in crisis and needing emotional support, the state Department of Public Health and Human Services said it’s expanding mental health services. “We continue to monitor and make adjustments as necessary to meet the needs of Montanans during this challenging time,” said Read More…
North Dakota’s two U.S. senators are hopeful about the outlook for the oil industry that’s plagued by low crude prices, after a phone call earlier this week between the presidents of the United States and Russia. Few details have emerged about the call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, which came after several weeks of Read More…
BISMARCK — Cass County now has more cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus, than any other county in North Dakota. The North Dakota Department of Health announced 17 new cases of illness Tuesday, March 31, including eight in Cass County. A ninth Cass County case was confirmed earlier Tuesday, but the department Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department says that legislation passed in 2019 to expand the regulated area for shed antler and horn collection in the state is now in effect. “The updated regulation expands the seasonal closure area to include expanded critical wintering habitat and enact a new opening time of 12 noon on Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — Montana’s governor is asking tourists to stop coming to the state while it’s under a stay-at-home directive. Gov. Steve Bullock also asks anyone who recently traveled to the state from another state or country to self-quarantine for 14 days. The directive does not apply to people traveling into the state for work-related reasons. Read More…
Montana colleges and universities stand to receive $31 million from the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package just passed by Congress. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, announced the aid to higher education in a news release Monday, saying it was part of a total of $1.25 billion heading to Montana local governments, small businesses and individuals for Read More…
After a hopscotching process, Montana got the OK to call off standardized testing for students usually required by the federal government. The move had been likely since the U.S Department of Education indicated that it would offer statewide testing waivers as most of the nation’s public schools closed because of the new coronavirus. Montana education officials Read More…
Washington — Americans who are eligible to receive one-time payments from the federal government as part of a massive coronavirus economic relief package will see that money deposited into their bank accounts “within three weeks,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday. “We expect that within three weeks, that people who have direct deposit with information with us will Read More…
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Three Wyoming gun shops say their businesses have seen an uptick over the past week, mirroring a national trend fueled by the spread of the novel coronavirus continuing across Wyoming and the nation. “It’s borne out of fear that people are going to go crazy,” said Larry Frandson of Cody Wyoming Guns and Ammo, adding Read More…
EVANSTON – Wyoming gets an F in social distancing practices. National data company Unacast has utilized cellphone location data to rank every state in the nation on social distancing practices in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of March 25, Wyoming was the only state in the country to earn an F grade. The Read More…
On Thursday, March 26, Governor Steve Bullock clarified essential businesses and operations in a Directive where he declared Montanans must shelter in place and stay at home. We have summarized the list of essential businesses and operations listed in the Directive: Businesses that sell, manufacture or supply needed products: Stores that sell groceries, medicine, including medication Read More…
Crow Tribal Chairman Alvin Not Afraid Jr. issued an executive order mandating all tribal members to stay home in order to control the potential spread of the novel coronavirus, according to a press release issued by the tribe Friday. The order, which goes into effect March 28 at 12:01 a.m. and stays in effect until Read More…
Even though the Montana Science Center is temporarily closed, executive director Abby Turner was keeping an eye out for what the center could be doing for Bozeman. “We had been watching the ways that people are helping out,” Turner said. “For us, we knew that some of the resources that we had available at the Read More…
LIVINGSTON — One day late last week, Dan Vermillion, owner of Sweetwater Travel in Livingston, woke up to a flurry of emails. There were seven different requests to book his vacation rentals for up to six months. Normally, a booking is three days, five days, maybe a week. By: Johnathan Hettinger – Montana Free Press LIVINGSTON Read More…
While families’ cats and dogs are enjoying the upside of spending days with their owners working from home during the coronavirus shutdown, wild coyotes in San Francisco are reportedly also taking advantage of the benefits of a suddenly empty city. There have been several recent fake stories circulating about unusual wildlife showing up in cities during the Read More…
FARGO — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has been in daily contact with lawmakers about the coronavirus and hasn’t ruled out the possibility of calling a special session, a spokesman said Wednesday. Mike Nowatzki, Burgum’s communications director, said that although “it’s too early to speculate” about whether to call in lawmakers, the governor’s office continues Read More…
The businesses lining the main streets of Wyoming speak volumes about the communities they inhabit. Successful restaurants reflect the tastes of the local residents. Retailers, and the wares they carry, often resemble the demographics of a community. Art galleries, music shops and others can indicate the existence of tourist traffic and a creative class that Read More…