Gov. Kelly Armstrong appointed Tony Hillig, recreation division chief for the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department, as the agency’s new director, effective immediately. Hillig has served as chief of the department’s recreation division since December 2020, overseeing recreation grants, trail management, motorized recreation and safety programs statewide. He joined the department in 2019 as Read More…
Montana’s unemployment rate fell to 3.2% in July, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced, continuing the state’s record stretch of low unemployment and remaining nearly a full percentage point below the national rate, which also declined over the month to 4.1%. “As Montana’s unemployment rate continues to decline, businesses across our state are expanding, creating high-paying jobs, Read More…
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley commended the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals after it dismissed a legal challenge brought by suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua who were seeking to avoid removal from the United States. The en banc Fifth Circuit dismissed the case on August 13 as moot after the Read More…
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Board of Directors has appointed Cara Kolb as senior vice president of Risk and Compliance, the bank announced. In her new role, Kolb will be responsible for ensuring bank staff effectively manage risks while rigorously complying with procedures and policies. She will also oversee functions related to data privacy Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. — A Montana man has been charged with defrauding a Canadian financial institution of $43 million by posing as a legitimate business owner. Todd Capser was arrested Wednesday in Billings, Montana. Prosecutors in New York said Capser defrauded the Toronto, Canada, entity and tried to defraud nine other institutions of between $46 million Read More…
HELENA – Montana health leaders are reminding the public to take precautions this spring to avoid exposure to hantavirus. Hantavirus is spread through urine and droppings from infected rodents – most commonly deer mice – and can lead to a serious respiratory disease. The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services says spring and Read More…
CHEYENNE — Governor Mark Gordon has ordered the State of Wyoming flag be flown at half staff at the Capitol in Cheyenne and in Sweetwater County from sunrise to sunset on May 6, 2019 in honor of former Green River Mayor and Sweetwater County Commissioner Don Van Matre. READ FULL STORY
Gov. Mark Gordon, with the approval of the state Senate, recently appointed Jon Dolezal, of Evanston, and Lee Filer, of Cheyenne, to the commission. Dolezal represents Commission District 3, which includes Uinta, Lincoln, Sublette, and Teton counties. Filer represents Commission District 1, which encompasses Goshen, Platte, and Laramie counties. Both will serve six-year terms. Dolezal Read More…
2018 was a busy year for Kanye West. Last spring, the multi-hyphenate announced he would deliver a handful of seven-track projects, four of which were under the G.O.O.D. Music banner. In addition to recording his eighth solo studio album (Ye) and a collaborative album with Kid Cudi (Kids See Ghosts), Kanye also executive produced projects by Pusha-T, Nas, and Teyana Taylor—all of Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — The deadline for the Miss Montana to Normandy project is only days away. Crews are working around the clock to make sure the historic DC-3/47 is ready for the trip to Normandy, France, to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day and honor the 57,000 Montanans who served in the war. The plane Read More…
BUTTE – NorthWestern Energy reports that their Montana customers are being targeted by a scam threatening immediate utility shut offs. Customers report that they receive a call and a recording plays, telling the customer to call a 1-800 number to avoid having their utility service interrupted. Customers who called the phone number report that the person Read More…
A Texas couple has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison each for enslaving a West African girl for more than 16 years until she escaped with the help of neighbors, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday. Mohamed Touré and Denise Cros-Touré, who are citizens of Guinea and lawful permanent residents of the U.S., were also ordered Read More…
GREAT FALLS – Hollis Fudge, along with two of his children, is deaf and he and his wife, Amanda, feel it is important for them to have a good community to be involved in. “I want to encourage the hearing community to be involved and take advantage of deaf perspective,” Amanda said. Hollis said they Read More…
Lucky Minerals Inc (CVE:LKY) (OTCMKTS:LKMNF) said Tuesday that a Montana judge has issued a ruling related to the company’s exploration license at its Emigrant project in southwestern Montana and the company has a strong case to appeal it. Judge Brenda Gilbert of Montana’s Sixth District Court recently made a ruling against Lucky Mineral’s and Montana attorney-general Read More…
Last week Montana’s Republican Sen. Steve Daines hosted a roundtable in Missoula to talk with police and prosecutors about the devastating toll methamphetamine is taking on western Montana. The event also offered a revealing look at the business end of the meth trade. Local meth-cooking operations are generally an anomaly. Home brew labs are certainly Read More…
MONTANA – Governor Steve Bullock and the members of the Montana Broadcasters Association (MBA) today announced the renewal of a media campaign of TV and radio public service announcements that focus on raising awareness about suicide prevention in Montana. The media campaign first launched in April 2017. “Suicide has broken the hearts of so many, on Read More…
Since 2004, twenty large federal agencies admit paying out an astonishing $1.2 trillion in improper payments. That amounts to more than one-quarter of President Trump’s proposed $4.7 trillion budget for 2020. Last year, these improper payments totaled $140 billion – that’s about $12 billion per month. But what exactly is an improper payment? Federal law Read More…
Tragedy struck the Wyoming football team over the weekend. Hayward High School defensive end Naphtali Moimoi, a Wyoming signee, is missing and presumed dead after being swept out to sea. According to ABC News, Moimoi fell off a boogie board on Thursday at Poplar State Beach near Half Moon Bay in California. The strong current Read More…
CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Supreme Court has suspended five lawyers from the practice of law in Wyoming for failing to comply with the Rules of the Wyoming Supreme Court for Continuing Legal Education. Rule 4 of the Rules of the Wyoming State Board of Continuing Legal Education requires each active attorney to complete a minimum Read More…
HEART RIVER, N.D. – UPDATE: According to Tom Volk, the Game and Fish Department confirmed his Walleye caught Sunday is the new state record. ORIGINAL STORY: A possible new state record Walleye was caught Sunday. The Game and Fish Department says Tom Volk of Lincoln reeled in the 16 pound 9 ounce, 32.5 inch fish Read More…
HELENA, Mont. (AP) – Officials say Montana is now complying with federal driver’s license rules after years of resisting the REAL ID Act. Montana Department of Justice officials said Monday the notification from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security means Montanans will be able to use their Real ID-compliant licenses and identifications to board domestic Read More…
BILLINGS – A Billings high school sophomore got the chance to meet some ranking Montana politicians after she won the Montana “Teenpreneur” challenge. Kathryn Brower and her business, 406 Lips, rose to the top out of about 87 participants. She creates lip balm holders made out of fabrics. Brower was inspired to create the holder after she ruined a load Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. — A nine-mile (14.5-kilometer) stretch of abandoned railroad in southwest Montana will be resurrected to once again carry Yellowstone National Park-area tourists. The Billings Gazette reports that the Custer Gallatin National Forest last week announced approval of a nonmotorized, multi-use path along the old Oregon Short Line rail bed between West Yellowstone and Read More…
Security researchers have discovered a powerful surveillance app first designed for Android devices can now target victims with iPhones. The spy app, found by researchers at mobile security firm Lookout, said its developer abused their Apple-issued enterprise certificates to bypass the tech giant’s app store to infect unsuspecting victims. The disguised carrier assistance app once Read More…
In a move that could keep tens of thousands of asylum seekers locked up, the Justice Department said Tuesday that it will deny a large class of undocumented immigrants a bond hearing to argue for their release. The opinion, by Attorney General William Barr, adheres to the Trump administration’s stance that migrants caught at the Read More…
Former North Dakota health-care administrator Craig Lambrecht has officially assumed his role as Kalispell Regional Healthcare’s new chief executive officer, bringing with him more than 16 years of experience in health-care leadership and ambitious plans for the organization. Lambrecht’s propensity for leadership began long before he launched into the business side of health care in Read More…
Bozeman commissioners continued their push for citywide high-speed internet, which would take a lot of buy-in from businesses and developers to become a reality. City commissioners declared broadband an essential piece of Bozeman’s infrastructure with a unanimous vote Monday. “The future belongs to the connected and the internet is both the workplace and the marketplace Read More…
CORVALLIS – The latest man to be honored by Representative Greg Gianforte (R-MT) for his continuing service as a veteran believes many former soldiers are anxious to keep serving and can make a real difference in their communities. Former US Army Ranger and Green Beret Doug Mason is the latest Montanan to be awarded the Read More…
A man was arrested in Florida for allegedly breaking into cars in the jail parking lot moments after he was released, according to police. Michael Casey Lewis, 37, was originally arrested on charges of grand theft Thursday morning, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. Lewis had just bonded out of county jail and been Read More…
Michael Avenatti’s allegations of Nike Inc. foul play continued Saturday, with the lawyer sharing documents he claims prove the athletic giant illicitly paid top college athletes. As part of the tweet storm, the attorney included several dozen documents that he said proves that last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick, DeAndre Ayton, was illegally paid Read More…
CASPER — Wyoming women who gave birth in 2017 reported high rates of depression before, during and after pregnancy, according to a new state report that also reveals the insurance and income-related issues facing mothers in the Cowboy State. More than 19 percent of women who gave birth two years ago reported having depression before Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. – Volunteers are working hard to get a former firefighting plane ready to travel to France for the 75th anniversary of D-day. The 75-year-old WWII area Dakota DC-3 known as Miss Montana hasn’t flown since it landed in Missoula in 2001. But that won’t stop volunteers from getting her back in the air. Read More…
HELENA, Mont. — An Albanian national who talked about joining ISIS and attacking random people to avenge a shooting at a New Zealand mosque was arrested at a gun range in Montana, authorities said Thursday. Fabjan Alameti, 21, appeared before a U.S magistrate judge Thursday on charges of possession of a firearm by an unlawful Read More…
Two conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit this week, challenging the 2018 Flathead Forest Plan. WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project say the 10 to 15 year management plan for the 2.4 million acre forest decreases habitat protections for wildlife, including grizzly bears, Canada lynx and bull trout. “Such as increased potential for road building, Read More…
BILLINGS – The Montana Human Rights Bureau has ruled in favor of a former Yellowstone County employee who says she was discriminated against because she is transgender. Eleanor Andersen Maloney, a former deputy county prosecutor, was denied health-insurance benefits for medical costs related to her gender transition procedure, according to a Wednesday release from the Read More…
GREAT FALLS – A retired Great Falls priest intends to plead guilty to a receipt of child pornography charge. Court documents indicate that Lothar Konrad Krauth, a retired Catholic priest, plans to change his plea to guilty at a hearing next week. Court documents state Homeland Security agents received a cyber report from the National Read More…
HELENA – A new report shows a slow decline in Montana’s homeless, although there’s still the population of one of our small towns that don’t have shelter on any given the night. That’s the data shared Monday as the first-ever statewide conference on homelessness opened in Helena. The numbers, which are based on the most Read More…
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft doesn’t want video of him inside Orchids of Asia spa to be seen by the public. The 77-year-old Kraft asked the judge overseeing his solicitation charges to suppress the video evidence, according to Ken Belson of the New York Times. Police claim to have video that shows Kraft involved in Read More…
A Denton, Texas grand jury indicted former MLB reliever John Wetteland on three counts of continuous sexual assault of a child on Friday. Police arrested Wetteland in January on charges that he repeatedly sexually abused a 4-year-old relative starting in 2004. Wetteland accused of assaulting 4-year-old relative From an affidavit reported in The Dallas Morning News on January 15: “Wetteland, 52, Read More…
A district judge on Friday overturned a state decision allowing a Creston water-bottling facility to begin production near the Flathead River, ruling that the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation erred when it granted a permit that would have allowed a company to produce more than 1 billion 20-ounce bottles per year. The order Read More…
BOZEMAN – The Montana High Tech Business Alliance reports that the state’s high-tech companies generated more than $2 billion in revenue in 2018. Many of those high tech businesses are found in Bozeman and have cropped up as the area’s rapid growth continues. “Most of my clients when I started were out of state and Read More…
HELENA – The Helena Civic Center celebrated the commissioning of 60 new officers from the Montana Law Enforcement Academy on Friday. Montana Attorney General Tim Fox commended the class for choosing a profession that runs toward danger and not from it. Many graduates and attendees wore green in honor of Trooper Wade Palmer, the Trooper Read More…
If you are planning on driving anywhere and look up from the pump at the price of gas, you might be noticing an uptick in cost. According to the fuel price tracker Gas Buddy, prices are expected to climb for the sixth straight week across the country. Right now, the average price of gas across Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — This is the time of year people get excited about winning cash from a number of contests. Hannah Stiff is the Montana Marketplace Manager for the Better Business Bureau, and says many Montanans are getting notices they have won contests through e-mail, phone calls and pop-up messages on the internet. “Maybe it’s Read More…