Featured Articles in News

Montana Receives $1.5 Million Grant to Launch AI-Powered Career and Workforce Platform

— Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Montana Department of Labor and Industry announced a $1.5 million grant to develop a statewide digital career platform designed to connect students, job seekers and employers with education, training and employment opportunities. The grant, awarded by nonprofit Britebound, will support development of Montana’s Talent Marketplace, an artificial intelligence-powered Read More…

Attorney General Austin Knudsen

Knudsen Leads 20-State Coalition to Defend Pipeline Permits

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a coalition of 20 state attorneys general seeking to intervene in two federal lawsuits that could eliminate a widely used permitting process for oil and natural gas pipelines crossing rivers, streams and wetlands. The states argue that eliminating Nationwide Permit 12, a federal authorization administered by the U.S. Read More…

Trump Administration Announces Fraud Crackdown in Minnesota

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined senior federal law enforcement officials to announce expanded efforts to combat government benefits fraud in Minnesota, including new financial reporting guidance, a $25 million whistleblower incentive program and additional enforcement actions targeting alleged Medicaid fraud. The announcement came one day after federal investigators executed search warrants and arrested four individuals Read More…

IRS Proposes Stricter Eligibility Rules for Health Insurance Tax Credits

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service have proposed new regulations tightening eligibility and verification requirements for federal health insurance subsidies, implementing changes enacted under President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts legislation. The proposed rules would affect the Premium Tax Credit, a refundable federal tax credit that helps qualifying individuals and families purchase health Read More…

All in: News

Wyoming K-12 standards reviewed to add Native American education

CHEYENNE – Native Americans in Wyoming soon will receive more recognition in statewide K-12 education. During the 2017 session, the Legislature passed Enrolled Act 119, which requires the Wyoming Department of Education and State Board of Education to update the state’s social studies standards to include Native American history, cultural heritage and contemporary contributions. READ Read More…

Flathead grad pens memoir about flawed family

The exterior shell of Nicole Harkin’s life exudes accomplishment. The 1993 Flathead High School graduate’s resume is stuffed with achievement — a law degree, Fulbright Fellow in Germany, a research associate for a federal project on government oversight, a long stint as an analyst with the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Harkin’s personal life seems right Read More…

VFW club in Billings stops showing NFL games

BILLINGS – The Veterans of Foreign Wars club in south Billings did not show the Patriots and the Buccaneers on Thursday night in response to protests by NFL players. Veterans at the club said they don’t like players kneeling during the National Anthem but understand their right to protest. Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1634 has not been showing Read More…

BLM rounding up horses at Red Desert Complex

RAWLINS — The Bureau of Land Management office in Rawlins decided to curb the number of wild horses at the Red Desert Complex. The BLM faced lawsuits from Sweetwater County ranchers and the state of Wyoming in opposition to the decision made by the BLM. The state of Wyoming filed suit against the BLM, claiming Read More…

Wyo. Business Council awarded SBA export funding

The U.S. Small Business Administration awarded $18 million in funding to 44 State international trade agencies through SBA’s competitive State Trade Expansion Program (STEP), to support export growth among U.S. small businesses.  The Wyoming Business Council was awarded $221,431 to assist small businesses in Wyoming expand their market through exporting. STEP is designed to increase Read More…

Iconic Rocker Tom Petty Has Died At 66

The frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was hospitalized after suffering cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu. He could not be revived. Tom Petty, the iconic rocker who gained worldwide fame as the lead singer and guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, died Monday after suffering cardiac arrest at his home, his Read More…

MSU Billings kicks off search for chancellor with community forum

BILLINGS – Officials at MSU Billings announced last week they will begin a search for a permanent chancellor. On Monday, Montana State University President Waded Cruzado was in Billings, hosting a community forum for the public to discuss the search. Many of those in attendance expressed their support for the universities interim chancellor, Dr. Ron Larsen. Larsen has been at Read More…

Daines, Gianforte Urge Feds to Approve Northwest Montana Mines

Montana’s two Republican Congressmen in Washington, D.C. urged the Trump administration this week to approve two massive mining projects in Northwest Montana. On Sept. 28, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to green light Hecla Mining Company’s Rock Creek and Montanore Read More…

Neptune Aviation retires firefighting planes

MISSOULA – Neptune Aviation’s venerable P-2-V tankers have flown missions over thousands of wildfires, providing safety not only in the Northern Rockies but all over North America for the past quarter of a century. The distinctive workhorses are now being retired at the end of this long and volatile fire season. When Neptune Aviation was founded Read More…

Racers kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month

KALISPELL, Mont. – More than 1,600 racers braved the rain, hail and cold temperatures for The Fifth Annual Pink Me Up race in Kalispell to support survivors and remember those lost. “Cancer runs in my family and my aunt died from cancer and we figured we’d be out in beautiful Montana enjoying the rain and Read More…

Trump may open up exports of American guns

Gun companies are suffering a sales slump under the Trump administration. But a regulatory change could give them a boost overseas. The administration is considering shifting oversight of gun exports from the State Department to the Commerce Department. The proposed change would treat handguns more like commodities and less like military weapons, and loosen the Read More…

Capital financing program a WIN

LARAMIE – Wyoming entrepreneurs can “WIN” access to capital financing through a new a new state program using crowdfunding opportunities, Secretary of State Ed Murray told those attending the Wyoming Working Together Conference on Friday. Murray outlined the Wyoming Invests Now (WIN) program for members of the Wyoming Economic Development Association (WEDA) and the Wyoming Read More…

‘Just Don’t Blow It’: Campaign Helps Blackfeet Manage Land Buyback Payouts

https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kufm/audio/2017/09/MN-Piikani-money-09-11-17.mp3 When the Blackfeet Tribe learned its tribal members were about to start receiving payouts from a massive federal court settlement, the tribe wanted to get ahead of some of the problems that can arise when a lot of money floods a cash-based society. “There was about 150 some million dollars that was injected into Read More…