Despite watchdog groups warning that few regulatory guardrails exist to meet the threats posed by the rapid development and deployment of AI technology, the 119th Congress has been slow to respond. Though the White House in March proposed a blueprint for lawmakers to craft federal AI-related legislation, no federal framework has advanced out of committee Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen issued a legal opinion reversing a 14-year-old interpretation of the state’s constitutional term limits — a move that could remove prominent Republican lawmakers from the November ballot just days before the state must certify candidates. The opinion withdraws a 2012 interpretation issued by then-Attorney General Steve Bullock, now a former Read More…
BOISE, Idaho — Republican Sen. Jim Risch remains the clear favorite to win another term in one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states, but independent Todd Achilles is trying to turn Idaho’s Senate contest into a more competitive race by appealing to voters dissatisfied with both political parties. The contest has attracted unusual attention Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy introduced legislation that would create a dedicated pharmaceutical trade negotiator within the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and expand federal oversight of foreign drug pricing policies. The Use Sovereignty to Reduce Rx Act, or USTRx Act, targets what its sponsors describe as price control regimes in wealthy countries that suppress payments Read More…
Despite watchdog groups warning that few regulatory guardrails exist to meet the threats posed by the rapid development and deployment of AI technology, the 119th Congress has been slow to respond. Though the White House in March proposed a blueprint for lawmakers to craft federal AI-related legislation, no federal framework has advanced out of committee Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen issued a legal opinion reversing a 14-year-old interpretation of the state’s constitutional term limits — a move that could remove prominent Republican lawmakers from the November ballot just days before the state must certify candidates. The opinion withdraws a 2012 interpretation issued by then-Attorney General Steve Bullock, now a former Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming Republicans will choose among four candidates for governor Tuesday in a closely watched primary that is likely to determine who succeeds Gov. Mark Gordon. State Sen. Eric Barlow, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, retired Marine Col. Brent Bien and businessman Curt Blake are competing for the Republican nomination in the Read More…
BOISE, Idaho — Republican Sen. Jim Risch remains the clear favorite to win another term in one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states, but independent Todd Achilles is trying to turn Idaho’s Senate contest into a more competitive race by appealing to voters dissatisfied with both political parties. The contest has attracted unusual attention Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Andrew Clyde led a coalition of 47 Republican lawmakers urging the Justice Department to apply a landmark federal court ruling striking down National Firearms Act registration requirements nationwide — and the Trump administration has since confirmed the DOJ will not appeal the decision. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy introduced legislation that would create a dedicated pharmaceutical trade negotiator within the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and expand federal oversight of foreign drug pricing policies. The Use Sovereignty to Reduce Rx Act, or USTRx Act, targets what its sponsors describe as price control regimes in wealthy countries that suppress payments Read More…
The Montana Democratic Party published a statement praising Democrat Alani Bankhead for suspending her Senate campaign before she had actually done so — a stunning blunder that laid bare how certain party leaders had become that their own nominee would step aside. The statement, first surfaced by Semafor’s Burgess Everett on X, reads: “The Montana Democratic Read More…
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s bill that would place sweeping new regulations on college sports failed to reach the floor this week before the Senate gaveled out for recess, imperiling its chances to become law this year as the midterm elections approach. The measure, coined the Protect College Sports Act, had gained a sudden Read More…
A bill that would exchange subsurface mineral interests on the Crow Reservation for federal acreage in Musselshell County cleared the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy announced. The Crow Revenue Act would transfer roughly 4,660 acres of private subsurface inholdings on the reservation, known as the Hope Family Tracts, to Read More…
A group of residents in northeastern Missoula County is pursuing the creation of a new county encompassing Potomac, Seeley Lake and Condon, which would be Montana’s first new county since 1925, the Missoulian reported. The effort, organized under the banner “County 57,” is the latest attempt by rural residents in the Seeley Swan Valley to Read More…
President Donald Trump held a telephone rally Thursday afternoon for Megan Degenfelder, his endorsed pick for Wyoming’s next governor, urging voters in a state that gave him his widest margin of victory in 2024 to back her Republican primary bid. The roughly 15-minute call opened with Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” a departure from Read More…
Pressure to narrow the field in Montana’s U.S. Senate race intensified this week, but with a Monday evening deadline approaching, none of the candidates has shown any willingness to step aside. Seth Bodnar, running as an independent, said at a news conference in a Billings park Friday morning that he was staying in through November, Read More…
A bipartisan provision championed by Sen. Steve Daines to sharply increase penalties for unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information cleared the Senate Finance Committee as part of a broader tax administration package, moving one step closer to becoming law. The Daines-Cortez Masto provision passed as part of the Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act, which the Finance Read More…
Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy introduced two pieces of legislation in recent weeks — one bipartisan bill to strengthen Buy American requirements for school meals and one to extend nationwide concealed carry privileges to elite special operations veterans. On July 30, Sheehy and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the American Food for American Schools Act, with Read More…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, released the last four years of tax returns late last week, providing a glimpse into their financial life over the last four years of Newsom’s time in office. The couple’s annual finances remained relatively stable, with the exception of 2021, when they saw a bump Read More…
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign said he would debate state Rep. James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race after Talarico challenged him to do so Thursday morning. Talarico, the Democratic nominee, said he had accepted invitations from Texas media groups for three televised debates and urged Paxton, who has not participated in debates Read More…
The man who led the U.S. response to the global pandemic in 2020 told Congress on Wednesday he wouldn’t answer questions about it. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right to protect against self-incrimination in a hearing about his role as Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines joined Sens. Jim Risch of Idaho and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in introducing the Hydropower Licensing Affordability Act, legislation that would reform the Federal Power Act to reduce delays and costs in the hydropower licensing process. The bill would limit mandatory conditions that federal resource agencies — including the Forest Service and Read More…
A group of nine Montana Democratic attorneys published an open letter this month urging the Montana Democratic Party’s State Central Committee to consider not nominating a replacement candidate if Democratic Senate nominee Alani Bankhead withdraws — a legal argument designed to clear the path for independent candidate Seth Bodnar to face Republican Kurt Alme one-on-one. Read More…
See the latest fundraising totals, where the money is coming from and how super PACs are spending in what’s poised to be Texas’ most expensive Senate race. The race for Texas’s senate seat is shaping up to be one the most expensive competitions in the nation. Democratic nominee James Talarico is setting records, raising more Read More…
Montana’s U.S. Senate race entered a turbulent new phase as the national Democratic Party’s campaign arm publicly declared it would not support the party’s own nominee, a major veterans organization endorsed independent candidate Seth Bodnar, and President Trump weighed in to attack Bankhead on social media — all while both candidates insisted they were staying Read More…
Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, delivered a deeply personal and impassioned floor speech Wednesday urging the Senate to reject a War Powers Resolution that would have directed President Trump to halt U.S. military operations against Iran, choking up as he pointed to a bracelet honoring a fallen friend killed by an Iranian Read More…
A former Laramie County commissioner is making a bid to return to the board more than a decade after leaving office, positioning himself as a voice for residents over government and a check on long-term incumbents. M. Lee Hasenauer, a Republican who served a two-year term on the Laramie County Board of County Commissioners from Read More…
Independent candidates have officially qualified for Montana’s U.S. Senate race and the state’s eastern congressional district, deepening a strategic divide among Democrats over whether the nonpartisan campaigns help or hurt their chances of winning seats away from Republicans. The Montana Secretary of State’s Office confirmed this week that former University of Montana president Seth Bodnar Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines used a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday to press two Treasury Department nominees on the need for a comprehensive federal tax framework for digital assets, arguing that outdated tax rules are pushing American entrepreneurs and innovation overseas. Daines questioned Francis Brooke, nominated to be deputy secretary of the Treasury, and Sriprakash Read More…
A Lewis and Clark County District Court judge this week narrowed the scope of a temporary restraining order against the Montana Republican Party’s newly adopted bylaws, partially lifting a block placed on the rules after a group of party members sued to invalidate them. Judge Michael McMahon issued the original restraining order on July 9, Read More…
Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Chris Gallus issued a decision finding campaign finance violations by three political committees — Big Sky Fiscal Guardians, Treasure State Stewards and Montana Business Advocates for Sensible Elections — ordering two to reclassify and referring the third to the county attorney for potential prosecution. The decision, dated July 8, stems Read More…
A bipartisan coalition of Gulf Coast lawmakers is pushing to change a 73-year-old law that limits their states’ maritime boundaries to 3 miles offshore, potentially reshaping the regulation of local fisheries and generating billions of dollars in tax revenues from offshore energy and minerals leases. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Miss., and a group Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy’s bipartisan VA Home Loan Awareness Act has officially become law as part of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which took effect July 11 after President Trump declined to sign the broader housing package, allowing it to become law automatically under the Constitution’s 10-day rule. The legislation, the first bill Sheehy Read More…
Calling in to Sean Hannity’s radio show Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz offered a blunt warning cry to his party: Democratic state Rep. James Talarico has a legitimate shot at flipping Texas this year. “Unfortunately, I do think he has a real chance,” Cruz told Gov. Greg Abbott, who guest hosted the three-hour talk radio Read More…
Legislation meant to protect American teens and children online recently passed the U.S. House with strong bipartisan support, but civil liberties groups are warning that the bill could have unintended consequences. The Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act, which passed the House in a bipartisan 267-117 vote, is a compilation of bills that, among Read More…
A watchdog group wants the Department of the Interior to investigate whether the National Wildlife Federation misused federal grant money tied to political spending in Montana’s 2024 U.S. Senate race. The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) filed the complaint Thursday with the department’s inspector general. The complaint says the Bureau of Land Management Read More…
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision on Monday, ruled that states can accept and count mail-in ballots received after the federal Election Day. The decision comes out of the high court’s ruling in Watson v. RNC, a case challenging Mississippi’s acceptance of mail-in ballots up to five days after Election Day as long Read More…
Seth Bodnar has spent his Senate campaign positioning himself as a red-state outsider unbeholden to party machinery, but the financial picture behind his candidacy tells a more complicated story than the independent label suggests. Bodnar has led the field in fundraising, pulling in more than $2 million since March, and has collected endorsements from prominent Read More…
The U.S. House of Representatives advanced Sen. Tim Sheehy’s bipartisan VA Home Loan Awareness Act as part of a larger package of housing legislation, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, sending the bill to President Trump’s desk. The measure is the first piece of legislation Sheehy introduced as a senator. “The VA Home Loan Read More…
Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke celebrated the release of $53,889,068 in Payments in Lieu of Taxes funding for Montana counties, an increase of more than $7.3 million over 2025 disbursements. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Zinke said he played a major role in securing the funds. “Public Read More…
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden’s anti-doxxing bills, House Bill 1084 and House Bill 1298, will take effect July 1. “Protecting our law enforcement officers and public servants from doxxing is of utmost importance,” Rhoden said. “They are on the frontlines every day, working hard to keep us strong, safe, and free, and they should never Read More…
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz took a big bipartisan swing last month when he unveiled a compromise bill with Democrats to regulate college sports, a play he believes is the only path to saving the multibillion dollar industry from itself. The Protect College Sports Act, which Cruz wrote with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, after months of Read More…
The vast majority of Republicans indicated they had moved on from the bitter GOP primary and now support Paxton. Talarico had commanding leads among independents and moderates. Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico are neck and neck in the race for U.S. Senate, according to a new poll released Tuesday by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas Read More…
(The Center Square) – Betting on a football score isn’t gambling. At least not according to the federal Commodities Futures Trading Commission. The commission recently proposed rule changes to strengthen its governance over prediction markets and sports betting. The changes involve how the panel defines “gaming” and “gambling.” The proposal defines limitations for the CFTC’s Read More…