U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is leading a bipartisan effort to increase transparency and accountability in the federal Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, introducing the CDFI Fund Transparency Act alongside Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). The legislation would require the Secretary of the Treasury to testify annually before Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is spearheading a 23-state coalition of attorneys general urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt grants to the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), a group that has been providing climate-focused trainings for judges nationwide. In a letter sent Tuesday to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Knudsen raised concerns that taxpayer Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, along with 21 other state attorneys general, has filed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case challenging a Massachusetts school district’s policy on student “social transitioning” without parental consent. The case, Foote v. Ludlow School Committee, involves Ludlow Public Schools and parents Stephen Foote and Marissa Read More…
U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy led a letter from Montana’s congressional delegation urging President Donald Trump to take immediate action against Russia’s palladium exports, calling for a 50 percent tariff on unwrought palladium imports from Russia to protect American jobs and domestic mineral production. The letter, also signed by Senator Steve Daines, Rep. Troy Downing, and Read More…
Budgets within Montana’s state health department and office of public defender are busted. Lawmakers in the Legislative Finance Committee Wednesday debated a proposal from Governor Steve Bullock to borrow more than $23 million from next year’s budget to pay for the state’s current financial troubles. Most of the money in the proposal would go to Read More…
HELENA – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Russ Fagg says he has an advantage over two of his competitors in the upcoming GOP primary, that he had nothing to do with: He was born in Montana. Fagg, a former state district judge, says his status as a Montana native takes away a point of attack he Read More…
HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock sent a letter Monday to two congressmen objecting to a citizenship question that is to be included on the 2020 Census, saying such a query would keep some people from participating. Bullock’s letter was to Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Read More…
HELENA – A coalition of health-care and other groups already has spent or raised more than $500,000 toward qualifying a ballot measure that would extend Medicaid expansion in Montana and raise tobacco taxes to help pay for it. The money – at least one-third of which has come from Montana hospitals – is behind Initiative Read More…
(CNN)President Donald Trump’s recent attacks on Sen. Jon Tester will be brought directly to Montana voters through a new online ad from the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm. The National Republican Senatorial Committee released a new ad Wednesday attacking Tester for airing charges that sunk Trump’s nomination of Ronny Jackson for Veterans Affairs Secretary. The ad Read More…
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday presented Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., with its Spirit of Enterprise Award for his work to promote economic growth and Main Street businesses. The presentation was made during an event at Hagadone Digital in the Daily Inter Lake office in Kalispell, hosted by the U.S. Chamber, the Kalispell Chamber Read More…
Montana’s House Democratic primary came to the Flathead Valley Saturday. Five candidates aiming to unseat U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, R–Mont., spent two hours onstage at Columbia Falls High School in a forum sponsored by the Flathead Democratic Central Committee. Several dozen guests turned out for the event, where moderator Mark Holston read audience-submitted questions to Read More…
A Democratic super PAC is defending Montana Sen. Jon Tester from a recent attack by Americans for Prosperity with a TV ad of its own. Senate Majority PAC, which supports Senate Democrats, is debuting its first statewide TV ad in Montana on Tuesday, backed by a $400,000 buy. The ad responds to a $560,000 statewide Read More…
The Montana Democratic Party, assisted by a prestigious international law firm, is taking Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton to court over approving signatures that allowed the Green Party to qualify for the general election. Green Party spokesperson Danielle Breck said the Montana Democrats have a date in Helena District Court on Tuesday afternoon. “The Read More…
Missoula City Councilman Jesse Ramos wants to see how much a private attorney is receiving in compensation for work on the Mountain Water Condemnation lawsuit, but says he has been blocked from seeing the information by city officials. Missoula Attorney Quentin Rhoades explains. “The Mayor, the city attorney, and apparently the private attorney who has Read More…
Helena – The Montana Democrat Party has brought in a Washington state lawyer with deep ties to national Democrat organizations to lead its lawsuit to remove the Green Party from the Ballot. Kevin Hamilton, of Seattle, Washington with the firm Perkins Coie was admitted to represent the Montana Democrat Party less than an hour before Read More…
HELENA – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Troy Downing says he didn’t falsely portray himself as a resident when buying in-state hunting licenses for the past half-dozen years – and can’t believe the issue has become a full-scale criminal case in a Bozeman court. “It’s crazy,” he told MTN News in an interview last week. “My Read More…
U.S. Senate candidate Troy Downing’s accountant says she did not specifically research administrative rules when the Republican candidate asked her to amend past tax returns to change his status as a Montana resident. Downing recently asked Gallatin County Justice Court Judge Bryan Adams to throw out several charges alleging he was not a Montana resident Read More…
U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte (R-MT) is touring Montana talking to businesses about a tax act he voted for in December. The new tax law cuts rates for taxpayers at every income level, expands the standard deduction, doubles the child tax credit and helps Montana’s small businesses. His ‘Tax Cuts and Jobs Tour’ stopped in Great Read More…
Gov. Steve Bullock rejected an offer from CoreCivic to extend its contract to manage Montana’s only private prison, because the company asked for a 15 percent increase in payments. Bullock told MTN News that [quote] “It doesn’t make sense for Montanans.” CoreCivic said Wednesday that the net increase under the offer would be only about Read More…
The Montana Supreme Court held oral arguments in Missoula today, April 6, in the case of Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. The case revolves around a rule from the Department of Revenue which bans use of Statewide Scholarship Tax Credits for those who attend faith-based private schools. The roots of the argument go back Read More…
he Montana Democratic Party and three of its supporters filed suit late Monday to remove the Montana Green Party from the 2018 ballot, saying some signatures on petitions used to qualify the party are not valid. The lawsuit says at least 180 of the signatures turned in last month are invalid, and therefore the Green Read More…
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) are echoing the same talking points when it comes to veterans health care. As President Trump announced his pick to serve as the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Nancy Pelosi immediately went on the attack, criticizing the pick for a supposed “lack of VA leadership Read More…
Montana Senator Al Olszewski serves on the Children, Families, Health, and Human Services Interim Committee and says the Governor and leadership of the State Department of Public Health and Human Services have had severe communication problems with the legislative branch. “The agency was just going to do a straight across the board cut of 5.4 Read More…
(HELENA) The State-Tribal Relations Committee brainstormed ideas on Friday for improving the response to cases of missing children and human trafficking in the state. Bryan Lockerby, Division Administrator with the Division of Criminal Investigation, said law enforcement is the main agency that handles missing persons reports. From there, the Criminal Justice Information Network – known Read More…
U.S. Senate candidate Troy Downing wants a Gallatin County judge to throw out several charges alleging he was not a Montana resident when he bought resident hunting licenses, claiming past accountants made errors in his tax filings. Christopher Williams, Downing’s attorney, filed a pretrial motion in Gallatin County Justice Court and said the residency status Read More…
On Monday, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox joined a coalition of 37 state Attorneys General, demanding answers from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s business practices and privacy protections. “In the news recently, Facebook has had a practice of either voluntarily sharing private and personal information of its Facebook users, or more recently where Read More…
he Washington Post has tabbed Montana Governor Steve Bullock as the 15th most likely Democrat in the country to be elected President of the United States. According to the Post: ‘If Democrats want pragmatism over anything else, they would struggle to do better than Bullock. A two-term governor of red Montana, he won reelection by Read More…
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A former Montana Democratic Party chairman appears to be laying the groundwork for a possible challenge to the secretary of state’s certification of the Green Party for the ballot in this year’s state elections. Jim Larson filed a public records request with Secretary of State Corey Stapleton’s office and election officials Read More…
U.S. House candidate Jared Pettinato is asking incumbent Congressman Greg Gianforte and other candidates to sign a petition ensuring everyone runs “the cleanest campaign.” Pettinato is vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge Gianforte for the U.S. House seat. The Bozeman attorney and former U.S. Department of Justice attorney said ethics is the first step Read More…
HELENA – A Libertarian candidate booted from the election for not filing all his paperwork on time said he asked the state to reconsider, but a state official said the decision stands. Ron Vandevender, 59, a Cascade resident who filed to run for House District 80, was among the seven candidates disqualified for not filing Read More…
The March 12 filing deadline has come and gone, and the 2018 races for county, state and federal offices have taken shape. The primary election takes place June 5, and will be the determining election for several races in Flathead County in which only Republicans have filed for the jobs. READ THE FULL STORY.
HELENA – Montana’s campaign regulators have disqualified seven legislative candidates from the ballot for failing to file required paperwork. Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan announced Monday that those candidates had not filed an official statement of candidacy or business disclosure statement. By state law, candidates who miss the deadline for submitting those forms cannot Read More…
Governor Steve Bullock (D-MT) is getting called out by Politifact for using false statistics when it comes to the gun control debate. Bullock, desperate to be named as a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, was recently in Milwaukee, Wisconsin raising money for Wisconsin Democrats. Politifact analyzed a line by Bullock where he argued that Read More…
A select bipartisan, bicameral committee has been asked to examine more than $1.2 million in state employee settlements since the beginning of 2017. The committee, consisting of six Republicans and four Democrats was appointed by Senate President Scott Sales and Speaker of the House Austin Knudsen. Senate Majority Leader Fred Thomas explained the genesis of Read More…
The Montana Legislative Finance Committee met on Monday and Tuesday this week with an update on the state budget. Committee Chair Nancy Balance says a group of state Democrats came to the meeting asking them to either appropriate money, declare a state of emergency or to create a supplemental budget allocation to address cuts in Read More…
Senator Steve Daines was on Dominick In The Morning today discussing the STOP School Violence Act. Danies talked about being at a press conference earlier with Orrin Hatch, Marco Rubio, Joni Ernst, Bill Nelson, Dan Sullivan and students from Florida’s Parkland High School. The press conference was to push the STOP School Violence Act which Read More…
The campaign to renew the levy contributing roughly $19 million a year to public higher education in Montana is facing allegations of campaign finance violations. Voters first passed the levy that supports public colleges and universities in the state in 1948 and then renewed it every decade since. The levy will be on the 2018 Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. – Billings Superintendent Terry Bouck may be calling it a career with School District 2 but he still has political aspirations. On Monday, Bouck formally filed as a Democrat entering the race for the Montana House District 49. Bouck is one of three people registered with the Secretary of States office. READ THE Read More…
Conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza came to Bigfork Saturday night. His talk, organized by the Last Chance Patriots and the Flathead County Republican Central Committee, nearly filled the 435-seat Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts. Audience members paid $100 per ticket to hear D’Souza’s take on politics, a topic he’s explored in 17 books Read More…
David A. Clarke Jr., the former Sheriff of Milwaukee County, spoke at the Yellowstone Valley Republicans Lincoln Reagan Day Dinner in Billings on Friday night. Clarke met supporters and signed book “Cop Under Fire” before the dinner. During his speech, he praised those running for public office, who spoke at the dinner. “Good luck to Read More…
HELENA – Former Vice President Joe Biden urged Democrats in Helena and across the state Saturday night to fight for the middle class, which he said made America the power and beacon of the modern world. “But for an aspirational middle class that is constantly rising, we would not have had the social and political Read More…
Jay Nelson announced Thursday that he will run for Lewis & Clark County Sheriff-Coroner, saying he wants to bring leadership and transparency to the office. A group of about two dozen supporters joined Nelson as he launched his campaign in front of the Lewis & Clark County Courthouse. In a brief statement for the press, Read More…
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox is urging congressional leaders to pass legislation supporting victims of child pornography. He is encouraging the House of Representatives to support and vote for the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act. “This is a very important piece of legislation,” said Fox. “As you know, child pornography is Read More…
Five Senate Democrats would lose to Republican candidates if the elections were held today and three have approval ratings under 50%, according to new Axios/SurveyMonkey polls. Why it matters: Democrats are defending 10 Senate seats in states that President Trump won in 2016. In six of those states, Trump’s approval is higher than 50% (compared to Read More…