A Jefferson County man, backed by the liberal advocacy group Upper Seven Law, has filed a lawsuit against Republican Governor Greg Gianforte over his appointment of former state legislator Marta Bertoglio to lead the Montana Department of Commerce. Bertoglio, a three-term lawmaker from Clancy, was appointed on June 16 while still representing Jefferson County in Read More…
A coalition of Montana’s top elected officials, lawmakers, and local leaders is pushing back against criticism of Governor Greg Gianforte’s appointment of Jessica Flint to the state’s Criminal Justice Oversight Council, calling it a decisive move toward accountability and balance in Montana’s justice system. In a letter released Monday, 56 officials—ranging from members of Montana’s Read More…
Newly declassified documents released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are reigniting fierce political debate over the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, with conservatives alleging they show top Obama administration officials helped fabricate the narrative of collusion to discredit then-candidate Donald Trump. The documents include a previously unreleased annex to the 2023 Durham report Read More…
(The Center Square) – The nation’s largest nurses’ union is blasting Kaiser Permanente for pausing gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19 starting next month, due to pending litigation and pressure from the Trump administration. “As the legal and regulatory environment for gender-affirming care continues to evolve, we must carefully consider the significant risks being created Read More…
For a few months in the spring of 1996, Mike Enzi thought his career in politics was over. Then a 10-year veteran of the Wyoming Legislature, Enzi was in recovery from open heart surgery the previous October at Deaconess Hospital in Billings, Montana, where he was treated for a damaged heart valve. It Read More…
Culbertson, MT – Attorney General-Elect Austin Knudsen today announced the appointment of several division administrators to help lead the Department of Justice. “We have assembled a tremendous group of talented individuals; I am excited to have each one of them on our team,” Attorney General-Elect Austin Knudsen said. “Working together we will improve efficiencies in Read More…
A reduction in soda ash royalties expected to save producers up to $5 million over the next 10 years is being praised by members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation. U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney welcomed the U.S. Department of Interior’s decision to reduce the royalties paid on soda ash Read More…
Republican Senator and Florida man Marco Rubio went on a Twitter rant Sunday to accuse Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, of lying about coronavirus in general and masks in particular. “Dr. Fauci lied about masks in March,” Rubio tweeted Sunday morning. “Dr. Fauci has been distorting the level of vaccination needed Read More…
Georgia’s election administrators are fighting bizarre conspiracy theories, ballooning costs and coronavirus-related staffing problems as they prepare for the state’s contentious, nationally watched Senate runoffs next week. In interviews, eight Georgia election officials — including a top aide in the secretary of state’s office and county administrators around the state — said they were confident Read More…
President-elect Joe Biden will invoke the Defense Production Act after he’s sworn into office to help increase production on the coronavirus vaccine, a member of his COVID-19 advisory team announced on Monday. Celine Gounder, an expert in infectious diseases at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that “you will see him Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — A group of Montana Republicans is calling out GOP Sen. Steve Daines for his role in getting the CSKT Water Compact into the recently signed spending bill, calling it a “clear betrayal of our state and of President Trump.” Montana House Majority Leader Brad Tschida and 17 other state lawmakers signed on to Read More…
HELENA- Following the news that President Donald Trump signed the $900 billion pandemic relief package, Montana Senator Jon Tester released the following statement: “This critical economic stimulus package isn’t perfect, but it’s the result of bipartisan compromise that will do some real good for families and businesses in our state. READ FULL STORY
BOISE, Idaho — Democratic leaders in the Idaho Legislature are requesting that the upcoming legislative session – set to begin on Jan. 11, 2021 – be postponed until at least April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to GOP House and Senate leadership, Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett and House Minority Leader Ilana Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum signed an amended executive order paving the way for restaurants and bars to resume normal hours of operation as active cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have decreased in North Dakota. Bars, restaurants and other food service establishments have been closed to in-person service between the hours of 10 Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (KIFI/KIDK)-Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed an executive order Monday to prevent large increases in Unemployment Insurance (UI) taxes for businesses directly impacted by COVID 19 health orders. Under the order, the Department of Workforce Services will remove unemployment insurance benefit charges from the policies of all businesses and industries named in health orders. Read More…
The Flathead County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to rescind their prior declaration of a COVID-19 emergency, saying none of the county’s emergency funds have been used to mitigate the coronavirus as county departments have relied instead on state and federal relief. The commissioners unanimously approved the emergency declaration in March, freeing up money that the Flathead City-County Read More…
New Jersey is joining a legal battle to stop neighboring states from taxing residents who are working from home. The shift to remote work amid COVID-19 led New Hampshire to file a lawsuit in October, seeking to bar Massachusetts from taxing people who stopped commuting to the state for work because of the outbreak. More Read More…
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem urged Minnesota business owners to relocate to her state after the Minnesota attorney general began suing bars that defied the state’s lockdown orders. “Come to South Dakota!” Noem tweeted. “We respect your rights. We won’t shut you down.” Noem’s tweet also shared a Star Tribune article that highlighted the stories of bars Read More…
A federal judge dismissed an environmental law firm’s attempt to block three timber projects around Bozeman and Hebgen Lake Thursday, but the firm isn’t giving up on the case. In an order Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris dismissed Cottonwood Environmental Law Center’s lawsuit over the projects altogether, writing the firm’s claims against Read More…
MISSOULA — There is another legal salvo in the fight over protections for the wolverine in the Northern Rockies, with conservation organizations filing a federal lawsuit challenging the latest decision to not treat the rare mammals as “threatened.” Some scientists believe there are fewer than 300 wolverines left and are being hurt genetically because they Read More…
Congressional leaders closed in on a $900 billion coronavirus relief deal Wednesday as millions of struggling Americans wait for help. The developing aid agreement would not include liability protections for businesses or aid to state and local government, CNBC confirmed. Disagreements over those two issues have blocked lawmakers from crafting a year-end rescue package. “We Read More…
The Minnesota Republican Party has decided to hold its annual winter retreat in Deadwood, South Dakota. On its invitation to members, party officials say they’re excited to hit the road and head to our “friendly neighbors to the west in a beautiful, free and open part of the country.” South Dakota has fewer COVID restrictions Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Legislature is considering joining other states in authorizing the use of “automated vehicle identification systems” to enforce speed limits and other traffic laws. 19 states and the District of Columbia have laws in place which allow the use of cameras to issue speeding fines, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem sent official letters on December 7 withdrawing as a presidential elector and asking that South Dakota Republican Party chairman Dan Lederman serve in her place. Lederman and two fellow Republicans, Lieutenant Governor Larry Rhoden and State Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, met at noon Monday in a Read More…
Tensions are high over the fate of more than 3 million acres of public and private land in northeast Montana. Two groups have very different views on the future of this vast area. Alison Fox is head of an effort to turn it into the largest nature reserve in the nation. She’s the CEO of Read More…
HELENA – On Wednesday, 17 states asked the U.S. Supreme Court to accept a new lawsuit that is attempting to invalidate Democrat Joe Biden’s electoral victory in the 2020 Presidential race in four key states. Montana is one of them. Montana Attorney General Tim Fox says the odds of the high court accepting the late Read More…
South Dakota is making a last-minute bid to overturn presidential election results and keep President-elect Joe Biden from taking office next month. South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s office Wednesday joined 16 other states with Republican attorneys general in filing an Amicus Brief in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against four battleground states — Georgia, Read More…
The Federal Trade Commission has asked a federal court to force former Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon to testify under oath as part of the agency’s investigation into Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica data breach. FTC prosecutors said they want to interview Bannon as part of a probe into whether he should be found personally liable for his Read More…
The federal investigation into President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter has been more extensive than a statement from Hunter Biden indicates, according to a person with firsthand knowledge of the investigation. On Wednesday, Hunter Biden said he had been contacted about a tax investigation out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware. In addition to Delaware, the Read More…
The city of Helena is looking at modifying its firearm ordinance, after Montana voters approved a measure that limits how local governments can regulate guns. During an administrative meeting Wednesday, city attorney Thomas Jodoin told the Helena City Commission that the existing ordinance will have to be narrowed to bring it in line with Legislative Read More…
Several GOP senators and representatives voiced support for President Trump to run for office again in 2024, in interviews with Politico on Wednesday. Senators Lindsey Graham (R., Ga.), Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), Steve Daines (R., Mont.), and Rick Scott (R., Fla.) all backed the idea, as did Representatives Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), and Paul Gosar (R., Ariz.). Read More…
Paul Ryan left the U.S. House and the powerful speaker’s post two years ago. Then the Janesville Republican went silent, avoiding commentary on President Trump. He and Trump had clashed at times. Sen. Mitt Romney, the Utah Republican who picked Ryan as his 2012 running mate, also clashed with Trump. Now, with the Read More…
Cynthia Lummis is the Republican senator-elect from Wyoming, having been elected to succeed Mike Enzi. She will be the first woman to represent Wyoming in the Senate. First elected to the House in 2008, she served as the representative for Wyoming’s at-large congressional district from 2009 to 2017. READ FULL STORY
Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin accepted $314,727 under the Paycheck Protection Program, a federal coronavirus relief program, records show. Three months later, she wrote an op-ed published in newspapers across the state criticizing those “who advocate socialized medicine, unearned income, and other handouts … that foster dependency.” The money was offered to employers under the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid Read More…
Let me tell you about the chatter I am increasingly hearing from those in the know here in Montana: we have a shot at getting a second seat in the US House of Representatives. Even with our state’s very poor response rate during the latest US Census count? Yes. At least that is what I am Read More…
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Monday announced the formation of a Presidential Inaugural Committee ahead of their swearing-in on Jan. 20. The senior leadership of the committee, which will be responsible for organizing inauguration-related activities, consists of CEO Tony Allen and executive director Maju Varghese. READ FULL STORY
Election authorities in Georgia have opened investigations into progressive groups trying to sign up new voters in advance of twin January elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Monday. Raffensperger, a Republican, said his office was examining registration efforts by America Votes, Vote Forward and the Read More…
SANDPOINT, Idaho — A county commissioner in northern Idaho has proposed defunding the local health district after the district instituted a mask mandate to slow the spread of the coronavirus as it surges in the area. The Bonner County Daily Bee reports that Bonner County Commissioner Steven Bradshaw proposed the resolution Tuesday to pull Read More…
New state lawmakers take office this week during the Legislature’s organizational session, during which the governor will lay out his budget plans and lawmakers will decide on a legislative mask mandate. Among those swearing in will be a longtime, powerful state representative whom Gov. Doug Burgum sought to keep from another term. Business during Read More…
Sen. Marco Rubio suggested on Tuesday that he would oppose confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s national security team, presaging the first sign of potential Senate battles to come if Republicans maintain control of the Senate. Rubio (R-Fla.) said Biden’s selections “will be polite & orderly caretakers of America’s decline,” criticizing their professional credentials and Washington bona fides. Rubio Read More…
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar are boosting a petition against Joe Biden nominating his former chief of staff to a new role in his administration, calling Bruce Reed a “deficit hawk” and criticizing his past support for Social Security and Medicare cuts. Why it matters: Progressives are mounting their pressure campaign after the president-elect did Read More…
BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho State Board of Education held a special meeting Monday, Nov 23. The board meeting started at 3 p.m. and was streamed live. Board members took four pending rules that will be submitted to the Idaho Legislature when next year’s session begins in January. The proposed rules have to Read More…
The now-former Washakie County Health Officer says he was let go over his support for a mask mandate. On Monday, KWOR reported the Washakie County Commission called a special meeting on Monday and unanimously voted to remove county health officer Dr. Ed Zimmerman. Commission Chairman Fred Frandson declined to go into details and simply told Read More…
Gov.-elect Greg Gianforte on Tuesday named the first member of his cabinet, announcing that outgoing U.S. Attorney for Montana Kurt Alme will be the new Republican administration’s budget director. Alme, who has degrees in law and business, just announced his resignation Monday from the U.S. attorney job in Billings. Gianforte said voters gave his administration Read More…