(The Center Square) – The House Oversight Committee is investigating the rapid rise in value of two companies owned by Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband, amid concerns over financial transparency and potential influence. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said Omar’s husband, Timothy Mynett, has ownership stakes in two companies, eStCru Read More…
Governor Larry Rhoden has signed six bills into law, advancing legislation that addresses ballot transparency, administrative rulemaking, education policy, and state regulatory updates. The bills signed include: SB 5, which requires disclosure of whether a ballot question was proposed through a citizen initiative or by the Legislature; SB 56, which requires state agencies promulgating permanent Read More…
Senator Sheehy (R-MT) joined Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) in introducing the Carbon Resource Innovation Act, a bipartisan bill designed to expand the 45Q carbon capture tax credit to include innovative technologies that capture carbon in solid or liquid forms. Supporters say the legislation will incentivize responsible forest management, reduce wildfire risk, and create economic opportunities Read More…
Gov. Kelly Armstrong has rolled out a new statewide effort aimed at improving soil health and expanding wildlife habitat across North Dakota’s rural landscape, announcing the Governor’s Legacy Soil Health and Habitat Program at a Capitol press conference. The voluntary, working-lands program is designed to help farmers strengthen cropland productivity and resilience by establishing perennial Read More…
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, still in the Democratic presidential race despite low polling numbers, officially filed Tuesday to appear on the ballot in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary next February. Bullock paid the $1,000 filing fee in Concord, New Hampshire, to appear on the state’s Feb. 11 primary ballot. Bullock, who continues to poll in Read More…
Montana Republicans and Democrats compromised in the 2019 Legislature to pass Medicaid expansion with the caveats that there would be some work and community service requirements, however the federal government has not yet authorized the provision. Now, the Montana State Senate Majority Leader is crying foul. “When we passed that legislation it was up to Read More…
Presidential candidate and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock touted on Tuesday that in 2016, he won election as a Democrat in a state that heavily voted for President Donald Trump. Though Bullock is polling at less than 1 percent nationally, and will not be participating in next week’s Democratic presidential debate, he thinks that he has Read More…
As U.S. Customs and Border Protection is holding town hall meetings to discuss reducing its hours of operation at Antler, Carbury and Maida, Gov. Doug Burgum released a statement on Wednesday, Nov. 6, urging the federal agency to maintain its schedule at the three North Dakota ports of entry. “We are committed to maintaining the Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – An interim legislative panel has rejected a proposal that would increase the state tax on alcohol to fund substance abuse treatment programs in Wyoming. The proposed bill offered by Republican Sen. Charlie Scott, of Casper, was voted down 7-6 Wednesday by the Joint Committee on Labor, Health and Social Services. Proponents of Read More…
Wyoming utility regulators may soon be in for a wild ride. For decades, the Wyoming Public Service Commission has upheld an unequivocal mission: “provide safe and reliable service to customers at just and reasonable rates.” It’s a mantra that state regulators repeatedly declared Tuesday when testifying before the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee. Read More…
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) unveiled his first two television ads in Iowa Wednesday as the White House hopeful seeks to gin up support for his presidential bid in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. The ads seek to promote Bullock’s electability by promoting his ability to win statewide in a rural state that backed President Trump in 2016. The Bullock campaign told Read More…
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) has always been an unusual Democrat. Representing a district that Hillary Clinton carried by nearly 20 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election, Cuellar increasingly has sided with Republicans and business groups on workplace policy, not to mention on guns and abortion. That approach has served Cuellar well. He’s represented the district that Read More…
Anthony Scaramucci, President Donald Trump’s short-lived White House communications director-turned-detractor, saw his fame exploited Thursday in a campaign stunt by a Democratic presidential candidate. The stunt unfolded on Twitter when Steve Bullock — Montana’s governor and a long-shot candidate who’s failed to qualify for all but one Democratic primary debate this year — posted a Read More…
Montana’s lone representative in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted against a resolution to formalize the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Republican Greg Gianforte voted with his party members and two Democrats against the measure from the House majority to lay the foundation and ground rules for the process of considering articles Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines criticized the state of Montana on Wednesday during a Senate subcommittee hearing, saying its policies on Medicaid has made it more at risk to abuse and fraud compared to other states. He made his comments after noting the U.S. government improperly spent $36 billion in Fiscal Year 2018. “The sad reality is Read More…
Montana’s federal lawmakers are moving ahead with their effort to rename the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Bozeman after local Medal of Honor recipient and Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins. Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester and Rep. Greg Gianforte sent a letter on Tuesday to the chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Read More…
CHAPTER I Steve Bullock was giddy. It was late September in Iowa, and the governor of Montana had something he needed to tell me urgently. He had just finished his stump speech to roughly two dozen people gathered in the living room of a local Democratic activist in an upscale neighborhood of Sioux City. “You Read More…
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) became the latest member of the influential “Squad” to endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president when she appeared at his campaign rally in Detroit on Sunday night. Why it matters: It’s a welcome boost for Sanders as polls indicate his popularity has slipped. Tlaib is the third member of the quartet of freshman Democratic lawmakers Read More…
Gov. Doug Burgum and Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford are running for reelection. The duo announced their campaign in a video released early Thursday morning, Oct. 24. “North Dakota is certainly headed in the right direction,” Burgum said during the two-minute plus video. “Jobs are up, wages are higher, unemployment is down, young people are staying.” Read More…
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants her followers to show Bernie the money. The Congresswoman’s plea for donations to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign came in a joint fundraising email. “The only reason I believed I could launch a long shot run for Congress is because Bernie’s campaign proved that you can build a grassroots movement and win,” Read More…
HELENA – Montana Gov. Steve Bullock endorsed Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney in the 2020 gubernatorial race on Friday, saying Cooney’s long history of public service made him the right person for the job. Democrats have held on to the governor’s post for nearly 14 years. Republicans said they were not surprised by the announcement. The nod Read More…
Every election season folks usually ask us, who should we vote for when it comes to judges or city council races? Normally, city council elections in Billings are relatively sleepy and it is hard to distinguish between the various candidates. Not this year. There is a very philosophical contrast between most of the candidates on Read More…
The Montana Democratic Party will soon start searching for a new executive director. Monica Lindeen will step down from her post as executive director of the Montana Democratic Party by year’s end. You know, I think it’s time that somebody else step into a position like this,” Lindeen says. It’s been just over ten months Read More…
Booker has at least four Chicago-area fundraisers Thursday, according to invitations obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, returning to the city for the first time since July. The tab for each event ranges from $250 to $2,800. At 1 p.m. Booker will be in Highland Park for a reception, with the hosts including activists Dana Gordon and Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. — An interim study committee of the North Dakota Legislature met for the first time Oct. 3 on how to make changes in grain regulation in the wake of scandals like the Hunter Hanson Ponzi scheme. The joint House and Senate Agriculture and Transportation Committee heard a number of policy possibilities, some Read More…
CASPER – At the close of the 2020 census, Wyoming’s lawmakers – like those in half the states around the nation – will sink their teeth into the arduous task of drawing up the legislative districts that will decide the landscape of the state’s elections over the next decade. The Joint Committee on Corporations, Elections Read More…
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard fired back this afternoon at Hillary Clinton over comments she made suggesting the Hawaii congresswoman and 2020 candidate is being groomed by the Russians. Clinton said in a recent interview, of the Russians, “I think they’ve got their eye somebody who’s currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate. She’s a Read More…
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is hitting major bumps at a critical moment in the 2020 campaign. A little more than three months before the Iowa caucuses, the former vice president is widely seen as having lost his front-runner position to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). He’s an underdog in Iowa, is coming off another forgettable debate performance and Read More…
The Department of Energy cited the same arguments as the Pentagon for why it is unable to cooperate “at this time” with House committees’ subpoena for documents related to President Trump’s efforts to push Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. The big picture: As Axios first reported, President Trump told House Republicans that he made his now infamous phone call to Ukrainian Read More…
Julián Castro’s presidential campaign rolled out dozens of endorsements Monday from current and former state and local elected officials, activists, community leaders, party leaders and Latino leaders. In a bid to make a splash before Tuesday’s primary debate in Westerville, Ohio, Castro released a list of 50-plus endorsements first obtained by POLITICO. Castro is among the dozen Read More…
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Officials say 40 percent of South Dakota’s corn supply is used for ethanol production. Today Senator John Thune visited one of the world’s largest producers of ethanol following a big announcement from the Trump Administration. Last week the administration announced plans to implement new rules that will increase demand for ethanol, which Read More…
In the early 1990s, Wilmot Collins and his wife, Maddie, escaped the Liberian Civil War. Broke and starving, they ended up in Helena, Mont. “Why do you think we fled?” Collins asked. “We fled because we wanted a second chance.” Soon after moving to their first home, a neighbor knocked on their door and alerted Read More…
CASPER — A leading air ambulance company formally voiced its opposition to an ambitious plan by Wyoming policymakers to make aerial emergency transports a public utility funded under Medicaid in an effort to curb the cost of the flights. But the comment may be a moot point, as the federal government has signaled to state Read More…
Republican Greg Gianforte turned in another impressive quarter of fundraising for his 2020 gubernatorial run this weekend, bringing his four-month total to $1.09 million – more than twice as much as any other rival in either party. Gianforte, currently Montana’s sole U.S. House member, reported raising $507,000 for the past three months, adding to the Read More…
Spenser Merwin, a former staff member for U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, has been named the new executive director of the Montana Republican Party. Merwin has been Daines’ director of coalitions and outreach since 2015. He was the deputy political director for Daines’ Senate campaign during the 2014 election cycle and his regional political director during Read More…
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock raised nearly $2.3 million for his presidential bid in the third fundraising quarter, his campaign said on Friday. Bullock’s fundraising haul falls short of most of the other candidates who have announced their third-quarter totals so far. But it’s higher than that of at least one of his rivals, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who announced Read More…
Billings resident Nelly Nicol announced today that she is running as a Republican for Montana State Auditor. Nelly is a fourth-generation Montanan, wife, mother, and professional who has spent much of her career working in the insurance industry. “I was raised in a patriotic Marine Corps household and serving others is something that comes naturally Read More…
House Republicans will force a vote to formally condemn Rep. Adam Schiff when they return from recess, their most aggressive offensive yet as the GOP fumbles for a strategy to beat back impeachment efforts. The largely symbolic move, which won’t get approved by the Democrat-controlled House, is backed by the House’s highest-ranking Republicans and some Read More…
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren endorsed a Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) policy proposal that includes taxpayer-funded welfare benefits for illegal immigrants. Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal, dubbed “A Just Society,” calls for nationwide rent control and bans the federal government from denying welfare benefits based on an individual’s immigration status and previous criminal convictions. Warren became the first Read More…
Two Bozeman Democrats are running for U.S. Senate with the hope of unseating Republican Steve Daines in 2020. Cora Neumann, 44, launched her campaign Tuesday, saying she will focus on affordable, high-quality health care, increasing wages and protecting public lands. Michael Knoles, 32, has filed with the Federal Election Commission but said he Read More…
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) will apply to receive public financing for his struggling presidential campaign. In a memo Monday, Bullock’s campaign manager Jennifer Ridder cast the decision to seek out public funds for his presidential bid as a show of the governor’s commitment to campaign finance reform, an issue that he has put at the center Read More…
Governor Brad Little and other Idaho officials are in Europe this week to foster economic relations with business leaders who have investment interests in Idaho. A visit to the Netherlands is part of an effort to bring new industry to the state. When McCain Foods — the largest producer of frozen potato products in the Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – Sen. Dick Dever, R-Bismarck, is asking Legislative Management, which handles the interim committee work for legislators, to consider a new study this interim over concerns about mobile home parks around the state being bought by capital investment firms. Utah-based Havenpark Capital purchased two Bismarck parks- Colonial Estates and Holiday Park, in July. Dever Read More…
Montana’s congressional delegation is reacting in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement this Tuesday that the House will move forward with an official impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. On Tuesday morning, Republican Senator Steve Daines Tweeted “Impeachment. Obsession.” over a GIF of a character from the popular TV show “The Office” rolling Read More…