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…
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. Senator Steve Daines is among a group of just over a dozen of Republican colleagues asking their Majority leader to continue working through the traditional August recess. Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester said he also didn’t have a problem staying in August. Daines told reporters during a telephone press call he didn’t think it Read More…
In 2016 Leonard Higgins of Portland shut off a valve at an oil pipeline in Chouteau County, Montana. It was part of a coordinated effort in four states to bring attention to the threat of climate change. A lawsuit is challenging 287 oil and gas leases on federal land in Montana, claiming the federal government Read More…
MIAMI — The elections supervisor in Florida’s second-most populous county broke state and federal law by unlawfully destroying ballots cast in Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s 2016 Democratic primary, a judge ruled Friday in a case brought by the congresswoman’s challenger who wanted to check for voting irregularities. In light of the ruling, Gov. Rick Scott’s 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…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two Montanans, Jon Tester and Ryan Zinke, faced off Thursday in the U.S. Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee over funding to support public lands. Zinke, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, has proposed deep cuts to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and Tester, a Democratic senator, wanted to know why. In March, Read More…
Comey, who just released his book A Higher Loyalty, also discussed the email scandal that dogged Hillary Clinton, the former Democratic presidential candidate who lost to Trump. Former FBI director James Comey likened U.S. President Donald Trump to a self-serving Mafia boss Thursday during a talk in which he defended the decision to reopen the 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…
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — President Trump’s unrelenting attacks on this state’s Democratic senator have landed with a boom, drawing the attention of voters and those fighting to keep GOP control of the Senate. Trump’s fierce criticism — calling Sen. Jon Tester “dishonest and sick,” saying he knows things about the senator that would make him Read More…
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana still doesn’t know who his Republican opponent will be in the November midterm elections. But the Democratic lawmaker is already under fire from President Donald Trump and other GOP critics who blame him for scuttling Ronny Jackson’s bid to become the secretary of Veterans Affairs. Now, conservative politicians and 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…
RAWLINS— Trying to gain momentum for his U.S. Senate run, Democratic candidate Gary Trauner visited with folks at the Jeffrey Memorial Community Center Thursday. There were less than 10 people in attendance. Despite this, main issues Trauner highlighted were education, health care and public lands. Regarding school safety, Trauner said communities need to focus more 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…
Rep. Mike Gierau, D-Teton, announced this weekend that he will vacate his seat in the state House of Representatives for a chance to join the Wyoming Senate. While switching chambers and flipping a Senate seat blue would be a major victory for the Democratic Party, it’s a big risk. With only three Democrats in the 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…
(CNN)Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, will campaign in Montana for a Republican Senate candidate “very soon,” the candidate has announced. Troy Downing, an Air Force veteran and one of the four Republicans vying to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in November, announced the news Friday. “It is time to stand Read More…
Democrats and some in the mainstream media have been desperately trying to attack Ryan Zinke over his travel spending as US Secretary of Interior. However, new data shows that Zinke is spending less than his predecessors who served as Interior Secretary under former President Obama. As The Daily Signal reports: “The Daily Signal’s examination of 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…
Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., claimed his party’s endorsement for the U.S. Senate race on Saturday in front of a packed ballroom at Grand Forks’ Alerus Center, where delegates at the GOP state convention voted for him unanimously. In an address moments before the vote, Cramer laid out the high-stakes race, which could decide control of Read More…
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Crews are cleaning up here, throwing away political posters that hours ago held so much hope. And with that, North Dakota Republicans named Kelly Armstrong their choice to fill Kevin Cramer’s seat in the House. “Thank you everyone, thank you so much,” said Kelly Armstrong, GOP Nominee for U.S. House. But Read More…
GRAND FORKS — U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke rallied North Dakota Republicans here Saturday, April 7, and boosted Rep. Kevin Cramer, his former congressional colleague who was endorsed as the party’s pick for the U.S. Senate earlier in the day. Zinke, a former Republican congressman from Montana, avoided direct mention of his current role in 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…
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he may “hold up” a major trade deal the U.S. recently made with South Korea, in order to use the agreement as leverage in any upcoming negotiations with North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear program. “I may hold it up until after a deal is made with North Korea,” Trump 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…
Gordon’s platform highlights three priorities for the state. The first is reducing the size of the state government so that it will “live within its means.” The second priority is to reduce government regulations to attract new businesses to the state and the third is ensuring the state has a strong education system. Reducing the Read More…
CHEYENNE – Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow made her re-election campaign announcement Tuesday in her hometown of Gillette. Balow was elected in 2014 in her first bid for public office, overcoming Democrat Mike Ceballos by more than 37,000 votes. This followed the tumultuous tenure of former Republican State Superintendent Cindy Hill, who became Read More…
Government officials ratcheted up pressure Monday on Facebook Inc. over its handling of user data, with federal regulators saying they are investigating the social-media giant’s privacy policies and 37 state attorneys general demanding explanations for its practices. The Federal Trade Commission, in a statement, signaled that its probe of Facebook is broad. Tom Pahl, a Read More…
Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said in an op-ed Tuesday that the Second Amendment should be repealed, citing the protests in response to the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, as an impetus for the change. Stevens, who retired from the high court in 2010 as one of the longest-serving justices in history, Read More…