(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…
HELENA – Democratic state Rep. Tom Woods of Bozeman has dropped out of Montana’s U.S. House race – although five Democrats still remain, vying for the nomination to challenge Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte. Woods announced his decision Monday with a post on his personal Facebook page, saying he couldn’t compete with other candidates who already Read More…
Minnesota Democrat Al Franken will serve his last day as a U.S. senator Tuesday. Franken, who served eight years as senator, was forced to resign after multiple women came forward late last year and accused him of sexual misconduct. Franken apologized several times, but ultimately announced his resignation after a wave of his Democratic colleagues Read More…
WASHINGTON — Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of his term this year, ending months of speculation about the political future of the longest-serving Republican in the Senate. “Every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. And for me that time is soon approaching,” Hatch, a Read More…
The U.S. Census Bureau released its population estimates last month, and the combination of Montana’s continued steady growth and other states’ continued decline or slower growth means the Treasure State could be in line for a second member of Congress. Currently, Republican Greg Gianforte is the lone U.S. congressman in the state, which has had Read More…
(HELENA) With the start of the new year, drivers in Montana will be paying more to register their vehicles. During last year’s state legislative session, lawmakers approved increased fees to help fund the Motor Vehicle Division. The changes came as part of a broader highway and transportation funding package. Starting Jan. 1, MVD will add Read More…
Alabamians retained some levity during a bruising special U.S. Senate election that pitted an underdog Democrat against a Republican facing accusations of sexual misconduct with teenagers. For example, Jesus got two votes in Cherokee County in northeast Alabama from voters who chose to write-in their vote instead of picking one of the listed options, Democrat Read More…
President Donald Trump is predicting that Democrats and Republicans will “eventually come together “on a new health care plan for the country. Sending a Twitter post early Tuesday from his Florida resort, Trump said “the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate has been terminated as part of our Tax Cut Bill, which essentially Repeals (over Read More…
GRAND FORKS — North Dakota legislators “scramble” to avoid university system Chancellor Mark Hagerott, Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, said Tuesday, Nov. 28. Holmberg was speaking to allegations made more than a week earlier by Lisa Feldner, a former vice chancellor of the university system fired by Hagerott earlier this fall. Feldner, who also served Read More…
His poll numbers are terrible, he just went through a corruption trial that ended in a hung jury and there might be a retrial in the middle of his reelection campaign. But it’s difficult to find a New Jersey Republican willing to challenge Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez next year — a testament to the toxicity Read More…
HELENA – The vast majority of Montanans will pay less in federal income tax after the new Republican tax reform bill takes effect in January, according to new analysis from the state Department of Revenue. The agency analysis says more than three-quarters of the roughly 461,000 Montana households that file federal tax returns will receive Read More…
In a year of anti-refugee sentiment in many corners of the world (and especially in the U.S.), one former refugee and first-time candidate ran for office — and won. Twenty-three years before Wilmot Collins became the mayor-elect of Helena, Mont., he was a refugee from Liberia. He stood in a long line at the port Read More…
A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a pair of lawsuits claiming that President Donald Trump’s failure to divest himself of his real estate empire and other business holdings violated the Constitution’s provision banning receipt of foreign “emoluments” while in public office. U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels ruled that the two suits were fatally flawed Read More…
U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte (R-MT) has introduced legislation to ban mining on public land in the Paradise Valley. According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Gianforte introduced two bills to the U.S. House of Representatives: the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act and the East Rosebud Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The latter would “conserve a portion of Read More…
Alex Kozinski, the powerful judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit who was facing a judicial investigation over allegations that he subjected 15 women to inappropriate sexual behavior, announced Monday that he would retire effective immediately. In a statement provided by his lawyer, Kozinski apologized, saying that he “had a broad Read More…
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A mystery super PAC backing Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama is controlled by a pair of groups closely aligned with the national Democratic Party, even as the candidate strives to dissociate himself from Washington interests. Highway 31, which dropped more than $4.1 million in support of Jones and against Roy Moore ahead Read More…
Bozeman City Commissioners will consider investigating raising the body’s wages at their meeting tonight. If they approve the increase, it would go into effect for a future body and would be the commission’s first pay adjustment since 2013. Currently, a city ordinance adopted Dec. 2, 2013, fixes the salaries of the Bozeman City Commissioners at Read More…
HELENA – The Legislative Finance Committee on Monday expressed interest in working with the Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee on reviewing the state’s tax structure, however members balked at waiting until 2019 to do a formal study, saying they want to put it on a faster track. Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee members sent a Read More…
A federal investigation launched in 2016 into possible bank fraud by Jane Sanders, wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, is still underway — with “a potential” grand jury review possible. The probe could thwart Sanders’ 2020 presidential ambitions — as well as the Vermont political plans of Jane Sanders’ daughter, Carina Driscoll. Individuals questioned by Read More…
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spent more than $14,000 on government helicopters this summer to take himself and staff to and from official events near Washington, D.C., in order to accommodate his attendance at a swearing-in ceremony for his replacement in Congress and a horseback ride with Vice President Mike Pence, according to previously undisclosed official Read More…
Fourteen Democratic senators and the DNC chief urged Sen. Al Franken to resign Wednesday following the latest sexual misconduct allegation against him. After the resignation calls, Franken’s office said the senator would make an “announcement” on Thursday. It didn’t elaborate. Earlier Wednesday, Politico reported that a former Democratic congressional aide is accusing the Minnesota Democrat Read More…
A senior member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team said he was in “awe” of former acting Attorney General Sally Yates the day she was fired for refusing to defend President Trump’s controversial travel ban, according to emails obtained by a conservative watchdog group. Andrew Weissmann, a veteran Justice Department prosecutor who is one Read More…
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox has joined 22 other states attorneys general urging Congress to pas legislation establishing nationwide reciprocity for concealed weapons permits. Spokesman Eric Sell said these bills would allow concealed carry permits to be recognized in all 50 states and U.S. Territories, regardless of where they were issued. “Self defense is a Read More…
Calls for his resignation reached the highest levels of House leadership last week, as Brown and another accuser went public detailing his alleged misconduct. Supporters held a rally in Detroit on Monday to call for Conyers to receive “due process” and for critics to stop pressuring him to step down. Bloom said Grubbs’ affidavit is Read More…
BISMARCK—State regulators want to sit down with company officials behind a proposed oil refinery in western North Dakota to understand why they’re not going through the Public Service Commission’s siting process. The commission has scheduled a meeting for Dec. 19 regarding Meridian Energy Group’s plans for a refinery in Billings County near Theodore Roosevelt National Read More…
CHEYENNE – Monday was a bad day overall for new taxes in Wyoming, as lawmakers killed several bills and punted others to January. The Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Revenue Interim Committee met in Cheyenne to discuss a number of proposals to address budget deficits in advance of the 2018 budget session, which convenes Feb. 12. The Read More…
WASHINGTON D.C. – Funding for the government expires on Friday and Republicans are planning to bring a two-week spending measure to the floor. House GOP appropriators released the continuing resolution (CR) on Saturday morning, which which fund the government through Dec. 22. This will give Republicans two extra weeks to try to negotiate a longer-term Read More…
Gov. Doug Burgum unveiled a task force to examine the governance structure of North Dakota’s higher education system Tuesday, a move he said was intended to ensure the state is keeping up with rapid workforce changes. Burgum will chair the task force and appoint its 15 members, who will represent “the interests of students, faculty, Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo.- Wyoming Governor Matt Mead has recommended an almost $2.9 billion budget, which he says will leave about $24 million on the table. The governor said, “It looked like, to me particularly, earlier in the year we were going to have some great challenges, and we do have some challenges. But because revenue has Read More…
HELENA – U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, bracing for another tough election battle in 2018, has received at least 81 percent of his nearly $8 million campaign war chest from sources outside Montana, an MTN analysis shows. Tester, one of several Democratic incumbent senators up for election in states won handily by President Trump last year, Read More…
CASPER — One Wyoming doctor is concerned about a potential new law that would heavily regulate the prescription of opioid painkillers in the state. Anne MacGuire, a rheumatology doctor based in Casper and a member of the state Board of Medicine, said she was alarmed by the bill because it could lead to many patients Read More…
U.S. Sen. John Barrasso’s campaign committee has raised almost $3 million in 2017, according to the committee’s most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission. Of that money, only $66,225 — around 2.2 percent — appears to come from the state he represents. In the first three quarters of 2017, Barrasso’s campaign committee, called Friends Read More…
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s brother Anthony Rodham are facing a $17 million fraud lawsuit from Chinese investors in Greentech Automotive, an electric car company that appears to be struggling to survive. A group of 32 Chinese citizens filed the suit last week in Fairfax County, Virginia court, claiming Read More…
The maneuvering to fix the state budget is still playing out following the special session earlier this month as some key pieces have yet to slide into place. Lawmakers left the state Capitol about a week and a half ago with a package of bills that filled the state’s projected $227 million budget shortfall. As Read More…
Most of us are well aware that sexual harassment was a problem in America well before the Harvey Weinstein scandal erupted this summer. But there is no denying the Weinstein story has taken the wraps off of a massive number of alleged and confirmed cases of this kind of misconduct in Hollywood. Now, the same Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) on Monday became the second GOP senator to oppose the upper chamber’s tax bill in its current form, raising concerns it does more to help corporations than other types of businesses. “Sen. Daines has concerns with how the tax bill looks at main street versus large corporations,” an aide to the Read More…
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) took action earlier this year to make her family’s private plane untrackable by the public, according to documents obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration. McCaskill garnered much criticism ahead of her last reelection campaign over her use of a private jet at taxpayer expense, causing her to demand her husband “sell the damn Read More…
HELENA – The Trust Lands Management Division for the state of Montana made $86.2 million gross revenues in fiscal year 2017, with $43 million of that going to schools, members of the state Land Board were told Monday. Shawn Thomas, division administrator for the Trust Land Management Division for the Department of Natural Resources and Read More…
Less than two weeks after filing suit to block a $30 million transfer of its funds to help balance the state budget, the state workers’ compensation fund board may vote to withdraw the lawsuit. The Montana State Fund’s board of directors has scheduled an emergency meeting this Wednesday, to consider whether it should withdraw the Read More…
CHEYENNE – Facing deficits in a fast-approaching legislative budget session, Wyoming lawmakers are looking at diverting money that would have otherwise gone to savings to pay for services. For Rep. Mike Madden, R-Buffalo, identifying such diversions is part of a four-pronged approach to addressing the state’s budgetary woes. “We’ve got to look at diverting away Read More…
MONTANA – Governor Steve Bullock has called the Montana Legislature back to Helena for a special session to balance the state’s budget. The session will begin at 12:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 14, 2017. “I have put forth a set of reasonable and thoughtful proposals to balance Montana’s budget for consideration by the Legislature,” Gov. Bullock said. Read More…