A watchdog group wants the Department of the Interior to investigate whether the National Wildlife Federation misused federal grant money tied to political spending in Montana’s 2024 U.S. Senate race. The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) filed the complaint Thursday with the department’s inspector general. The complaint says the Bureau of Land Management Read More…
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…
You could feel the excitement. You could feel the cheering. As Mike Dennison detailed the millionaire after millionaire running for office this Fall, you could just imagine how excited the success-bashing Leftists were, sitting in their living rooms as they watched his report on the Montana Television Network. And then, you can imagine how the Read More…
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox (above) joined Tom Egelhoff on Open for Business to discuss the recent court decision concerning robocalls to Montana citizens. (Interview link at the bottom of the page) Montana US District Judge Charles Lovell, 88, a Reagan appointee, did not buy the argument of Dave Deshaw, of Victory Processing LLC, of Read More…
Democratic Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) voted in support of sanctuary cities Thursday. The vote prompting one of his potential Republican challengers to tie Tester once again to the vote to shutdown the government over illegal immigrants. As The Hill reports, several other more moderate Senate Democrats voted to crackdown on sanctuary cities, while Tester voted Read More…
A documentary that emerges as a political whodunit with Montana in the spotlight is among the films featured in this year’s 15th annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, which runs Feb. 16-25 in Missoula. A free showing of director Kimberly Reed’s “Dark Money” will be 7 p.m. Friday at The Wilma theater. Gov. Steve Bullock, Read More…
BOZEMAN -Republican U.S. Senate candidate Troy Downing, charged multiple times for allegedly buying Montana resident hunting-and-fishing licenses when he was a non-resident, is going to trial – two weeks before his contested primary election. At a hearing Wednesday in Bozeman, Justice of the Peace Bryan Adams scheduled Downing’s trial for three days, from May 23-25. Read More…
HELENA – Montana may have the wealthiest member in all of Congress – Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte – but he’s far from being the only multimillionaire running for federal office this year in Montana. Three of the four Republicans running in the U.S. Senate race and one of the five Democrats vying to take Read More…
CHEYENNE — By the end of the first day of the 2018 legislative session, state lawmakers had proposed three different constitutional amendments to tackle the deficits facing school funding. The proposals — two from the Senate and one from the House — come as the full Legislature begins to grapple with a two-pronged education funding Read More…
BISMARCK—North Dakota was given a grade of “C,” in a report released Monday by the Center for American Progress that provides an overview of election security and preparedness in each state. The report has garnered the attention of politicians in the state, including U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp…. READ THE FULL STORY.
Washington (CNN)North Dakota’s Rep. Kevin Cramer said Tuesday he hasn’t made up his mind about whether he’ll challenge Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in this year’s midterm elections — but will decide by “the end of the weekend.” “There’s certainly a growing snowball of encouragement coming out of the state,” Cramer told reporters on Tuesday evening Read More…
It’s hard to get treatment when you’re 65 or older and rely on a program that pays health providers less than the price of care. And surprising medical bills is a whole other issue. That’s what a small group of locals told Montana’s U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte at the Bozeman Senior Center on Monday during Read More…
Democrats are looking to embrace the #MeToo moment and rally women to push back on President Donald Trump in the midterms—and they don’t want Bill Clinton anywhere near it. In a year when the party is deploying all their other big guns and trying to appeal to precisely the kind of voters Clinton has consistently Read More…
Mitt Romney will launch his Utah Senate campaign Thursday morning with a low key announcement on social media, and will make his first public appearance a day later near Salt Lake City with a keynote address to a gathering of grassroots Republicans. Romney teased his run for Senate in a Feb. 1 tweet, saying that Read More…
Can a juror, faced with clear evidence that a defendant is guilty, still vote to acquit if he or she feels the law is unjust? Yes, say backers of “jury nullification.” This courtroom tactic was the focus of a Kalispell event organized by the Flathead County Libertarian Party. Presentations on nullification by Kirsten Tynan and Read More…
BILLINGS – Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton stopped by Billings West High School Thursday, to talk to students about the importance of getting involved. Stapleton spent over an hour with senior students at the high school answering questions. From social media to Indian Reservations and health care, Stapleton’s message to students was the importance Read More…
U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte visited a job training facility in Helena on Friday to talk about workforce development and tax reform. Gianforte toured the Montana Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Center supported by local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association. The center offers an apprenticeship program that Read More…
BILLINGS – Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton stopped by Billings West High School Thursday, to talk to students about the importance of getting involved. Stapleton spent over an hour with senior students at the high school answering questions. From social media to Indian Reservations and health care, Stapleton’s message to students was the importance Read More…
HELENA – Gov. Steve Bullock says he won’t rush into a new contract with the operator of the private prison in Shelby – even though it could yield the state as much as $30 million to offset planned budget cuts of “essential services” for the poor and disabled. In an interview this week, Bullock told Read More…
President Donald Trump’s approval rating is now higher than former President Barack Obama’s on the same date of his first term, Rasmussen Reports daily tracking data shows. In its presidential daily tracking poll released Thursday, the Rasmussen Reports showed Trump’s approval at 48 percent, statistically tied with his disapproval rating of 50 percent. READ THE Read More…
Montana Wilderness advocates are launching a campaign in opposition to a bill introduced by the state’s Republican Senator Steve Daines. If passed, that bill would eliminate protections for some federal lands in Montana. A new coalition called “Our Land, Our Legacy” says it plans to fight against Daines’ bill with social media messages and an Read More…
Bucking a recent trend of failed measures to shift Wyoming from its reliance on fossil fuels, one lawmaker is proposing a bill that looks to generate money from a traditional source of revenue — coal. House Bill 80 hinges on a potential reduction in federal fees on Wyoming coal, the sunset of the Abandoned Mine Read More…
WASHINGTON — Republican megadonor Foster Friess said Tuesday that he’s still weighing a primary challenge in this year’s Wyoming Senate race, but he doesn’t sound much like a politician gearing up to take on a sitting senator. For starters, Friess has nothing but praise for his would-be rival, Republican Sen. John Barrasso. “I love the Read More…
Pundits and pols alike are increasingly referring to the race to succeed Florida GOP Gov. Rick Scott as “the main attraction” of 2018. Florida boasts 20.6 million residents, and ranked second only to Texas as the state with the largest gain in population last year. Boasting 29 electoral votes, the Sunshine State packs one of Read More…
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—“We don’t need to give him another ounce of our brain-space,” Dan Canon told the crowd of 40 people, hitting the TV mute as President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech began. “We don’t care what he says.” The speech had been the advertised reason for the gathering at the Crazy Horse bar Read More…
Montana’s entire congressional delegation has endorsed the continuation of funding for Community Health Centers across the country, and specifically across Montana. At a press conference in front of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Senator Steve Daines said the wholeheartedly supports the funding, flanked by fellow Senator Jon Tester and Representative Greg Gianforte. Read More…
Granite County Commissioner Scott Adler has been summoned to a court appearance this month on one charge of Official Misconduct and one charge of Theft by Embezzlement after the Department of Criminal Investigation looked into accusations that Adler had used county equipment and employees to install recycled asphalt on his personal driveway. In court filings, Read More…
A super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a new digital ad Tuesday attacking Montana Sen. Jon Tester. The ad, the group’s first of the cycle targeting the vulnerable Democrat in this year’s midterm elections, seeks to tie Tester to national party figures and calls him “just another Washington liberal.” It’s paid Read More…
HELENA – A leading Republican lawmaker Friday said the Bullock administration must share the blame for looming budget cuts to human services in Montana – and that the governor could help defray the cuts if he chooses. Sen. Llew Jones of Conrad, an architect of the November budget deal that closed a $227 million shortfall Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. – Senator Steve Daines was in Billings Friday to promote the positive impacts of the new tax cuts that took effect January 1st. Daines toured True North Steel, visiting with Montanans, and discussing added jobs and bigger paychecks. The senator was all smiles as he toured True North Steel and discussed the positive Read More…
Every Democratic senator from a Republican-leaning state voted Monday to reopen the government, from the liberal Sherrod Brown of Ohio to the conservative Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Every one, that is, except Jon Tester. Republicans are determined to make him pay. The plainspoken Montanan was on a glide path to a third term despite Read More…
MISSOULA -Federal government services were fully restored and operational on Tuesday, one day after Congress passed and the president signed a short-term spending bill. But lawmakers have just 16 days until it expires. Congressman Greg Gianforte (R-MT) says that he’s ready to get a spending bill passed. READ THE FULL STORY.
It’s the latest chapter in the ongoing legal battle over the Obama administration’s Waters of the U.S. rule. Spokesman for Attorney General Tim Fox, Eric Sell said a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing continuation of legal challenges to the WOTUS policy is a win for many western states.. “The state of Montana filed a legal Read More…
Montana Senator Steve Daines will be hosting his second Montana Energy Summit in Billings, set for May 30 and 31, where attendees will discuss Montanan’s energy infrastructure and the good paying jobs that the industry creates.. At a Senate committee hearing this week, Daines promoted Montana coal as part of an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy for Read More…
HELENA – Former state judge Russell Fagg, one of several Republicans vying to challenge U.S. Sen. Jon Tester this year, reported Tuesday that he raised $615,000 in campaign funds through December – his first campaign-finance report. Fagg, a former state district judge from Billings, also said that 80 percent of the money came from individual Read More…
Eleven of the the 12 most vulnerable senators up for re-election in 2018 ended last year less popular among their constituents than at the start of the 115th Congress. That’s according to the new Morning Consult Senator Approval Rankings for the fourth quarter of 2017, based on more than 250,000 surveys with registered voters from Read More…
House Speaker Paul Ryan warned on Wednesday against “playing political games” as Democrats threatened to block a last-ditch spending deal this week if they cannot also pass a plan to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation. Parts of the government will shut down if Congress cannot pass a spending bill by the end of Friday. Read More…
HELENA – Montana’s two Republican members of Congress said Wednesday they’ll support a GOP budget plan to keep the federal government open past Friday – including the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Plan. Yet Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte said any budget plan should not be linked to immigration reforms, which are Read More…
Republican lawmakers fumed at Steve Bannon on Wednesday, and some threatened to hold the former Trump White House strategist in contempt of Congress a day after he stonewalled the House’s Russia investigation. In the latest political battle for the deposed Brietbart News chief, House Republicans showed little patience with a political agitator who has often Read More…
Mitt Romney is preparing to enter the race for Utah’s Senate seat with a bang as he gains support from donors across the country, setting his sights on a potential congressional leadership position if he were to pull off a victory, FOX Business has learned. In an exclusive interview with Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, FOX Read More…
As Congressional Democrats and Republicans continue to fight over the fate of undocumented immigrants in the DACA program, the federal government is barreling towards a shutdown Friday. Yellowstone Public Radio’s Nate Hegyi sat down with Montana’s Republican Senator, Steve Daines, to talk about the potential for a shutdown, his legislative goals in 2018 and President Read More…
On Wednesday, a bill honoring the life of Alex Diekmann passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 400 to 3. Congressman Greg Gianforte teamed up with U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester to sponsor the bill. According to Gianforte, Diekmann was a champion for Montana. “Alex Diekmann was a renowned conservationist Read More…