South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden has signed five bills into law aimed at supporting agriculture and rural communities, including a measure to expand broadband infrastructure in underserved areas. Among the bills signed was House Bill 1048, which provides an appropriation for the expansion of broadband access, a priority Rhoden said is critical to strengthening opportunities Read More…
Attorney General Austin Knudsen praised the Helena City Commission after it voted Thursday night to rescind its immigration resolution, calling the move the right step to keep the community safe. “The commissioners made the right decision voting to keep the Helena community safe,” Knudsen said in a statement. “This resolution should never have been passed Read More…
The president on Thursday signed into law three measures authorizing the awarding of the Medal of Honor to U.S. service members for acts of valor in combat. Among the bills signed was H.R. 3377, which authorizes the president to award the Medal of Honor to James Capers Jr. for his actions while serving in the Read More…
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines is urging swift confirmation of Katie Lane to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, calling her a principled, Montana-rooted attorney who would bring integrity and constitutional focus to the federal bench. Lane, a Bozeman native and nominee of Donald Trump, appeared this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee Read More…
The Wyoming Mining Association endorsed Republican Liz Cheney for the state’s lone U.S. House seat, the trade organization announced Monday. “The WMA believes Liz Cheney understands the critical issues and challenges facing Wyoming’s mining industry, and that she is the candidate best prepared to be our most effective advocate in Congress,” Jonathan Downing, the association’s Read More…
Montana Congressional candidate, Michael C. Fellows, died in a head on collision Monday night in Potomac. Fellows was running as a Libertarian. A Montana Highway Patrol dispatcher told MTN News that Fellows, 59, was driving a Lexus passenger car west on Montana Highway 200 near Potomac when he crossed the center line just after 9 Read More…
Both major party candidates for governor of Montana making the rounds today to tout their jobs platforms. Governor Steve Bullock and republican candidate Greg Gianforte stopped by ABC Fox Montana’s Studio “K” to chat with us. Greg Gianforte: “This is the dream that many Montanans have. They want their kids back around the table on Read More…
Republican-leaning websites Friday posted stories questioning trips that Gov. Steve Bullock and administration officials have taken to Missoula and the Kentucky Derby. The governor’s office says the trips were, respectively, to conduct state business, and to fulfill Bullock’s role as head of the Democratic Governors’ Association. Newstalk KGVO’s assertion that Bullock also traveled to Puerto Read More…
By Mike Dennison – MTN News HELENA – The head of the state Republican Party Wednesday asked the Montana Supreme Court to remove the Libertarian secretary of state candidate from Montana’s November ballot, for not filing proper campaign forms. Jeff Essmann’s filing for “extraordinary relief” said Libertarian Roger Roots failed to file forms required of Read More…
Hillary Clinton told investigators that she wasn’t aware that a “C” marking in emails she received on her private server indicated that the information was classified at the “confidential” level, according to documents that the FBI released on Friday. The State Department determined that one email chain contained information that is classified at the Read More…
The Florida Senate race is about more than just a seat in Congress — it will determine if Marco Rubio has a future in politics. The failed presidential candidate is still one of the Republican Party’s biggest — and at 45, youngest — stars. Few GOP leaders are as charismatic or have the potential to Read More…
Either Hillary Clinton lied to the FBI or she lied on a State Department form as she began her tenure as Secretary of State. This conclusion appears inescapable after Friday’s FBI document release related to the Clinton email investigation. As revealed by those FBI documents, Clinton told agents that she could not recall “any briefing or training Read More…
An unknown individual used an anonymous web browsing tool often used to access the dark web to get into an email account on the Clinton family server, the FBI revealed on Friday. Meanwhile, in another incident, top aide Huma Abedin revealed to an unidentified person that Clinton had fears she had been hacked after she Read More…
A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to Columbus. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein instead ended up in Cincinnati after a campaign staffer mistakenly booked her flight to the wrong “C” city in Ohio. Stein’s scheduled noon speech at Capital University in Bexley instead came at 2:35 p.m. after she jumped into a car Read More…
Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte has poured another $640,000 of his own money into his campaign, upping his total personal contributions to $1.7 million – about half his overall campaign funds. But Gianforte wasn’t the only one who opened his checkbook in Montana’s gubernatorial race last month. Good Jobs Montana, an independent political action committee Read More…
HELENA — Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte has given another $660,000 to his campaign as he and incumbent Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock began flooding the airwaves with ads. The Bozeman technology entrepreneur has given his campaign more than $1.6 million total, and he pledged to match every contribution he receives. Including Gianforte’s contributions of $650,000 Read More…
Contemporary media parlor games revolve around fantasy sports and politics. Yet for politics, press interest in money raised and spent often seems more important than who will win and how policies might change. One corollary to the political-money obsession is the complaint that Federal Election Commission enforcement for alleged wrongdoers is too feeble. Critics say Read More…
HELENA — The ending fund balance for fiscal year 2016 was $255 million, or $99 million less than anticipated, according to an Aug. 25 memo prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Division, adding that figure was expected to dip down to $153 million by fiscal year 2017. “Actual revenues in FY 2016 were $142 million less Read More…
(MTN NEWS) Attorney General Tim Fox says a proposed change in Montana’s legal definition of rape will be a big step forward in helping the prosecution of sex crimes. “It’s something that we really needed,” he told MTN News on Tuesday – one day after a legislative panel endorsed a half-dozen proposals to update sex-assault Read More…
ARLEE — It’s not news that Indian Country isn’t naturally a “friend” of the Republican Party. However, Republican candidates are making attempts to “build relations” with tribal nations. According to Carroll College Political Science professor Jeremy Johnson, Native Americans make up 8 percent of Montana’s population. Johnson said, “If that was fully mobilized, it would Read More…
HELENA — Republican candidate for Montana governor Greg Gianforte is telling supporters that he will match all campaign contributions dollar for dollar, after already spending about $1 million in his effort to unseat Democratic incumbent Steve Bullock. Gianforte made his comments during a question-and-answer session in Huntley on July 21 that was recorded by a Read More…
Ads by the Steve Bullock for Governor Campaign continue tout Bullock’s ability to balance the state budget and claim the Governor has managed to leave the state with a $300 million rainy day fund, but the numbers can vary wildly depending on who is doing the counting. Republican State Senator Fred Thomas of Stevensville serves Read More…
A liberal environmental group based in Billings announced Monday that it was launching a $500,000 canvassing effort in Bozeman and two other cities to help re-elect Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock. Reporter Mike Dennison quickly pointed out that the Montana Conservation Voters Action Fund would be using anonymous “dark money” to fund the door-to-door canvassing — Read More…
The legal tug-of-war over the fate of an anti-marijuana voter initiative has taken an interesting twist. At issue is whether Initiative 176 received the necessary signatures to qualify for a spot on Montana’s November ballot. During a meeting in Helena Wednesday, SafeMontana founder Steve Zabawa presented Secretary of State Linda McCulloch with more than 32-hundred signatures that he claims are valid but Read More…
Tighter rules will take effect at the end of the month for Montana’s medical marijuana industry. Judge James Reynolds of Helena on Wednesday denied a request to delay those rules until after the November election. The new restrictions limit each medical marijuana provider to three patients. State lawmakers approved the rules in 2011, but the Montana cannabis industry Read More…
BILLINGS – Backers of Initiative 176 – the anti-drug measure – said an audit has found enough valid signatures to put the issue to voters in November. Steve Zabawa, a Billings business owner who launched I-176, said in a press release issued Friday afternoon that an audit of 8.009 signatures rejected by county elections offices and the Read More…
The Clinton campaign has removed a pledge from its website stating that all survivors of sexual assault “have the right to be believed.” On a page dedicated to “Campus sexual assault” onHillaryClinton.com, this passage from the Democratic presidential candidate used to be prominently featured last year: “I want to send a message to every survivor Read More…
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault was arrested Friday afternoon at a protest rally where the Dakota Access Pipeline is headed toward the Missouri River just north of the reservation boundary. Archambault was booked into the Morton County Jail and released on bond late afternoon. He was charged with disorderly conduct for pushing back on Read More…
North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger said last week it’s too early to say what forms of identification will be accepted for voting in November’s election, but a plan is being developed after a federal judge recently ruled against the state’s new voter ID laws. On Aug. 1, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland Read More…
Who’s watching the watcher? That’s the question a Helena attorney hopes to pose with a legal brief filed Wednesday against Montana’s chief political regulator, one that accuses Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl of unlawfully dismissing, and failing to publicly disclose, a formal ethics complaint filed against him in December. Motl — who serves as Read More…
The House Benghazi Committee chairman is in Montana this week stumping for Rep. Ryan Zinke’s re-election. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, is scheduled to appear with Montana’s Republican congressman at four fundraising events across the state beginning with an afternoon event in Kalispell on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Zinke said he will talk about “national Read More…
BILLINGS — Gov. Steve Bullock’s campaign has reimbursed the state another $1,155 for extra costs incurred when pilots who flew him for state business had to wait to return while he conducted campaign activities. The Billings Gazette reports the reimbursements for costs added to nine flights in April, May and June were included in campaign Read More…
A Montana-based environmental group said Monday it will spend $500,000 to help re-elect Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock and defeat his Republican rival, Greg Gianforte. The Montana Conservation Voters Action Fund, a political action committee, will use the money to fund a door-to-door canvassing effort to encourage people to sign up for absentee ballots, and to Read More…