On the steps of the Montana State Capitol, Governor Greg Gianforte was officially sworn in Monday for his second term as the 25th Governor of Montana. Accompanied by his wife, First Lady Susan Gianforte, the ceremony marked a historic milestone, as Gianforte became the first Republican governor to secure a second term since 1996. Chief Read More…
U.S. Senator Steve Daines has announced his committee assignments for the 119th Congress, taking on influential roles in the Senate Committees on Finance, Foreign Relations, Energy and Natural Resources, and Indian Affairs. These assignments place Daines at the center of critical policy discussions affecting Montana and the nation. “It’s an honor to serve Montanans in Read More…
Kenneth Britton “Britt” Cotter, 48, who was recently elected District Court Judge for Lake and Sanders counties, has been charged with one count of solicitation to commit criminal distribution of dangerous drugs and two counts of attempted criminal possession of dangerous drugs. The Montana Attorney General’s Office announced the charges following a months-long investigation led Read More…
Congressman Ryan Zinke announced that the Senate has passed the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act. The EXPLORE Act is a comprehensive, bicameral legislation package that includes Zinke’s bipartisan Gateway Communities and Recreation Enhancement Act introduced with Alaska Congresswoman Mary Peltola in May 2023. The bill passed the House in April and will Read More…
A bill that would outright ban TikTok in Montana cleared its first significant hurdle. Senate Bill 419, sponsored by State Sen. Shelley Vance (R-Belgrade), cleared the Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee on a 7-3 vote on Monday morning following its initial hearing. The legislation, which will now head to the Senate floor, would prohibit internet service Read More…
Yellowstone County Commissioners are taking steps to improve the election process. The changes come after some expressed concerns during last year’s election, including just how long it took to receive the results. Commissioners and the election administrator addressed some of those questions on Monday. The county has a plan to hire some more people to Read More…
A proposed Wyoming law geared toward making fewer sex offenders able to get their names off the sex offender registry died in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday after lawmakers said the bill’s language confused, rather than clarified, the issue. Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said he wants to resurrect a better version of Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen says violent crime and drug trafficking is skyrocketing in the state. In an interview, Knudsen says a weak U.S. southern border is sending deadlier drugs to Montana. They’re the center of many other crime problems, and officers need to be able to keep up. “Drug use is up in Montana, Read More…
Property taxes have been a big concern for many Montanans in recent years — and they’re largely determined at the local level, not the state level. Now, a bill has been proposed that seeks to address the growth in local taxes by putting limits on how much large cities and counties can increase their total Read More…
Voters in Roosevelt County elected a new county attorney last November, but less than three months later he’s already being removed from office. It turns out, Frank Piocos doesn’t actually live in the county. A private citizen had to make the discovery. READ THE FULL STORY:https://www.kxlh.com/news/local-news/roosevelt-county-attorney-forced-to-leave-office-because-he-doesnt-live-there
North Dakota lawmakers will return to Bismarck next week to prepare for the 2023 Legislature, where they will lobby for prime committee assignments and get briefings on legislative procedures and ethics. The three-day organizational session that begins Monday also includes such mundane work for lawmakers as filling out paperwork and desk selection, where seats are Read More…
Wyoming continues to make advances in female political representation, adding four more women to the Legislature this election cycle. Twenty out of 93 legislators who will serve constituents in the upcoming general session will be women, including eight women who were elected to their first term. Yet, as many celebrated the incoming additions to the Read More…
Though he’s submitted the paperwork to run for governor of Indiana, Republican Sen. Mike Braun assured reporters Wednesday that he’s not leaving Capitol Hill just yet. “I’m going to robustly finish out the two years as a senator,” the freshman lawmaker said of his commitment to serving out the remainder of his first term. He Read More…
President Joe Biden on Wednesday pledged to give Native Americans a stronger voice in federal affairs, promising at the first in-person summit on tribal affairs in six years that he will bolster tribal consultations, inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in decision-making and funding for communities struggling with the impacts of climate change. Biden spoke on the Read More…
Wil Wilkins of Ravalli County, Mont., acknowledges he’s a bit of a throwback. Growing up in West Virginia, he says his mother used to tell him, “You was born a hundred years too late, boy.” It’s an apt description of this self-described “mountain man.” Wilkins is a dedicated practitioner of traditional crafts such as stone Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is concerned shipping companies FedEx and UPS are tracking gun purchases made by Americans, and that those companies are possibly sharing that information with federal authorities. In a press release on Tuesday, Knudsen called upon the shipping companies to “clarify” their new policies, which allow them to track sales of firearms “with Read More…
The Montana state health department has expanded its contract with a private consulting group hired to oversee the struggling Montana State Hospital and other public health care facilities. The price tag for the amended contract with Alvarez & Marsal LLC, slated to conclude in September 2023, has also swelled to nearly $7 million dollars, up Read More…
Sandra Merchant will be the new Clerk & Recorder for Cascade County, after a recount that began on Monday and ended on Tuesday confirmed the results of the November 8, 2022, election. Merchant defeated incumbent Rina Fontana Moore by 36 votes. Joe Briggs, chair of the Cascade County Board of Commissioners, said on Tuesday that the recount Read More…
Preliminary reports from the Montana Secretary of State’s office show voters won’t see any citizen-sponsored initiatives on the ballot this November. All four qualified measures failed to garner the signatures needed to make an appearance. The failed measure that received the most signatures would have capped property tax hikes at 2%, while another sought to Read More…
Attorney General Austin Knudsen and 16 other state attorneys general joined a lawsuit today against the Biden administration’s rules that threaten the long-held American tradition of private firearms assembly and put the livelihood of thousands of Americans at risk. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rulemaking would regulate unfinished, non-functional firearm parts Read More…
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is suing the Biden administration over claims it is ignoring immigration law that requires the federal government to arrest, detain and deport foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally. The lawsuit alleges that the Biden administration’s immigration policy exceeds the authority of the Department of Homeland Security, is arbitrary and capricious, Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has led 21 other attorneys general from across the country, filing a brief in support of a lawsuit challenging a federal rule banning bump stocks. Plaintiffs, including the Gun Owners of America, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or Read More…
The Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court Thursday afternoon, marking a historic moment for the high court and a massive victory for President Joe Biden. Jackson was approved, 53-47, on Thursday afternoon with the support of three Republicans. The vote makes Jackson the first Black female justice and delivers Democrats their first Read More…
Dozens of House Republicans are expected to attend House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s fundraiser for Rep. Liz Cheney’s Wyoming GOP primary opponent, Harriet Hageman, on Wednesday evening in an increasingly bitter contest over fealty by party members to former President Donald Trump. McCarthy and Cheney have had a contentious relationship due to her criticisms of Trump. Tensions rose after Cheney Read More…
President Joe Biden secretly hired the public relations titan who provided “damage control” advice to disgraced Hollywood rapist Harvey Weinstein, raising concern among ethics experts, the Washington Post reported on Monday. Anita Dunn played a leading role in Biden’s presidential campaign, and previously served in the White House as a senior communications adviser before returning to SKDK, her powerhouse political strategy firm, Read More…
The Wyoming Legislature completed its redistricting process on March 11. Representatives passed a bill with new legislative maps with less than two hours to go before they’d be in violation of the state’s constitution. The plan creates three new districts — two in the House, one in the Senate — bumping the state’s total to Read More…
State leaders say it no longer makes sense to participate in a federal program intended to provide food assistance for kids who weren’t in school because of COVID-19. However, some advocates say they’re concerned about what that’s going to mean for families in need this summer. In 2020, the federal government launched the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., accused President Biden and Democrats of using the Russian oil ban as a “fig leaf” to cover for their “radical” Green New Deal policy proposals. Daines made the comments during an interview with FOX Business and said that this isn’t just about banning Russian oil: Democrats want to ban all oil. Read More…
Companies would be required to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and be held to account on their climate promises under a proposal released Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The proposed rule would deliver a big — and durable — policy win for President Joe Biden, whose climate agenda has been mired in congressional partisanship, Read More…
Gallatin County voters will get to decide on two local options in taxes for marijuana sales during the June primaries. On Tuesday, the Gallatin County Commission voted unanimously to add a 3% local option sales tax on all recreational and medical marijuana products sold in the county. READ THE FULL STORY
Last month, Jamie Smith, a Democrat and Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, issued a challenge against Republican Governor Kristi Noem. Saturday, Smith met with some of his supporters and those who are interested in his campaign in Rapid City. Smith says he’s running for Governor, because he believes people are ready for a Read More…
The Energy Sector and Cyber-Security have been hot topics in the Wyoming legislature this session. U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis and John Barrasso have echoed Wyoming’s concerns. “We have the opportunity to be energy independent here. We need to stake our claim on energy independence and help the world with those who would interfere with freedom Read More…
It could become easier for communities to play a role in cleaning up abandoned mine sites in the coming years, if a bill jointly backed by Montana’s two senators gets traction in Washington, D.C. It could be the next significant step in dealing with an environmental problem that not only plagues Montana but the entire Read More…
Montana’s attorney general has launched a civil investigation into the popular social media app TikTok for possible violation of the state’s consumer protection act. Attorney General Austin Knudsen says the app may be misrepresenting the dangers of the platform for teens. Knudsen sent the company a letter demanding answers to 80 questions, including how the app promotes Read More…
President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee shielded one of Hillary Clinton’s top State Department aides from scrutiny about his use of a personal email account to conduct official business. Then-U.S. district judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2015 denied Gawker’s request for details about press aide Philippe Reines’s stewardship of the account in the context of a Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has started a comprehensive investigation into TikTok for allegedly serving harmful content to children and for publicly misrepresenting the “dangers” of its social media platform. “TikTok is certainly an application that should raise concerns for parents in Montana and everywhere,” Knudsen said in an interview with Fox News Digital in announcing his office’s investigation. Read More…
Two bills focused on transparency in Idaho’s elections were introduced in a Senate committee on Monday. The first, from Sen. Patti Anne Lodge, a Republican from Caldwell, would increase campaign finance reporting requirements for contributions and expenditures made in non-election years. The legislation would trigger campaign finance reporting requirements once a candidate has received Read More…
The Senate passed a short-term funding bill Thursday night to head off a government shutdown, after Democrats bent to Republican demands for controversial votes on vaccine mandates. The three-week spending patch is expected to hit President Joe Biden’s desk well before government funding runs out at midnight Friday. Punting the next deadline to March 11, Read More…
Following reports that a member of its negotiating team quit the administration last week over opposition to the Biden administration’s concessions to Iran, the State Department is defending its ongoing diplomacy with Tehran. Richard Nephew served as the deputy special envoy for Iran before leaving that post on Dec. 6 “due to a sincere difference Read More…
An engineering professor at the University of Jamestown is running for U.S. Senate in her first run for elected office. Katrina Christiansen, of Jamestown, is seeking the Democratic-NPL nomination for the seat held by U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., saying she wants to “strengthen our democracy.” “I will be a strong, independent voice Read More…
A new court filing last Friday sparked fresh accusations and debate surrounding the Trump-Russia probe. Former President Donald Trump says it proves his 2016 presidential campaign was spied on by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Defense lawyers are saying it’s just an attempt to politicize the case and drum up negative press. It’s either what some Read More…
An Arizona cotton farmer and lawyer says she is running for attorney general because she is fed up waiting for the federal and state governments to boost security at the southern border. Tiffany Shedd is a mother of three whose family’s fourth-generation property sits in the middle of a Mexican cartel’s drug and human smuggling Read More…
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is taking another step toward fulfilling her September pledge to ensure South Dakota has the “strongest pro-life laws in the books.” The first-term governor’s latest round of pro-life bills was announced Friday, the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The two bills would adopt similar legislation to Texas’ Heartbeat Act preventing abortions after a Read More…
CASPER. Wyo. — Wyoming state Sen. Charles Scott (Natrona County) will be offering a presentation in regard to the redistricting process in the state at noon Friday, January 28 at the Natrona County Library. Redistricting is one of the tasks that the Wyoming Legislature will tackle during its upcoming budget session. The legislature is set Read More…