The federal government shutdown entered its sixth week this weekend, stretching into the longest in U.S. history and revealing the mounting toll of Washington’s political stalemate. With more than 1,000 flight cancellations nationwide for the second straight day and critical federal services strained, the crisis is now hitting ordinary Americans far harder than the politicians Read More…
(The Center Square) – Self-proclaimed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City after taking down the former Democrat New York governor for a second time on Tuesday. Democrats also won their respective races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia Tuesday. NEW YORK CITY MAYOR In one of the most Read More…
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has released the final ballot explanation for a proposed initiated Constitutional Amendment that would repeal property taxes in the state and replace them with a new “retail transaction” tax. If sponsors collect 35,017 valid petition signatures, the measure would appear on the 2026 general election ballot. Attorney General Jackley Read More…
Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) visited Montana State University’s state-of-the-art quantum research facility on Halloween, highlighting the university’s advancements in technology and the critical role quantum research plays in Montana’s economy. “It’s a blast to be back at my alma mater, MSU, on Halloween, and see all the great additions made to the university,” Daines said. Read More…
(The Center Square) – Republicans may be gaining ground on national education issues during a presidential election year, responses from voters in a new nationwide poll reveal. The results also show that most voters want schools to fairly present controversial issues in school. The Center Square Voter’s Voice Poll, conducted by Noble Predictive Insights, found Read More…
A citizen-initiated ballot measure to establish an age limit for congressional members is on the ballot in North Dakota’s primary election on June 11, 2024. The campaign, Retire Congress North Dakota, submitted 42,107 signatures for the initiative on Feb. 9. At least 31,164 signatures needed to be valid to qualify for the ballot. On March Read More…
The Center Square) – A majority of Americans overall and 60% among true independents disapprove of the job President Joe Biden is doing, according to a new poll. The Center Square Voter’s Voice poll released Wednesday asked voters, “When it comes to President Joe Biden, do you approve or disapprove of how he’s handling his Read More…
(The Center Square) – Republican voters have suggestions for former President Donald Trump when he considers his running mate for vice president. The Center Square Voter’s Voice poll released this week asked voters this question: “Who should Donald Trump choose as his vice presidential candidate?” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis narrowly edged out the other potential candidates. Read More…
(The Center Square) – Republicans’ advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives will be only 217-213 after April 19, following Friday’s decision by U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher to resign. The resignation means no more than one Republican can cross the aisle on party-line votes. Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District representative, just 31 when he first won Read More…
The Center Square) – Teachers in South Dakota will see raises and a new minimum salary under a bill Gov. Kristi Noem signed into law Wednesday. Noem also signed a literacy bill into law, which will appropriate $6 million to the Department of Education to fund professional development in literacy education for teachers. The teacher Read More…
Governor Greg Gianforte has raised more than $1.1 million in the 60 days since he announced his bid for reelection on January 16 according to a release from his campaign. “With Governor Gianforte’s pro-family, pro-jobs, pro-business policies and his strong record of protecting our Montana way of life, Montanans are overwhelmingly supporting Governor Gianforte’s reelection, Read More…
(The Center Square) — U.S. agricultural trade exports declined by $17 billion in fiscal year 2023, raising concerns from U.S. senators about how the Biden administration will address the issue. The deficit is growing and will decline by another $8 billion in fiscal year 2023, the senators said in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Read More…
(The Center Square) – Some lawmakers are once again calling on their colleagues to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. Ahead of the switch to Daylight Saving Time this weekend, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., highlighted the importance of the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent. “We’re ‘springing forward’ but should have never Read More…
HELENA — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, along with 23 other attorneys general, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Biden administration’s new air quality rule that would significantly impact state economies and raise energy costs for Montana manufacturers, utilities, and families. This is the 38th lawsuit Attorney General Knudsen has filed against the Biden administration. The Read More…
(The Center Square) – Arizona Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced on Tuesday that she is retiring at the end of the year and not seeking re-election, which led to a wide range of reactions from the political world. Sinema is considered one of the most politically moderate members of the Senate, and she made waves Read More…
(The Center Square) – Former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley dropped out of the Republican presidential primary Wednesday and declined to endorse former President Donald Trump. “I am filled with the gratitude for the outpouring of support we have received from all across our great country, but the time has now come Read More…
(The Center Square) – A Minnesota Congressman who ran a longshot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination against President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign. U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., thanked his supporters and endorsed Biden for the Democratic nomination. “To all who supported my effort, thank you,” he wrote on Read More…
(The Center Square) – As President Joe Biden prepares to deliver his State of the Union Address Thursday night, two new polls show a majority of Americans think he is not mentally fit to be president and is too old. Biden’s address to the nation comes just two days after his 2020 opponent, former President Read More…
(The Center Square) – The majority of Republican state representatives who voted to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and ran for reelection won their primary races on Tuesday. Sixty House Republicans voted to impeach Paxton last May, passing 20 articles of impeachment with four articles held in abeyance. Paxton was the first attorney general Read More…
(The Center Square) — Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso will not say whether he’ll run for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s position next year. As the Senate Republican Conference chair, he is widely speculated to run. “That election doesn’t occur until later in November. To me, the key election is the one earlier in November. Read More…
(The Center Square) – A bill that would allow the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to supersede city and county decisions on pipelines passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday after a lengthy debate. Senate Bill 201 states the PUC can overrule local jurisdictions if “such rules, or regulation, or ordinances, as applied to the Read More…
Donald Trump is aiming for a decisive victory on “Super Tuesday” as 15 states hold Republican contests in the primary season’s biggest voting day. Trump, despite facing numerous criminal charges, has dominated the Republican campaign, leaving Nikki Haley as his lone challenger. With a string of victories in early nominating contests, Trump has narrowed down Read More…
(The Center Square) – California lawmakers are pushing for new exemptions to the state’s fast food minimum wage as controversy erupted over the state’s reported exemption for Panera Bread. California Gov. Gavin Newsom approved an exemption to the state’s $20 per hour minimum wage for fast-food employees to national fast-food chains with bakeries that sell Read More…
(The Center Square) – President Joe Biden signed a temporary funding measure Friday that will keep the government open roughly one more week while lawmakers work to broker a longer-term deal. As The Center Square previously reported, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Continuing Resolution with a vote 320-99, sending it to the Senate, Read More…
(The Center Square) – North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said Wednesday that Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller has his complete support in her bid to take his place. Burgum announced last month he would not seek a third term. Voters approved a ballot measure in 2022 limiting governors to two four-year terms but grandfathered in current Read More…
(The Center Square) – Over two-thirds of voters in Mountain West states say they are worried about land, water and wildlife in the region, according to a recent poll. The Conservation in the West Poll, by the State of the Rockies Projects at Colorado College, found 67% of voters expressed worry about “about the future of nature, meaning Read More…
(The Center Square) – With rumblings that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, plans to table and not even hold an impeachment hearing to try Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Republican senators are demanding that the U.S. Constitution be followed and a trial be held. Mayorkas was the first sitting cabinet Read More…
(The Center Square) – Sweeping a fourth consecutive primary by double digits, former President Donald Trump left South Carolina victorious on Saturday and on a roll heading into Michigan on Tuesday. Nikki Haley, two-term governor of South Carolina and a former United Nations ambassador in Trump’s administration, was overwhelmed in unofficial totals. The race was Read More…
(The Center Square) – More states are taking preemptive steps against the policy of universal basic income. The South Dakota House State Affairs Committee recommended approval of a bill Friday prohibiting cities and counties from creating guaranteed income programs as other states consider similar measures. Senate Bill 115 defines guaranteed income as “a plan funded Read More…
In a recent SurveyUSA poll commissioned by NonStop Local, the results show that Governor Greg Gianforte is currently in the lead with a 22-point advantage over Democrat candidate Ryan Busse. According to the poll, 52% of Montanans expressed their intent to vote for Governor Gianforte, while only 30% favored Busse. The remaining 18% either remain Read More…
(The Center Square) – A Congressional watchdog said Friday that it was again unable to determine if the federal government’s consolidated financial statements were reliable. The U.S. Government Accountability Office, which is Congress’s research arm, said it was hampered by “serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense,” problems in accounting for transactions between Read More…
(The Center Square) – President Joe Biden is facing the fallout of a last-minute, messy press conference late Thursday where he attempted to defend his mental fitness but appeared to only amplify concerns. Biden called the press conference after the Special Counsel tasked with looking into his handling of classified documents announced Biden had committed Read More…
(The Center Square) – Former President Donald Trump said Friday he’d never limit gun rights for Americans amid surging crime, border insecurity and global instability – all side effects of a Democratic administration he deems corrupt and immoral. “Now I stand before you with a very simple promise – your Second Amendment will always be Read More…
Former Montana Governor Marc Racicot has joined a court filing aimed at preventing former President Donald Trump from appearing on the 2024 ballot. Racicot, alongside former governors Bill Weld of Massachusetts and Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey, submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is deliberating on whether Colorado can exclude Read More…
(The Center Square) – Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case involving former President Donald Trump’s removal from the 2024 Colorado Republican presidential primary ballot. The brief comes after Griswold recently petitioned the court to argue her side of the case along with attorneys for Trump Read More…
(The Center Square) – A new California bill could allow for city and county-approved public drinking zones as some counties decline to enforce anti-public intoxication. State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who introduced the bill, says these new “entertainment zones” could “give bars and restaurants and the surrounding businesses a much-needed boost.” In Los Angeles Read More…
By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor (The Center Square) – After nearly a year of investigations and hearings, the U.S. House Committee of Homeland Security is preparing to impeach U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Committee chairman Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., has led the charge for impeachment, arguing Mayorkas is derelict Read More…
By Brett Rowland | The Center Square (The Center Square) – House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a letter Friday that the House will soon vote to make Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas the second Cabinet secretary in history to be impeached. “When we return next week, by necessity, the House Homeland Security Committee will move Read More…
By Casey Harper | The Center Square (The Center Square) – A group of lawmakers is calling out U.S. Health and Human Services, arguing the federal agency is bucking Congressional oversight, especially when it comes to the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chair Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen spearheaded a coalition urging the Biden administration to maintain the operations of a significant commercial ammunition manufacturing plant. This call to action was prompted by requests from Democrat attorneys general to investigate the plant, a move that could disrupt production, diminish ammunition supply, and compromise national security. In a letter Read More…
A collective statement was issued by 25 Republican governors, expressing solidarity with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and affirming Texas’ constitutional right to self-defense. This unified declaration coincides with ongoing criticism from the Biden Administration towards Texas, coupled with a lack of action or acknowledgment of responsibility for the challenges at the Southern border. “President Biden Read More…
(The Center Square) – Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, defeated by former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire on Tuesday, has vowed to continue her quest for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election. The voters in the state she once led may be the last remaining hope. While Nevada is next for Republicans, Read More…
(The Center Square) – North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said Monday he would not seek a third term. Burgum’s current term expires in December. He was first elected in 2016. “We’ve made incredible progress these past seven years, from record tax relief and historic investments in infrastructure, education and other priorities, to guiding our state Read More…
(The Center Square) – A bill providing educational savings accounts for school choice failed last year to gain traction in the Idaho Legislature. Boise State University’s Eighth Annual Public Policy Survey indicates that might change in 2024. Idaho spends about $8,000 per student on K-12 education. The question posed by BSU to a representative sample Read More…