Even though our statewide radio show is called “Montana Talks,” we cover a lot of issues important to folks in the Rocky Mountain West. We also get a lot of great listeners in Wyoming thanks to the big signal from our Billings radio station: Newstalk 95.5 and AM970 KBUL. That being said, the news that Read More…

Wyoming lawmakers are the least conservative they’ve been in five years, a new report from a top conservative group in Washington says.   However, a close review of the survey shows some oversights in the compilation of the numbers, including key differences in how the group evaluated members of the House and Senate.   Numbers released Read More…

The South Dakota legislature begins their 2020 session on January 14 in Pierre. State Farm Bureau Lobbyist Mike Held says the primary challenge facing lawmakers will be how to divide up the state budget to fund needed programs. He says Farm Bureau members are watching to see if legislators increase agricultural fees to raise revenue Read More…

BISMARCK —A New Jersey-based company that sells caller ID spoofing services is suing over North Dakota’s new anti-spoofing law, arguing it’s preempted by federal law and unconstitutional. SpoofCard LLC and CEO Amanda Pietrocola are asking a federal judge to stop the state from enforcing the law that took effect in August and to award them unspecified Read More…

CASPER, Wyo. — Cities and towns in Wyoming currently have the option of joining the state’s health insurance pool to provide coverage to their employees. Casper, for example, is set to join the state’s pool in January. But a bill that will come before the Wyoming Legislature in spring 2020 would prevent municipalities from joining Read More…

BISMARCK — Justice Jon Jensen will take over the top spot on the Supreme Court just a few years after being appointed by Gov. Doug Burgum. He handily defeated Justice Lisa Fair McEvers in a runoff election for the position at the state Capitol on Thursday, Dec. 12.   Jensen will sign an oath of Read More…

On the same day that President Donald J. Trump hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the White House, U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, blocked an effort to fast-track a bill meant to punish Russia or other foreign countries for meddling in U.S. elections, as Russia did in 2016. On the U.S. Senate floor on Read More…

In the entire U.S., only one state — Wyoming — lacks legal protections for journalists who refuse to give up the names of confidential sources when law enforcement comes calling.   After years as an outlier — and at least one close call for a reporter who faced legal pressure to reveal his sources — Read More…

GRAND FORKS — State Sen. Ray Holmberg remembers when the relationship between the North Dakota University System and the Legislature was more tenuous.   Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, a longtime member of the Legislature and leader of the Senate Appropriations Committee, says that around 2013, the relationship was especially fractured.   “The relationship was, shall we Read More…

BISMARCK — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum announced Tuesday, Nov. 19, the state would continue to receive refugees as long as local governments agree to it. The announcement comes in response to a September executive order issued by President Donald Trump, which allowed state and local governments to decide whether to receive resettled refugees. On Read More…

As U.S. Customs and Border Protection is holding town hall meetings to discuss reducing its hours of operation at Antler, Carbury and Maida, Gov. Doug Burgum released a statement on Wednesday, Nov. 6, urging the federal agency to maintain its schedule at the three North Dakota ports of entry. “We are committed to maintaining the Read More…

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – An interim legislative panel has rejected a proposal that would increase the state tax on alcohol to fund substance abuse treatment programs in Wyoming. The proposed bill offered by Republican Sen. Charlie Scott, of Casper, was voted down 7-6 Wednesday by the Joint Committee on Labor, Health and Social Services. Proponents of Read More…

Wyoming utility regulators may soon be in for a wild ride.   For decades, the Wyoming Public Service Commission has upheld an unequivocal mission: “provide safe and reliable service to customers at just and reasonable rates.”   It’s a mantra that state regulators repeatedly declared Tuesday when testifying before the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee.   Read More…

Gov. Doug Burgum and Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford are running for reelection. The duo announced their campaign in a video released early Thursday morning, Oct. 24. “North Dakota is certainly headed in the right direction,” Burgum said during the two-minute plus video. “Jobs are up, wages are higher, unemployment is down, young people are staying.” Read More…

BISMARCK, N.D. — An interim study committee of the North Dakota Legislature met for the first time Oct. 3 on how to make changes in grain regulation in the wake of scandals like the Hunter Hanson Ponzi scheme.   The joint House and Senate Agriculture and Transportation Committee heard a number of policy possibilities, some Read More…

CASPER – At the close of the 2020 census, Wyoming’s lawmakers – like those in half the states around the nation – will sink their teeth into the arduous task of drawing up the legislative districts that will decide the landscape of the state’s elections over the next decade. The Joint Committee on Corporations, Elections Read More…

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Officials say 40 percent of South Dakota’s corn supply is used for ethanol production. Today Senator John Thune visited one of the world’s largest producers of ethanol following a big announcement from the Trump Administration. Last week the administration announced plans to implement new rules that will increase demand for ethanol, which Read More…

CASPER — A leading air ambulance company formally voiced its opposition to an ambitious plan by Wyoming policymakers to make aerial emergency transports a public utility funded under Medicaid in an effort to curb the cost of the flights. But the comment may be a moot point, as the federal government has signaled to state Read More…

Governor Brad Little and other Idaho officials are in Europe this week to foster economic relations with business leaders who have investment interests in Idaho. A visit to the Netherlands is part of an effort to bring new industry to the state. When McCain Foods — the largest producer of frozen potato products in the Read More…

BISMARCK, N.D. – Sen. Dick Dever, R-Bismarck, is asking Legislative Management, which handles the interim committee work for legislators, to consider a new study this interim over concerns about mobile home parks around the state being bought by capital investment firms. Utah-based Havenpark Capital purchased two Bismarck parks- Colonial Estates and Holiday Park, in July. Dever Read More…

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon contacted the Mexican government about the possibility of using the country’s ports to export the state’s coal to markets overseas, an official with the Mexican consulate’s office in Denver said Tuesday. At a forum hosted by the Wyoming Business Alliance in Casper, Consul General Berenice Rendón-Talavera told the audience that the Read More…

If it wasn’t clear before, it should be clear now: If you’re a candidate looking for financial support from the Wyoming Democratic Party, you better be sure you’re: A) a Democrat; and B) actually living in Wyoming. Last month, the party’s central committee unanimously passed a resolution declaring it would only offer resources of time, Read More…

BISMARCK — A federal judge blocked the state of North Dakota from enforcing a new law requiring physicians to inform patients that it may be possible to reverse a drug-induced abortion Tuesday, Sept. 10, ruling that it violates doctors’ First Amendment protections against “compelled speech.” U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland sided with the American Medical Read More…

BISMARCK — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum named Jace Beehler as his new policy director Thursday, Aug. 29. Beehler will take over for Levi Bachmeier, who took a new job as business manager for West Fargo Public Schools. Beehler is currently a policy adviser for the Republican governor. READ FULL STORY

U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and Sen. John Barasso met with local officials Thursday morning in Casper to discuss leveraging a federal tax incentive program designed to spur development in select zones in the area. The meeting served as a venue for leaders from Casper, Mills and Natrona County to pitch a variety of development projects Read More…

Just before the close of the 2019 legislative session in Cheyenne, Rep. Landon Brown — then a 32-year-old staffer in the state’s Department of Environmental Quality — was contemplating resignation.   The Legislature was approaching concurrence on a bill to raise its $109 per diem rates for some lawmakers that, thanks to a late amendment Read More…

Gov. Mark Gordon announced Thursday that he would be ending a legal proceeding he initiated as state treasurer in 2016 over that office’s authority to approve contracts related to the state capitol building construction project.   Gordon’s suit challenged the 2014 legislation that created the Capitol Building Rehabilitation and Restoration Oversight Group — the entity Read More…

Though Gov. Doug Burgum remains mum on a 2020 re-election bid, he’s already planning another type of term.   Burgum is the new chairman of the Western Governors’ Association, a coalition of 22 governors of western states and territories. He has set the organization’s 2020 annual meeting for June 29 to July 2 in Medora. Read More…

BISMARCK, N.D. (KCND) – Next June, North Dakota will be hosting the Western Governors Association. Governor Burgum was recently elected chairman of that organization. He says the meeting will be held in Medora. In 1997, when then-Governor Ed Schafer headed up that group, he chartered a train from BNSF, from Bismarck to Medora. Burgum says Read More…

Former Sen. Duane Mutch, 93, of Larimore, died the night of Wednesday, July 17. Mutch served in the North Dakota Senate for 47 years and was known by some as the most conservative Republican in the Legislature. District 19 first elected Mutch in 1958. He lost re-election in 1976 but regained his seat in 1979. Read More…

BISMARCK — North Dakotans had grown accustomed to electing a state auditor named Bob Peterson. After all, the father and son pored over the state’s books in successive tenures that lasted more than 40 years. But that consistency was shattered with the election of Josh Gallion in 2016. Now, the new auditor is at the center Read More…

Former Rep. Cynthia Lummis announced a bid for Senate in Wyoming Thursday, becoming the first Republican to jump into the race and setting up a potential clash with her successor in the House, Rep. Liz Cheney. Lummis, also a former two-term state treasurer, was first elected to the House in 2008 and retired after the Read More…