Governor Brad Little announced Thursday the appointment of Amanda Ulrich as a District Judge in Idaho’s Seventh Judicial District. Ulrich, a trial attorney with more than 15 years of experience, is a partner at Casperson Ulrich Dustin, where she has practiced since 2018. Her work has focused primarily on civil litigation and employment law. She Read More…
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from using Medicaid data obtained from Washington and 19 other states for immigration enforcement purposes. The order also bars the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from sharing such data with DHS. The injunction comes after Washington and Read More…
Governor Brad Little signed Executive Order 2025-05, known as “The Idaho Act,” aimed at creating efficiencies in state government, reducing spending, and supporting public schools while implementing federal tax cuts for Idahoans. The order directs state executive branch agencies — excluding K-12 public schools — to identify opportunities for consolidation, revert unfilled positions, reduce contract Read More…
(The Center Square) – The nation’s largest nurses’ union is blasting Kaiser Permanente for pausing gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19 starting next month, due to pending litigation and pressure from the Trump administration. “As the legal and regulatory environment for gender-affirming care continues to evolve, we must carefully consider the significant risks being created 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…
(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…
(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) – 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…
(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…
(The Center Square) – Money from Seattle’s tax on sweetened beverages is still below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, and city officials say they’ll push for a new revenue stream. In 2022, sweetened beverage tax revenues increased by about 11% [$2 million] from 2021 levels to approximately $21 million. The pandemic caused the tax revenue to drop Read More…
(The Center Square) – The South Dakota House Taxation Committee recommended that tax cuts enacted last year become permanent. The Legislature cut the sales tax from 4.5% to 4.2%, with the reduction expiring in four years, a move added by the Senate, according to Rep. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, the bill’s sponsor. Karr cited a Read More…
The Center Square) – Understanding how a home mortgage works, how credit cards and debt can pile up and how to make a budget are critical financial life skills. But many students graduate high school without ever learning those skills, then find themselves deeply in debt for years to come. If a bill sponsored by Read More…
(The Center Square) – A bill introduced in the Washington State Legislature would ban the sale of new gas-powered small engines and equipment such as leaf blowers, which supporters say would lead to cleaner, quieter alternatives. Critics of House Bill 2051 argue that it could undermine small businesses that rely on them and inappropriately ties state Read More…
(The Center Square) – U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., is seeking a second term, she announced on Thursday. “We need more strong conservatives here in the House,” Hageman said in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We need to flip the Senate and we must take back the White House.” Hageman entered office Read More…
Casper Republican Reid Rasner said he turned down two requests from political groups to run for office before he started seriously considering taking on Wyoming’s senior congressional delegation member U.S. Sen. John Barrasso in the 2024 election. By the time the third request came around, he said the idea started marinating in his head. “I saw the Read More…
The National Parks Service has denied Gov. Kristi Noem’s latest application for a permit to have fireworks at Mount Rushmore. Noem applied for the July 2023 permit last summer. KELOLAND News reached out to the NPS to find out what happened with that request. A spokesperson for the NPS said after careful consideration, the parks Read More…
Abortion pills will remain legal in Wyoming for now, after a judge ruled Thursday that the state’s first-in-the-nation law to ban them won’t take effect July 1 as planned while a lawsuit proceeds. Attorneys for Wyoming failed to show that the ban wouldn’t harm the plaintiffs before their lawsuit is resolved, Teton County Judge Melissa Read More…
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum took another step toward entering the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, posting a YouTube video on Monday touting his rise from a small town boy to a self-made software entrepreneur and a successful governor who has cut red tape and taxes. Although the video doesn’t mention it, Burgum has signed Read More…
After 75 days and 990 bills, the 2023 Legislative Session has come to an end in North Dakota. The 2023 Legislature was memorable. How it’ll be remembered probably depends on your political leanings. Maybe you’ll remember it as the session where lawmakers finally did away with abortion, or the session where the majority of North Read More…
As the subject of electric vehicles becomes central to environmental agendas, lawmakers wonder if the batteries’ adverse effects can weather political dependencies and a tight time. “The administration is getting the cart before the horse. We have to create an environment where we are harvesting those raw materials to build the EV batteries here in Read More…
Wyoming is home to a wealth of mining and coal-fired power generation infrastructure that will eventually be decommissioned, razed and shipped away, even as the state courts dozens of new manufacturing and other industrial projects. But a new report finds opportunity in repurposing such facilities — which include railspurs and industrial-scale connections to the power Read More…
South Dakota legislators and Governor Kristi Noem are engaged in a back and forth contest over tax cuts. The Governor is pushing for the elimination of state’s portion of the sales tax on groceries (4.5%), while lawmakers have backed a cut in the overall sales tax rate from 4.5% to 4.2%. House Majority Leader Will Mortenson of Pierre Read More…
North Dakota Representative Kelly Armstrong is in Bismarck to talk about the work he is doing in Washington, D.C. Armstrong addressing both the North Dakota Senate and House. He told state lawmakers about four new bills just introduced in the U.S. House including an online notary bill and Pick Sloan Irrigation bill which gives farmers Read More…
A bill introduced at the legislature about bicycles and horses might soon make a small but significant difference for some people in North Dakota. As the law currently stands, bicycles and horses are considered vehicles in North Dakota state law. House Bill 1506 would change that. Although that might not seem like a big deal, 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Wyoming’s state superintendent of public instruction is resigning to become the head of Virginia’s public school system. The resignation of Wyoming State Superintendent Jillian Balow will be effective Sunday. Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin, who takes office Saturday, has named Balow to replace Rosa Atkins, who has been acting state superintendent since James Lane’s resignation in Read More…
BISMARCK — North Dakota Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman told Forum News Service she will retire from the Legislature when her term ends in 2022 because the redistricting process took a run for reelection “off the table.” A redistricting map approved by lawmakers last month lands the New Rockford Democrat in a district where no election will Read More…
Burleigh and Morton counties last year were hot spots for cash, vehicles and firearms found to be involved in criminal activity. But criminal justice officials say it doesn’t appear law enforcement agencies are abusing civil asset forfeiture, a legal process that targets property involved in crimes. North Dakota’s attorney general said reports on the property Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (PRESS RELEASE) – Earlier this year, after Wyoming received the first installment of funds from the American Rescue Plan, Governor Mark Gordon asked a Strike Team to work on big ideas that would help Wyoming drive towards a future where its citizens will thrive. Now there are more than $3 billion in proposals that the Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – House Bill 1002, Federal COVID vaccine mandates-prohibition and remedies-2 was signed by Governor Mark Gordon. HB1002 provides $4 million in funding for legal challenges to any COVID-19 vaccination mandates passed by the Federal government according to a release. “This bill confirms the Legislature’s support for the Executive branch’s previously-expressed determination to fight Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — It’s possible the House and Senate won’t agree Monday when lawmakers meet in special session on where to put boundaries for legislative districts that would apply in elections the next 10 years. If there is a stalemate, that duty, known as reapportionment, would fall, for the first time, upon the South Read More…