Governor Brad Little has appointed Brandon Shippy to fill the vacant District 9 Senate seat left by Abby Lee, marking a significant addition to Idaho’s legislative roster. Shippy, a native of Payette County, brings a wealth of community involvement and entrepreneurial experience to his new role. He is the owner and operator of Shippy Sprinkler Read More…
(The Center Square) – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Monday she plans to us an $80.7 million budget surplus to offset prison construction costs. The $80 million surplus includes $24.3 million, which was above the forecast for fiscal year 2024 and $56.4 million saved by reductions in state government spending, according to Noem. “South Read More…
(The Center Square) – A bill that bans China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia or Venezuela from owning agricultural land in South Dakota took effect Monday. The bill also prohibits any of the countries from leasing agricultural land unless it is for research and is no more than 320 acres or is for the contract Read More…
(The Center Square) – Gov. Mark Gordon is hosting a Town Hall to address what he calls “a barrage of proposed rules” for energy industries and public lands. The Town Hall is scheduled from 1 pm to 4 pm on Tuesday, June 25th at Gillette College’s Technical Education Center. State agency leaders will be on hand, along with Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) -Some South Dakota voters are filing ethics complaints with the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office. The complaints have to do with a text message sent out last Wednesday, targeting a Republican lawmaker from Rapid City who is the sponsor of a bill that would require the governor to release the amount Read More…
With the Wolverine State going live last week, five states now offer licensed and regulated online poker – Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. If State Rep. Jim Kasper has anything to say about it, North Dakota will be added to the list. Earlier this month, Kasper, a Republican who has represented District 46 (Fargo) since 2001, has introduced House Read More…
A group of disenfranchised Colorado residents are exploring the possibility of annexing from their home state and changing boundary lines so their entire county becomes part of Wyoming. Christopher “Todd” Richards is leading the effort with his “Weld County Wyoming” political committee, created last February, according to local outlet Fox 31 KDVR. READ FULL STORY
A bill that would aim to crack down on any possibility of voter fraud in Wyoming has been filed for the 2021 session of the Wyoming Legislature. You can read House Bill 75 here. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Chuck Gray [R-Natrona County], and a long list of co-sponsors. READ FULL STORY
As Joe Biden becomes America’s 46th president today, some North Dakota lawmakers are looking to preemptively curb the impact his executive orders could have on the state. House Bill 1164 would allow North Dakota to exempt itself from applying certain presidential orders. Under the bill, orders could go unenforced if the attorney general deems them unconstitutional and Read More…
Former Wyoming Senate President Hank Coe of Cody has died at the age of 74. According to the Cody Enterprise newspaper, Coe died Thursday afternoon of pancreatic cancer. The paper says he was diagnosed with the disease in November. Coe served in the Wyoming Legislature for three decades, including stints as Senate president and Vice President. He Read More…
Several bills intended to improve the safety of Wyoming’s highways advanced out of their legislative committees this week, aiming to reduce the state’s persistently high numbers of highway deaths that have seen steady increases over the last few years. A law that would allow police officers to pull over and ticket drivers for not wearing a Read More…
Emails indicate North Dakota’s attorney general advocated for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Texas’ lawsuit over the presidential election despite an expectation among some of his top officials that it wouldn’t succeed. The state’s deputy solicitor general told Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem he thought the high court would deny the case “in one sentence.” A Read More…
Gov. Kristi Noem has proposed $900,000 in one-time funds for curriculum to help meet her goal of teaching South Dakota’s students “why the U.S. is the most special nation in the history of the world.” Noem stated her educational goals on Tuesday while delivering the governor’s annual State of the State Address to formally kick Read More…
CASPER, Wyo — The Wyoming Republican Party has responded to the “whirlwind” created by U.S. House Representative Cheney’s Liz Cheneys vote to endorse the impeachment of President Donald Trump. “There has not been a time during our tenure when we have seen this type of an outcry from our fellow Republicans, with the anger and Read More…
Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Donald Trump, decided against running for an open Senate seat in Wyoming in 2020, according to Politico. In an article detailing the political futures of the Trump family, specifically that of White House advisor Ivanka Trump, who is thought of as a potential Republican challenger to GOP Sen. Marco Rubio Read More…
North Dakota activists are gearing up for a push to put marijuana legalization on the state’s 2022 ballot. A measure to allow adults 21 and older to possess and cultivate cannabis for personal use was submitted to Secretary of State Al Jaeger on Monday. If it’s accepted, the campaign will be able to start signature Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Legislature convened their 2021 General Session on Tuesday, Jan. 12. Both the Senate and House of Representatives elected new leadership during their respective virtual meetings. Sen. Dan Dockstader was elected new president of the Senate. Dockstader represents Senate District 16, which covers portions of Lincoln, Sublette and Teton County. READ Read More…
More North Dakotans are participating in the medical marijuana program than the state Department of Health expected. “We have just under 4,400 patients that have a medical marijuana card,” Medical Marijuana Division Director Jason Wahl told Prairie Public. He had earlier projected about 4,000 patients by the summer of 2021, based on the experience in Delaware, Read More…
CHEYENNE — Governor Mark Gordon signed an Executive Order (EO) December 21 that will prevent large increases in Unemployment Insurance (UI) taxes for businesses that were directly impacted by the statewide health orders enacted to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Department of Workforce Services (DWS) is removing UI benefit charges from the UI policies for Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The governor wants the Legislature to provide more than $4 million for state government to start preparing for medicinal and recreational marijuana in South Dakota. Legislation was pre-filed Thursday that would appropriate $4,026,253 to the state Department of Revenue and $135,249 to the state Department of Health. The Senate Appropriations Committee agreed Read More…
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., objected to counting Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes hours after a violent mob supporting President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, causing significant damage, leading members of the U.S. Congress to seek shelter and delaying the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s November victory by nearly six hours. Lummis, sworn in Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Lawmakers convene Tuesday either in person wearing masks or remotely for North Dakota’s 67th legislative session. The session comes as lawmakers face tough spending choices amid a pandemic that’s hit a state economy already reeling from depressed oil and agriculture prices. Ambitious billion-dollar bonding proposals from Republicans, Democrats and Gov. Doug Read More…
For a few months in the spring of 1996, Mike Enzi thought his career in politics was over. Then a 10-year veteran of the Wyoming Legislature, Enzi was in recovery from open heart surgery the previous October at Deaconess Hospital in Billings, Montana, where he was treated for a damaged heart valve. It Read More…
A reduction in soda ash royalties expected to save producers up to $5 million over the next 10 years is being praised by members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation. U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney welcomed the U.S. Department of Interior’s decision to reduce the royalties paid on soda ash Read More…
BOISE, Idaho — Democratic leaders in the Idaho Legislature are requesting that the upcoming legislative session – set to begin on Jan. 11, 2021 – be postponed until at least April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to GOP House and Senate leadership, Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett and House Minority Leader Ilana Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum signed an amended executive order paving the way for restaurants and bars to resume normal hours of operation as active cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have decreased in North Dakota. Bars, restaurants and other food service establishments have been closed to in-person service between the hours of 10 Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (KIFI/KIDK)-Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed an executive order Monday to prevent large increases in Unemployment Insurance (UI) taxes for businesses directly impacted by COVID 19 health orders. Under the order, the Department of Workforce Services will remove unemployment insurance benefit charges from the policies of all businesses and industries named in health orders. Read More…
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem urged Minnesota business owners to relocate to her state after the Minnesota attorney general began suing bars that defied the state’s lockdown orders. “Come to South Dakota!” Noem tweeted. “We respect your rights. We won’t shut you down.” Noem’s tweet also shared a Star Tribune article that highlighted the stories of bars Read More…
The Minnesota Republican Party has decided to hold its annual winter retreat in Deadwood, South Dakota. On its invitation to members, party officials say they’re excited to hit the road and head to our “friendly neighbors to the west in a beautiful, free and open part of the country.” South Dakota has fewer COVID restrictions Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Legislature is considering joining other states in authorizing the use of “automated vehicle identification systems” to enforce speed limits and other traffic laws. 19 states and the District of Columbia have laws in place which allow the use of cameras to issue speeding fines, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem sent official letters on December 7 withdrawing as a presidential elector and asking that South Dakota Republican Party chairman Dan Lederman serve in her place. Lederman and two fellow Republicans, Lieutenant Governor Larry Rhoden and State Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, met at noon Monday in a Read More…
South Dakota is making a last-minute bid to overturn presidential election results and keep President-elect Joe Biden from taking office next month. South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s office Wednesday joined 16 other states with Republican attorneys general in filing an Amicus Brief in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against four battleground states — Georgia, Read More…
Cynthia Lummis is the Republican senator-elect from Wyoming, having been elected to succeed Mike Enzi. She will be the first woman to represent Wyoming in the Senate. First elected to the House in 2008, she served as the representative for Wyoming’s at-large congressional district from 2009 to 2017. READ FULL STORY
Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin accepted $314,727 under the Paycheck Protection Program, a federal coronavirus relief program, records show. Three months later, she wrote an op-ed published in newspapers across the state criticizing those “who advocate socialized medicine, unearned income, and other handouts … that foster dependency.” The money was offered to employers under the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid Read More…
SANDPOINT, Idaho — A county commissioner in northern Idaho has proposed defunding the local health district after the district instituted a mask mandate to slow the spread of the coronavirus as it surges in the area. The Bonner County Daily Bee reports that Bonner County Commissioner Steven Bradshaw proposed the resolution Tuesday to pull Read More…
New state lawmakers take office this week during the Legislature’s organizational session, during which the governor will lay out his budget plans and lawmakers will decide on a legislative mask mandate. Among those swearing in will be a longtime, powerful state representative whom Gov. Doug Burgum sought to keep from another term. Business during Read More…
BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho State Board of Education held a special meeting Monday, Nov 23. The board meeting started at 3 p.m. and was streamed live. Board members took four pending rules that will be submitted to the Idaho Legislature when next year’s session begins in January. The proposed rules have to Read More…
The now-former Washakie County Health Officer says he was let go over his support for a mask mandate. On Monday, KWOR reported the Washakie County Commission called a special meeting on Monday and unanimously voted to remove county health officer Dr. Ed Zimmerman. Commission Chairman Fred Frandson declined to go into details and simply told Read More…
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Two South Dakota law enforcement officials want the courts to overturn a citizen-approved constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana in the state. Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom and South Dakota Highway Patrol Superintendent Rick Miller filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the constitutionality of the amendment. READ FULL STORY
CASPER, Wyo — Liz Cheney, Wyoming’s sole delegate and third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, has called on President Donald Trump in a statement to either back up his claims of voter fraud or respect the “sanctity of our electoral process.” “America is governed by the rule of law,” Cheney wrote. “The President Read More…
GILLETTE — The son of a Wyoming state representative who opposed COVID-19 public restrictions said his father was positive for the coronavirus when he died. Roy Edwards, 66, died Nov. 2 at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper after being hospitalized for more than a week with illness that was not immediately disclosed, The Gillette Read More…
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was “distracted” before he drove onto a highway shoulder where he struck and killed a pedestrian in September, state Secretary of Safety Craig Price said Monday. Price said 55-year-old Joseph Boever was walking on the side of the road and displaying some type of light on the night of Sept. Read More…
Gov. Doug Burgum is seeking legal representation for a likely lawsuit over a Bismarck-area state legislative seat won by a deceased candidate. The governor on Friday asked Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to appoint three attorneys with Vogel Law Firm in Bismarck to represent him “on legal matters related to Legislative District 8’s membership in the North Read More…
Micron Technology is one of Idaho’s largest employers, but it only pays property taxes on a fraction of its taxable value. The reason? An unsuccessful attempt to lure a nuclear company to East Idaho during the Great Recession. The company paid $4.75 million in property taxes in 2019, only 23% of what it would owe Read More…