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Staff and wire report Montana Veterans Administration reported Thursday that a shooting incident occurred at the Fort Harrison VA Medical Center campus in Helena at approximately 7:30 Thursday morning. A release said the situation had been cleared and the incident is under joint investigation by the VA Police and the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Preliminary details indicate the incident only involved a single person, the release said. No other injuries were reported. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., chair of the S...
Dear editor, Last month, at a constituent town hall, Sen. Jon Tester stood up for patients not just in Montana, but across the country. He said pharmacy benefit managers — PBMs — have been preying on our pharmacies and Medicare patients for years, and he cannot identify any real value that they bring to the health care space. I appreciate that our senator is being so vocal about this issue because I couldn’t agree more. For the last serval years, PBMs and their sneaky practices have gone under the radar. For far too long...
Montana Farmers Union A new meat processing cooperative in Havre has received nearly $292,000 in Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program funding. Montana Premium Processing Cooperative is set to formally open its doors with a grand opening Nov. 21, and the federal funds will help cover equipment costs and other startup costs, said Matt Rains, chief of staff for Montana Farmers Union, which has been instrumental in getting the co-op operational. “It’s a really key thing to not burden the co-op with paying loan int...
U.S. Senator Jon Tester attended a get out to vote rally with local, state and federal Democratic candidates Friday evening, where he encouraged everyone present not only to vote, but to find others who hadn't voted and get them to the polls. Tester said a great deal was riding on this election, which could potentially be a watershed moment in politics, an election that could provide the Montana Republican Party with the super majority they need to change the state's constitut...
Staff and wire The USDA Farm Service Agency announced Friday appointees who will serve on the Montana USDA Farm Service Agency state committee. Ryan Lankford of Chinook will chair the committee. Other appointees are: • Casey Bailey, Fort Benton • Steve Carney, Scobey • Sarah Degn, Sidney • Jake Merkel, Whitehall U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., praised the appointees. “I’m pleased to see such a strong group of Montana farmers and ranchers named to our FSA State Committee,” Tester said in a press release. “These individuals wil...
Montana Farmers Union HELENA - For more than 100 years, the Montana Farmers Union Annual Convention has gathered people passionate about agriculture and this year's convention continued the tradition. "We had a great line up of speakers, several leaders from the USDA and MSU updating us on their activities, as well presentations from some innovative members on new markets for meat, soil resilience, rural entrepreneurs, precision ag and more," MFU President Walter Schweitzer...
Hill County Democrats will be holding their annual Pasma-Peck Fundraising Dinner to raise money for their candidates and boost enthusiasm for the upcoming election at the Eagles Club at 5 p.m. Sunday. Hill County Democrat Central Committiee Chair Lindsey Ratliff said the dinner is named in memory of long-time Hill County Democrat Jim Pasma, known as “Mr. Democrat,” who was very active in levels of government, and Ray Peck, a long-serving state legislator who convinced U.S. Sen. Jon Tester to run for the state Legislature yea...
Did you hear the story about Pramila Jayapal and Matt Rosendale, in the U.S. House, and Elizabeth Warren and Steve Daines, in the Senate, joining forces to get their congressional colleagues to give up insider trading on the stock market? At the beginning of September, Jayapal, a House Democrat from Washington, and Montana's Rep. Rosendale announced their Bipartisan Ban Stock Ownership Act, which would require members of Congress, along with their spouses, to sell any...
We write this with the hope of reaching as many Montana veterans and their family members as possible regarding the recent passage of the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics — PACT — Act sponsored by Sen. Jon Tester. The PACT Act is a historic new law that expands VA health care and benefits for veterans — and their survivors. It recognizes toxic exposure as a “cost of war” by addressing the full range of issues impacting toxic-exposed veterans. Native American veterans serve their country at a higher rate per capita th...
Staff and wire report Recently, the Montana Twelfth Judicial District Treatment Court — TJDTC — held a graduation ceremony for two participants on September 29th, 2022 at the Hill County Courthouse. In addition to presiding Judge Kaydee Snipes Ruiz and the graduates, people in attendance included families and friends, representatives from the offices of Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., and members of the treatment team and community. The two graduates entered the TJDTC program based on dru...
A new poll conducted on behalf of the Coalition for a Prosperous America finds that 86% of Americans favor reinstatement of Country-of-Origin Labeling — COOL — for beef and pork. In 2015 Congress rescinded the requirement that imported beef and pork be labeled. However, it was only for beef and pork. All other foods, including lamb and seafood, continue to be labeled. Immediately following this action by Congress cattle markets crashed by nearly half, resulting in billions of dollars lost to ranchers in rural states such as...
In a press conference last week, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., talked on a variety of subjects including how the agricultural season turned out and on legislation he is sponsoring to increase competition in that industry. Tester, the only active farmer in the U.S. Senate, and who farms west of Big Sandy, said the harvest this year wasn't the best, for him and for many other Montana ag producers, but it could have been worse. "Prices are decent," Tester said, adding, "Production,...
Sen. Jon Tester said in a press conference last week that Congress has passed some of the most significant legislation in decades, legislation he said will benefit people and their children and grandchildren "literally" for generations to come. Tester said the "Inflation Reduction Act" will pay down the national debt and lower costs across the board, provide working families with real relief, and ease inflationary pressures for the long term. "This bill cuts our national debt...
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 40 million Americans could see their student loan debt reduced — and in many cases eliminated — under the long-awaited forgiveness plan President Joe Biden announced Wednesday, a historic but politically divisive move in the run-up to the midterm elections. Fulfilling a campaign promise, Biden is erasing $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those with incomes below $125,000 a year, or households that earn less than $250,000. He’s canceling an additional $10,000 for those who received federal...
by Alex Sakariassen Montana Free Press Seated in his wheelchair next to the witness stand in a Billings courtroom Monday, 26-year-old Mitch Bohn calmly responded to a series of rapid-fire questions about his voting habits over the past eight years. How does he typically cast his vote? By absentee ballot, Bohn said, filling it out as early as possible and relying on his parents to drop it in the family’s mailbox. Has he ever returned his ballot another way? Once, Bohn said, when he filled his ballot out later than intended w...
Generation after generation, Americans have gone to war, backed by the promise that their country would take care of them when they came home. Yet for years, our government failed those in uniform who returned home only to face a different kind of battle: the battle of cobbling together their earned care and benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson was one of those veterans. Heath’s story is, unfortunately, far too familiar among our military men and women. Like many Americans, h...
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Wednesday praised senators passing a bill providing health care to military veterans exposed to toxic substances, a bipartisan passage coming after Republicans stopped the bill Wednesday of last week. “This is an important call, because we’ve got great news for our veterans and their families, for this nation,” Tester said. “Yesterday, the Senate made history by finally passing the Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise To Address Comprehensive Toxins Act, otherwise known as the PAC...
Staff and wire report A bill enhancing health care and disability benefits for millions of veterans exposed to toxic burn pits won final approval in the Senate Tuesday, ending a brief stalemate over the measure that had infuriated advocates and inspired some to camp outside the Capitol. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, who extensively rewrote the original bill in a bipartisan effort with Veterans Affairs Committee Ranking Member Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, praised the bill’s passage. ...
The federal government is providing $61 million dollars, courtesy of the American Rescue Plan Act passed to help the country deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, to help Montana small businesses. A release from the office of Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said the money is for credit and investment programs for small businesses and startups to help them grow and succeed, strengthening the economy. “Small businesses are the backbone of Montana’s economy, creating good paying jobs and strengthening our communities from our most rur...
Editor, This upcoming election is very important! Ladies do you really want to lose your right to privacy, health care and potentially contraceptives? Do you really want ultra-conservative white republican men controlling you? People do we really want to end our right to same-sex marriages? Almost everyone knows someone or has a family member who is gay. Let’s not take a step backwards. Ranchers do you want rich people from Bozeman and out-of-staters to continue buying up your ranches and turning them into boutique ranches? T...
Sen. Jon Tester called out during a press call Thursday his Senate colleagues who switched their vote on his bill for providing treatment to U.S. military veterans who were exposed to toxic substances. "It hurts me to say this but this is a sad week for the United States Senate," Tester said. "(Wednesday), dozens of Senate Republicans turned their backs on our nation's veterans and their families by failing to advance the Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act of...
Sen. Jon Tester called out during a press call Thursday his Senate colleagues who switched their vote on Tester's bill for providing treatment to U.S. military veterans who were exposed to toxic substances. "It hurts me to say this but this is a sad week for the United States Senate," Tester said. ª(Wednesday), dozens of Senate Republicans turned their backs on our nation's veterans and their families by failing to advance the Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT...
Dear Editor, I want to address something that is very personal to me, the American family farm. I grew up on a malt barley farm in Fairfield that has been in my family since the early 1950s and is still worked by my father today. I, like so many others on the Hi-Line and in Montana, cherish the memories and values we learned while living on the family farm. Driving grain trucks, setting dams, moving sprinklers and delivering lunches during harvest are all jobs many Montana farm families can relate to. One of the biggest...
Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the only active farmer in the U.S. Senate, identified the problem when he said, “I just came off the worst year ever on my farm. We need to do something on climate change. I think we spent $144 billion this year on disasters and I don’t think that included crop insurance. So we need to do something on climate, too.” Agricultural producers are on the front lines of climate change and are experiencing the impacts now. Mega droughts, fire, floods and other extreme weather events cost $145 billion in 2021...
Staff and wire During a press call last week, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said a committee advanced two of his bills intended to improve prices and fairness for agricultural producers and consumers, putting them one step closer to a vote on the Senate floor. Last Wednesday, the Senate Agriculture Committee favorably reported the bipartisan Meat Packing Special Investigator Act and the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, intended to combat consolidation in the meat industry, protect family farmers and ranchers, lower...
