News you can use
News you can use
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Press release MISSOULA —As families gather to celebrate the holiday season, not everyone has enough food to put on the table. With food insecurity a persistent challenge across Montana, hunger-relief advocates are eagerly anticipating a critical new resource coming next year. In April 2024, Montana Food Bank Network (MFBN) launched its $15 million Campaign for Bigger Impact to advance its mission of ending hunger in Montana. The focal point of the campaign is a transformational new facility and distribution center at 5780 A...
by Matt Hudson Montana Free Press Local - In-depth, independent reporting on the stories impacting your community from reporters who know your town. Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen emailed Cascade County commissioners in February as they considered candidates for the elections administrator position. Jacobsen urged them not to hire Rina Fontana Moore, a Democrat, or any member of her administration. Fontana Moore ran elections for 16 years as the county's clerk...
by Eric Dietrich Montana Free Press Montana Department of Revenue staff told a legislative committee Monday that next year’s reappraisal cycle could produce a partial repeat of last year’s jarring tax spike as the state’s surging real estate market continues to translate into higher residential taxes. The department expects the market value of the average Montana residential property to be reappraised at 21% higher when it completes next year’s reappraisal cycle. A staff economist said Monday that if the Legislature doesn’t r...
By Greg Cappis, MSU News Service BOZEMAN - Military challenge coins serve as an easy conversation starter. Some are tokens of time spent overseas, while others are a remembrance of rank or an award. Now, a new set of challenge coins minted by the state of Montana - and designed by a Montana State University student - are intended to aid in preventing suicide among veterans. Dubbed 988+1 suicide prevention coins, the coins will be distributed to veterans across the state in an...
By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS - Republican Tim Sheehy bolstered the GOP's Senate majority with a victory over three-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in a contest of national importance that featured a record-setting torrent of spending by the two sides. Sheehy, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, closely aligned his campaign with Donald Trump and leading conservatives while painting Tester as a corrupt Washington insider. The Republican also promised to address the...
By AMY BETH HANSON and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte won a second four-year term Tuesday, defeating Democratic challenger Ryan Busse. In another key race, Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana won reelection to the House, again defeating challenger Monica Tranel. The victories continue Republican control in a state where the GOP also enjoyed a supermajority in the state Legislature. Gianforte's first term as governor was mostly controversy free — save for cla...
By AMY BETH HANSON and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte won a second four-year term Tuesday, defeating Democratic challenger Ryan Busse. The victory continues Republican control in a state where the GOP also enjoyed a supermajority in the state Legislature. Gianforte's first term as governor was mostly controversy free — save for clashes with the Montana Supreme Court over laws on abortion access and gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth — as he put b...
Havre Daily News staff Montanans in the general election will vote on a proposal to put a woman’s right to have an abortion in the Montana Constitution That right was guaranteed federally until the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago overturned Roe versus Wade, a 50-year-old Supreme Court ruling that, with following rulings, allowed women to choose to have an abortion at least until fetal viability, usually considered to be about the 24th-28th week of pregnancy. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruli...
By AMY BETH HANSON The Associated Press HELENA — A state judicial panel is recommending that Montana's Republican attorney general be suspended from practicing law for 90 days for openly defying court orders and repeatedly attacking the integrity of justices in his defense of a law permitting the state's Republican governor to directly fill judicial vacancies. The law at issue was part of a nationwide GOP effort to forge a more conservative judiciary and was eventually upheld by Montana's Supreme Court. Both sides have up to...
Eric Dietrich Montana Free Press As candidate Greg Gianforte campaigned for his first term as Montana governor in 2020, touting his billion-dollar success as a Bozeman tech entrepreneur, his endorsement by the editorial page of the Billings Gazette came with a pointed caveat: Hand the reins of state government to Gianforte and his fellow Republicans, the Gazette's editorial board wrote, and Montanans would be well-advised to keep a close eye on how his jobs-jobs-jobs pitch wou...
Mara Silvers Montana Free Press Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and Democratic challenger Ryan Busse met in Missoula Wednesday for a one-hour debate, the only forum the two major-party gubernatorial candidates have agreed to share before the Nov. 5 election. The debate, hosted by regional news network NonStop Local, was livestreamed on the outlet’s website and is scheduled to broadcast Thursday on Montana PBS at 7 p.m and Sunday on NonStop Local at 9 a.m. It came after weeks o...
Alex Sakariassen Montana Free Press Election officials across Montana have endured intense public skepticism and scrutiny over the past four years. Every step and procedure in the elections they oversee has been poked and prodded by citizen watchdogs, discussed and debated by conservative lawmakers, and tested and retested by election officials themselves. The task they face is a daunting and important one: continue to administer a system Montanans have long depended on to...
Amanda Eggert Montana Free Press With some studies finding that home insurance rates have ballooned 44% in Montana over the past five years, the affordability and availability of insurance have become cornerstone issues in the state auditor election. James Brown, a Republican currently serving as president of Montana's utility board, is squaring off against John Repke, a Democrat and retired businessman, for the open seat to become Montana's top consumer watchdog. Whoever...
Posted 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024 AMY BETH HANSON The Associated Press HELENA - A succession of controversies marks Republican Austin Knudsen's nearly four years as Montana attorney general. His office sided with a man who made an armed threat over a pandemic mask mandate and was accused of pressuring a Helena hospital over its refusal to administer a parasite drug to a COVID-19 patient. He tried to block three constitutional initiatives from the November ballot,...
Zeke Lloyd Montana Free Press By Monday, the fire line around Horse Gulch Fire hosted 465 people working to prevent the spread. The fire remained 0% contained. Jimtown Road and Canyon Ferry Road mark the western and southern edges, respectively, of the 12,797 affected acres. The fire has not crossed those two boundaries, and continued to push eastward, but remains west of Hellgate Gulch. A large number of bulldozer crews and on-foot personnel continue to dig fire lines along that threatened part of the perimeter. According to...
By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The warning from a woman in Yellowstone National Park came in just after midnight on July Fourth: She’d just been held at gunpoint by a man who said he planned to carry out a mass shooting — a random attack common in the U.S. these days but not in the Yellowstone region, let alone the park itself. Rangers spent the next several hours trying to find the gunman before he showed up outside a dining area with 200 people inside. He shot a barrage of bullets with a semi-...
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks GLASGOW – Montana is home to mountain lions, so it's no surprise if mountain lions are seen in the central and northeastern parts of the state. Mountain lions can be found across the state ... basically anywhere there are deer or elk, which is their primary food source. However, due to their elusive nature, they are rarely seen. Mountain lions have established populations in the Missouri River breaks and the island ranges of central and n...
Press release BILLINGS – The BLM Montana/Dakotas State Office opened a 30-day public scoping period on 13 Montana oil and gas parcels under consideration for a January 2025 lease sale. The comment period ends July 26, 2024. The parcels, totaling 1,324 acres, as well as a timeline, maps and instructions on how to comment are available on the BLM’s ePlanning website at: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2032675/510 . The terms of federal fluid mineral leases will be consistent with the Fluid Minerals Leasing and...
Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is advising people to not eat, sell, or serve any flavor of Diamond Shruumz-brand chocolate bars, cones, or gummies, and that consumers should discard any previously purchased product immediately. Diamond Shruumz-brand products can be purchased online and in person at retail locations. The FDA is investigating a series of illnesses associated with eating Diamond Shruumz-brand...
AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press HELENA — The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe who cautioned that it's also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals. "The birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning. We must do more," said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of t...
AMY BETH HANSON and MATTHEW BROWN The Associated Press HELENA — Three-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican newcomer Tim Sheehy cruised to victory in Montana's primary election Tuesday, setting up a contentious November election that could tip the balance of power in the closely divided U.S. Senate. Sheehy is a former Navy SEAL backed by former President Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Republican establishment. Beyond the race's national implications, it offers Republicans a chance to complete t...
Press release MILES CITY — The national bank rating firm BauerFinancial Inc. announced that Stockman Bank of Montana has earned its highest rating, 5-Star Superior, for financial strength and stability for the 62nd consecutive quarter. Having maintained its financial strength and stability for more than a decade, Stockman Bank has also earned another designation as an “Exceptional Performance Bank.” Only banks that have earned and maintained this highest 5-Star rating for 10 years, 40 consecutive quarters, or longer, may clai...
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Montana BILLINGS - A Billings man who admitted to threatening to kill U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., in voicemail messages was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The defendant, Anthony James Cross, 30, pleaded guilty in January to threats to injure and murder a United States Senator. U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided. The court...
Centers for Disease Control and prevention issued a warning Tuesday that natural food and cooperatives stores including some in Montana may have Gibson Farms Inc. organic walnut halves or pieces that are linked to an E. coli outbreak. "E. COLI OUTBREAK: If you buy organic walnut halves or pieces from bulk containers at natural food and co-op stores in AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, KS, LA, MT, NE, NM, NV, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, or WY, check to see if your store had recalled...
Amanda Eggert Montana Free Press The Montana Public Service Commission voted Tuesday to reopen comment on a petition that seeks to integrate climate impacts into the commission’s regulatory work. Following the commission’s 4-1 vote, the public will have until July 1 to weigh in on the petition, which asks regulators to adopt a framework for considering climate impacts in its oversight of monopoly power companies. At the recommendation of agency staff, commissioners will also take a closer look at the mechanics of implementing...
