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Montana’s top baby names for 2020
Well, as if Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck together weren’t enough to make Montana trendy, the Social Security Administration has released its annual list of top baby names, and Montana, you’re trendy. The names continue the back-to-future trend as traditional names that may have been just as much at home when Montana was founded as […]
Zinke looking to represent Montana in Congress again
When Max Baucus decided to run for Congress in Montana, he literally ran across the state. Kathleen Williams zigged and zagged throughout Montana in a camper. And now, former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke hopes to float Montana’s rivers on a listening tour as he embarks on running for Congress to represent Montana, presumably […]
DOA director hires former Solicitor General to represent her in subpoena lawsuit
The Director of the Department of Administration has contracted with the former Solicitor General of Montana to represent her in a dispute that pits all three branches of Montana’s government against each other. Misty Ann Giles, a confirmed appointee of Gov. Greg Gianforte, has hired Dale Schowengerdt, to represent her in a case before the […]
Supreme Court will decide SB140 on briefing
The Montana Supreme Court said the entire court will decide the fate of Senate Bill 140 on the briefings that have been filed. The controversy, which arose the day after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed SB140, will be decided without oral arguments. Oral arguments are something the court holds when there are remaining questions that briefings […]
Coal-fired GOP abandons free markets in favor of state-run solutions
Republicans, please sit down now. Even though most of you have good, reliable state-sponsored health insurance, I don’t want to be the cause of anyone fainting in disbelief. One of several things Gov. Greg Gianforte got right during this legislative session — that was otherwise regressive and mean-spirited — came via veto when he gave […]
Communities try gifts, cash and spite to get residents vaccinated
In Billings on Thursday, the first 400 people to get a COVID-19 vaccine will get $50, thanks to an anonymous donor who contributed $20,000 to try and boost vaccination rates. Cash, ice cream and tickets to sporting events are some of the techniques that communities are using to try to entice folks into getting vaccinated […]
Public safety, tax relief and vaccinations: Legislators offer perspective on Billings-area issues
Montana lawmakers from the state’s largest regional delegation arrived to hear concerns from the business leaders of the biggest city in the state on Tuesday. In a legislative wrap-up forum that saw Reps. Kathy Kelker, D-Billings and Bill Mercer, R-Billings, give remarks, the Billings Chamber of Commerce hosted the biennial gathering to review accomplishments and […]
Courts administrator files response to Attorney General’s motion to disqualify all Supreme Court judges
Montana’s courts administrator has responded to Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s motion to have all the state’s Supreme Court justices disqualified because they either know her or work with her in a case that involves thousands of emails and the head of the Department of Administration, Misty Ann Giles. Beth McLaughlin, through her attorney Randy Cox […]
Brazil, India COVID-19 variants reported in Montana
On the same day Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law a bill that rescinded all mask mandates, Montana reported its first cases of variants that could be more deadly, evade immunization and have mutated. The story was first reported by Marista Georgiou of NBC-Montana. Those two variants, known as the “Brazil” and “India” types, […]
Throwback Thursday: Get back to the Republican Party of yesteryear
Now that the Legislature has (mercifully) ended, and we’re recollecting our wits, the one thing that was consistent from start to end was a sentiment that followed this course: Hmm, these don’t seem like the Republicans I remember. True, they’re not the old laissez faire Republicans who loved the status quo, and distrusted anything too […]
Attorneys sue to stop lawmakers’ back-up plan for courts
The group that has challenged the constitutionality of the Montana governor appointing judges directly asked the state’s Supreme Court to include consideration of Senate Bill 402 as unconstitutional as well in a motion filed late Wednesday. The group, which includes former legislators Dorothy Bradley and Bob Brown, as well as Constitutional Convention Delegate Mae Nan […]
Attorney General: Disqualify all justices, start negotiations with Legislature
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has filed a response to a set of emergency motions by Montana Courts Administrator Beth McLaughlin, asserting that all the justices should disqualify themselves and, in a separate response, proposed that the Supreme Court negotiate with Legislature for the release of as many 5,000 of her emails. In two motions […]