News
Montana lawmakers may move court administration away from Supreme Court
The Montana Senate Judiciary Committee heard a bill, Senate Bill 230, that would appear to make a minor organizational tweak that opponents said will have a huge effect on how the state’s courts would run. Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, is proposing to move the administrator of the courts, currently supervised by the chief justice and […]
Montana Indigenous boarding school remembrance resolution clears Senate hurdle
A Montana resolution that seeks to push Congress to designate a day of remembrance for children who died at Indigenous boarding schools across the country cleared a key hurdle in the state Senate on Thursday. Senate Joint Resolution 6, sponsored by Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, passed second reading in a 45-5 vote and is poised […]
U.S. House panel probes extent of fraud in federal COVID-19 relief programs
WASHINGTON — From 2020 to 2022, a group of Minnesotans pretended to be serving meals to low-income children, all the while filing for reimbursement under a federal COVID-19 relief program aimed to buoy child nutrition as schools and childcare centers closed. In all, the schemers defrauded the government of $250 million, the Minnesota Reformer reported. Three […]
U.S. House GOP votes to oust Rep. Omar from foreign affairs panel for past antisemitic remarks
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted along party lines Thursday to remove Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee for past antisemitic statements. The removal, the first for a Democrat during this session of Congress, followed Democrats’ vote to strip two Republicans of all their committee assignments last Congress for making threats against fellow […]
Montana resolution seeking Article V Convention tabled in split Senate vote
A resolution that would make Montana the 20th state to request an Article V Convention to amend the U.S. Constitution is likely dead after it failed on its third reading in the Senate Wednesday. The Senate deadlocked 25-25 on its final vote on Senate Joint Resolution 2 a day after the measure narrowly passed on […]
Bill would outlaw physician-assisted death, reversing Montana’s current practice
Robert Baxter wanted to die, and he needed a physician’s help. He and another terminally ill man challenged the right to obtain medical help in a legal fight that wound its way to the Montana Supreme Court. He died the day the Montana Supreme Court decided his legal case. His daughter testified on Wednesday that […]
Biden, McCarthy hold ‘productive’ and ‘frank’ debt limit talks as fiscal cliffs loom
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy huddled behind closed doors at the White House on Wednesday in the first of what will likely be several conversations as the country approaches two fiscal cliffs this year amid divided government. The top issue at the moment is when and how to address […]
Bill to add ‘free market’ solution to housing crisis with lot sizes rallies proponents
In Bozeman, people who have jobs are living in RVs and trying to keep them warm in winter because houses cost too much, said Henry Kriegel. “It greatly saddened me to realize that in my own hometown, people are living out of RVs,” said Kriegel, with Americans for Prosperity. In Billings, a local study showed […]
U.S. House Judiciary’s debut hearing on the border centers on blame for fentanyl crisis
WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee blamed the Biden administration for fentanyl drug smuggling at the U.S.-Mexico border during a Wednesday hearing. Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio also blamed U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the number of migrants at the border, and said there are already hundreds of […]
Lawmakers look to revise Montana’s marijuana laws two years after legalization
In its first major revision proposed to Montana’s marijuana laws since the state legalized recreational use in 2021, a House panel heard a series of bills that would adjust and change laws governing pot. Among those bills and changes is House Bill 128, proposed by Rep. Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, which makes a number of […]
Citizens rally at Montana Capitol, demand lawmakers keep hands off state Constitution
Montanans packed the rotunda at the state Capitol on Wednesday calling for lawmakers to “keep their hands off” the state Constitution — in part, they said, because Republican legislators this session have so far requested as many amendment proposals as have been referred to voters over the past 50 years. “To make America great again […]
Seekins-Crowe: Judicial Standards Commission selection is ‘fox guarding the henhouse’
If the Judicial Standards Commission is doing something bad, the legislative auditor will find out and put it in a study. So wait for that study — it’s in the works, said Bruce Spencer, with the Montana Judges Association. That was Spencer’s perspective on a bill to change the way appointments to that commission are […]