Education officials and advocates are pressing Montana senators to add money to the next state budget where the House wouldn't… in public schools and universities. A senate committee listened to testimony today. Republican state lawmakers are seeking to retake control of the narrative regarding public lands access. Montana’s Historical Society has been asking state lawmakers for help to build a new building for years. In the last legislative session it narrowly missed getting the OK to issue

News broke this morning that Democratic congressional candidate Rob Quist had three liens filed against him by the state of Montana to collect about $15,000 in back taxes. Legislative analysts have released a new forecast that paints a rosier economic picture for Montana. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to vote this week on a bill that would give a one-percent pay raise for state employees.

The Montana Legislature is poised to pass a bill to ban Sharia and other foreign laws from being used in courtrooms in the state. The University of Montana is surveying faculty and staff about their interest in early retirement as the university seeks to cut spending due to decreasing enrollment. There’s some good news in the latest sampling for contaminants at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Company site on the Flathead River. That’s according to Mike Cirian with the Environmental Protection Agency

Glacier National Park will lift restrictions on non-motorized, hand-propelled boats this season. The latest tax increase proposal introduced in the Senate today, could raise the cost of beer, wine and hard alcohol. A Kila lawmaker wants a voter referendum on whether to ban transgender people from public school and government building restrooms and locker rooms that don't match their "immutable biological sex."

The state budget bill passed the House today on a party line vote. People concerned about the contaminated Smurfit Stone paper mill site west of Missoula are meeting tonight in Frenchtown at 6 PM. An amendment to add $3 million to the budget to implement the state's water compact with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes was rejected.

The Montana House is scheduled to take up the main state budget bill Thursday and Friday. Montana would have to spend an extra $126 million a year to continue its Medicaid expansion program under proposed legislation to replace the federal Affordable Care Act. Montana lawmakers are considering footing the bill to defend a state senator who is being sued under the state's public records act to release her emails. A Montana legislative committee has voted against a bill to set up a fund for

The federal government has revoked the tax-exempt status of a group run by white nationalist Richard Spencer. A meeting to come up with a list of candidates to nominate the state’s next Commissioner of Political Practices was canceled this week, after Montana’s top legislative leaders couldn’t come to agreement. The Montana House has given initial approval to a bill that would clarify that county commissioners can travel together or attend the same event without violating the state's open

Montana's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.9 percent in January, the lowest rate in nearly a decade. Officials say Montana added 2,700 payroll jobs in January. Montana election officials say a bill that would give counties the option of holding an all-mail ballot for the special congressional election must pass before April 10th. A Billings radio host returned to the airwaves today after apologizing for suggesting that Native Americans should have separate basketball

Montana House Democrats are seeking to restore nearly $100 million in healthcare spending cuts from Gov. Steve Bullock's proposed budget, but Republicans aren't budging much. Montana lawmakers are considering propping up a coal-fired power plant's operations by giving one of its co-owners low-interest loans of up to $10 million a year. Montana U.S. Attorney Mike Cotter says he was shocked by the unprofessional manner in which he and 45 other Obama appointees were asked to turn in their

Democratic Governor Steve Bullock says the number one concern he has with the Legislature’s proposed budget is the lack of funding for essential services. Federal inspectors found several safety issues at the Montana State Hospital, including staffing shortages that put patients at risk of injury by other patients or themselves. Republican and Democratic leadership in the state legislature failed to come to an agreement today on a list of candidates to take over the office of the Commissioner of