Montana News

While Representative Ryan Zinke awaits a full Senate confirmation vote to become the next secretary of the Interior under Donald Trump’s Administration, many Montanans are left wondering when that vote will actually happen. That includes Senator Jon Tester. "I've got a notion it will be next week, but remember my crystal ball is awful cloudy, and it could be few weeks out," Tester says.

Montana’s Superintendent of Public Instruction visited the chambers of the state capitol today, speaking to lawmakers about the future of Montana’s education system. Elsie Arntzen , the first Republican to hold the seat as Montana’s top education official in three decades, delivered her Education Address to a crowd of lawmakers and statewide officials.

Allegations of corruption and partisanship were scattered throughout a meeting of lawmakers today in the House Judiciary Committee as they discussed a bill (HB-340) that would dismantle the current office of the Commissioner of Political Practices .

Public lands advocates flooded the state capitol this week and won a victory against privatization in Congress. What's fueling their increased intensity of late? With Ryan Zinke as Interior secretary, is development on public lands a bigger threat than privatization? Faced with a revenue shortfall and an unwillingness to raise taxes, Montana's University System and other state agencies are preparing for some painful funding cuts. And the Legislature spent time this week debating a ban on Sharia

Lawmakers in Helena are calling for what’s being billed as the “Montana Meth Summit”, a gathering of lawmakers and government officials to talk about the impacts of meth in Montana. Senator Eric Moore, a Republican from Miles City, and Senator Diane Sands, a Missoula Democrat, stood in the Capitol Tuesday afternoon, as they announced a listening session to discuss the trends of meth use across the state.

HELENA - A bill in the Montana House would get rid of the Office of the Commissioner of Political Practices and split the duties between two elected officials — the Attorney General and Secretary of State — rather than one appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. House Bill 340’s sponsor, Rep. Derek Skees , R-Kalispell, said the office wields too much power for one person.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers agreed today to fund new judges for Montana’s burdened court system. But, as lawmakers focus on cutting spending statewide, the future of other services in courts are uncertain.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is using his veto power to recommend that the state Legislature reduce the amount of money it approved for itself to operate this session. Bullock used what's called an amendatory veto Thursday to recommend reducing a nearly 15 percent increase in the so-called "feed bill" (HB-1) to 1.46 percent. That is the same level of growth as Bullock's overall two-year budget proposal.

Opponents of a proposed water bottling plant outside of Kalispell held a meeting Wednesday night to update local residents on the status of permits relating to the plant. The Montana Artesian Water Company ’s plant would bottle, ship and sell nearly 192 million gallons - about 1.2 billion 12-ounce water bottles - of treated groundwater per year.

Katie Barnes is a big deal at the Missoula College culinary arts program. Her cooking skills have earned her national recognition. Those who know her say Barnes is, without doubt, going places in the industry. But just over two years ago her professional future was anything but certain.