Montana lawmakers are joining the state's congressional delegation in asking the federal government for more information about alleged misconduct by federal food safety inspectors at meat processing businesses. State lawmakers are concerned that small meat processing businesses are being treated differently than large businesses, among other allegations of misconduct by federal inspectors.

Montana’s Republican Senator Steve Daines helped reintroduce a bipartisan bill Tuesday that would bring high-speed internet to rural parts of the state. In a press release, Daines says the bill cuts red tape and better allows companies, state and local governments to install broadband infrastructure on federal land.

Montana Wilderness advocates are launching a campaign in opposition to a bill introduced by the state’s Republican Senator Steve Daines . If passed, that bill would eliminate protections for some federal lands in Montana.

Negotiations between the state and companies that help people with developmental disabilities seem to be at a dead end. This after some lawmakers urged the state health department not to end contracts with the companies due to budget cuts.

Two Montana wilderness bills are getting hearings Wednesday in an important U.S. Senate committee. There’s disagreement over whether they should be linked. Montana’s Republican Senator Steve Daines is a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and is sponsoring one of the bills it will hear Wednesday. It would remove wilderness study area designations in five Montana places encompassing nearly half-a-million acres.

Sally Mauk, Chuck Johnson and Rob Saldin unpack how Montana candidates — including the "least Trumpy" Republican — reacted to the State of the Union, parse the latest campaign finance reports, and talk town hall pledges and bikes in wilderness, on this episode of "Campaign Beat."

The Montana health department faced blistering public comment Thursday on their plan to cut more than $12 million from Medicaid services. Governor Steve Bullock and state lawmakers reduced funding to most state agencies to balance the state’s budget . The roughly $12 million is part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ continuing work to cut $49 million in spending. That’s more than more than 4.5 percent of its general fund budget.

The state health department is taking the next step to chip away at $49 million in budget cuts. That’s how much Governor Steve Bullock and state lawmakers told the department it had to reduce expenses at the end November’s special legislative session, in order to balance the state budget after lower than expected tax revenues last year.

A federal judge says the government will need to take a second look at whether Yellowstone National Park bison should be protected under the Endangered Species Act . "This is the first step in what I think is going to be a long fight," says Ken Cole, is the director of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a group advocating for bison protection.

Montana Senator Steve Daines and Congressman Greg Gianforte were aboard a chartered train in rural Virginia Wednesday that was involved in a fatal accident with a garbage truck. Congressman Gianforte and Senator Daines were not injured in Wednesday morning’s accident. But the truck’s driver was killed and a passenger critically injured.