Montana’s senior U.S. Senator Jon Tester met with constituents at a town hall event Friday in Missoula. About 150 people packed into one of the meeting rooms in Missoula’s Holiday Inn Parkside Friday to interact with Tester. The town hall was an open door event with no invite needed. It was his second in person town hall of the year and his ninth since President Trump took office.

The Trump administration Wednesday reversed course on its May announcement that it would close or privatize a lot of Job Corps centers across the country, including two in Montana. The program focuses on trade skills, wildfire response and education. Nick Mott reports from the Trapper Creek Job Corps in Darby.

At least $6.5 million dollars was spent on lobbying during the state’s 2019 legislative session. That’s according to the spending reports that groups trying to influence state lawmakers are legally required to file. Montana Public Radio dug into the reports, which this year got harder for the public to make sense of.

Montana now has three Republicans campaigning for governor, with one candidate dropping out of the race to run for the U.S. House. Party leaders met in Helena this weekend. Veteran journalists Chuck Johnson and Ed Kemmick offer their analysis with Montana Free Press Editor John Adams.

State Auditor Matt Rosendale is running for Montana's open U.S. House seat - the third time he has sought to become a member of the state's congressional delegation.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly connected an appropriations bill procedural delay to the Job Corps amendment. The two are unrelated. Also, the original story correctly noted Gianforte did not vote on the Job Corps amendment, but failed to mention that was because he was flying to Montana with Vice President Pence to participate in a meth roundtable. Edward O'Brien is responsible for the mistakes, not reporter Nick Mott. O'Brien regrets the errors. An amendment that would

Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte kicked off his campaign with a YouTube video that opens with scenes of Montana’s sweeping backcountry vistas, small towns and ranching lifestyle.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday to extend health care benefits to offshore Vietnam veterans who had contact with Agent Orange. The current law only offers the benefits to veterans who served within the borders of Vietnam.

More than 120 people, including members of state, tribal and local law enforcement, attended a public training in Helena Wednesday. The daylong training, organized by Montana’s Department of Justice and Montana’s U.S. attorney, highlighted situations when indigenous persons go missing.

A second Montana Democrat has announced a run for the governor’s seat. State House Minority Leader Casey Schreiner of Great Falls announced his bid in an email release Tuesday, along with a slew of endorsements from state senators and representatives.