The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 signed by President Donald Trump restored ownership of the Bison Range to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the tribes are working through new management of the Bison Range and the wildlife refuges between St. Ignatius and Ronan. The Bison Range f...
Southeast Montana Could See Snowfall Starting Next Week
A fall weather system moving into southeastern Montana has caused the National Weather Service to announce a hazardous weather outlook. Rain of an inch or more is expected to cover an area from Livingston east to the state border by Monday with possible snowfall at higher elevations. Cold temperatures caused the Department of Transportation to...
Montana Reported $200 Million In Unpaid Taxes In 2020
According to estimates by the state Department of Revenue more than $219 million in federal income taxes owed by Montanans went unpaid in fiscal year 2020. Those unpaid taxes are part of a larger tax gap of the under-collections the U.S. Treasury Department estimates will short the U.S. government $7 trillion over the next decade. https://nort...
Montana DPHHS Recieves New Funding For Child Care
The Department of Public Health and Human Services has announced $31 million in federal funding is now available to Montana child care providers via an online application. Northern News Network’s Eric Young has the details. https://northernbroadcasting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/10-08_737.mp3
Montana Epidemiologists Disagree Over Emergency Mask Ruling
Montana’s state health department released a letter Thursday signed by 18 of its own epidemiologists raising sharp concerns over an emergency rule issued by the department over mask use in schools as classes started this fall. The letter raises concern about claims in the emergency rule it calls misleading and false. The Montana Free Pre...
Roundup Coal Mine Fined For Safety Violations
Signal Peak Energy has been fined $1 million for violating environmental and employee safety regulations at Montana’s only underground coal mine located in Roundup. The mine through a representative pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of willful violation of health and safety standards. In 2013 and 2015 mine managers improperly dispos...
Abortion Laws Blocked By Yellowstone Judge
Yellowstone County District Court Judge Michael Moses has put a halt to three laws restricting access to abortion passed by the Republican-majority Legislature earlier this year. The preliminary injunction ordered Thursday stops the laws from taking effect while a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Montana that seeks to overturn them progr...
UM Law School Dean Resigns Following Campus Protest
The University of Montana law school’s dean and associate dean will step down following allegations that they failed to take reports of sexual harassment and assault seriously. Dean Paul Kirgis wrote in a letter to the Alexander Blewett III School of Law that he and Associate Dean Sally Weaver will step down from their roles. The letter comes ...
Court Allows Challenge To Bill Addressing Voter Activity On College Campuses
A District Court judge has denied the state Attorney General’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit against a new multi-functional law saying the plaintiffs have proven their claims are worth hearing in court. It challenges Senate Bill 319 which was signed into law in May and prohibits groups from political activities on certain parts of college ...
Nearly 1 Million Acres Burned In Montana In 2021
There are 35 active wildfires burning in Montana according to the state’s fire tracking database with more than 2,500 wildfires reported so far this year and 930,788 acres burned. The state is in the second year of drought conditions that have continued into the fall season but firefighters have managed to contain the total land burned to belo...