Montana is one of nine states that could end Medicaid expansion coverage if the federal government cuts funding as some allies of President-elect Donald Trump have proposed. Montana’s law rolls back expansion below 90% funding but allows it to continue if lawmakers identify additional funding. Under state law Montana lawmakers must reauthorize its Medicaid expansion in 2025 during the 69th Legislative session or the expansion will end.
The Montana Supreme Court has ruled against Lake County’s efforts to get the state to pay for policing on Tribal lands. The ruling concerns Public Law 280 which is a long-time agreement that declares Lake County will assume jurisdiction over felonies committed by tribal members within county lines. Lake County commissioners will now look to the upcoming Montana legislative session for help in having the state fund it.
The number of Montanans enrolled in an apprenticeship program has increased roughly 25% over the past five years. The Montana Registered Apprentice Program combines practical on-the-job skills training with formal instruction ensuring workers earn nationally recognized credentials while remaining in Montana. Apprenticeship graduates earned an average annual salary of $69,000 one year after graduating higher than the statewide average wage.
The Clark Fork Face Project would permit logging across nearly 17,000 acres of land between Bonner and Drummond but the Bureau of Land Management was sued this week to try to stop it. The Center for Biological Diversity and other organizations claim it would cause substantial harm to the state’s Garnet Mountain Range by blocking migration corridors essential to native wildlife.
The state health department will have $425,000 in additional money to reduce waste and fraud in public assistance programs like Medicaid heat and food assistance. The federal grant will help flag cases that come from outside of Montana or multiple applications from one computer or phone. In the past the staff manually searched for those indicators of fraud.
With just a few days left in the U.S. congressional term farmers along the Milk River are hopeful federal lawmakers will deliver at least some of the more than $300 million promised earlier in the year for the Milk River Irrigation Project which delivers water to 18,000 people spread across 350-miles of the Montana Hi-line. The project’s plumbing rerouting water from the St. Mary River to the Milk blew in June.
Seventeen Montanans have contracted salmonella from cucumbers grown in Mexico distributed by SunFed Produce. Federal health officials say the contaminated cucumbers were sold between October 12th and November 26th. They may also have a sticker with the grower’s name “Agrotato.”
Missoula may soon get its largest new park in decades after a subdivision developer donated 16 acres toward a 28-acre plot of land that would be open to the public. The City Council gave preliminary approval for the donation from the developer of West End Farms subdivision Wednesday afternoon.
American Prairie has grown the private and public land leases it manages to more than half a million acres with the acquisition of a property in Phillips County. The 51,731 acres Include 2,557 deeded acres and 49,174 leased acres. It is the second-largest purchase in the nonprofit’s 23-year history.
The National Finals Rodeo begins today in Las Vegas and Montana has sent some of its finest athletes to compete on the biggest perfectly groomed dirt stage. From bareback riding to barrel racing Montana’s homegrown talent is ready to represent the Treasure State in style.
