Northern News Network Headlines

Ten New Candidates File With Secretary of State Office

Thirteen candidate filings had been processed by the Secretary of State’s Office for Montana’s two congressional seats as of the end of business last week. In total 214 legislative filings have been processed with 170 candidates entering the race to become a Montana representative and 44 vying to become a senator. 30 legislative races ar...

PowerXchange Host Kate Tillotson Offers Some Great Tips!

Kate-Tillotson-NRECA-Host

If you are one of the thousands of Rural Electric members heading for Nashville for the 2022 PowerXchange March 6-9, you can look forward to Kate Tillotson serving as your Host and Emcee. Some Montanans might recognize Tillotson, because she began her early career as a reporter in Kalispell, before eventually broadcasting for 12 years at WW...

Montana Ag Teachers Oppose CTE Framework Changes

During Career Technical Education Month in Montana the national organization “Advance CTE” is looking to update the National Career Clusters Framework used to describe CTE. One of the proposed changes is the agriculture cluster to the food living systems and natural resources cluster. Missoula ag educator Kristi Rothe.

Secretary Of State Jacobsen Submits PSC Map Per Court Order

Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen submitted the state’s proposed five new Public Service Commission districts this week in response to a lawsuit claiming the current ones are unconstitutional but said it shouldn’t be adopted.  MTN News Mike Dennison reports she said the lawsuit should be dismissed and the Legislature should draw the bo...

IRS Scraps Facial ID Plan

The Internal Revenue Service has abandoned a plan to use facial recognition on taxpayers                       for this filing season. According to Fight for the Future, in 2021, Montana is still using ID.me and facial verification for people applying for unemployment benefits. The Golden Colorado group says there were numerous reports of prob...

U.S. Congressional Candidate Ballard Drops Out

Jack Ballard from Red Lodge has dropped out of the Democratic primary for the U.S. House seat representing eastern Montana. The remaining Democratic candidates are Penny Ronning, a former member of the Billings City Council who works to combat human trafficking, Mark Sweeney, a state legislator from Philipsburg, and Skylar Williams of Billings...

Technical Education Programs Highlighted During CTE Month

Governor Greg Gianforte proclaimed February as Career and Technical Education Month to highlight various technical career fields and recruit future workers. Montana State University System Deputy Director of Higher Education Brock Tessman on some of the CTE jobs currently in need of filling.

Montana State Hospital May Lose Federal Funding

The federal government has issued a notice to Montana State Hospital officials it has until March 13th to correct noncompliance issues or it may lose federal funding. State lawmakers with oversight of the state health department have called a special committee meeting for March 4th to discuss it but that schedule could change.