According to a time and cost analysis of legal challenges conducted by the Legislative Audit Division the Montana Department of Justice has spent just more than $102,199 and 1,803 hours defending 14 cases challenging 18 different laws passed during the 2021 legislative session. In an email Legislative GOP spokesperson Kyle Schmauch said 97.5 p...
State Department Of Justice Highlights Growing Human Trafficking Trend In Montana
Human trafficking remains a big law enforcement challenge. Andy Yedanik from the Montana Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation said Tuesday on Voices of Montana the numbers are going in the wrong direction. https://northernbroadcasting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/12-08_737.mp3
Montana Legislature Appeals Subpoena Case To Supreme Court
Yesterday, the Montana Legislature and State Attorney General Austin Knudsen appealed a Montana Supreme Court decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that state justices should have excused themselves from a ruling on legislative attempts to acquire internal court documents. This comes following their ruling that the lawmakers did not have ...
U.S. Justice Department Awards Montana Tribes Victim Compensation Grants
November is National Native American Heritage Month. The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded a combined $2.2 million in grants to the Blackfeet, Northern Cheyenne, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux, and Chippewa Cree tribes for victim services. $3.7 million will go to the state Department of Corrections throug...
AG Investigation Gets Approved By Montana Legislature
Republican leaders in the Legislature have approved a Democratic request for an investigation into the Montana Department of Justice’s involvement in a complaint made by the family of a COVID-19 patient at St. Peter’s Health in Helena. The family claims three public officials threatened to use their positions to force doctors and n...
Montana Officials Take Action Towards Illegal Drug Trafficking
The Montana Department of Justice announced Wednesday its first round of grant awards for local law enforcement to intercept illegal drugs trafficked into the state. The state is drawing $300,000 from upcoming revenues from taxes on cannabis sales to combat methamphetamine and fentanyl trafficking. According to the Montana Board of Crime Contr...
Montana Joins Lawsuit For Overturning Bump Stock Ban
The Montana Department of Justice along with 17 other states have filed a brief with a federal appeals court in support of a lawsuit attempting to overturn a ban on bump stocks a firearm accessory allowing semi-automatic rifles to fire more rapidly. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is the lead attorney on the amicus filing with the 6th ...
COVID-19 Relief Funds Being Considered To Treat Senior Exploitation
The Montana Office of Consumer Protection and Victim Services within the Montana Department of Justice has recommended Montana direct $645,000 of federal COVID-19 recovery funds to increase efforts to fight exploitation of senior citizens by adding three elder councils to the state and hiring more staff to focus on crimes that hurt the elderly...
Subpoenas For Montana Judicial Branch Withdrawn
A legislative committee investigating the judicial branch has withdrawn its subpoenas for Montana Supreme Court records after consulting with the state Department of Justice. The committee had produced a preliminary report by the end of April outlining its concerns with the judicial branch following a month of investigation. Withdrawing the su...
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Awards Grant For Wetland Restoration In Montana
Several people wearing red gathered on the steps of the Big Horn County Courthouse Wednesday with most of them carrying signs with the name of a young woman who had just turned 18 when she went missing. About 78,000 Indigenous people live in Montana, although they comprise less than 7% of the state’s population. According the data from the sta...