Government

News from the office of Senator Tester U.S. SENATE — As part of his continued effort to support emergency services in Montana and keep communities safe, U.S. Senator Jon Tester recently passed his bipartisan Fire Grants and Safety Act to reauthorize the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Program, and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Program – both of which provide resources for fire service agencies to improve staffing and purchase equipment. “Montana’s firefighters are often the first line of defense when disaster strikes, and I’ll always do everything in my power to ensure they have the necessary resources to ke...

News from the office of Governor Gianforte  HELENA — Montana’s unemployment rate reached yet another all-time low in March, ticking down to 2.3% from 2.4% in February, the fourth lowest rate in the nation. Montana’s unemployment rate has fallen for four consecutive months, and the...

News from the office of Senator Tester U.S. Senate — Following efforts from U.S. Senator Jon Tester, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order today to expand access to high-quality home care and support for veterans and caregivers of all ages. “This is great news for our aging and di...

HELENA — The Montana House followed the lead of the state Senate Thursday to endorse a statewide ban on the social media platform TikTok. Senate Bill 419, sponsored by Rep. Shelly Vance, R-Belgrade, would bar the platform’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, from allowing “the operat...

News from the Department of the Interior FLATHEAD RESERVATION — Water users please be advised that the river water diversions from the Jocko River at the FIIP Structure identified as the Jocko K, Canal Headworks, will not be able to divert water until April 29 due to rehabilitation of this structu...

News from DPHHS U.S. — The Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) announced April 12 that with the federal Public Health Emergency ending on May 11, the agency plans to discontinue the weekly updates to the COVID-19 case tracking and vaccine dashboards. The last update to the da...

News from the Office of the Governor HELENA — Together with Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Montana Department of Justice officials, Governor Greg Gianforte recently urged Montana legislators to invest in law enforcement to build safer, stronger communities. “Government’s chief ...

HELENA — House Bill 479, sponsored by Ronan representative Joe Read, is on its way to the State Senate after passing a House vote on April 3.  HB479 proposes that the State of Montana appropriate $2.5 million to the Department of Justice each year, beginning July 1, to reimburse Lake County for...

HELENA — The Legislature this week sounded the likely death knell for almost all of the remaining proposals to amend the Montana Constitution this session. That isn’t to say that the House and Senate didn’t endorse those eight proposals, which ranged from an amendment to end state Suprem...

News from USDA WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) encourages urban producers, innovative producers and other stakeholders to submit comments for and virtually attend the fifth public meeting of the Federal Advisory Committee for Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (Comm...