Government
The normally quiet Lake County Elections Office was abuzz last week, with extra staff on hand to stuff around 20,000 ballots into envelopes for upcoming municipal elections. Some were shipped last Friday to meet the deadline for mailing ballots to military and overseas voters, and the majority goes out this Friday, Oct. 15, for the Nov. 2 election. Voters will find several contested races on their ballots: In St. Ignatius, Mayor Steve McCollum faces Daren Incashola. The two incumbent councilmen, Daniel Thompson and Chris Heffern, are unopposed, and there is no candidate for city judge. In Ronan, Mayor Kim Aipperspach faces challenges from Robert (Bob) Sager and city cou...
It’s time to help working Montanans In a recent guest column, State Senator Greg Hertz (Republican, Polson) decried the Biden administration’s call to restore the federal corporate tax rate to a reasonable level, still lower than it was prior to 2017. Hertz reiterates the same tired arguments ...
News from the office of Senator Jon Tester U.S. Senate — Chairman Jon Tester of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee took to the Senate floor today in support of designating a state funeral in honor of the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, as well as to recognize f...
News from the office of Governor Gianforte HELENA — Governor Greg Gianforte announced Martin Charlo of Pablo to the Invasive Species Council. Charlo has served in a variety of capacities over the last decade for the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes. He currently serves as treasurer ...
News from the office of Senator Tester U.S. Senate — During a recent Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen confirmed to U.S. Senator Jon Tester that the state of Montana is authorized to use all currently received American Rescue Plan A...
News from Rylee Sommers-Flanagan, Upper Seven Law HELENA — Governor Greg Gianforte is facing legal action for refusing to release records from the legislative session, according to a new lawsuit filed today in Helena. The lawsuit seeks release of “Agency Bill Monitoring Forms” created ...
This month, U.S. Senators began the markup of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget resolution package. This rubber-meets-road moment seems to have given pause to some in their party whose votes will be needed to get a bill through Congress and across the President’s desk. Among them is Monta...
News from the Dept. of the Interior WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior recently announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Intertribal Timber Council. As climate change propels larger, costlier and more complex wildfires, this agreement emphasizes the importance of co...
News from USDA WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing additional time for livestock and poultry producers to apply for the Pandemic Livestock Indemnity Program (PLIP). Producers who suffered losses during the pandemic due to insufficient access to processing may ...
News from the office of Governor Gianforte HELENA — Montana’s unemployment rate hit a 14-year low, dropping to 3.5 percent in August. The national unemployment rate for August is 5.2 percent. “With Montana open for business and more Montanans returning to good-paying jobs, our econo...
