Category: News Article

HELENA – Robert Wilkie, secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said during a visit Monday to facilities in Montana that the Fort Harrison VA Medical Center has a 93% approval rating from clients.   “There is nothing like it in the entire United States when it comes to patient satisfaction,” he said at a news conference outside the facility, adding later that Forbes magazine recently listed the VA as the best employer in Montana. Wilkie was in Montana at the invitation of Republican Sen. Steve Daines, but he also took time to thank Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and

BILLINGS — An upcoming symposium hosted by the federal Food & Drug Administration will address an FDA study linking pulse crops in dog food as a possible cause of enlarged heart disease in some.   The FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine has been investigating the causes of canine dilated cardiomyopathy or DCM. And the investigation has been of significant interest to the pet food industry, pet owners and its supply chain which includes farmers like Gordon Stoner.   “The pulse industry is funding a six-month study looking at diet and the impact. Every indication, the early analysis of those studies

Montana’s congressional delegation is trying to derail plans by Amtrak to deal with impacts of the coronavirus by temporarily reducing runs of its Empire Builder, which glides across the Hi-Line and through northwest Montana and celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2019. On June 17, Amtrak officials said they will temporarily decrease service from seven days to three for several routes, including the Empire Builder, which runs along the Hi-Line with stations from Wolf Point to Libby. This will be effective Oct. 1 through at least the summer of 2021. But daily service could be restored if demand improves along its

Trump administration responds to Daines’ request U.S. Senator Steve Daines announced that he has successfully secured additional support and resources from the Trump administration to improve Montana’s census count. “Montana has so much at stake for the 2020 census including access to federal resources and even the potential for more representation in Congress,” Daines said. “I’m glad to see the Trump administration act on my request to send more resources to our state to ensure Montanans are properly represented for the next decade.” In total, Montana will see the addition of more than 250 enumerators working to count Montanans to

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today joined a bipartisan bill that would extend the Census field collection data deadline from September 30th, 2020 to October 31st, 2020. “The 2020 Census will have a lasting impact on Montana; including the distribution of federal resources to the state and even the potential for more representation in Congress,” Daines said. “We must extend the census deadline to October 31st to ensure a proper count is completed in Montana.” To view the bill, click HERE. Much of Montana remains historically undercounted. Ensuring an accurate census count is critical to potentially gaining additional

WASHINGTON, DC — US Senator Steve Daines is urging Senate leaders to take action to block upcoming Amtrak service cuts in Montana. Community leaders across the Hi-Line and Northwest Montana have expressed concern about the passenger rail agency’s plans to trim service on the Empire Builder” to three trains per week, as soon as next month. Sen. Daines says Amtrak’s daily service cut for the Empire Builder, and trimming staff by 20% will “decimate the economies in Montana” and leave “tens of thousands” without rail access. The Republican had already noted that Amtrak was making the cuts even after receiving

Sen. Steve Daines is urging his colleagues in the U.S. Senate to pass a bill that would prevent convicted pedophiles from receiving federal pensions. Daines, R-Mont., introduced the bill, called the Denying Pensions to Convicted Child Molesters Act, in 2019. The bill comes in response to Stanley Patrick Weber, a former Indian Health Services pediatrician and convicted child molester who abused children for decades, including on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Weber is reportedly due $1.8 million in government pension from the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps during his prison term, which lawmakers argue does not hold him accountable for his

Savanna’s Act, a bipartisan bill that addresses the missing and murdered Indigenous women epidemic, unanimously passed the U.S. House of Representatives Monday. The bill unanimously passed the U.S. Senate in March and now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature. Named in honor of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a 22-year-old pregnant Spirit Lake tribal member who was killed in 2017, Savanna’s Act requires federal agencies to update databases and create protocols to guide law enforcement entities. Specifically, the bill requires the U.S. Department of Justice to provide training to law enforcement agencies on data entry, educate the public on the database, help tribes and

Montana Senator Steve Daines on Sept. 16 stumped for legislation he helped draft, saying more forest management would protect communities from wildfires. Republican Daines presented his Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020 to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. He said the bill, which he wrote with Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, restores forest health and supports timber jobs. “We have been working together on this important piece of legislation that addresses forest management. As we say in Montana, either we’re going to manage our forests or our forests are going to manage us,”

A bill to name a ridge east of the Paradise Valley for an Air Force bomber that crashed there in 1962 is headed to the desk of President Donald Trump. The B-47 Ridge Designation Act passed the U.S. House unanimously on Monday, clearing the final hurdle between it and the president. The bill would dub a ridge off the southwest side of Emigrant Peak as B-47 Ridge and allow the placing of a memorial plaque at the crash site. It’s where four Air Force pilots died in 1962 while flying a training mission through Montana. Debris from the wreck is