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Lincoln County recently received $644,300 of payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Federal government issues the money to local governments to help offset losses in property taxes due to non-taxable Federal lands within their boundaries. “At this time we have no specific projects in mind” for the money, Lincoln County Administrator Darren Coldwell said via email. “My hope would be to have use as a surplus and not have to include it in this fiscal budget, depending on how the budget turns out.” Coldwell wrote that the money can be used

Six GOP senators are calling for lawmakers to continue working through their August recess unless progress has been made in key areas. The Republican senators — David Perdue (Ga.), Steve Daines (Mont.), John Kennedy (La.), Mike Lee (Utah), Mike Rounds (S.D.) and Luther Strange (Ala.) — said meaningful progress must be made on healthcare, passing a budget, funding the government, dealing with the debt ceiling and tax reform. The six senators will hold a press conference to air their concerns. The high-profile move comes after 10 Republican senators last month sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urging party leadership to nix the August recess. The letter warned the

ZORTMAN, MT – The July Fire began July 3, and quickly grew in size and complexity, threatening the towns of Zortman and Landusky, Mont. The Northern Rockies Western Montana Incident Management Team (Connell) was mobilized to the fire to assist local resources with fire suppression efforts.  The cause of the fire is currently being investigated. Currently, the fire has reached 10,622 acres and is 50% contained.  There are 438 personnel working to suppress this fire.  Twelve aircraft are assigned to the fire, including five helicopters.  At press time, no serious injuries were reported. The community and structure protection efforts of the

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX, Dallas) are spearheading an effort to gain greater control of our federally managed public lands by cutting off access. First, Daines took letters from certain Crazy Mountain landowners who outfit the area and are also ranking members of organizations, such as the Montana Outfitters & Guides Association, Montana Farm Bureau Federation and the Stockgrowers Association. Those letters, along with Daines own, were sent to the newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Purdue, who just happened to be in Montana for an Ag Summit in May, where District Ranger Alex Sienkiewicz was

Montana has two of the 100 votes in the U.S. Senate, and of those two, only one of the state’s senators has made up his mind on the controversial GOP overhaul of the health care system. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, was originally pushing for a vote on the bill, also known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act, before the Fourth of July recess. McConnell postponed the vote on the reform because it lacked the support from 10 members of the Republican Party. Daines’ office released a statement to the Chronicle on Friday, saying the senator was looking

BILLINGS- As Japan struck a multinational trade agreement in principle Thursday with the European Union, farmers in Montana watched from the outside with their noses pressed against the glass. Japan is a top three customer for Montana commodities, the state’s largest grain buyer in the Asian Pacific, where roughly 80 percent of Montana’s hard-red spring and hard-red winter wheat is exported. The deal with the European Union promises to sew up trade terms for one third of the world economy. It was not unlike the U.S. brokered, 13-nation Trans Pacific Partnership that Montana farmers had hoped would level the playing

Rep. Jacky Rosen is rolling the dice by launching a Senate bid six months after joining the House. If the Nevada Democrat wins statewide in the nation’s gaming haven next year, she’ll join a select group of senators who were promoted after their first two-year House term. Senators with previous House experience have on average served four terms, or eight years, University of Minnesota political scientist Eric Ostermeier said in an email Thursday. It’s also a fairly unusual, even audacious, move that carries significant political risk. If she loses, Rosen could be in the political wilderness after the 2018 elections,