News

No one is turned away at the Sapphire Community Health clinic in Hamilton for inability to pay and, thanks to a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), our local Community Health Center will continue to offer its valuable services to Bitterroot community members for another three years. Community Health Centers are funded through a combination of federal and local grants and payments from patients and insurance companies and must compete once every three years for federal grant funding. The latest grant to Sapphire Community Health will provide $704,000 annually over the next three years to assist patients

Scammers are constantly figuring out new ways to take your money. It’s a problem the Montana Attorney General’s Office and AARP are trying to get ahead of. “The scams are going up, they’re more sophisticated because of data breaches. They can look and seem more legitimate because they have some personal information,” Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said. During a statewide teleconference on Monday, state officials — including Fox and Senator Steve Daines — took questions from callers about scammers. Fox said the number of scams being reported is going up, “the scams are getting more convincing as criminals use stolen

Trade and retaining America’s market share for agricultural exports was a dominant theme Thursday at a Montana agriculture summit organized by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. that featured newly installed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue as a keynote speaker and Chairman of the Agriculture Committee Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., as well as a wide variety of other voices in the industry. “When we talk about changing a trade agreement, it does two things,” said Matt Gibson, vice president and general manager of Bunge. “It forces Mexico to look for a backup plan, because they are not going to sit still and wait

“I know we already have large numbers [of contract workers] that come in and have been coming in over the years, but … in the current administration, this is all about American jobs versus people that come in and do the work,” Kelly told Sen. Heidi Heitkamp from Dakota.  Heitkamp had asked Kelly to accelerate the approval of H-2B contact-workers sought by employers in North Dakota, even though millions of Americans are either unemployed or have fallen out of the low-wage workforce.  Each year, the government allows companies to import roughly 100,000 H-2B workers for blue-collar jobs, such as landscaping

Fresh on the heels of a legislative victory in Minnesota, where passage of a tax credit bill gives young farmers better access to land, the National Young Farmers Coalition converges in Washington, D.C., today to advocate for a 2018 farm bill that renews rural economies and enables a new generation of farmers to grow the nation’s food supply.  “These young farmers have come to Washington, D.C., to fight for their livelihoods, and for the future of American agriculture,” said Andrew Bahrenburg, national policy director of NYFC. “As any farmer will tell you, June is a very difficult time to leave

Helena Regional Airport is among 20 Montana airports sharing in nearly $10 million in federal funding for improvements and maintenance. The funding was secured through provisions in the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, according to an announcement by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. Helena’s airport will receive $705,306 to fund the design of the terminal building’s expansion, the news release stated. “The Helena airport plays a critical role in connecting our state. These needed infrastructure dollars will make a difference for passengers traveling through the Helena airport to meet Helena’s future needs,” Daines said in a statement. The federal funding also includes

Scammers are constantly figuring out new ways to take your money. It’s a problem the Montana Attorney General’s Office and AARP are trying to get ahead of. In a statewide teleconference Monday, state officials including Attorney General Tim Fox and Senator Steve Daines took questions from callers about scammers. Fox said the number of scams being reported is going up. The scams are getting more convincing as criminals use stolen information from corporate data breaches to appear more credible. Among the biggest scams are telephone scams where con artists call and say you won money or your computer has a

Montana’s junior senator vowed to reform laws governing environmental litigation that he blames for Montana’s flagging timber industry, speaking during a roundtable discussion with timber industry representatives and local government officials in Columbia Falls Friday morning. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., was joined by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry — a panel on which Daines also serves. The two senators led the hour-long discussion a day after joining the new Agriculture Department secretary, Sonny Perdue, at the Montana Ag Summit in Great Falls. While he said a comprehensive solution to the struggles