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New rules that allow internet service providers to collect and share their client’s information with a third party won’t change a thing for customers of smaller ISPs like Stevensville-based Rocky Mountain Internet. “None of our client’s information is ever exposed to the outside world,” said Martha Weifenberger, who owns the ISP with her husband, Terry. On Monday, President Donald Trump approved a resolution that repealed protections requiring internet service providers to seek permission from their customers before collecting and sharing data. Those protections were approved by the Federal Communications Commission in the final days of the Obama administration, but had

A top border expert said Tuesday that illegal border crossings since President Trump took office have been cut 67 percent. Former Border Patrol chief David Aguilar revealed the new numbers at a Senate hearing. Previous reports said that the crossings had been cut 40 percent. At a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing focused on building the wall, Montana Sen. Steve Daines pointed to a recent Border Patrol press release about the 40 percent drop, when Aguilar noted the changes. “Let me just update that March 8” release, he said, “as of the 31st of March, five days

West Virginia coal industry executive Mike Grose knows fake news when he sees it. And the headlines claiming that President Trump’s new executive order to dismantle clean power rules won’t revive mining employment were Exhibit A. “It’s growing, a lot better than it ever was,” said Grose, owner of Superior and Elite Coal Services, a mining employment firm. “Once Trump was elected, I have increased staff 20-fold. Once he was elected, it went through the roof.” From his office in central West Virginia, where he connects miners to several East Coast companies, Grose said that in anticipation of a Trump

The 26 states suing over the Obama administration’s greenhouse gas-cutting Clean Power Plan may essentially get their wish, as President Donald Trump directed the Environmental Protection Agency to review the rule last week. But the likely rollback of the plan might not make a big difference for these states, many of which were already on track to shift away from coal-fired electricity. Instead, opponents say they are more concerned about further emissions cuts  if the U.S. keeps the promises it made in the Paris climate agreement. The Clean Power Plan set an ambitious goal of cutting 32 percent of greenhouse gas emissions between 2005

A wide-ranging “Sportsmen’s Bill” introduced Thursday in Congress would expand hunting opportunities on federal land but doesn’t include a reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., noted the absence of LWCF in his comments at S.B. 733’s mark-up before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Daines co-sponsored the measure authored by committee Chairwoman Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, along with four other Republicans and three Democrats. “Although absent from today’s discussion, I will continue efforts to permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund,” Daines said Thursday. The program may collect up to $900