In The News

National parks will get a week of observance this month, a gesture U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said should raise awareness later about needed park maintenance. During last year’s centennial of the National Parks Service, roughly 331 million visitors went to national parks. Yellowstone National Park recorded 4.2 million visits. Glacier National Park reported nearly 3 million visits. “They truly are something that sets America apart. It’s part of our national heritage, as Americans,” Daines said. “We’re known for our national parks.” Daines said the Senate’s unanimous vote to recognize national parks for the week beginning April 15 was a

Inspired by the bizarre tale of Billings’ once-blighted federal courthouse, the U.S. Senate will consider raising the standards for who can bid on abandoned federal buildings.   U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., wants the government to make sure buyers of federal property have the resources to clean up the buildings and keep them from turning into eyesores or health hazards that communities are eventually stuck with.   Daines had Billings’ federal courthouse in mind when he introduced his bill Friday. The federal government sold the old James F. Battin Federal Building at auction was in 2013. The federal government was

Montana’s congressional delegation is cautioning President Donald Trump not to proceed with any more Syrian bombings without Senate approval. U.S. Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines say they didn’t oppose Thursday night’s bombings but think it’s time Congress update the Authorization for Use of Military Force, which addresses military action in Afghanistan and Iraq but not Syria. The attack against a Syrian air base was the first U.S. assault against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The lawmakers issued statements about the bombing after participating in a confidential, all-Senate briefing by the Trump administration. “Before further military intervention in Syria

Any hunter worth his salt wants to know the animal he shoots won’t suffer. For that reason alone, many sportsmen have been hesitant to change from lead bullets to another alternative. On Sunday, at the MPG Ranch in Florence, hunters will have a chance to see first hand what happens to lead and copper bullets when they strike an animal. The two wildlife biologists offering the demonstration say it will offer a whole other view to what’s become a controversial issue in some quarters. Leland Brown and Chris Parish are lifelong hunters who have been taken their demonstration to a

Republicans on Thursday cleared the way for Judge Neil Gorsuch to be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, overcoming a historic Democratic blockade by changing the rules of the U.S. Senate — a move that highlighted the fierce partisanship that has seized Congress.  The long-anticipated rules change now means that all presidential nominees for executive branch positions and the federal courts need only a simple-majority vote to be confirmed by senators.  The GOP decision to ram through the rules change is also likely to further divide an increasingly partisan Senate. Several senators openly fretted that eliminating the minority party’s right

One of the most important votes a U.S. senator casts is a vote for a U.S. Supreme Court nominee. An associate justice for the Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment. That’s why a decision on who to vote for, who to stand behind, and who to stand with is so important — not only to me but to our children and grandchildren. We want a Supreme Court justice who upholds the rule of law and follows the Constitution. We want a Supreme Court justice who doesn’t legislate from the bench. We want a Supreme Court justice with superb academic credentials

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