In The News

WASHINGTON – Montana does not plan to close its borders to refugees from Syria following last week’s attacks in Paris, Gov. Steve Bullock said Monday. “Montana has a process in place for considering refugee settlement requests. We are reviewing those protocols to ensure that if a request comes (that) we take all appropriate steps to ensure that the safety of Montanans will not be jeopardized by their placement.” said Bullock, a Democrat. “If there are safety concerns about any refugees that are requesting settlement, they will be denied.” The governor said no Syrian refugees have settled in the state and he

(WASHINGTON) — In this week’s Republican address, Montana Sen. Steve Daines talks repealing Obamacare. According to the senator, the Senate will soon be voting to repeal the health care law, and he hopes Republicans will replace Obamacare with “state-led solutions that put patients back in the center of the health care equation.” “When the federal government takes over our health care system and puts the whims of Washington bureaucrats over the needs of hardworking American families, prices go up and the quality of care goes down,” said Daines. “After five years of seeing President Obama’s experiment with Americans’ health care

The Senate will soon be voting to repeal Obamacare, Montana Sen. Steve Daines said in Saturday’s GOP address, and he is pushing for Republicans to replace the healthcare law with “state-led solutions that put patients back in the center of the healthcare equation.”  Obamacare puts the “whims of Washington bureaucrats over the needs of hardworking American families,” Daines said Saturday. “After five years of seeing President Obama’s experiment with Americans’ health care result in failure and embarrassment, the American people know that it’s time to stop putting more Band-Aids on something that’s so far beyond repair.”  Open enrollment began for

Montana officials are expressing disappointment and outrage over the Obama administration’s rejection of the Keystone Pipeline construction permit. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said denying the permit was an “affront to the American people.” “It has taken more than seven years for President Obama to come clean with the American people and admit his anti-energy and anti-American-jobs agenda,” Daines said in a statement Friday. “President Obama had an opportunity to help create good-paying jobs with the construction of the Keystone pipeline, but instead he chose to blatantly disregard the economic needs of this nation, the need for good-paying jobs, like

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will receive more than $500,000 in federal funds for educational programs, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., announced Thursday. Salish Kootenai College was awarded $220,000 through the Department of Agriculture’s Tribal College Research Grants Program. The program helps tribal colleges build institutional research capacity through applied projects that address student educational needs and solve community, reservation and regional problems. The tribes also were awarded $287,769 through the Department of Education’s State-Tribal Education Partnership program. The grant provides funding from 2015 through 2019. The program provides funding to five Native American communities in Idaho, Montana and Oklahoma

WASHINGTON — The Department of Interior has allocated nearly $2.3 million in additional Payment in Lieu of Taxes funds to rural Montana counties. Nationwide, nearly $34.5 million in additional PILT funds were issued last week by the department. “These payments are welcome news for numerous Montana communities who have suffered from severe economic challenges due to declining timber harvests and natural resource production,” Sen. Steve Daines said in a news release. “The PILT program provides critical support for Montana’s rural and forested counties.” The new payments boost the 2015 total to more than $29 million paid to Montana counties due

Montana peas and lentils are flowing freely into India again after being bottled up by trade politics. Columbia Grain reports that storage limits imposed by India officials Oct. 18, have been lifted, enabling warehouses to again stockpile peas, lentils and chickpeas, collectively referred to as pulse crops. Montana is the nation’s largest producer of pulse crops, with nearly 700,000 acres planted and more than $140 million a year sold. India last month abruptly limited pulse crop storage to 350 metric tons, or 10 farm truck loads. It then proceeded to confiscate warehouse surplus. Pulse crop insiders said that drought wiped

A Havre couple who served in the Montana Army National Guard have been honored by Sen. Steve Daines for “their dedicated service to Montana and the nation.” Sgt. Michaela Boushey and SSG Shayne Boushey of Havre will be honored at a Big Hearts under the Big Sky Banquet as the Montanans of the Week. Michaela Boushey served in the Montana Army National Guard for eight years, including four years in the 112th Security and Support Detachment Aviation Unit.  Shayne Boushey has completed deployments with both the Infantry Battalion and the Military Police Company.  Daines, R-Mont., said that during his deployment

The battle for the mayor of Chester has come down to crunch time. The small burg on Highway 2 has become the epicenter of an epic political battle between Cheetos pitchman Chester Cheetah and incumbent Noel Walston as they vie for the reins of the city with Election Day just around the corner. Neither candidate has been shy about throwing mud the other’s way. “What is Chester Cheetah trying to hide, and why is he always wearing sunglasses?” asks one of Walston’s campaign ads. “What was he doing in that hotel? Isn’t he just a corporate puppet?” And then the