In The News

Sen. Steve Daines this week urged the nation’s postmaster general to reverse a decision to hold mail for a full day if distribution is running behind. The U.S. Postal Service is facing a projected $13 billion revenue deficit and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has made a number of moves to shore up funding, including the elimination of overtime pay for postal workers. DeJoy, a former Republican Party fundraiser, also issued a directive to hold mail for delivery until the next day for any pieces if postal distribution centers are running behind. Daines said the decision could hurt rural portions of

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers from both parties are calling on the U.S. Postal Service to immediately reverse operational changes that are causing delays in deliveries across the country just as big volume increases are expected for mail-in election voting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that changes imposed by the new, Republican postmaster general “threaten the timely delivery of mail — including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers and absentee ballots for voters — that is essential to millions of Americans.” In separate letters, two Montana Republicans, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte,

A federal task force to investigate cold cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people opened an office Thursday in Billings. This was the third of seven offices of Operation Lady Justice Task Force, Tara Katuk Sweeney, assistant secretary of Indian Affairs, said. President Donald Trump established the Operation Lady Justice Task Force on Nov. 26, a multi-agency effort co-chaired by U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr. It will focus on missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Natives in tribal communities and staffed with law enforcement and newly appointed special agents from

BILLINGS- A Bureau of Indian Affairs Cold Case Team Office was opened in Billings that will be dedicated to reanalyzing and investigating cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. This office is the third of seven offices established under the Operation Lady Justice Task Force to investigate cold cases involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives. The cold case teams will be staffed with law enforcement personnel and newly appointed special agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, they and the Department of the Interior have undertaken

MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana politicians are urging the U.S. Census Bureau to reconsider a new deadline to end data collection, which is one month earlier than planned. The announcement came Monday, with the bureau saying field data collection will stop Sept. 30 to meet an end-of-year deadline. Gov. Steve Bullock and Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney sent a letter to the U.S. commerce secretary urging the Census Bureau to stick with the original extended October deadline. They say 525,000 Montanans haven’t yet been counted. Montana has one of the lowest response rates in the country. Cooney, the chairman of the Montana

Montana Sen. Steve Daines has introduced new legislation meant to reduce the risk of large wildfires on federally managed lands, and to make it harder for environmental groups to halt permitted timber harvests by obtaining federal court injunctions. Daines announced his submission of the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act during a news briefing on Wednesday, describing it as “a major bi-partisan breakthrough” in the effort to reform forest management practices. “This is a Democrat from California, (Sen.) Dianne Feinstein, working with a Republican from Montana, myself, because we share a common interest to overcome a problem, and that is

Fresh off his success in passing the Great American Outdoors Act which was signed by President Trump on Tuesday, Senator Steve Daines resumed work on yet another Forest Management bill along with California Democrat Dianne Feinstein. The bill is called the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020, and with the fatal fires that have occurred in California and that have destroyed millions of acres of Montana forests, Daines explained the bill. “It’s about addressing the four ‘W’s’, wildfires, wildlife, watersheds and workers,” said Daines. “That’s an easy way to remember it with the four W’s. And I also

Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines and California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a bipartisan bill Tuesday aimed at protecting communities by increasing forest management and reducing environmental litigation. The Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020 would grant broad authority to federal agencies to push fuels reduction projects, create a new center providing training on prescribed fire and allow projects to proceed while agencies consult over species listed under the Endangered Species Act. The senators first announced their intention to introduce the bill last year following a record 2017 wildfire season in Montana and fires near Paradise, California, that

With the stroke of President Donald Trump’s pen, the biggest land conservation legislation in a generation became law Tuesday morning, prompting widespread praise on a measure that sets a new standard of stewardship for public lands. The bill, called the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), authorizes billions in funding for two major conservation needs — the National Park Service deferred maintenance backlog and the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The House approved the bill 310-107 on July 22, weeks after it won overwhelming approval in the Senate, and as it headed to the White House President Trump was expected to