In The News

BOZEMAN — The Montana National Guard is at the Bozeman International Airport making sure nobody is coming through who is sick, but today they got an unexpected visitor. “We’re screening passengers who are incoming making sure they’re not bringing home any symptoms of COVID-19,” said Drew Wajer, a technical sergeant with the Montana Air National Guard Keeping COVID-19 out of Montana is no easy task. The Montana National Guard has been hard at work since the beginning of April and today they had a special delivery man who came to show his support. That’s right, it was Senator Steve Daines.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines has been bringing good news to Montanans every chance he gets. Amid disheartening stories surrounding the coronavirus across Montana, Sen. Daines brought catered lunch to the state’s National Guard troops serving at the Bozeman airport. The meals, he stated, were an expression of appreciation for protecting Montana communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Montana’s U.S. senator also shared two big National Guard announcements. “It’s an honor to be here today to deliver some free lunches to our Montana National Guard members who are here in the front lines, the Bozeman airport,” Sen. Daines stated in a press

Seven Republican senators are demanding answers from the World Health Organization surrounding its “role in helping the Chinese Communist Party cover up information regarding the threat of the Coronavirus.” “Ahead of an anticipated congressional hearing, we write today to request information regarding the WHO’s failed and delayed response to the Coronavirus,” the senators wrote in a letter Tuesday addressed to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Information demanded from the senators includes when the WHO first knew about the spread of a potential “SARS-like virus” in China, who at the WHO was in charge of coordinating with the Chinese government on its response

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Monday, urging him to take executive action to strengthen America’s medical and pharmaceutical supply chain. “The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear how relying upon China for medicine, or essential medical equipment and components is detrimental to our national security and endangers public health,” Daines wrote in his letter to President Trump. “It is critically important to ensure that legislation is fully implemented as quickly as possible and that the U.S. continues to be the world leader in biomedicine, pharmaceutical development, and medical innovation,” he added. Daines’ letter to President Trump follows

Senator Steve Daines (R., Mont.) asked President Trump to use “executive powers and existing authorities” as part of an effort to reinforce domestic pharmaceutical supply chains in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus. “Moving forward, it is important that we incentivize innovation and the development of essential medical supplies and equipment in the U.S. in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Daines wrote in the Friday letter, adding that “ceding this position of global leadership to China” would “impair our ability to combat the current or future public health crises.” The outbreak of the coronavirus has prompted a backlash against U.S. reliance on

Julian and Nicholas MacKay needed to get home to Bozeman. The brothers grew up here, but have lived on and off in Russia for more than a decade, studying ballet and now working there. They usually make trips to Montana in the summer when they get time off to see their parents, Gregory and Teresa. Last year, Gregory was diagnosed with cancer. A few weeks ago, his condition began to worsen. Julian, 22, said he and Nicholas knew they needed to see their dad “to say goodbye and to say thank you.” And then the world shut down. International and

By Wednesday, Montana banks had made about $500 million in loans to about 5,300 small businesses as part of a new federal program that began April 3. The federal government no longer releases state-level data on the initiative — called the paycheck protection program — which provides loans to businesses to help them remain open and avoid layoffs as they grapple with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. “We have been asked not to provide local data yet,” said Brent Donnelly, deputy director for the Montana office of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the federal agency overseeing the paycheck protection program.

U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester have announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be providing $111,503,248 million for Montana hospitals and providers during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, a portion of this funding will go towards covering costs of uninsured patients for coronavirus related care. “This is about ensuring we have the critical resources needed to provide our hospitals and healthcare professionals on the front lines the tools they need to combat the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic,” Daines said. “It is one of my top priorities to protect public health and I will continue working

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said during a telephone town hall Thursday that he’s heard concerns from small business owners that the Payroll Protection Program will run out of money. He said the program still has money for now, but he shares this concern given that the program has given out 5,300 loans to Montana businesses since Tuesday. “We need to get ahead of that… this is really critical to our small businesses,” he said. Daines touted the accomplishments of Montana’s smaller financial institutions and their handling of new loan programs. “Many of these community banks and credit unions rose