In The News

Efforts by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) to revoke the government pension of a retired federal medical doctor convicted of sexually assaulting minors gained ground last week. The head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps assured Sen. Daines that his call for action against convicted pedophile Stanley Patrick Weber, a retired doctor with the U.S. Indian Health Service, was under consideration. “I’m glad to see HHS respond to my demand and take action in finding a way to prevent this convicted pedophile from receiving a dime of his government pension,”

Two Montana airports will share $9.7 million in federal funds, to help with airport expansion, terminal reconstruction, safety and aircraft parking.  Glacier Park International Airport in Kalispell will receive $3.5 million in federal funds to help it buy an airport rescue and firefighting vehicle, expand the commercial terminal apron for more airplane parking and help with design work for upcoming terminal expansion, an airport official said Wednesday. And $6,283,353 will be distributed to Missoula International Airport to help with construction of a new terminal.  Sen. Steve Daines announced that $9.7 million in Airport Improvement Program funds, under the U.S. Department

ANACONDA – According to U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, this year’s open house at the Anaconda Job Corps Center was anything but routine. While the Anaconda Job Corps’ open house is an annual event, Tuesday’s had a special feel to it. Last May, the career-training program was set to be closed, and some Job Corps participants heard the news before going off on training. “We wound up hearing about how the center was closing before we left,” said Job Corps participant Dylan Kurz. An outcry from the community and work from U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester helped reverse that

BUTTE, Mont. — Organizers broke ground on the new Southwest Montana Veterans Home in Butte on Tuesday. The $20 million home will house 60 veterans in five cottage-style units. United Veterans Council commander Mike Lawson says there will also be a community center. “It will be a veterans home-like experience for those that are sent there. That’s what we proposed to begin with,” Lawson said. He tells NBC Montana the proposal has been in the works for 26 years. “There was a lot of anticipation, a lot of disappointments along the way, but it finally happened. We’re here,” Lawson said.

The Helena Regional Airport recently received more than $3 million in federal funds, which local officials plan to put toward some needed maintenance projects. Helena was one of 13 Montana airports to receive more than $8 million total in funding from the Airport Improvement Program under the Department of Transportation. U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester announced the funding last week.  About $1.3 million of Helena’s allocation was an expected entitlement, but the additional $1.7 million came through a competitive application process, said airport Director Jeff Wadekamper. “It was a request we’d had out there for quite a while,

Sen. Steve Daines sent a letter Friday to the federal agency that oversees nursing homes, asking about issues raised in a recent New York Times story on some poor-performing homes being backed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The June 24 Times story by Matthew Goldstein and Robert Gebelhoff noted 74 nursing homes listed among 478 identified in a recent report of having “serious deficiencies” have HUD-guaranteed mortgages. ] Daines asked Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officials if it coordinates with HUD as it oversees the program known as “Special Focus Facility,” of SFF, for poor performing

An Indian Health Service pediatrician convicted of molesting children on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation could lose retirement benefits as federal officials weigh revoking the doctor’s honorable discharge. The U.S. Public Health Commission Corps disclosed on Wednesday that it is launching a board inquiry into Stanley Patrick Weber. In January, Weber was convicted by a U.S. District Court in Great Falls of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and two counts of attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, all felonies. The charges stem from his 1993 to 1995 employment as an IHS pediatrician on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. He faces

Montana’s Little Shell Band of Chippewa Cree Indians inched closer to federal recognition Thursday, with the Senate approval. With Thursday afternoon’s Senate vote, the Little Shell are closer to recognition than the tribe has ever been, said Montana’s U.S. Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines. House action is still needed, but representatives have twice in less than a year supported recognizing the Little Shell. Montana’s delegation assumes the House’s past support means it will do so again now that the Senate is on board. “It was 84 years ago, 1934, when the Little Shell submitted application, working with BIA at

BOZEMAN – It’s not uncommon for new moms to find themselves in a race to find a private place to breastfeed their child or pump. But a new bill aims to require lactation rooms in federal spaces. The Fairness For Breastfeeding Mothers Act introduced by Sen. Steve Daines passed unanimously through the Senate on Wednesday. With bipartisan support, the bill now heads to the desk of President Donald Trump.  The bill requires a dedicated lactation room in most federal buildings, and bathrooms don’t count. The bill requires that the room include a chair, working surface and electrical outlet. The room