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At just 21 years old, Mallerie Stromswold had burned out from public service during her sophomore term in the Montana legislature. She says it boiled down to a few things — the high cost of housing and juggling school and work. But most of all, she felt a decline in her mental well-being. "When you're struggling with that, and then decide to throw on the challenges of serving," it becomes a lot, the young Republican says, "especially the way I chose to serve." Stromswold voted against her fellow Republicans' efforts to limit the rights of transgender Montanans and for a...

The Lindsey Lobby Seven Republican Senators voted on Wednesday to confirm Eric Garcetti, President Joe Biden’s nominee for ambassador to India and former Los Angeles mayor, despite his ties to individuals belonging to alleged Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence front groups. Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Steve Daines of Montana, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Roger Marshall of Kansas and Todd Young of Indiana voted to confirm Garcetti following a delay of over 20 months arising from allegations that, while in office, he helped cover up sexual assaults committed by his...

Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., joined forces with 18 GOP governors to reject President Joe Biden's environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) "agenda," claiming the push is a "direct threat" to the economic freedom of American retirees. Governors in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming formed the alliance Thursday in what they described as an effort to ensure American retirement funds are not used for "woke" investments. "Yet again, President Biden put his political agenda above the wellbeing and individual freedoms of hardworking Americans,"...

First elected to represent Montana in the Senate in 2007, Tester has attempted to mark his role in the upper chamber as a "tireless defender of rural America." His net worth is between $1,768,009 and $6,695,000, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data from 2021. Additionally, Tester reported thousands of dollars worth of stock and other investments, as well as bank deposits, in the 2021 records. While his net worth is partially made up of the value of his farmland and associated assets he owns, Tester's campaign and leadership PAC have spent at least $1.2 million on restaurants and on...

State legislators in the Flathead Valley are — like the former governor himself — unsurprised by the Montana Republican Party’s public break up with Marc Racicot. The two-term Republican governor, who served from 1993 to 2001, earned a formal rebuke from the state party organization’s executive committee on Feb. 15. The decision comes after Racicot endorsed a series of Democrats in recent state and national elections, party leadership said. “It was a difference between party platforms and principles and I decided I would choose principles,” Racicot said last week. The former governor said he was unfazed by a text from...

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said Wednesday he will seek reelection to a fourth term in 2024, a boost to Democrats’ hopes of maintaining a seat in the Republican-leaning state as they try to hang on to their narrow Senate majority.

In the days since the U.S. Air Force shot down three unidentified objects out of the sky, questions linger about just what these objects actually were. On Thursday, a report by Aviation Week offered an intriguing hypothesis about what one of those three objects could be: a "missing in action" globe-trotting balloon belonging to an Illinois-based hobbyist club. The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s (NIBBB) silver-coated, party-style "pico balloon" reported its last position on Feb. 10 at nearly 40,000 ft. off the west coast of Alaska.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul revealed Sunday that the Chinese spy balloon that traversed the United States "did a lot of damage." Speaking on CBS News' "Face the Nation," the Texas Republican explained that by not preemptively downing the balloon, the Biden administration essentially allowed China to gather intelligence on areas sensitive to national security. The noteworthy revelation came after host Margaret Brennan asked McCaul about new restrictions enacted on six Chinese companies whose technology was used in the spy balloon's construction. "It will be one of my number-one priorities, as the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee...

Fighter jets were scrambled and Montana's airspace closed due to a 'radar anomaly', officials said on Saturday night - admitting that nothing suspicious was detected by the planes. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, issued a statement hours at 9:30pm on Saturday night - an hour after Montana congressman Matt Rosendale said jets were responding to an 'airborne object' spotted above his state. NORAD said they 'detected a radar anomaly and sent fighter aircraft to investigate.'

I am in direct contact with NORCOM and monitoring the latest issue over Havre and the northern border. Airspace is closed due to an object that could interfere with commercial air traffic---the DOD will resume efforts to observe and ground the object in the morning.

According to FlightRadar24.com, a USAF KC-135 tanker flying without a callsign is boring holes in the sky in restricted airspace. This implies something is on the way to that location that will need gas.

In the research done by this correspondent and colleagues, much credit must be given to those who sent detailed information about bear attacks and pistol defenses. As incidents of defense against bears with pistols mounted, some did not have enough information to be considered documented. One of those was mentioned by Warden Louis Kis in “More Alaskan Bear Tales” by Larry Kaniut on page 276. In previous articles, it was mentioned as an incident requiring more information. Readers were asked to provide information. The information was presented thus:Early 1960s, North Fork of the the Flathead river in Montana, .22 H&R...

Breaking update: The latest reporting coming out of Billings, Montana are showing the previously reported and speculated alleged explosion in the sky to be a confirmed hoax, as no explosions have been reported in Billings. Initially, due to the Chinese spy balloon that was spotted in the skies of Montana earlier today, the reports were widely believed and panic grew as a result. However, the official word from local reporters in Montana is indicating that the alleged explosion did not occur. As reported by Aaron Flint, host of Montana Talks statewide radio show, upon checking with Yellowstone City County dispatch,...

...Speculation was rampant on Friday night after Twitter user @MMtTreasures shared a video taken from a window in Billings that was said to show "a jet go by so fast and then [an] explosion in the sky." The video, which appears to show a jet contrail in the sky above a residential neighborhood, includes a brief and silent flash of light that is claimed to be an explosion.... A short time later, the City of Billings said on Twitter that there had been no "massive explosion" in the area.... Twitter user @Chase7601 seemingly attempted to stoke the flames of conspiracy...

There have been unconfirmed reports of an explosion in the skies over Billings, Mont., where a Chinese spy balloon had been hovering for several days. Although there have not been any official reports, there is speculation (not unfounded) that the U.S. military shot down the balloon, the payload of which is the size of two to three school buses; the payload is dwarfed by the size of the balloon.

Residents in Billings, Montana, reported an 'explosion in the sky' after US officials warned of a Chinese spy balloon flying over the region. Bizarre video of the aftermath shows a trail of smoke in the sky where the balloon was last spotted. Dolly Moore, who took video of the scene, said she 'saw a jet go by so fast and then explosion in the sky. '

GOP lawmakers are calling for the United States to shoot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon found floating over Montana on Wednesday. The Pentagon said it would not shoot down the balloon, arguing it "does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time," and China blamed the incursion into U.S. airspace on a civilian aircraft that had deviated off course. Montana is home to sensitive nuclear military installations. "It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area," Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), the...

Twenty-five attorneys general and several other plaintiffs have sued the Biden administration asking the court to halt a federal ESG policy that could negatively impact the retirement savings of 152 million Americans. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court Northern District Amarillo Division naming Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh and the U.S. Department of Labor as defendants. It alleges the U.S. Department of Labor created a rule prioritizing “woke” Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing that jeopardizes the retirement savings of 152 million workers, or two-thirds of the U.S. population. Last November, the Department of Labor finalized a rule...

Washington -- Nine military officers who had worked decades ago at a nuclear missile base in Montana have been diagnosed with blood cancer and there are “indications” the disease may be linked to their service, according to military briefing slides obtained by The Associated Press. One of the officers has died. All of the officers, known as missileers, were assigned as many as 25 years ago to Malmstrom Air Force Base, home to a vast field of 150 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile silos. The nine officers were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to a January briefing by U.S. Space...

Republican Sen. Keith Regier is proposing asking Congress to study alternatives to reservations... ...The draft resolution argues that reservations have “failed to positively enhance the lives and well-being” of Native Americans, led to substance abuse, domestic violence, welfare dependence, poverty and substandard education. It also argues tribal members who don’t own land have the highest poverty rate and lowest life expectancy of any ethnic group in America. It also argues reservations are “not in the best interests of either the Indians inside our borders or for our common Montana Citizens.”... ...Floyd Azure, chairman of the Fort Peck Tribe in northeastern...