Author: Reilly Lowery

Bert Mooney Airport received a much-needed lift on Wednesday. A grant of over $1 million from the CARES Act and Airport Improvement Program was earmarked for the Butte airport, one of five Montana airports cleared to receive a total of over $5.5 million in federal funding as COVID-19 continues to hamper the airline industry. Jim Kambich, Bert Mooney’s assistant manager, said that the airport has seen a precipitous drop in revenue since the coronavirus outbreak, with April being particularly damaging with a 90% decline. Things have slowly picked up, Kambich said, with Skywest reviving its second daily flight to Salt

GREAT FALLS – The Great Falls Transit District received $3 million from the Federal Transit Administration to cover transit operations and preventative repair costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines said the following statement in a release: “This critical funding will help support the transportation infrastructure needs of the Great Falls community and ensure our transit system in the city has the resources needed to respond to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak,” Daines said. “I will continue working to support Montana infrastructure as we safely reopen the economy.” According to Daines’ release, the funding is coming from the CARES

BILLINGS — U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana is calling on the U.S. Postal Service to review and correct policy after a Billings veteran’s remains were lost in the mail. Daines recently sent a letter to the USPS inspector general asking for an in-depth investigation into the matter, which took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Billings veteran Donald Tyler died from COVID-19 while traveling with his wife Christine Tyler overseas in March. Don was a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam and made a career working as a federal law enforcement officer. Last month, Christine finally received her

BILLINGS, Mont. — A divided U.S. Supreme Court rules that religious schools in Montana can be eligible for a state scholarship program funded by tax credits. The court’s 5-4 decision ruled in favor of three Montana mothers in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue. The three mothers, the plaintiffs in this case, applied for the state-funded scholarships to keep their children enrolled at Stillwater Christian School in Kalispell. Today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling strikes down the Montana Constitution’s ban on state aid to religious schools. The ruling is a victory for parents, like Kendra Espinoza, who want to use these

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a major victory Tuesday to parents seeking state aid for their children’s religious school education in a case that put Montana center stage. The court ruled 5-4 on Espinoza vs. the Montana Department of Revenue, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, that states offering scholarships to students in private schools cannot exclude religious schools from such programs. The court stopped short of requiring states to fund religious education, ruling only that programs cannot differentiate between religious and secular private schools. “A state need not subsidize private education. But once a state decides

The U.S. Supreme Court was split as it declared Tuesday private religious schools can receive money from a Montana tax credit program, and people in the state were no less divided on hearing the news. The country’s high court said a rule written by the state Department of Revenue to implement a 2015 law was unconstitutional because it prohibited students from using a scholarship funded through a tax credit program for attending religious private schools. The department had argued if the money went to religious programs, it would violate a no-aid provision in the state Constitution that stops state money

Doug Benevento’s nomination as EPA’s deputy administrator, imperiled by Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s anger with the agency over ethanol standards, is receiving a quiet boost from Montana’s Senate delegation. Both Republican Sen. Steve Daines and Democratic Sen. Jon Tester say they have lobbied their colleagues who sit on the Environment and Public Works Committee to support Benevento’s nomination. “Senator Tester supports Benevento’s confirmation and is hopeful his fellow senators will support him,” said Tester’s communications director, Sarah Feldman. “He believes Montana will continue to benefit” from Benevento’s “responsiveness on Superfund.” Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, ranking Democrat on the EPW