Author: Reilly Lowery

BILLINGS – As Montana gets ready for its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine, state health officials are also busy making sure disbursement is set up and ready to go across the state. Gov. Steve Bullock announced this week that Montana will get over 9,700 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Officials at both Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare say they are ready to take them. Bullock says Montana’s first allotment will focus on vaccinating the more than 40,000 health care workers in the state. Those with St. Vincent Healthcare say they are registered with the state of Montana to

Note: Information for this report came from the offices of U.S. Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana A push to get more resources, information and investigation for murdered and missing Indigenous persons years in the making took a major step forward this week with the launching of a pilot program on the Flathead Indian Reservation. At a council meeting of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation — CSKT — the CSKT Council and U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Kurt Alme launched a pilot project

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, as well as North Dakota Republican senators Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven have written to Senate Leadership to urge them to pass the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act before the end of the year, which would make permanent existing federal excise tax rates for beverage and alcohol producers. Montana and North Dakota both are among states that have seen a surge in the craft beer industry. It’s not only creating new jobs and businesses across the state, with the potential for becoming tourist and entertainment attractions in and of

HELENA – The state of Montana is getting a second round delivery of Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved COVID-19 antibody treatments. Regeneron’s antibody therapeutic, casirivimab and imdevimab, is used to treat non-hospitalized or mildly to moderately symptomatic people over the age of 12-years in danger of advancing to hospitalization or severe symptoms. According to a release from the Office of Sen. Daines, Montana is receiving 150 vials of the Regeneron casirivimab and imdevimab cocktail, one treatment per vial. In addition, Montana is also getting a fourth shipment of Eli Lilly’s antibody therapy this week, and 260 vials of bamlanivimab, one

According to ALS News Today, about 14,000 people in the U.S. are suffering from ALS, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, slowly crippling the patient. There is currently no known cause or cure and Social Security Disability Insurance requires a five-month waiting period for treatment. The U.S. Senate this week passed a bipartisan bill presented by Montana Sen. Steve Daines that “will allow Montanans with ALS to receive both Medicare and Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in the first month the patient is under disability,” according to a Dec. 2

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who worked to save Montana’s Minor League Baseball teams when Major League Baseball (MLB) announced it would cut ties with 42 minor league teams across the country, on Monday applauded an agreement by MLB and Montana’s minor league teams that retains professional baseball in the state. “Professional baseball in Montana helps bring our communities together and drive our local economies,” Sen. Daines said. “I’m very glad that after months of negotiations, MLB and Montana’s minor league teams have come to an agreement to allow Great Falls, Missoula, and Billings to continue playing professional baseball in

BILLINGS- Funding for small businesses, unemployment, schools and local governments is about to run out nationwide as Congress continues to negotiate terms for a second round of COVID-19 stimulus relief funds. However, Montana Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines believes lawmakers are close to reaching an agreement if they can get past bipartisan disagreements for how money should be allocated. Daines spoke with MTN News Thursday afternoon from his Washington, D.C., office on a Zoom call. He discussed the importance of a second bill having much of the same relief as the first. Money from the CARES Act, which Congress passed

Montana U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester are among a bipartisan group of senators calling for the permanent renewal of a federal excise tax break for craft brewers and distilleries, a growing industry in Montana. In a Tuesday letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, 57 senators urged passage of the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform before it expires at the end of 2020. The measure aims to extend the tax breaks for small brewers and distillers granted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the massive tax-reform plan