Category: News Article

A federal task force to investigate cold cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous people opened an office Thursday in Billings. This was the third of seven offices of Operation Lady Justice Task Force, Tara Katuk Sweeney, assistant secretary of Indian Affairs, said. President Donald Trump established the Operation Lady Justice Task Force on Nov. 26, a multi-agency effort co-chaired by U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr. It will focus on missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Natives in tribal communities and staffed with law enforcement and newly appointed special agents from

BILLINGS- A Bureau of Indian Affairs Cold Case Team Office was opened in Billings that will be dedicated to reanalyzing and investigating cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. This office is the third of seven offices established under the Operation Lady Justice Task Force to investigate cold cases involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives. The cold case teams will be staffed with law enforcement personnel and newly appointed special agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, they and the Department of the Interior have undertaken

MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana politicians are urging the U.S. Census Bureau to reconsider a new deadline to end data collection, which is one month earlier than planned. The announcement came Monday, with the bureau saying field data collection will stop Sept. 30 to meet an end-of-year deadline. Gov. Steve Bullock and Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney sent a letter to the U.S. commerce secretary urging the Census Bureau to stick with the original extended October deadline. They say 525,000 Montanans haven’t yet been counted. Montana has one of the lowest response rates in the country. Cooney, the chairman of the Montana

Montana Sen. Steve Daines has introduced new legislation meant to reduce the risk of large wildfires on federally managed lands, and to make it harder for environmental groups to halt permitted timber harvests by obtaining federal court injunctions. Daines announced his submission of the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act during a news briefing on Wednesday, describing it as “a major bi-partisan breakthrough” in the effort to reform forest management practices. “This is a Democrat from California, (Sen.) Dianne Feinstein, working with a Republican from Montana, myself, because we share a common interest to overcome a problem, and that is

Fresh off his success in passing the Great American Outdoors Act which was signed by President Trump on Tuesday, Senator Steve Daines resumed work on yet another Forest Management bill along with California Democrat Dianne Feinstein. The bill is called the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020, and with the fatal fires that have occurred in California and that have destroyed millions of acres of Montana forests, Daines explained the bill. “It’s about addressing the four ‘W’s’, wildfires, wildlife, watersheds and workers,” said Daines. “That’s an easy way to remember it with the four W’s. And I also

Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines and California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a bipartisan bill Tuesday aimed at protecting communities by increasing forest management and reducing environmental litigation. The Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020 would grant broad authority to federal agencies to push fuels reduction projects, create a new center providing training on prescribed fire and allow projects to proceed while agencies consult over species listed under the Endangered Species Act. The senators first announced their intention to introduce the bill last year following a record 2017 wildfire season in Montana and fires near Paradise, California, that

With the stroke of President Donald Trump’s pen, the biggest land conservation legislation in a generation became law Tuesday morning, prompting widespread praise on a measure that sets a new standard of stewardship for public lands. The bill, called the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), authorizes billions in funding for two major conservation needs — the National Park Service deferred maintenance backlog and the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The House approved the bill 310-107 on July 22, weeks after it won overwhelming approval in the Senate, and as it headed to the White House President Trump was expected to

President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan bill Tuesday that will spend nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public land. The Great American Outdoors Act was hailed as the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly half a century. “For more than 50 years Congress has struggled to fund land and water conservation, leading to a never ending backlog of maintenance and other critical needs in our parks and public lands that I’ve been hearing about for years,” Trump said at the bill signing in the East Room of the White House.

President Trump signed a bipartisan bill on Tuesday that will pay for repairs at national parks, permanently finance the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and create thousands of jobs. The investment under the Great American Outdoors Act, heralded as the most significant conservation bill in a generation, is the biggest for parks since President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration in the early 1900s, he said. “We are proving that we can protect [our] treasured environment without bludgeoning our workers and crushing our businesses,” Trump said. “This is record-setting stuff.” WHAT IS THE GREAT AMERICAN OUTDOORS ACT? The National Park Service accounts

At a White House ceremony on Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act into law. Montana Senator Steve Daines, who along with fellow Senator Jon Tester and Congressman Greg Gianforte helped shepherd the bipartisan conservation bill through Congress and to the President’s desk. Daines addressed the President from the podium at the White House. “Thank you, Mr. President,” said Daines. “This really is a great day for Montana. This is a great day for America. This is a great day for conservation and all of us who love the great outdoors.” Daines looked back at the long