Category: Government
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County Faces a “Big Ask”
“It’s a big ask.” Persistent overcrowding at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility (YCDF), the county’s jail, has brought forth a proposal from consultants to expand the jail by 512 beds with support systems at a cost of $225 million. The expansion and updating of current facilities would carry the county to meeting needs through to…
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MSU TechLink Assures Federal Programs
Montana State University TechLink assures that federal programs for research and development are not at risk of federal cost cutting. In a recent statement they stated, “we want to reassure our clients that the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are not only operational but continue to thrive.” Federal…
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DEA Report Finds Fentanyl Purity Falling, but No Less Dangerous
By Brett Rowland The Center Square The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration released its latest report on drug threats, highlighting progress in the fight against fentanyl, a powerful opioid responsible for most overdose deaths. Even so, fentanyl remains at the top of the DEA threat assessment. “Mexican cartels’ production, trafficking, and distribution of powerful illicit synthetic…
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CMS to Crack Down on Medicaid Dollars Spent on Noncitizens
By Casey Harper The Center Square The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is cracking down on states’ use of taxpayer dollars allotted to Medicaid to pay for unauthorized treatments for noncitizens. The federal government allocates billions of dollars each year to states to help pay for Medicaid, healthcare for lower income Americans, one of…
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First Four Months in 2025, Illegal Crossings Down by 83% Nationwide from 2024
By Bethany Blankley The Center Square In the first four months of 2025, illegal border crossing encounters and apprehensions reported nationwide totaled 168,390, an 83% drop from the number reported during the same time period last year. Under the Biden administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 993,035 illegal border crosser encounters/apprehensions from January through…
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Capital Gains Impact Housing Prices
With median home prices exceeding $1 million in many U.S. housing markets, some real estate professionals are drawing attention to a 28-year-old capital gains tax law, citing it as one factor contributing to the nationwide housing shortage. Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty in Palo Alto, told The Epoch Times that some communities have experienced…
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Goodbye to the Penny
The US Treasury recently announced it will stop making the penny. Producing one penny cost almost four cents, costing the US Mint $85 million a year. This isn’t the first time this has been considered by Congress. The Cato Institute said that the penny should have been jettisoned long ago, but previous efforts in Congress…
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NW Energy Explains Rate Increase
In opening remarks before the Montana Public Service Commission on the first day of the hearing on NorthWestern Energy’s request for a regulatory rate review, Sarah Norcott, Director of Regulatory Corporate Counsel for NorthWestern explained how the company’s investments benefit customers—both now and in the long term. “We understand that any increase in utility bills…
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New Sign for Metra
It’s time to replace MetraPark’s digital advertising sign at 6th Avenue. “The controller is shot,” reported staff in seeking the county commissioners’ pre-authorization to begin the process sooner rather than later due to the length of time it will take to pursue the process. It was planned to begin the process in September but there…
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Balancing Costs, Labor, and Ambiguity in the Ninth District’s Construction Sector
Erick Garcia Luna, Director, Regional Outreach Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis “…the industry’s reliance on imported materials, such as Canadian lumber, has some firms thinking twice before submitting request for proposals.” “Following years of fast-rising prices and wages, pressures were less acute and becoming more manageable.” “Forty-four percent of survey-takers experienced price hikes greater than…