Category: Government
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Overtime Pay Threshold Increased
The Department of Labor has increased the minimum salary threshold which makes workers eligible for overtime pay. Employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act are entitled to at least one-and-a-half times their rate for hours worked beyond the 40-hour workweek, unless they are exempt. Previously, those exemptions included salaried employees primarily performing “executive, administrative, or…
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Lifeline of the Highline
The Montana Farm Bureau has submitted a letter to U.S. House of Representatives leadership urging them to take up the Fort Belknap Indian Community (FBIC) Water Settlement Act of 2024 (S.1987). “The Milk River Project in north central Montana is aptly referred to as the “Lifeline of the Highline” because it provides water to over…
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Knudsen Praises Ruling Blocking Loan Cancellations
By Chris Woodward, The Center Square Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is pleased that a federal judge in Kansas has agreed with his request to block President Joe Biden’s student loan relief effort. “This is great news that a court is blocking the President’s plan to buy votes from young, recent graduates and driving our…
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Home Ownership Near Impossible for Young
Current economic conditions are proving to be especially difficult for the young, according to a recent report in Epoch Times. The obstacles holding younger generations back include historically high home prices, stagnant inflation, debt and spending habits, and wages. And, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) home prices aren’t going to go down…
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Grant will Provide EV Buses for SD2
A government grant of $3.2 million will purchase electric school buses for Billings School District 2 this coming school year in partnership with First Student, the district’s transportation contractor. The grant, through the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will cover the cost of purchasing the buses and constructing the charging infrastructure. According to reports…
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Goal: Zero Traffic Deaths
As traffic safety partners across Montana prepare to meet this month, roadway fatalities continue to be a primary concern. In 2023, 208 people died on Montana roads, and Vision Zero – zero deaths and zero serious injuries on Montana roadways – remains the goal. Statewide crash trends will be one agenda item of discussion at…
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Arraignment Court Planned
By Evelyn Pyburn Some time this summer Yellowstone County will initiate an arraignment court. The need for an arraignment court in Yellowstone County has been growing and it will become essential once the proposed short-term holding facility becomes a reality, according to Yellowstone County’s Justice of the Peace David Carter. Judge Carter is currently in…
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Bureaucratic Rule Change Threatens Ag
A lawsuit filed on June 12, by the American Farm Bureau Federation and 11 other groups, challenges the lawfulness of the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule, which threatens the future of ranching in the U.S. by destabilizing a decades-old tradition of grazing on federal lands. Gary Heibertshausen, a sheep rancher in Montana and…
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Unemployment Remains High
Early summer brings work and a traditional decline in unemployment insurance (UI). In May, about 70,000 Ninth District workers received weekly UI benefits. That’s about half of January’s levels, but UI levels historically decline with warmer weather. Current levels are 17 percent higher than last year but still a 5 percent gap from 2019 levels.…
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State Grants $2.6 million to Film Industry
Since the Montana State Legislature created a taxpayer funded program in the hopes of attracting Hollywood –style business to Montana, the Montana Department of Commerce recently announced $2.6 million in grants to 67 film creations statewide. The program is called the Big Sky Film Grant program and this year there were 150 projects requesting $9…