Daily News Roundup
March 7 and 8, 2024
Strong crosswinds in the Livingston/Nye area will make travel difficult Saturday evening into Sunday morning. Secure loose items and use caution when driving.
Daines and Tester Split Vote on Budget Bill
By Denise Rivette After Montana Representatives Matt Rosendale and Ryan Zinke split their votes on the budget bill in the House earlier this week, this evening Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester did the same in the Senate. The final 75-22 Senate vote had Daines voting against the bill and Tester voting for it. The vote came just a few hours before the midnight deadline, after which, had a bill not passed, the government would have started shutting down for lack of funding.
DPHHS Launches $7.5M Program to Address Court-Ordered Forensic Fitness Evaluation Backlog
By Denise Rivette The Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) put out a press release today announcing the launch of a new process to compensate local providers for community-based court-ordered forensic fitness evaluations (COEs) and related stabilization and restoration services.
Weekly Health Numbers
By Denise Rivette Level of Respiratory Illness Activity Across the Country for Week Ended March 2, 2024 Montana Respiratory Illness Statistics
Montana Delegation Responds to State of the Union Address
By: Keila Szpaller for the Daily Montanan Members of Montana’s congressional delegation sent out remarks Thursday about President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Democrat and U.S. Sen. Jon Tester said he’d stand up to Biden whenever necessary even though they’re in the same party, and Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines said the president owes America an apology.
Wearing a Seat Belt Saved a Driver's Life
By Denise Rivette Earlier this month on a Montana highway in a rural county, a Toyota 4Runner in wet and slushy conditions lost control of his vehicle due to road conditions. The driver overcorrected causing the vehicle to go off the right side of the highway where the tires sunk in the mud leading the vehicle to roll. The 50-year-old male driver was wearing a seat belt and uninjured. His 56-year-old male passenger was not wearing a seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene. Montana Highway Patrol is the investigating agency.
Secretary of State Attempted to Influence Elections Administrator Selection in Cascade County
By Nicole Girten for the Daily Montana Montana’s Secretary of State told Cascade County Commissioners not to choose former election administrator Rina Moore or her former staff as their new administrator in a February email. “Please do not hire Ms. Moore or a member of her administration as Cascade County’s Election Administrator,” Secretary Christi Jacobsen wrote in a letter to commissioners. “Doing so would directly undermine the voters of Cascade County, among other reasons.”
Poll Shows Close Race Between Tester, Sheehy; Neutral Approval Rating for Gianforte
By Blair Miller for the Daily Montanan New polling results released Wednesday show Democratic Senator Jon Tester with a narrow, but statistically insignificant, lead over Republican Tim Sheehy in a theoretical matchup eight months before Election Day, and also that Governor Greg Gianforte has a neutral approval rating as he starts his re-election bid.
Montana Supreme Court considers parental consent case for minors seeking abortion
by Mara Silvers for Montana Free Press The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a winding, years-long case about whether minors must receive parental consent for an abortion, revisiting a fraught legal question that Montana voters, lawmakers and residents have grappled with for more than a decade.
RECALL: FDA Takes Steps to Ensure Safety of Cinnamon Products Sold in the United States
PRESS RELEASE FROM U.S. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION For Immediate Release: March 06, 2024 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking several additional steps to address concerns about elevated lead levels in cinnamon following the recent incident associated with certain cinnamon applesauce pouches that resulted in lead poisoning in young children. Today, the agency sent a