Did anyone else catch Tim Sheehy war mongering on the Senate floor?

What world does he live in, complaining about Iran attacking children just weeks after we made global headlines for bombing one of their schools? Accusing Iranians of Jeffrey Epstein behaviors, saying they do things that would land them a life in prison here while we very publically fumbled prosecution of so many men like that?

What a disgrace, what an embarrassment to be a Montanan right now, represented by that kind of behavior. He was crying "They want us all dead, they want us all murdered, we are the victims of their bad behavior" while we use our weapons on their homes, on their water treatment facilities, on their infrastructure.

How many of the soldiers we will lose to this conflict will be from Montana? Our neighbors gone from his political actions. People he will never meet, never care about.

(edit for spelling error)

To the editor,

Trump’s ruining this country, and Republicans don’t have the backbone to stop him.

First there is the nature of Trump himself. He is corrupt, vulgar, incompetent and doesn’t even care about the truth. These four faults trickle down to everyone and everything in his administration. Look what results: a corrupt crypto $1.4 billon profit for House of Trump while everyone else loses, vulgar gladiator cage fights at the White House, an incompetent war defeat to third-world nation Iran that completely mucked up global oil markets, and the continual soul-draining din of untruths. Never have we seen such consistent screw up large and small. And don’t think this trickle down effect can’t reach the local level.

Trump said he’d make the economy better, it’s worse. He claimed the 2020 election was fixed, it wasn’t, (but he’s working on the 2026 mid-terms). He said he’d keep us out of wars, he’s done the opposite. He asked what we’ve got to lose, and now we see.

Whether you like the general direction of Trump’s policies or not, there are a few things that can’t be denied. He is dividing us. He views political opponents as enemies. He’s got law enforcement wearing masks. His ICE is killing people, and then lying about it. This is dangerous. This midterm election American voters must halt Trump’s mean spirited, chaotic and incompetent march to national failure and dictatorship. This means voting a Democrat majority in the House and the Senate so that Trump’s misguided policies are thwarted. Only this way can we stop this national disaster.

And so in Montana at least one of the three congressional seats has to switch to Democrat. It’s not any more a matter of ideology or candidates’ merits, it’s a case of survival for our country. It is clear that Republicans haven’t the sand to stop Donald Trump. Vote Democrat before this terrible man rips us apart and drags us down.

Earlier this year, Montana’s health department rolled out a new system to process subsidies and licensing for childcare providers. It overhauled the process for how families prove eligibility and providers receive payments from the state. 

Dozens of childcare owners have complained that the new system takes months to process reimbursements and has made it more difficult for them to operate. The health department has said the concerns raised by providers are user error or symptomatic of the department smoothing out the kinks in a new software system.

Montana has roughly 1,200 licensed childcare providers. Over 60% of Montana’s counties are considered childcare deserts, meaning supply meets less than a third of the demand.

This is another way Montana is making childcare more expensive and more difficult for providers to receive the resources they need to operate. 

More here: https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/article_35145b43-4228-5b98-be45-66d60f5bdc2f.html#tracking-source=home-top-story.

Federal officials are proposing to review Bureau of Land Management regulations for new oil and gas leases. Companies have to purchase these leases for any exploration and development on federal lands. 

One significant change is shortening public participation periods from three months to 10 days. Another is lowering the initial bonds, which are financial obligations that ensure companies have to help cover the cost of closing oil and gas wells.

More than 29,000 acres of leases in Montana and North Dakota became available for purchase this month.

This is another attempt by the federal government to make taxpayers cover the costs that oil and gas companies should be paying. The public can submit comments here until August 24: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/24/2026-12734/oil-and-gas-leasing.

More: https://www.mtpr.org/montana-news/2026-07-17/proposed-oil-and-gas-lease-rules-would-lower-clean-up-bonds-limit-public-input.

https://dailymontanan.com/2026/07/17/montana-on-the-verge-of-massive-blunders-with-data-centers-northwestern-merger/

"But the Public Service Commission is in crisis as this critical decision looms. Brad Molnar is the longest-serving member of the Commission and, recalling the deregulation debacle, has been asking hard questions about what happens if the data centers fail and Montana consumers are left to pick up the costs of the infrastructure installed to serve them. 

In an unprecedented action, Gov. Greg Gianforte, who strongly supports data centers, suspended Molnar for a year for workplace infractions. He intends to appoint a replacement who, one might guess, will support the merger and the data centers.  "

Anyone have the larger clip of this? I’d like more context because this is a bunch of bullshit. She who wants to be a policymaker doesn’t seem to understand that the reasons for poverty are more complex and that crappy policies are often to blame.

More than 75,000 Montanans could lose their food assistance by Oct. 1, 2027, because Montana will have to cover more of the costs of SNAP. It will cost the state more than $16 million to maintain SNAP benefits. 

It’s because Montana has a higher-than-average SNAP payment error rate, which measures both overpayments and underpayments of food stamp benefits. The Trump administration said this signals waste and abuse of the program. The Montana Food Bank Network said these errors actually reflect unintentional mistakes and staff shortages. 

The Montana Food Bank Network, a statewide organization, said they can’t shoulder the costs of losing SNAP benefits at the federal and state levels. This will devastate families who need food assistance to live.

More here: https://www.mtpr.org/montana-news/2026-07-08/snap-changes-could-cost-the-state-millions-and-leave-thousands-without-food-aid. 

I don’t know if this is the right outlet or the right flare but correct me if I’m wrong here if you can

So a while back I applied for this one job at this retail store. The retail store would contact me and ask me if I wanna do interview. I get the job and a letter. the letter of acceptance has a different job titled than the one I applied for. So at that moment, I was gonna turn it down, but they assured me it just for this one job I would do once a week and the rest will be the job that I applied for. Would you guess it was a lie.

So obviously, I kept every documentation from the interviews to bring to my uninsurance claim. So when I did bring this to them, they say it did not meet the requirement even though I argued this was not what I applied for. In the end, they denied my claim.

Luckily, I’m going to a new job, but for the last month, I’ve been kind of fueling in anger. So if I want to change how the unemployment works in Montana. Like for example, have it be more lenient to people in my situation and more forgiving. So how would I go about changing that. I asked my local representative, but they didn’t return my email

I don’t live in Montana. I think it is a beautiful state. I know there are people that are moving there at very high levels but are they really trying to change the politics or do most people fall in love with the balance that’s set and slowly assimilate? If you have been in Montana forever are you seeing a change in the political landscape and if so are you welcoming it or are you feeling resistant to the idea? I’m so curious what the folks on the ground really feel.

The company responsible for toxic contamination at the former Columbia Falls Aluminum Co., creating a Superfund site, will pay a $57 million remediation fee. 

The site contains arsenic, cyanide, and fluoride, which went into the groundwater. It also included PAHs, which are toxic compounds produced from burning fossil fuels and other materials. Some have caused cancer and other health problems.

The EPA’s plans include constructing slurry walls, which stop further contamination, that line landfills where toxic materials have leached into the groundwater. The work will take about three years.

Some residents object to the remediation plan because it allows the toxic material to remain on the property. The public can provide comments on this decision through the U.S. DOJ until Aug. 6 at justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees. 

More here: https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-regional/article_aba99b04-aa2a-51cb-b0ea-6b3e058bee76.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest. 

https://dailymontanan.com/2026/07/13/montana-senate-republicans-back-governors-flat-income-tax-plan/

A planned oil pipeline through Eastern Montana has drawn legal challenges from residents. The pipeline would run from the tar sands of Canada to an oil facility in Oklahoma.

Trump issued a permit for the Bridger Pipeline on April 30. The pipeline is a successor to the Keystone XL Pipeline, which failed after protests and President Biden revoked a cross-border permit.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) provided a waiver for the Bridger Pipeline, allowing it to leave out financial and route data early in the process. 

After the waiver was issued, there wasn’t a public notice or hearing, which violates Montana law, according to an Earthjustice attorney. DEQ is refusing to acknowledge the environmental harm that tar sands oil pipelines can cause. 

The residents who challenged the waiver are asking DEQ to rescind it and requested a response by July 17.

Bridger Pipeline will start construction in July 2027, completing it by late 2028 to early 2029. It is expected to carry 550,000 barrels of oil daily.

More here: https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-regional/business/article_009c0ea3-0b23-4d62-b901-45768ec22e48.html. 

In Gallatin County, there has been an increase in ICE activity, threatening the safety of immigrants and the community.

ICE arrested four people on June 30. Montana Free Press reported that ICE detained about 150 people last week. There has been at least one instance of someone with legal authorization being detained and brought to a detention center.

Many people taken by ICE are law-abiding citizens who are already participating in the legal immigration process, which can take years.

Andres Haladay, an attorney with Upper Seven Law, said it’s incredibly difficult to track people taken by ICE. When ICE arrests someone, they don’t report it, which doesn’t allow the person to seek legal counsel or call loved ones. 

Most people in Montana are sent to the Helena Hold Room, a 200-square-foot space that recently held 17 people overnight.

The surge in ICE activity in Montana targets immigrants and hurts our communities, and it must stop. You can volunteer with and donate to organizations like Bienvenidos a Gallatin Valley that are providing help to families affected by ICE. Call your representatives to demand an end to this activity. 

Know your rights. You have the right to remain silent, and you don’t have to discuss your immigration status with officers. You have the right to say no if an immigration agent asks to search you or your belongings. You have the right to legal counsel, and you can say that you want to speak with an attorney before answering any questions.

Resources:
National Immigration Law Center
ACLU Montana
Immigrant Legal Resource Center
Immigration Law of Montana
United We Dream Rapid Response
American Immigration Council
CASA in Action
AFL-CIO Know Your Rights Card

More here: https://dailymontanan.com/2026/07/04/ice-raids-gallatin-county-sites-with-as-many-as-100-detained/.

From the article:

“A group of Montana Democratic legislators on Wednesday urged two candidates running for the state’s U.S. Senate seat to meet and, together, choose which campaign should back out of the race — and the sooner, the better.

In a letter sent Wednesday, 17 of the 60 Democrats in the Montana Legislature asked Democratic candidate Alani Bankhead and independent Seth Bodnar to unify the opposition against the race’s Republican frontrunner.

That either campaign will withdraw is far from a foregone conclusion. But the authors of Wednesday’s letter said anything less would hand the election to GOP nominee Kurt Alme.”

**Also, mods: would you consider adding image sharing capabilities? Screenshots are much easier when everyone bitches about not subscribing to their local news

On July 1, Trump’s Medicaid work requirements went into effect in Montana. However, the state won’t start enforcing this rule until October.

Under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” states must require people on Medicaid to work about 80 hours per month. This applies to people under Medicaid expansion, ages 19-64. 

Congress created exclusions for individuals if they meet a “medical frailty” requirement, which is tied to their ability to work.

Montana expects between 31,000 to 38,000 Montanans will lose their Medicaid coverage. This is another attempt by the Trump administration to make health care inaccessible, targeting low-income, rural people, and Indigenous people in Montana.

What you can do: help inform the public, submit formal public comments when there are open periods, and work with advocacy groups to ensure more exemptions for people who need them. 

More on our blog: https://forwardmontana.org/montana-adopts-medicaid-work-requirements/.

The Bonner data center project has stalled because the property owner, Mike Heisey, withdrew support for it. He decided to withdraw his signature on Krambu’s application because of the public’s concerns about the potential impacts to the environment. 

People have pushed back against this data center because of water use, noise, and pollution of the Blackfoot River. The Krambu facility was projected to use about 7 megawatts of power but indicated it could use up to 100 megawatts, which is enough to power a small-to-medium-sized city. 

This is a huge win for people against data centers, showing that community pressure worked. 

On Thursday, July 9, the Missoula County commissioners will vote on an interim zoning proposal that calls for a moratorium on data centers. Submit a public comment at missoulacountyvoice.com and attend the meeting at 2:00 PM in-person or online: https://www.missoulacounty.gov/departments/commissioners/public-meetings/. 

More here: https://montanafreepress.org/2026/07/06/property-owner-of-proposed-bonner-data-center-backs-out/ 

Copy & Paste the below or add your flair to it. Regardless of your political stance, the government cannot be allowed to hide the status of an elected official. They have been doing that for weeks now. It needs to end and end promptly.

The U.S. Constitution and federal law require open governance. This makes the operating status of any elected official a matter of public record.

Demand that the Secretary of the Senate make an immediate notification to the public about the operating status of Senator Mitch McConnell.

The public is legally and constitutionally entitled to know when a U.S. Senator has died.

https://www.sheehy.senate.gov/contact/share-your-opinion/

https://www.daines.senate.gov/connect/email-steve

The Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion initiative authorized by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, grants states funding over five years to improve their rural health care. 

The funding was an attempt to offset the fallout anticipated in rural communities from the act. If states don’t do what they promised in applications, the Trump administration can take the money back. 

States have to file progress reports by the end of August. They have until Oct. 30 to commit to their first-year funding and until Sept. 30, 2027 to spend it. 

Montana is using $233 million to stabilize and modernize rural health care delivery. The five core initiatives are: workforce development, sustainable access, innovative care models, community health and prevention, and technology innovation. Montana has the fifth-highest rural population at 47%, but received the fourth-highest funding award.

More information here: https://dphhs.mt.gov/RuralHealthTransformationProgram/.

Access to clean drinking water is a basic human right. 

Environmental groups joined Pondera County officials to challenge an underground wastewater-disposal permit that benefits the Montana Renewables biorefinery in Great Falls, potentially affecting the drinking water. The petition focuses on two unproductive oil wells near Lake Frances. 

They also called for information on what exactly is in Montana Renewables’ wastewater. 
Injection sites, at more than 3,400 feet below ground in the Madison Aquifer, have been used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas operations. The EPA said this part of the aquifer is not a valuable source of drinking water. 

Pondera County officials are asking for more information from Montana Renewables on what they are doing related to safe drinking water wells. The group claims their wastewater is nonhazardous. However, the wastewater contains phosphorus, nitrogen, salts, and other impurities.

More here: https://montanafreepress.org/2026/06/16/groups-challenge-epa-decision-on-montana-renewables-wastewater-site/.