Sign in Subscribe

Seaborn Larson

'Serial litigation': Another ballot issue group sues Montana AG over legal determination

A ballot initiative group sued the Montana Attorney General on Monday, another in a slew of lawsuits against the office from groups trying to get their constitutional amendments before voters on the 2026 ballot. Montanans Decide, the group backing the proposed constitutional amendment dealt with in this latest case, sued

Nonpartisan courts: Montana campaign cleared to begin signature gathering ahead of 2026

One of the two campaigns to preserve Montana’s judicial races as nonpartisan contests has been greenlit for the signature gathering process. State officials approved the proposed constitutional amendment, now known as CI-131, on Sept. 26, giving the campaign by Montanans for Fair and Impartial Courts a nine-month

State senator's $5 million defamation claim denied, Ellsworth attorney vows to sue

Montana's tort defense office has denied a $5 million claim from state Sen. Jason Ellsworth, a Hamilton Republican who said he was defamed in the controversial saga that ended with his lifetime ban from the Montana Senate. The senator, who has been under investigation by the Montana Department

Gianforte just signed a $16.5B state budget. Here’s what made the cut, and what didn’t

With only a little more than a week to spare until the start of a new fiscal year, Gov. Greg Gianforte on Friday signed off on the state’s primary $16.5 billion two-year budget bill, advancing all but $31 million worth of the spending priorities tucked into it

Robocalls, critics & pork: Montana’s budget fight still sizzling after contentious session

Robocalls are a hallmark abrasion of election season, so it seemed abnormal to Rep. Llew Jones, a longtime Republican legislator from Conrad, to hear them in an off-year. More unusual yet is that those automated voice messages target Jones for his role in engineering the state budget, a matter

AG Knudsen jumps into Gallatin County dispute on immigration jail holds

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen this week weighed in on questions about expanding Gallatin County’s assistance to federal immigration authorities, calling legal guidance from the local county attorney on the matter “flawed” in part because it runs against President Donald Trump’s agenda. The discussion about dedicating 10 jail

How a bipartisan coalition dominated the Montana Senate and fractured the Republican Party

Temperatures were well below freezing in Helena in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, the second day of the 2025 Montana legislative session. But the feeling inside the Senate president’s office was "colder in that room than it was outside" as Republican and Democratic Senate leadership