Montana’s two U.S. senators, Jon Tester and Steve Daines, are behind efforts to boost the prices paid to Montana ranchers, who’ve been hit hard by market forces during the COVID-19 crisis. Tester was a lead sponsor of a bill introduced May 12 to require large meat-packers to buy at least 50 percent of cattle on the cash market, a move he says will make it harder for packers to manipulate

Attorney General Tim Fox announced Friday, May 15, that Montana homeowners experiencing financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic will have a new mortgage payment deferral option available to them this summer. The Federal Housing Finance Agency now says Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will make a new payment deferral option available starting July 1 to help homeowners who are in COVID-19

Montana’s new COVID-19 cases remains low at 471, up 10 from Tuesday, May 12, while North Dakota’s case count increased by 423 to 1,994 in the past week. At presstime Tuesday, May 12, there were 471 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Montana. Of those cases, 437 are listed as recovered and only 18 active cases. There have been 65 total hospitalizations, with five hospitalizations listed as active.

The Montana Stock Growers Association has long been an advocate of County-of-Origin (COOL) labeling. As an association, the group has supported efforts to continue to evaluate avenues forward for a program that meets the needs of producers, consumers and regulating entities. “Our members have expressed enormous support for a program which allows for the preservation and protection of beef

Montana VA Health Care System is ramping up faceto- face visits after COVID-19 prompted some care options to be shifted to virtual appointments. Across Montana, MTVAHCS facilities will begin expanding in-person services starting on May 18. MTVAHCS was selected as its regional Veterans Integrated Service Network lead site to be the first to implement a phased approach to reintroducing health care

The Wolf Point School board held its regular meeting Monday, May 11. The meeting was broadcast live on Facebook. Resignations were accepted from Southside teachers Ashley Fleming, Kerrie Letsche, Alyssa Smith and Hannah Struttman, as well as high school English teacher Robin Hayes Hernandez. Sarah Larkin and Emma Tolzein were hired as teachers for Southside. Ronnell Tumonong was hired as a