During the past few weeks, Richland County has experienced a greater increase of active cases than has other northeastern Montana counties. As of Monday, Richland County has 109 active cases including two new cases listed that day. That figure compares to 40 active cases in Roosevelt County, 33 active cases in Sheridan County and 25 in Daniels County, Dawson County has 76 active cases. The

1 The U.S.-Canada border will remain closed to non-essential travel for another month. The current extension of the border crossing restrictions was set to expire Nov. 21. That has been extended until at least Dec. 21, according to national media outlets. The restrictions were first announced on March 18 and were extended in April, May, June, July, August, September, October and now again

Members of the 2021 Legislature have selected leadership for the upcoming legislative session beginning in January. State Representative Wylie Galt was elected Speaker of the House. Rep. Casey Knudsen was elected Speaker Pro Tempore by the Republican Caucus. Knudsen, who represents a portion of Valley County, defeated Rep. Rhonda Knudsen, who also represents a portion of Valley County.

Eleven small Montana businesses have been awarded Workforce Recovery grants to bring employees back to work who were laid off due to impacts of the pandemic. The Montana Department of Commerce announced the businesses will share $195,000 to support the rehiring of 31 full-time employees. Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs & Resort in Saco received $30,000, which will enable the business to bring

Carrie Schumacher, interim vice president for academic and vocational education at Fort Peck Community College, has received one of the top awards from Montana State University Extension this year. Schumacher received the Epsilon Sigma Phi Friend of Extension award, which recognizes a community partner for support of MSU Extension. She has worked with MSU faculty for approximately 18 years,

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, DMont., has announced new, bipartisan legislation to ensure that small businesses receive promised loan forgiveness for Emergency Injury Disaster Loan Advance Grants, which were distributed to provide relief to small businesses hard hit by the pandemic. “Montana’s small businesses and the good paying jobs they create are the backbone of our economy,” Tester said

Montana was one of four states in the country where voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The other states were Arizona, New Jersey and South Dakota. The outcome of the elections increase the number of states to 15 that have legalized recreational marijuana. In addition, Mississippi and South Dakota approved measures to allow medical marijuana. Montanans