The Montana Department of Labor and Industry reminds Montana businesses and workers that the minimum wage will increase from $10.30 to $10.55 beginning on Jan. 1, 2025. Montana law requires the minimum wage to be adjusted annually for inflation using the August estimates of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers. The CPI-U increased by 2.53 percent from August 2023 to August 2024. The

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Montana is accepting applications for Ag Lands Easements, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, Regional Conservation Partnership Program and Wetlands Reserve Easements. To be considered for funding in the current cycle, producers and landowners should apply by: • ALE Inflation Reduction Act: Oct.

The U.S. Senate passed Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester’s bipartisan resolution marking Sept. 20 as National Service Dog Day in honor of service dogs in Montana and across the nation. The resolution received unanimous bipartisan support. “For thousands of veterans and servicemembers across the country, service dogs play an incredible role helping our fighting men and

September was National Suicide Awareness Month. In observance of this, the Fort Peck Tribal Health Department sponsored the Healthy Mind & Emotions - A Social Emotional Event held from Sept. 10-14 on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana. The five-day event featured four keynote speakers, Darnell Jackson, Elwoods Pipestem-Ott, Joshua Stewart and Dr. Joseph P. Gone. Activities

Last week, U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale (MT-02) introduced the Path to Independence Act. His new legislation will allow states to impose work requirements on able-bodied adults enrolled in Medicaid to help lift millions off government reliance and into self-sufficiency. Under current law and unlike most other welfare programs, the Medicaid program has no mandated work requirement. Thirteen states

Jordan “J.D.” Hall, once a prominent religious and political figure in Montana right-wing circles, was ordered earlier this month to pay more than $15,000 to the Sidney church he once led after a Richland County District Court judge found him guilty of felony embezzlement. As part of a deferred sentencing agreement filed Sept. 10, Hall, who was ousted from Fellowship Baptist Church in 2022

Reading through our nation’s history from about 50 years ago, it made me feel that our country better handled problems and challenges of those times than our current leaders are doing. It seemed that our nation was more united for the common good during those earlier days. For example, in 1974, the Supreme Court ruled in the United States v. Nixon case that “the president cannot shield himself