A Billings man was charged last week with threatening to murder Montana Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and President Joe Biden, according to an indictment unsealed in federal court. Anthony James Cross was indicted on two counts related to the threats on Sept. 14 – threats to injure and murder a U.S. senator and threats against the president, according to a redacted indictment. He made his

The Nakoda Dakota Oyate Youth Council’s elections have been rescheduled due to lack of representation from Frazer, Poplar or Brockton, Carrie Manning told the Northern Plains Independent. She said the group has strong membership in Wolf Point, but needs student leaders from neighboring communities. “Be a voice,” Manning said. “Get involved in your community.” Manning said the

The Montana Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons group heard from a regional outreach program coordinator during a conference call last week. Deidre Aanstad, MMIP regional outreach program coordinator, has a history of being a prosecutor in Minnesota for 20 years where she focused on child abuse, domestic violence and homicide cases in Indian Country. Her focus is to address unsolved

National Weather Service meteorologists Nick Vertz of Billings and Jacob Zanker of Glasgow provided information during a weather-ready monthly briefing for eastern Montana and northern Wyoming last week. Zanker noted that due to the lack of precipitation during the past 30 days, the areas along the Canadian border are the most lacking for moisture. A notable weather event during the early part

During a tele townhall call with Montana residents last week, U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont, stressed his dedication of reducing the federal deficit and cutting spending. Rosendale noted the $33 trillion federal deficit. He said the government brings in $5 trillion each year and spends $7 trillion. “The math is simple folks,” Rosendale said. “We can’t continue kicking the can down

National Newspaper Week is being celebrated for the 82nd annual year. The dates of recognition this year are Oct. 2-8. Few communities should know better than our own area when it comes to understanding the importance of newspapers. This newspaper’s publisher and owner, Darla Downs, spent countless hours to make sure state statute was followed regarding the county attorney’s election. Her

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing in recent years about the death of local newspapers, those bastions of democracy and chroniclers of community. While the loss of any newspaper hurts the people they serve, residents of rural areas and small towns are hit especially hard when a newspaper shuts down. When a local newspaper closes, citizens lose impartial news and information about town and