A lawyer defending Randy Pinocci said Wednesday, Jan. 31, he hopes three charges against the Public Service Commissioner will be dropped — but the Cascade County prosecutor said that doesn’t appear likely. Pinocci, a Republican who represents a wide swath of central and eastern Montana, was arrested in September after failing to appear in court for a disorderly conduct misdemeanor charge.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led a coalition of 13 attorneys general in demanding the Biden administration stop attempts to sidestep Congress by giving the Internal Revenue Service the sweeping authority to prepare and file tax returns for all taxpayers. In a letter sent Tuesday, Jan. 30, to Department of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Knudsen opposed the IRSrun Direct File Pilot