Major tax legislation passed by the 2025 Legislature swung tax bills dramatically for most Montana homeowners this year, pulling bills down for many and raising them for others. Now, new rules proposed by the department aim to flesh out the details around a second phase of the legislation — a second-home tax that will take effect next year in an effort to provide further relief to homes being

The federal government’s reopening is a step in the right direction for farms and ranches, with the USDA reopening with full funding for many of the programs crucial for farm success, said Walter Schweitzer, who serves as president of Montana Farmers Union. “We appreciate that the Senate version to reopen government extends the Farm Bill to Sept. 30, 2026, fully funding the USDA and many

Slaughterhouses and butchers used to be scattered throughout the United States, numbering about 10,000 in 1967. Only about 3,000 remain and about 85 percent of the American meatpacking industry is controlled by four companies: JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill and Smithfield. The other 20 percent of that market share is held in part by small and very small meat producers scattered across the country,