Partly because of the passing of Senate Bill 117, there have been concerns about raising taxes for some eastern Montana residents. Roosevelt County Commissioner Gordon Oelkers, however, stresses that the bill will not result in higher taxes for Roosevelt County residents. Oelkers said that because of the bill, the county will have about 2 percent less in tax revenue during the next six years.

The Lustre EMB Church held its Christmas program Dec. 21. It was called “Be Astonished!” Pastor Wayne Hathaway began by reminding us of the women in Matthew’s account recorded in “the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” which established His right to be King. He said “Notice the word ‘BY’ when it tells us of the children born by Tamar, by

RiverStone Health, the public health department of state’s largest county, Yellowstone, has confirmed a second death of influenza in the state this season, as Montana statistics show that influenza cases are happening more rapidly than last year at this time. The state’s most current published data goes through Dec. 19 and shows 1,238 cases so far. RiverStone reported that an unvaccinated

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks recently concluded its general season sampling effort for chronic wasting disease, marking one of the most productive monitoring periods to date. This achievement was made possible through the direct participation of hunters across the state. FWP wishes to extend a sincere thank you to the thousands of hunters who brought their harvests to check stations or

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., has announced that his staff helped return more than $50 million from the federal government to Montanans in 2025, closed hundreds of cases for constituents and attended thousands of meetings and events throughout the state. Over 95 percent of the recovered money was from the Internal Revenue Service. “Serving Montana is an honor and a privilege. I’m proud

The Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board held its full board meeting on Monday, Dec. 22. The board approved the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget modification in the amount of $1,970,700 due to the state of emergency at the Fort Peck Detention Center. The board voted to declare that the official Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes logo is the intellectual property of the Fort Peck Assiniboine

Mark your calendars for the MFBF Young Farmer and Rancher Leadership Conference Jan. 23-25 at the Holiday Inn in Great Falls. The conference provides an incredible opportunity to learn about markets, accounting software, calving preparedness, water rights and generational farming and ranching. The event kicks off the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 23, with Beef Quality Assurance training followed