Corin Cates-Carney

More than 120 people, including members of state, tribal and local law enforcement, attended a public training in Helena Wednesday. The daylong training, organized by Montana’s Department of Justice and Montana’s U.S. attorney, highlighted situations when indigenous persons go missing.

Montana’s newly formed Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force met for the first time Tuesday in Helena. The task force of tribal members and state law enforcement gathered less than a month after a bill creating and funding the group became law.

For the next year and half the group will study the disproportionate rate at which Native American women and children go missing, and the coordination among agencies in finding them.

Units 1 and 2 of the coal-fired power plant in Colstrip will permanently close at the end of this year. Plant operator Talen Energy made that announcement in a press release Tuesday, saying the company has been unsuccessful in making the units economically viable. Talen says the plant’s newer units, 3 and 4, will remain open.

Average fire conditions are expected throughout most of Montana this summer, according to analysis given to Gov. Steve Bullock during his annual pre-fire-season briefing today. However, fire officials warn that climate change is continuing to lengthen fire seasons throughout the West.

Gov. Steve Bullock will get a briefing on Montana’s wildfire outlook Friday from a group of interagency fire partners. The governor’s annual fire season meeting delivers predictions on wildland fire potential and updates on the readiness of agencies to respond once fire breaks out.

Gov. Steve Bullock’s administration argued along side the state of New Jersey in federal court in Great Falls Wednesday against the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has loosened disclosure requirements for so-called dark money campaign groups.

Montana’s Secretary of State Corey Stapleton Tuesday filed a response to a lawsuit by Gov. Steve Bullock over whether Bullock met a veto deadline for a bill passed by the Legislature this year.

Stapleton’s chief legal counsel says Bullock made a mistake and that the law is clear about the outcome of House Bill 132.

A hearing has been set for Wednesday in a constitutional debate between Montana’s governor and secretary of state.

Late last week a District Judge in Helena temporarily blocked Republican Secretary of State Corey Stapleton from enrolling into law a bill to change the state’s definition of wild bison.

Gov. Steve Bullock is traveling to the West Coast and to Iowa this week as he campaigns for president. The Governor’s Office announced Monday that Chief of Staff Tom Lopach is leaving the administration after accepting a position with the campaign. 

A Montana judge has blocked Secretary of State Corey Stapleton from enrolling into state law a bison bill that Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed last month.

District Judge James Reynolds' temporary restraining order was issued Friday afternoon, two days after Stapleton declared the bill had become law because the Democratic governor missed a deadline to turn the veto in to the Republican secretary's office.