Federal officials are recommending approval of a plan to block new mining claims for 20 years on public lands in the mountains north of Yellowstone National Park.

Montana's House and Senate races are tightening, giving hope to the challengers; new ads trumpet Trump support and guns; and the Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination process could be a wild-card in the congressional contests. Sally Mauk, Chuck Johnson and Rob Saldin analyse this week's campaign news now, on "Campaign Beat."

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has proposed closing a popular, crowded bison hunting area near Yellowstone National Park to non-Indian hunters, and is taking public comment on the idea.

The University of Montana has completed its fall-semester census and reports a steeper-than-expected enrollment decline.

Earlier this month UM anticipated a roughly 5 percent enrollment drop this fall compared to last. On Friday, it reported 10,962 students – a decline of almost 8 percent.

On this week’s episode of "Can Do," Jennifer Sheets, a writer and English professor at the University of Montana, talks about her success in winning the 2018 John Ruffato Business Startup Challenge, along with $22,000 in start-up funding.

Sheets entered the competition with no business background or training. But her idea to create StorySquares won over the contest judges. It's a web-based writing platform for individuals, schools, and businesses that would let users complete a writing task from beginning to end using digital storyboarding methods.

Montana saw the biggest growth in median household income of any state in 2017, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released last week.

Senator Jon Tester says he’s concerned about Congress’ ability to pass numerous spending bills necessary to keep the federal government operating by the end of this month’s deadline.

Last year a similar time crunch led to Congress passing a so-called omnibus bill. Critics say omnibus bills lack the transparency of passing multiple appropriation bills under so-called “regular order.”

A middle school teacher from Bonner has been named the 2019 Montana Teacher of the Year.

Montana’s Public School Superintendent Elsie Arntzen visited Bonner Thursday to announce that social studies teacher Dylan Huisken had been selected to represent Montana in the National Teacher of the Year program next year.

Governor Steve Bullock is creating a bipartisan working-group to develop a plan to reduce premiums for people who buy health insurance on the federal marketplace.

A Montana Healthcare Foundation study found that reinsurance programs insulate insurers from very high claims and save consumers money.

Montana is preparing to replace its more than decade-old voter registration system as part of a federal grant program to improve election security.

However, Secretary of State Corey Stapleton says not all those improvements will be in place ahead of the 2018 midterms.