Corin Cates-Carney

Montana lawmakers have yet to find consensus about moving the state toward annual legislative sessions. Lawmakers debated the issue on Tuesday.

Montana and North Dakota are the only two states in the country with part-time legislatures that meet once every other year to approve a budget and pass policy. Instead of meeting once for 90 days every other year, state lawmakers are now studying whether to move to 45-day meetings every year.

Montana’s Legislative Auditor is pushing back against the Governor’s Office’s public criticism of an unpublished report on the state health department. The administration says the details are holding up $80 million in infrastructure projects.

Lawmakers were briefed on the brewing controversy during the kickoff of Legislative Week.

Montana lawmakers are meeting in the State Capitol this week to study budget, tax, and policy trends. The unusual gathering will also include discussion on moving the state towards annual legislative sessions.

The state health department is changing how its programs for kids and families collaborate. Health officials announced Friday those services will now fall under the new Early Childhood and Family Support Division. 

Gov. Steve Bullock’s administration says an $80 million infrastructure package is facing an “unacceptable” delay after passage during last year’s legislative session. The bipartisan spending deal on public works is hung up after an audit questioning state finances and Medicaid spending.

There’s a three-way race underway for a seat on the Montana Supreme Court. Each of the candidates are relying on self funding to get their 2020 campaigns off the ground.

Justice Laurie McKinnon, who lives in Helena, is running for reelection after announcing last year she would not seek a second eight-year term on the state high court.

Shodair Childrens’ Hospital plans to open a new outpatient mental-health clinic in Missoula early next year. Officials say it will help address a lack of mental health services in the area. 

Ahead of Wednesday's U.S. House vote on articles of impeachment, several hundred Montanans rallied across the state Tuesday night both to defend the president and to call for his removal from office.

Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton is in Israel this week with a bipartisan delegation of top state elections officials from across the United States. Officials say the trip aims to strengthen U.S.- Israel relations.

Stapleton is among 11 state officials from the U.S. traveling in the National Association of Secretaries of State delegation.

Cases of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea increased by 50% in Montana in 2018. That’s according to a recent report released by the state health department.

The number of reported gonorrhea cases in the state is spiking again after state health officials reported three years of stabilizing the trend.