Tim Fox

State Sen. and Republican gubernatorial candidate Albert Olszewski picked a running mate yesterday for his bid to win the party’s nomination in 2020. Olszewski is tapping fellow state Senator Republican Kenneth Bogner of Miles City.

Starting this week pharmacies in Montana will need to see identification from patients picking up prescriptions for opioid painkillers like hydrocodone or oxycodone.

Montana is joining attorneys general from around the country in an investigation into Google’s wide-ranging dominance in online markets and advertising.

Mark Mattioli, the chief Montana’s Office of Consumer Protection, says Google is so big and powerful the company has state officials concerned it is shutting down competition.

The Montana Department of Justice is rolling out a new statewide system for tracking sexual assault evidence kits. The creation of the online platform follows a report that more than 1,000 evidence kits — some decades old — were sitting untested in law enforcement evidence lockers and refrigerators.

Equifax will pay at least $700 million — and potentially much more — to settle lawsuits over a 2017 data breach of sensitive personal information for about half the U.S population and about a third of Montanans.