Montana lawmakers call for investigation of GOP power couple and millions they've received from state funds.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

"I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors, to give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress. With the power of sworn testimony, each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the Congressional Record. Then and only then, we will have the truth.” – First Lady Melania Trump, addressing concerns that her name has been connected with child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

In an innovative new program, the Montana Office of Public Instruction has partnered with the business onX to encourage students to participate in the youth hunters’ safety and awareness program. For successfully completing the program, the young person gets a one-year subscription to the app, which lets hunters and outdoors enthusiasts know if they’re on private or public land.

A Missoula County District County judge has ruled that the Montana Department of Justice and the Montana Motor Vehicle Division will be on the hook for more than $70,000 in attorneys fees for discriminating against nonbinary residents who are denied driver’s licenses because they refuse to choose “male” or “female.”

In a rather cryptic and shocking announcement, First Lady of the United States Melania Trump talks about the Epstein files, including rumors of her knowledge and involvement. Instead, she urges Congress to hold hearings to hear from the victims so that the issue can be resolved.

More than 2 million people have been cut from food stamps and food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, as a result of the large budget bill passed by the Republican majority in Congress.

Democrats in Congress are putting pressure on the Republican leadership of both the United States House of Representatives, as well as the United States Senate, to reconvene from the break in order to discuss the war in Iran and the possibility of a war powers resolution, which would give lawmakers more power and oversight into the war.

With the escalation of tension about the war in Iran as well as social media posts by President Donald Trump, who threatened to destroy Iranian civilization, it has caused a national movement to understand the definition of “war crime.”

Columnist George Ochenski writes that President Donald Trump’s war against Iran has been problematic for the United States, as our domestic and foreign policy seem to carom like an out-of-control car. However, its impacts can be felt close to home as gas prices are making even going fishing expensive, and Montana’s agricultural community can’t afford fertilizer.

Yesterday, we highlighted the importance of local news and journalism for the inaugural Local News Day — meant to pause for a moment to celebrate and support journalists and news organizations near you, not in some far distant place.

While our mission and focus at the Daily Montanan is an intense focus on policies and politics, we’re part of a larger organization that supports the same types of newsrooms in 40 locations while collaborating with 10 other organizations to cover all 50 states. States Newsroom, our parent organization, is the largest nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to state coverage in the U.S. We also have a dedicated staff of national reporters covering topic areas like reproductive freedom or democracy as well as the publication Stateline, and a crew of reporters who work in Washington, D.C. (please pray for them that they may get sleep sometime ….). But on Local News Day, our organization announced a partnership with MS Now, which drew some national coverage that demonstrated how media organizations are growing and trying to find new footing in answer to the perennial question: What comes next?

Here’s a glance at what we’re doing, written by our communications guru and chief, Lara Weber:

States Newsroom’s new, expanding partnership with MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) will focus on the 2026 elections as the U.S. continues through the primary season and heads toward the general midterms in November and the rapidly approaching 2028 presidential race. MS NOW, which reaches 32 million Americans every week on television, will work with States Newsroom on coverage of state and local races, local issues and access to the ballot box. The network also generated nearly 8 billion combined views across YouTube and TikTok in 2025, recorded more than 140 million audio downloads, and reached 30 million people online each month at ms.now.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher for our democracy in this election year, and this partnership with MS NOW elevates our state-level reporting, which provides essential context to today’s national news,” Chris Fitzsimon, publisher of States Newsroom, said. 

States Newsroom’s seasoned journalists will appear on all MS NOW platforms for primary nights, election night and more, amplifying state coverage to provide important local context to a national audience. States Newsroom’s coverage and journalists are already regularly featured on MS NOW, including for such stories as immigrant detention center expansion across the states, ICE arrests of U.S. citizens and the impact of recent severe federal funding cuts. Both newsrooms retain full editorial independence and control of their journalism.

As a national network of newsrooms covering all 50 state capitals plus Washington, D.C., States Newsroom is in the unique position of being able to serve both the smaller newsrooms across the country that have limited resources as well as large national outlets that want to tap into trusted reporting from the state level. A nonprofit supported by foundations and individual donors, States Newsroom provides all of its coverage for free. 

States Newsroom has deepened and elevated its state coverage through several key editorial partnerships, including: 

So, there’s a trend here. And, it’s a good one.

We have seen a revival of folks digging out songs about peace. In the midst of war, genocide and general turmoil, we probably can’t have enough reminders about the power of peace.

I would offer this observation: During the course of about four years, I interviewed nearly 100 veterans about their military experience. Many of them had seen combat or served in war zones, and most were from the Vietnam era. Of course, given the different ages and the different branches of the Armed Services, not to mention the variety of jobs, it was hard to find a common theme. That wasn’t really the point.

However, the one thing that struck me was those who had seen the effects of war or witnessed it firsthand said nearly verbatim the same thing: Once you see war, you never want anything but peace.

So for today’s song on “The Hook,” we turn it over to one of our friends and eDJs, Jim Vashro.

OK Jim, over to you:

Continuing the “Peace” theme.

Cat Stevens wrote “Peace Train” in 1971. Fifty years later, we’re still waiting for the train to arrive.

Cat Stevens later converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. Here’s a version performed by Playing For Change, and Yusuf makes an appearance. People the world over aspire to peace, wish for peace. It seems like only some political leaders believe war is the answer.

If you have a song that you’d like to share, or would like to get in touch with us, please send us a note at [email protected]

Thanks for reading Treasure State Update. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.