• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

The Trump administration sued Denver and its police department on Tuesday seeking to strike down an assault weapons ban that has been in place for Colorado's largest city since 1989.

• 2026-05-05
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

From the Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial to O.J. Simpson's double murder case, cameras in the courtrooms have long exposed the inner workings of some of America's most spectacular criminal cases. Now calls to bar cameras from Tyler Robinson 's trial in the killing of Charlie Kirk is reigniting the debate over whether they belong.

• 2026-04-17
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists' lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.

• 2026-03-31
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana dropped his bid for reelection to a third term in a surprise withdrawal just minutes before a Wednesday filing deadline for candidates.

• 2026-03-04
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Former University of Montana President Seth Bodnar is launching an independent campaign to challenge Republican Sen. Steve Daines in November, after Democrats in the state lost elections in recent years.

• 2026-03-04
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

President Donald Trump has nominated for director of the National Park Service an executive from a hospitality company that holds extensive contracts with the agency he would lead.

• 2026-02-12
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Federal officials rejected a mining company's bid for 1.3 million tons of coal beneath a national forest in Utah, marking the third proposed coal sale from public lands in the West to fall through this month.

• 2025-10-16
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Federal officials rejected a company's bid to acquire 167 million tons of coal on public lands in Montana for less than a penny per ton, in what would have been the biggest U.S. government coal sale in more than a decade.

• 2025-10-14
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Wednesday proposed canceling a public land management rule that elevated the importance of conservation, as President Donald Trump's administration seeks to open more taxpayer-owned tracts to drilling, logging, mining and grazing.

• 2025-09-10
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- More than 2 million acres of federal lands would be sold or transferred to states or other entities under a budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, reviving a longtime ambition of Western conservatives to cede lands to local control after a similar proposal failed in the House.

• 2025-06-12
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- A Montana man faces years in prison at his Wednesday sentencing for threatening to assault former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after becoming upset with the government for not shooting down a Chinese spy balloon that floated over the defendant's home city.

• 2025-02-26
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is due before a Senate committee Thursday as lawmakers consider the Republican's nomination to be chief steward of U.S. public lands and waters.

• 2025-01-16
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Democrats' crushing loss in Montana's nationally important U.S. Senate race settled a fierce political debate over whether a surge of newcomers in the past decade favored Republicans -- and if one of the new arrivals could even take high office.

• 2024-11-23
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Republican Tim Sheehy defeated three-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester. The victory by the former U.S. Navy SEAL bolsters the GOP's new Senate majority.

• 2024-11-06
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) -- After 18 years working to topple Montana Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, Republicans in Big Sky Country see potential victory and control of the Senate majority within their grasp in an increasingly acrimonious contest that's shattering campaign spending records.

• 2024-10-29
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- During an October debate, Montana GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy took a shot at his Democratic opponent, Sen. Jon Tester, for " eating lobbyist steak ? while the Republican fought in Afghanistan.

• 2024-10-08
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Montana Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy acknowledged Monday that derogatory remarks he made last year about Native Americans were "insensitive." But Sheehy rejected his opponent's call to apologize, during a contentious debate in a race that's emerged as pivotal for control of the Senate.

• 2024-10-01
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Montana Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy acknowledged Monday that derogatory remarks he made last year about Native Americans were "insensitive." But Sheehy rejected his opponent's call to apologize, during a contentious debate in a race that's emerged as pivotal for control of the Senate.

• 2024-09-30
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Native Americans living on a remote Montana reservation filed a lawsuit against state and county officials Monday saying they don't have enough places to vote in person -- the latest chapter in a decades-long struggle by tribes in the United States over equal voting opportunities.

• 2024-09-30
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Tribal leaders in Montana urged Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy to apologize over remarks he made to supporters about Native Americans being "drunk at 8 a.m." and throwing beer cans at him on the Crow Reservation

• 2024-09-04
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Montana Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse provided 10 years of income tax records on Tuesday as he sought to goad Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte into debating him ahead of the November election.

• 2024-09-03
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) -- Former President Donald Trump headed to Montana for a Friday night rally in hopes of ousting the state's Democratic senator, but his plane first had to divert to an airport on the other side of the Rocky Mountains because of a mechanical issue, according to airport staff.

• 2024-08-09
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy embraced his status as an outsider who came to Montana to start a business as he sought on Sunday to fend off concerns over wealthy newcomers driving up property taxes during the first debate in a contest that could tip the balance of power in the Senate.

• 2024-06-09
• — Canadian Press

• Matthew Brown, The Associated Press

COLSTRIP, Mont. (AP) -- Actions by President Joe Biden's administration that could hasten closures of heavily polluting coal power plants and the mines that supply them are reviving Republican rhetoric about a so-called "war on coal" ahead of the November election.

• 2024-05-31
• — Canadian Press