Mike Dennison

A state judge Thursday struck down portions of a Republican-passed law that restricted voter-registration drives and other political activity on portions of Montana state college campuses

The Republicans with the most campaign money in each race – Ryan Zinke in the western district and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale in the eastern district – have raised only about one-third of their funds from Montanans, and boast donors from at least 40 states.

The Montana Department of Corrections has changed course and paid an exonerated Montana man his $5,000 “transition assistance grant,” as he attempts to become the first person to gain state compensation for a wrongful conviction, under a new law.

The two leading Republicans for Montana’s two new congressional seats have cracked the $1 million mark for campaign money so far – although several other candidates, both Democratic and Republican, are racking up respectable fundraising numbers in the western district.

The donations went to seven nonprofit student-scholarship organizations that help children attending private K-12 schools in Montana – many of them religion-affiliated. The two biggest recipients of donations are ACE Scholarships of Montana, at $486,000, and Missoula Catholic Schools, at $352,000.

A case accusing a conservative Sidney pastor of libeling a transgender activist will be tried in Great Falls, because the pastor has tainted the local jury poll in Richland County with repeated “inflammatory” public comments, a judge has ruled.

Former U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Friday became the fourth Republican to pay the filing fee to run in Montana’s new western congressional district — and is considered by many to be the front-runner for the nomination and perhaps the seat itself.

In the wake of allegations that Missoula County had unexplained discrepancies in ballot counts for the 2020 election, the local Republican Party is planning to do its own count – and settle any doubts that the voting process is flawed.

Mary Todd, a Kalispell Republican who calls herself an “unapologetic, America-first conservative,” is the second GOP candidate to file to run for Congress in Montana’s District 1, which is a new open seat that covers western Montana.

A federal judge Tuesday struck down a portion of Montana’s “clean campaign act,” saying it’s an unconstitutional burden on free speech to require political committees to notify candidates about last-minute attack campaign material.