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Questions Swirl After Montana Sen. Steve Daines’ Last-Minute Exit Clears Path for Surprise GOP Candidate

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A sudden decision by Steve Daines to drop out of his re-election bid just minutes before the filing deadline has sparked controversy and raised questions about how his potential successor quickly entered the race.

Daines withdrew from the contest for a third U.S. Senate term at the last possible moment Wednesday, creating an opening that was immediately filled by Kurt Alme, a political newcomer who has never run for or held elected office.

Within hours, Alme received a wave of high-profile endorsements from prominent Republicans, including Daines himself, Rep. Ryan Zinke, Sen. Tim Sheehy, Gov. Greg Gianforte and President Donald Trump.

The timing has drawn scrutiny from critics who say the last-minute maneuver effectively prevented other Republican candidates from entering the race and eliminated the possibility of a competitive primary.

If Daines had announced earlier that he planned to step aside, other candidates could have had time to organize campaigns and compete for the nomination. Instead, the abrupt withdrawal and immediate replacement have fueled speculation that the move was coordinated in advance.

Neither Daines nor party leaders have publicly explained why the decision came so close to the filing deadline.

The unusual sequence of events has left many Montana voters questioning what led to the sudden change and whether the process allowed for a fair opportunity for other candidates to run.

Montana Rancher Gets 6 Months in Prison for Cloning Giant Sheep and Breeding It

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An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in Central Asia and the US to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.

US District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana.

He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the earth.

Morris also fined Schubarth $20,000 and ordered him to make a $4,000 payment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Schubarth will be allowed to self-report to a Bureau of Prisons medical facility. (Read more from “Montana Rancher Gets 6 Months in Prison for Cloning Giant Sheep and Breeding It” HERE)

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Photos: Montana Woman Survives ‘Vicious and Relentless’ Otter Attack

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A woman was severely injured when a not-so-cute otter attacked her as she tubed on a river recently near Bozeman, Montana.

As Jen Royce and two of her friends floated down the Jefferson River, the otter caught them off guard and its behavior was terrifying, the New York Post reported Sunday.

Royce noticed one of the animals behind her friend just before it jumped the individual. However, she noted, “I didn’t even have a chance to get the words ‘there is an otter behind you’ out of me before it attacked her.”

In a social media post describing the harrowing experience, Royce said, “Being in the middle of the river meant I couldn’t reach the bottom with my feet, so I was trying to tread water while fending for my body.” (Read more from “Photos: Montana Woman Survives ‘Vicious and Relentless’ Otter Attack” HERE)

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This Is the First State to Ban TikTok

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Montana has become the first U.S. state to ban the China-owned app TikTok. Governor Greg Gianforte (R) announced Wednesday that he has singed legislation in order to protect his state’s residents from “the Chinese Communist Party.”

“The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented,” Gianforte said.

“Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” the governor added.

The law will reportedly let the Montana Department of Justice fine app stores or TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, $10,000 for each discrete violation, and $10,000 for each day that a violation continues. (Read more from “This Is the First State to Ban TikTok” HERE)

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Montana Governor Signs Born-Alive Abortion Bill After Voters Reject It at Ballot Box

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Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed legislation to require medical care for infants born alive after botched abortions just months after voters rejected a similar measure on the state ballot.

The Infant Safety and Care Act holds that medical professionals must “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health” of abortion survivors as they would when treating any other infant born alive at the same gestational age.

“We must protect the lives of the innocent — little babies who are born alive following botched abortions,” said Mr. Gianforte at Wednesday’s bill-signing ceremony.

“Today we’re giving a voice to the voiceless and help to the helpless,” he said. “We’re establishing in Montana law that a baby born alive following an attempted abortion is a patient, a human being who deserves lifesaving care and the right to life.”

The legislation was introduced shortly after the defeat of LR-131, the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, by 53% to 47% in the November election, a major victory for the pro-choice movement following the fall of Roe v. Wade. (Read more from “Montana Governor Signs Born-Alive Abortion Bill After Voters Reject It at Ballot Box” HERE)

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Transgender Montana Lawmaker’s Appeal to Return to State House Floor Denied by Judge

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Transgender Montana lawmaker Zooey Zephyr’s appeal to return to the state’s House floor was denied by a judge.

Judge Mike Menahan of the state’s First District Court, a Democrat and former representative, said in a five-page response letter that he did not have the authority to intervene in the legislative dispute, the New York Times reported. Zephyr had filed the lawsuit on Monday, protesting the lawmaker’s censure after a series of provocative comments and rowdy demonstrations by Zephyr’s supporters.

Zephyr’s lawsuit claimed that the lawmaker’s First Amendment right to free speech was being violated by the censure.

“The lawsuit alleges that recent actions undertaken by House leadership to silence Representative Zephyr are a violation of [the lawmaker’s] own First Amendment rights and the rights of [Zephyr’s] 11,000 constituents to representation in their state government,” a release by the ACLU, which is representing Zephyr, stated. The lawsuit demanded that Zephyr’s censure be immediately revoked. (Read more from “Transgender Montana Lawmaker’s Appeal to Return to State House Floor Denied by Judge” HERE)

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Transgender-Identified Montana Lawmaker Censured for ‘Hate-Filled’ Comments

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A Montana Democrat was censured by the state assembly Thursday after hate-filled comments that accused Republicans of having “blood on your hands” over transgender legislation.

Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the state’s first transgender-identified lawmaker in the Montana legislature, mocked Republican prayers in a floor speech this week as the House debated a bill to codify the sex binary of male and female. Senate Bill 99, which ultimately cleared the lower chamber, bans transgender medical interventions for minors with gender dysphoria.

“The only thing I will say is if you vote yes on this bill, and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands,” Zephyr said.

The Montana House Freedom Caucus responded to the remarks with a demand to censure the Missoula-area representative. Zephyr was banned from engaging in further floor debate on Thursday and is not allowed to speak on bills in the chamber without an apology.

“It is up to me to maintain decorum here on the House floor, to protect the dignity and integrity,” said House Speaker Matt Regier, according to the Associated Press. “Any representative that I don’t feel can do that will not be recognized.” (Read more from “Transgender-Identified Montana Lawmaker Censured for ‘Hate-Filled’ Comments” HERE)

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Montana Lawmakers Pass Statewide Ban on TikTok, First in Nation

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Montana lawmakers voted to pass the first state ban on TikTok, sending the bill to Gov. Greg Gianforte to be signed into law.

Montana’s House of Representatives voted 54-43 on Friday in favor of SB 419, more than a month after the Montana state Senate voted in favor of the bill. SB 419’s passage will make it the most extreme measure lawmakers in the United States have imposed on the China-operated social media app. Gianforte, a Republican, is expected to sign the bill.

The bill would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, prohibiting TikTok from operating within Montana’s borders. It will also fine companies providing the app $10,000 per violation for allowing users access to the app.

TikTok will “continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach,” a spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal. (Read more from “Montana Lawmakers Pass Statewide Ban on TikTok, First in Nation” HERE)

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U.S. Military Unable to Find Alleged Object That Caused FAA to Close Airspace in Montana

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The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the U.S. Northern Command released a statement late on Saturday night about a supposed unidentified object that they identified over Montana, saying that fighter jets were not able to locate the object.

“NORAD detected a radar anomaly and sent fighter aircraft to investigate,” that statement said. “Those aircraft did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits. NORAD will continue to monitor the situation.”

The statement came after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sent a notice to airmen (NOTAM) late Saturday night warning that it had designated an area in the northern part of Montana as a “national defense airspace” and that anyone who entered the airspace would be intercepted. (Read more from “U.S. Military Unable to Find Alleged Object That Caused FAA to Close Airspace in Montana” HERE)

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Woman Shoots and Skins Dog She Mistook for Wolf

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A Montana woman has come under fire after posting photos of a skinned Husky she shot and killed after mistaking it for a wolf.

Amber Rose provoked widespread ire and condemnation after posting graphic photos of the carcass of a Siberian Husky she killed on a bear hunt, which she identified as a ‘wolf pup.’

“So this morning I set out for a solo predator hunt for a fall black bear however I got the opportunity to take another predator wolf,” Rose wrote, “was a great feeling to text my man and say I just smoked a wolf pup. #firstwolf #onelesspredatorMT.”

Huskies are more visually similar to their canid cousins than many other breeds of dog, however, they are noticeably smaller: full grown Huskies are 20-23.5 inches tall typically weigh 35-65 lbs, while a gray wolf stands between 26-32 inches at the shoulder and weighs between 50-110lbs. The size discrepancy could explain why Rose identified it as a juvenile rather than an adult, but Huskies also have a broader snout and various minute differences in coloration and build when compared to wolves. (Read more from “Woman Shoots and Skins Dog She Mistook for Wolf” HERE)

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