Loans Safe This Year
Future of Student Loan Program Funding Disputed
Changing federal regulations and a collapse in the bond market have caused many national associations to pull out of college loan programs, limiting resources for students. The national woes have trickled down to Montana, where the state’s nonprofit lender cut staff and loan benefits in recent months, but is assuring borrowers that funding is secure for at least the next academic year.
[read more]Clean Coal
Energy Dept. Unveils Retooled Plans for Clean Coal Plants
ST. LOUIS – The Energy Department unveiled its blueprint Wednesday for spending up to $1.3 billion on multiple clean-coal power plants that would capture carbon emissions and permanently store them underground.
The announcement, launching two weeks of public comment over the revised plan for the project known as FutureGen, came despite pledges by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to scuttle the effort. The Democrat stands convinced a town in his home state of Illinois deserved the project — all of it.
Farm Bill
Farm Bill Negotiators Say They Have Agreement
WASHINGTON – Negotiators on a five-year, $300 billion farm bill say they have reached a tentative agreement on the legislation and it will be considered by the House and Senate next week.
But the Bush administration has objected to the bill, and the White House says it seems unlikely that Congress will pass farm legislation the president can sign. President Bush has said the bill is "bloated" with farmer subsidies in a time of record crop prices and is too expensive.
Energy Plan
Senate Democrats Seek to Tax Oil Companies
WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats on Wednesday called for a windfall profits tax on oil companies and a rollback of $17 billion in oil industry tax breaks as part of an energy package. The proposal also would impose federal penalties on energy price gouging and calls for stopping oil deliveries into the government's emergency reserve.
Senate Republicans strongly oppose any additional oil industry taxes, which are widely viewed as having little chance of being enacted. Even then, they would almost certainly prompt a veto by President Bush.
Columbia Falls probable move a ‘bright spot’
Libraries Left in Limbo
While opportunities for new libraries in Kalispell and Bigfork were recently rejected, a possible new uptown location in Columbia Falls is a bright spot in what has been an otherwise tumultuous few months for the county library system.
[read more]So Says the Man who Made it Possible
Wolf Recovery Turned Out as Planned
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I understand that some of you might feel "overwolfed," but I thought the views of the man who probably did more to return the Big Dog to the Rocky Mountain West than any other person on Earth could be interesting.
And surprisingly, he thinks it all turned out about how he expected.
