Daines releases grant guidebook to help fight meth crisis
Sen. Steve Daines unveiled a new tool to help Montana organizations fight the meth crisis plaguing our state.
He released a guidebook to show available federal funding that can be used in that fight. It shows grants available for addressing addiction, prevention and treatment, law enforcement and also tribal communities.
On Friday, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines met with leaders from the skilled trades in Helena to discuss ways to encourage more students to consider apprenticeship programs.
Daines visited the Montana Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Center, operated by local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association. The center offers a competitive apprenticeship program where young people who want to become electricians can earn a salary while developing the skills they will need.
Saturday veterans met in Hamilton and sat down with Senator Daines to discuss veteran healthcare issues.
Earlier today a group of veterans had the opportunity to sit down with Senator Steve Daines and open up about positive and negative feedback with the veteran healthcare system.
With Ravalli County having a strong model of what healthcare should look like for veterans, Senator Daines believes their model should be spread throughout all of the treasure state.
“This is a great example of veterans serving and helping other veterans. I hope they can take the model here in Ravalli County and spread that across Montana because veterans are getting help, better assistance, because of the veterans here in Ravalli County,” said Senator Daines.
Saturday night, Senator Steve Daines was in Kalispell at the Glacier Jet Center welcoming home Kalispell’s 495th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion.
This is the same group of soldiers that Daines visited in Afghanistan this past December.
At 11 p.m. Saturday, around 80 men and women returned home after nine months overseas serving the U.S.
U.S. Senator Steve Daines said he supports President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over border security because a wall along the southern border would limit the quantity of meth flowing into Montana from Mexico.
“It’s a southern border problem, but it’s a northern border state that is directly affected by what’s going on. Mexican meth is coming into Montana, and we have to continue to work on multiple fronts to address this issue,” said Daines, a Bozeman Republican, during a meeting Friday with the Bozeman Daily Chronicle’s editorial board. “We need to secure the southern border, and I support the president’s efforts to address this issue.”
Sen. Steve Daines visited Kalispell Regional Healthcare Wednesday to discuss the work the hospital’s NICU is doing with drug-addicted babies.
“They’re on the front lines of this meth epidemic in Montana,” said Daines. “We must do all that we can to combat this crisis in Montana.”
In just the last four years KRH received three federal grants for their neonatal department.
The most recent bought them an artificial baby called Super Tory that can simulate what a drug baby would be like. The doctors can use the baby to train on how to treat drug-addicted babies.
“Helping those moms one mom at a time, one baby at a time get on to the right path,” Daines told NBC Montana. “Sometimes breaking generational chains here of addiction to get on to a better path.”
Presidents are elected to defend the security the country, says Sen. Steve Daines, Republican member of the Homeland Security Committee.
This week, one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees ever nominated to the bench, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, will testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Other than sending our sons and daughters to war, confirming a Supreme Court Justice is the most consequential vote I will take as a United States Senator. For Montana, and the rest of the nation, the impacts of this decision will last forever — because while laws come and go, judges serve for a lifetime. That’s why it’s critical we confirm the right person to serve on our nation’s highest court.
Montanans overwhelmingly want a Supreme Court Justice with impeccable academic credentials, someone who does not legislate from the bench, but upholds the rule of law and who follows the Constitution. Judge Kavanaugh is without a doubt that person.
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Judge Kavanaugh in my office. I can say with full confidence, Judge Kavanaugh should be — and is ready to be — our next Supreme Court Justice.
Montana Sen. Steve Daines said Friday that the state and federal governments need to better manage forests to reduce the risk and severity of wildfires.
Daines pushed that message at a roundtable discussion at the Baxter Hotel in Bozeman along with members of the Senate Western Caucus and other agencies across the state.
Daines apologized to the group inside the hotel for the haze that covered the view of the Bridger Mountains because of wildfire smoke. Years ago, he said, if you came to Montana in August the horizon was clear. That was around the same time the state had about 30 active sawmills, Daines said, noting that there were only eight in Montana now.
“That probably says it all,” Daines told the crowd. “We’re not doing the active forest management like we used to.”
The Republican senator brought the caucus to Bozeman for a “hands-on” approach and to hear input on issues like the farm bill, agriculture production, national park maintenance backlogs and natural resource development. Several groups attended the meeting including the Montana Mining Association, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Montana Farm Bureau Federation and Boone and Crockett Club.
Two Montana groups will share $100,000 in federal grants to focus on local drug crises and emerging drug abuses, Sen. Steve Daines said Friday.
The Substance Abuse Prevention Alliance in Great Falls and the Lincoln County Unite for Youth Coalition will each get $50,000 for communities’ efforts to combat local drug use, especially among youth.
“Montana’s meth and drug epidemic has taken lives and destroyed families,” Daines, R-Mont., said. “These critical funds will help Montana combat drug use and rebuild impacted communities.”
Daines said Montana had a 427 percent increase in methamphetamine violations from 2010-2015 and the 11 drug task forces in the state all reported meth as the primary drug encountered.
He also noted that 46 percent of children’s out-of-home placements with Montana’s child protective services agency that have parental substance use indicated involve meth, more than double the rate of any other drug.