The Blog at MSPC

The Treasure State is taking important steps to help control the exploding costs of Medicaid while providing critical care to the neediest. Montana is submitting a 1115 Medicaid Demonstration waiver application to allow experimentation with reform. Other states should follow this good example.

Across our region, policymakers have been taking action that significantly moves the economic needle: cutting waste and trimming red tape. It’s a key reason Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming regularly show up among the least-regulated states in the country, and is a major draw to families, job creators, and taxpayers alike.

The latest bad news is on top of numerous cost overruns and delays associated with the Sound Move, and ST2 plans. With approximately 3.4 million people in the district, the new cost estimates equate to about $55,000 for every man, woman, and child within the district.

In Teton County’s twisted logic, forcing residents to pay higher building fees to support “workforce housing” is the solution to its chronic housing shortage for lower-income residents. The fees apply even if those building include plans for rental units that would ease the problem.

The proposal was loose in its oversight, not designating the specific parcels of land. This detail was the match to ignite protests against any sale or transfer of federal lands.

The old saying that states are the “laboratories of democracy” was apt in the passing of the new federal school choice law as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” enacted in early July.

Think about that: a school board, funded by taxpayers, making decisions that affect families, students, and teachers—telling the press and the public to put their cameras away.

Perino, one of the most respected voices in American media and politics, served as Press Secretary for President George W. Bush, becoming only the second woman ever to hold the position.

Yes, the state technically “met its goals,” but no one should be satisfied with half of Idaho kids struggling to meet watered-down expectations.

For criminals utilizing the banking system, this is a great tool to cut off financial access and aid law enforcement. But for law-abiding citizens debanking can victimize them for their political beliefs.

AI is not powered by magic or fairy dust. AI is powered by giant data centers crammed full of servers that consume massive quantities of electricity to train the AI models, stream videos, and move information around in milliseconds directly to your fingertips.

Grocery competition doesn’t just come from the store down the street anymore—it comes from Amazon dropping food on your doorstep, Walmart offering rock-bottom prices, and Costco selling everything in bulk. Albertsons and Kroger needed each other to stand a chance.

Opponents of parental choice in education are reviving their favorite scare tactic: the "voucher" boogeyman.

When the Supreme Court issues a ruling, whose job is it to enforce it? Everyone who’s taken high school civics can tell you the executive branch enforces the law. But what happens when the law needs to be enforced against the executive branch?

Changes are coming to Idaho’s current budget with Governor Little acting swiftly to focus on government efficiencies in response to changing revenue projections.

Idaho’s new school choice program is turning up the heat. That’s great news — because every school, public or private, should have to prove its worth.

It has been fifty years since the four dams on the Lower Snake River were completed. Originally built to provide transportation, they now create the equivalent of one-third of the electricity generated in Idaho, helping balance the growing amount of wind and solar energy across the Pacific Northwest.

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) recently released its 2025 Freedom Index Rankings for states. SEL is a global leader in power system protection, automation and control solutions.

Medicaid is a joint federal and state-controlled health care insurance entitlement. It is not financially sustainable in its current form unless the federal debt or taxes are significantly increased.

Yet, health care is simply an economic activity, albeit where the activity between a provider and a patient is the most personal interchange an individual will ever have. However, because of the complexity, the vast majority of patients in the U.S. don’t completely control their medical finances and, in many cases, their medical decisions.