Montana

Alme confirmed by U.S. Senate as U.S. Attorney for Montana | Explore Big Sky

Published

5 months ago

October 15, 2025

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Alme confirmed by U.S. Senate as U.S. Attorney for Montana | Explore Big Sky

Confirmation follows long, bitter fight over Trump nominees in D.C.

By Jordan Hansen DAILY MONTANAN

Kurt Alme was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana, following a bitter, partisan fight in Washington, D.C.

Alme, a former U.S. Attorney for Montana during President Donald Trump’s first administration, was confirmed in a 51-47 vote. Democrats and Republicans have fought for more than a decade about confirmation votes and the filibuster barrier of a 60-vote threshold to approve presidential appointments.

Kurt Alme. PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

Democrats blocked many of President Donald Trump’s appointments, but Republicans changed the rules in the Senate this fall to speed up the nomination process. Both parties have mounted similar rule changes to push through nominations during the last 10 years, the AP reported.

Trump took to social media this summer to criticize Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who is the Senate Judiciary chairman and oversees that process. Grassley has been on the committee since 1981.

Trump took aim at a so called “blue slip” process, which allows home-state senators to approve or block some nominees.

In late September, Republicans in the U.S. Senate moved to confirm 48 positions. Earlier this week, they moved through 107 more, which included Alme.

“For nine months, Senate Democrats engaged in historic obstruction of law enforcement, placing an unprecedented hold on all 93 U.S. Attorney nominees,” Grassley said in a statement. “Even as our nation reeled from horrific mass shootings, attacks on federal facilities and a devastating political assassination, Democrats have continued to deny American communities their top federal law enforcement officials.”

Alme is the former head of the Montana Department of Revenue and was also in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana between 2003 and 2010. A Great Falls native, Alme grew up in Dillon, Victor and Helena, graduating from Miles City. He holds degrees from the University of Colorado and Harvard University.

His appointment and confirmation received heavy praise across the state.

“Kurt has already done an incredible job in his interim capacity and we are thrilled to see his final confirmation by the U.S. Senate,” Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy said in a joint press release. “Kurt will crack down on drug trafficking and crime, protect our indigenous communities, and uphold the rule of law, and we look forward to seeing the continued impact that he will have on our great state.”

The Montana County Attorneys Association and the Montana Sheriff’s and Peace Officers Association both praised the appointment. Several organizations and people — including the Montana Nonprofit Association, Director of Montana Department of Corrections Brian Gootkin and former Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst — sent letters in support of Alme to Daines and Sheehy.

His appointment received bipartisan support as well, including from Rep. Shelly Fyant, an Arlee Democrat who used to lead the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council.

“I saw the work the U.S. Attorney’s Office did focusing on reducing methamphetamine and opioid related overdoses and violent crimes, which not only plague the Flathead Indian Reservation, but reservations throughout Montana and the Nation,” Fyant wrote in a letter to Daines and Sheehy. “Mr. Alme’s hands-on approach was greatly appreciated as he frequently visited Montana reservations and met directly with Tribal leaders about specific drug abuse and trafficking, public safety and Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) issues.”

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Montana

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Published

9 hours ago

March 2, 2026

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Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.

Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:

The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….

There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:

While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.

The Missoulan article includes this response:

In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”

As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.

Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.

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Montana

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

21 hours ago

March 2, 2026

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Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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Montana

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

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Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

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