Montana
Montana to draw closer to Ireland by creating trade commission
Jordan Hansen
(Daily Montanan) As Montana celebrates St. Patrick’s Day, a new agreement would tie Ireland closer to the Treasure State.
Senate Bill 320, brought by Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, which is awaiting the governor’s signature, will create the Montana-Ireland Trade Commission. Ireland has made an effort during the past few years to tie itself closer to American states and virtually identical bills have been brought in over a dozen other states, from South Carolina to Indiana.
“Some of the other states have created a Trade Commission, and I’m not sure how much follow through they’ve done,” Cuffe said in an interview with the Daily Montanan. “I intend for ours to hit the ground running.”
Montana has a significant Irish population, some of which stems from early mining activities in the state. Butte and Helena, for example, have a large number of residents with Irish heritage.
Cuffe also said he’s a direct descendant of Irish immigrants. But this isn’t a bill celebrating that, exactly, and Cuffe is serious about the partnership bringing more financial opportunities to the state.
“A lot of people, they think it’s funny, they think it’s cool,” Cuffe said of the partnership. “I happen to think it’s serious business. My goal is to make real things happen.”
Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland, is a European tech hub. Major companies have facilities in Dublin, including Google, Microsoft, and eBay, among others. Notably, following Great Britain’s exit from the European Union, Ireland is also the only English-speaking country in the EU.
Bozeman has developed into a tech hub in its own right, with companies such as Oracle setting up shop in Gallatin County. The state of Montana was also designated a “Regional Technology and Innovation Hub” by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2023.
There’s also an agricultural component too, and while there is a thriving beef industry in Ireland, the country imported 113 million pounds of beef in 2022. Cuffe also mentioned there are Montana companies looking to export hay machinery as well.
The cost for shipping the equipment is high, Cuffe said, and the hope is the trade commission will be able to connect buyers and sellers. Whiskey imports have also been mentioned.
Cuffe’s district is in northwestern Montana and the hope, too, is to be able to connect rural folks with more opportunities to move their product.
“If we can put together a bigger deal where they can ship, let’s just say, container loads that they share with other people, all of a sudden, what is impossible today becomes possible tomorrow,” Cuffe said. “That is my real inspiration, to try to help out the smaller hinterlands.”
The bill had very little opposition and through both the House and Senate, only two votes were cast against the bill — Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda, and Rep. Caleb Hinkle, R-Belgrade voted against the commission on its third reading.
Rep. Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, carried the bill in the House. Leadership from both sides of the aisle signed on to the bill, which had which more than 100 sponsors across the two chambers.
No state money is being used for the commission, Cuffe said. Senate and House leadership — both majority and minority — will be able to appoint one person to the commission. The state’s directors of Commerce and Agriculture also will appoint a person to the commission and the governor will fill two slots. Appointments are for two years.
“I think the commission will be a really great opportunity to help facilitate business to business trade between Montana and Ireland,” Sullivan said in an interview with the Daily Montanan. “Operators and high tech businesses might have some exciting opportunities to learn how they can sell their goods into Ireland. And the commission will be a fun place to start helping facilitate those conversations.”
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at March 2, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from March 2 drawing
02-17-18-38-62, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2
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Winning Lotto America numbers from March 2 drawing
03-08-17-24-34, Star Ball: 06, ASB: 02
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06-12-19-29, Bonus: 11
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21-28-58-65-67, Powerball: 25
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Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 2 drawing
28-41-42-50-55, Bonus: 02
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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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