![Photo: Ken Ivory Facebook page.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20160109010632im_/http://watchdog.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/Ivory1-50x50.jpg)
A setback for school choice in Montana
![MontanaFlagFringe](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20160109010632im_/http://watchdog.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/11/MontanaFlagFringe-300x224.jpg)
With educational opportunities at risk, school choice in Montana is headed to court.
Read More →School choice is under threat in Montana
![EMPTY: All five ballot measures passed, but that won't change life for Montanans.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20160109010632im_/http://watchdog.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/11/Montana_State_Seal-300x224.png)
School choice is just getting started in Montana, and new proposals are already threatening it.
Earlier this year that state passed a scholarship tax credit program, which assists students with private school tuition.
But the Montana Department of Revenue has moved to ensure students aren’t able to use this tuition assistance at any religious schools (including schools that are […]
Banning religious schools from choice program could be illegal
![photo by wikimedia commons](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20160109010632im_/http://watchdog.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/10/600px-No_Religion.svg_-300x224.png)
“The First Amendment does not allow the government to discriminate among religions or religious people or religious institutions. They can’t say that students can use a scholarship at a nonreligious school but can’t at a religious school,” she said. “It’s discriminating against religion, hostile toward religion.”
Read More →Big guns, big money coming out as battle over the crude oil export ban intensifies
![Images from commercials by Domestic Energy Partners Alliance (left) and Allied Progress (right)](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20160109010632im_/http://watchdog.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/09/crude-oil-export-ads-from-domestic-energy-producers-alliance-left-and-allied-progress-right-300x224.jpg)
TV viewers and some politicians are getting swamped by media campaigns over lifting the U.S.crude oil export ban.
Read More →After 32 years, 76-year-old energy exec still waiting on the feds
![Photo courtesy of Darryl Flowers/Fairfield Sun Times](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20160109010632im_/http://watchdog.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/08/sidney-longwell-300x224.jpg)
Sidney Longwell, a 76-year-old energy executive, has waited 32 years for the federal government to make a decision on a lease he purchased in Montana.
Read More →Montana police search farmer’s car, find no drugs, and seize his money anyway
![AP file photo](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20160109010632im_/http://watchdog.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/04/Police-raid1-300x224.jpg)
By Greg Markle | Watchdog Opinion
A farmer named Lorenzo Ayala saved up $16,000 and was on his way to spend it on tractor parts. Unfortunately, he never got those tractor parts. The money was confiscated by Montana police.
The police say they smelled cologne and other strong smells in the cluttered car, which they know can […]