GOVERNMENT

The Payoffs of Government Financial Transparency

New York was not the first city to make its financial information so readily available and transparent, but the Sunlight Foundation says it’s "one of the best examples of an open checkbook-style website that we’ve found."

Life as Jon Tester’s Executive Assistant

With 14 fingers between them, there’s never a shortage of joke material for Montana Sen. Jon Tester and his executive assistant, Luke Jackson: catching, texting, meat grinders.

John Oliver defends the IRS, gets Michael Bolton to sing about it

"The fact is, blaming the IRS because you hate paying your taxes is a bit like slapping your checkout clerk because the price of eggs has gone up," he said. "It’s not her fault. She’s just trying to help you get out of the store."

City of Helena’s water rights could be at risk with latest court ruling

Based on a water master’s determination of flow rates used previously by the city, Helena could see its rate reduced by slightly more than half.

In Dallas, the IRS says it can’t chase tax cheats who owe less than $1 million

The IRS says that $2 billion will go uncollected this year because of cuts to revenue employees who go after tax cheats.

Montana launches website to help you find notaries

The Montana Notary Search lets users search notaries by city or by name. The search lists notaries whose services are available during working hours or by appointment.

For federal-worker hopefuls, the civil service exam is making a comeback

The new generation of exams, called USA Hire, uses animated avatars and videos to simulate challenges that could confront employees, testing their reasoning and problem-solving skills.