Montana presses to finish census, eyeing 2nd House seat

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A complete count of Montana’s households in the 2020 census could bring big rewards — a second seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and millions of dollars in federal funding. But the deadline for the census remains in flux and has cast doubt on whether census takers will finish counting the vast, rural state. A recent study showed that a shortened deadline for census data collection could mean the state will lose out on the rewards. The situation is even more urgent for the state’s eight Native American tribes, which rely on an accurate census count for federal aid.