Hi-Country Snack Foods, a nearly 50-year-old Montana jerky maker and one of the largest employers in the small mountain community of Lincoln, has paused production — a development that raises new concerns about the company’s future and the economic health of the town it has long anchored. The production halt comes less than a year Read More…
Shareholders of both NorthWestern Energy and Black Hills Corp. have voted to approve a proposed all-stock merger that would combine the two regional utilities into a new company called Bright Horizon Energy Corporation, the companies announced Thursday. The votes were cast at special shareholder meetings held earlier in the day and mark a major step Read More…
Bozeman-based Texbase Inc. has announced the release of a new platform capability designed to streamline product compliance reporting for consumer brands and retailers. The new feature, Texbase for eFiling, allows companies to prepare and submit certified product data directly to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Product Registry, integrating compliance data, testing results, and certification Read More…
Montana Knife Company has opened a new 51,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Missoula, marking a major expansion for the fast-growing knife maker and underscoring its commitment to American-based production and job creation. The new headquarters represents the company’s third phase of growth since its founding in 2020 and significantly increases its production capacity while allowing the Read More…
What would the economy of the state of Montana look like if the eight largest hard rock mines – producing copper, palladium, gold, talc, cement and other products and materials – did not exist? That was a question posed in a recent study produced by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research. It addressed – Read More…
In a recent study conducted in Gardiner, Montana, by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana, unsolicited comments from nearly 50 percent of residents exemplified issues in Montana’s affordable housing crisis. Those comments ranged from complaints about high rent to unreasonable housing prices. And while the state battles an affordable Read More…
Billings, MONT.-Today, local business owners announced the formation of the Yellowstone Area Chamber of Commerce. The group was formed in response to a growing belief among business owners that common-sense, pro-business solutions have become secondary policy goals. The group will educate and advocate for proven and business-centric policy prescriptions that create a positive environment for Read More…
HELENA, Mont., Jan. 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBMT), (the “Company,” “Eagle”), the holding company of Opportunity Bank of Montana, today announced that it completed, effective January 1, 2019, its previously announced acquisition of Big Muddy Bancorp, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, The State Bank of Townsend, Townsend, Montana Read More…
It’s good news that the administration has reached an agreement on an updated North American Free Trade Agreement. It means certainty for U.S. industry and agriculture, as well as the prosperity that comes from free trade. After all, international trade’s been an asset for farmers, businesses and consumers in Montana. The state’s exports have surged Read More…
Look out, roadtrippers: a new RV rental company is coming to town. Designed to cater to younger adults, Blacksford founder Jonathan Distad said he came to his business model for the company from a tech background, with customer service in mind. The idea for the company came to Distad when he was having Read More…
A new mixed-use building plan has emerged for a prime spot on Whitefish’s Central Avenue where the former Lakestream Fly Shop operated. That building, an older home that was converted to commercial use decades ago, will be moved off the premises, according to an application filed with the Whitefish Planning Department. Earlier this year Fresh Read More…
Helena – The Montana Chamber Foundation announces its second grant from the Gianforte Family Foundation to achieve its 10-year strategic plan, Envision 2026. The goals of that plan are to increase jobs, per capita income, and gross state product, through focusing on workforce, entrepreneurship, business basics and infrastructure. “We are grateful for the continued support Read More…
BILLINGS, MONTANA – The Montana Beef Council would like to invest up to $825,000 into programs of beef promotion, education, and producer communications in fiscal year 2019, which began Oct. 1. Programs approved could be funded through Montana’s 50 cent in-state portion of the $1 per head beef checkoff, after Montana producers provide affirmative consent Read More…
BUTTE – Bringing in Fall tourism dollars to the state is one of the focuses of a convention being held in Butte this week. The Montana Lodging and Hospitality Association is hosting discussions and guest speakers about a variety of topics important to the hospitality industry. Much of the event will be about attracting people to Montana to Read More…
A Bozeman tech park is vying to become the next headquarters for two major federal food and agriculture research offices. The move would make the city home to more than 600 new jobs. The Montana State University Innovation Campus hopes to sell the Trump administration on Bozeman as a base for the nation’s Economic Research Read More…
How do you marry two businesses? The process of passing a business from one generation to the next is a perplexing one. The experts say it takes planning. But what if the plans don’t work out? It’s almost like not having a plan at all. But, there’s this thing called serendipity and if you are Read More…
BILLINGS- Two new restaurants are setting up shop on the Rimrock Mall property, but mall officials are hoping for more. Blaze Pizza is opening this week at 316 24th St. on mall property in front of the main property. Next door will be Five on Black, a Missoula-based Brazilian grill chain, currently under construction and set to open Read More…
Eagle Jet Solutions has found a new nest in the Electric City. Construction has just begun for the new private hangar at the Great Falls International Airport and will be the largest private hangar in the state of Montana. The new aircraft hangar will have the ability to hold two 737 airplanes. A 737 aircraft Read More…
MISSOULA – Beer enthusiasts of all kinds gathered for the 10th annual Montana Brewers Fall Rendezvous over the weekend in Missoula as several dozen local craft brewers from large and small companies presented their finest. Judges from the local homebrewers association tasted and judged the best beers, and also hosted classes to show how different beers Read More…
Public officials in Missoula County, located in the U.S. state of Montana, have decided to look into new regulations around cryptocurrency mining rather than seek to ban the activity entirely. As previously reported, miners have been drawn to the region thanks to access to cheap electricity, but local concerns about power rate spikes and noise Read More…
WinCo Foods is making progress on an 84,000-square-foot grocery store in Helena. Construction crews started building the employee-owned chain this summer, but a spokesperson said an opening date still is to be determined. In addition to Helena, WinCo is building a store in Billings. The two locations will be the first WinCo stores in Montana. Read More…
MISSOULA – With the school year around the corner, a Montana start-up is working to get their invention in classrooms across Montana. They say the non-lethal product is more effective than pepper spray. Ben Gladwin, the assistant chief of the University of Montana Police department and education director for Reflex Protect, says the spray is Read More…
The Imerys talc mill in Three Forks is facing a union lockout if its members don’t accept a new contract from the mill’s French owners — a contract the union members have already rejected three times. The lockout would leave 32 union members and their families without paychecks or health care for an undetermined amount Read More…
Karen Alderman Harbert, President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute will be the speaker at the annual Petroleum Industry Appreciation Day Luncheon on August 29. The event which is sponsored by the Montana Petroleum Association will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Billings, and is open to Read More…
The newest member of the growing group of hotels in the Flathead Valley, TownePlace Suites by Marriott, opened its doors last week in Whitefish. The property had been under construction since last fall. The 81-room hotel on U.S. 93 South is focused on a specific set of clients: those who are staying five days or Read More…
Roger and Lisa Sammons are definitely overachievers. When the owners of Pardue Grain invited dignitaries, local business owners and customers, vendors and contractors to the “groundbreaking” of their new pulse crop processing facility, they forgot to mention the facility’s construction is well underway! Last Friday’s ceremony was merely a formality as the Sammons and their Read More…
Bias Brewing officially opened and features six beers brewed in house, cold brew coffee, and food from Food For The Soul 2. The brewery’s first beer menu features a variety of types of brews from stouts to pale ales. It offers 4-ounce taster sizes all the way up to small and large growlers. Bias also Read More…
LIVINGSTON – Livingston’s Printing For Less (PFL) held a ceremonial groundbreaking event Friday for its new 55,000-square-foot digital printing and fulfillment center. The company plans to add 100 new employees once the new center is complete. Just this past year it added 80 new positions at its Livingston location. “We’re obviously optimistic about our own Read More…
Manhattan gun holster and tactical accessory maker Blackhawk! was named the state’s Manufacturer of the Year by the Montana Chamber of Commerce. “Our team is deeply honored and very excited to receive this recognition,” said Blackhawk Factory Operations Manager Lamont Kotter in a release. “This is a testament to the great work our employees do Read More…
Since the beginning of 2016, in a two-and-a-half year span, Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls have added six new hotels with 500-plus rooms and more than 300,000 total square feet, counting four completed hotels and two scheduled for completion this summer. Now another new hotel is coming to Kalispell with the recent application of My Read More…
Instead of the massive pot rooms that once pumped out millions of pounds of aluminum, dozens of local residents saw sprawling holes at the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. during a public presentation and tour on May 9, a show of progress at the contaminated Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site that is in the midst of Read More…
For those of you who have never visited the former Glasgow Air Force Base in St. Marie, Montana, it is definitely an interesting site to see. It looks like something out of a movie. You will drive down a street and see abandoned home after abandoned home with brown, overgrown lawns and boarded up windows- Read More…
Vacant for most of the last decade, the old National Guard armory building in downtown Bozeman is beginning to show signs of life. Plans are moving forward to repurpose the building into an eight-story boutique hotel complete with event space and at least a pair of restaurants, said Cory Lawrence, CEO of local travel company Read More…
The railroad’s planned investment will fund various initiatives, including a $1.4 million investment in the rail line between Butte-Silver Bow and near Lima to replace 10,000 crossties along our Montana Subdivision. UP also plans a $748,600 investment in the rail line between Moose Creek and Walkerville to replace curve rail along the railroad’s Montana Subdivision. Read More…
HELENA, Montana, April 24, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Eagle Bancorp Montana, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBMT), (the “Company,” “Eagle”), the holding company of Opportunity Bank of Montana, today reported net income was $573,000, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2018, compared to $763,000, or $0.20 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2017. Read More…
The app development side of Montana’s much-lauded tech sector will continue its upward trajectory, according to a newly released report. The sixth annual report, the State of the App Economy — aggregated by ACT The App Association, an industry organization that represents more than 5,000 app makers — details the growth of an almost $1 Read More…
The parent company of Herberger’s announced Thursday that going-out-of-business sales at Montana stores will start Friday. That includes the store at Rimrock Mall in Billings. The retailer moved into that spot and renovated the space three years ago after spending decades in a different wing of the mall. The announcement from corporate parent Bon Ton Read More…
Kalispell Regional Healthcare is undergoing a transition in its leadership team as three top executives, the director of its digestive health institute and a contingent of its internal design team have either departed or announced plans to retire. In recent weeks, three prominent members of the Kalispell Regional staff who also serve on the hospital Read More…
In the outside, Meissenburg Designs still looks a lot like it did when it was the site of Martin’s Peat, located southeast of Bigfork. Loyd and Laura Meissenburg acquired the property in 2013, with most of the changes occurring inside to accommodate their growing design and fabrication company. The magnificent Swan Mountains rise above the Read More…
Belgrade’s much-beloved Chalet Market has been named the state’s Retailer of the Year by the Montana Department of Commerce. The store, which sells a variety of meats smoked, cured and packaged onsite, along with sandwiches, ice cream and a collection of products made in Montana, was honored at the annual Made in Montana Tradeshow late Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Missoula is getting two more breweries, one in downtown and one on the hip strip, bringing the city’s total to nine breweries, but the industry brings more to the community than just providing a unique blend of beer. On the corner of East Main Street and Pattee Street once sat a service Read More…
CUT BANK – Pardue Grain, Inc.’s $5.7-million project will include a food-grade processing line for pulse crops, which in Montana include chickpeas, peas and lentils. The upgraded facility should be open 12 miles west of Cut Bank in time for harvest and will add eight jobs to the economy, the Cut Bank Pioneer Press reported. Read More…
A Montana judge says a Nebraska-based insurance company is liable for a $43 million settlement between the state and people sickened by exposure to asbestos from a Libby vermiculite mine. National Indemnity Co. paid $16 million toward the 2009 settlement but later sued to recover the money. State District Judge Holly Brown said in ruling Read More…
Montana’s high-tech businesses want to demonstrate that they can play a meaningful role in growing the state’s economy by offering higher wages than other businesses in the state, adding more jobs, and generating quick revenue growth. That’s according to a report out today from the Montana High Tech Business Alliance. The organization, with assistance from Read More…