Energy markets faced renewed pressure this week as crude prices softened amid mixed signals on global demand and steady U.S. production. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude drifted lower, weighing on shares of major producers and oilfield services companies. Analysts cited cautious demand forecasts from Asia and Europe, along with stable output from U.S. shale basins, Read More…
Steve Daines praised the Trump administration’s decision to impose a 132.83% anti-dumping duty on Russian palladium imports, calling the move a critical step to protect Montana mining jobs and counter what he described as market manipulation by Moscow. The Commerce Department’s duty, enforceable upon publication in the Federal Register, is aimed at offsetting what U.S. Read More…
The War Department announced today that 25 vendors have been selected to compete in Phase I of the Drone Dominance Program (DDP), a sweeping acquisition reform initiative aimed at rapidly fielding low-cost, unmanned one-way attack drones at scale to strengthen America’s Arsenal of Freedom. The program reflects one of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s core Read More…
Montana’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.4 percent in December, extending the state’s streak of over four consecutive years with unemployment at or below that level, according to the Montana Department of Labor & Industry. The state’s jobless rate remains well below the national average of 4.4 percent, keeping Montana among the top ten states Read More…
Agriculture in Montana looks to be back on the right track after last year’s rough market and drought-ridden growing season, the state reported, and local farmers are finding more success in their harvests than last year. “We’ve experienced more volatility in the past five years than we have in the past several decades,” Mountain West Read More…
If you have listened to Montana gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte speak on his economic plans, one key area regarding jobs is to bring the state’s kids home with high paying jobs in the technology sector. Gianforte and his wife founded and grew RightNow Technologies in Bozeman before selling the business to the multi-national corporation Oracle. Read More…
Wyoming’s unemployment rate fell in August for the first time in 18 months, the Department of Workforce Services reported Tuesday. The shift from 5.7 percent unemployment in July to 5.5 percent last month is not a statistically significant drop, but it offers hope that the state economy is stabilizing. Natrona County had the fourth-largest decrease Read More…
Members of the Chippewa Cree Tribe gathered along the bank of the Missouri River in Great Falls on Tuesday evening to show their support for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. The group is joining in protest of the multi-billion dollar Dakota Access Pipeline that would cross the Missouri River several times across Read More…
MISSOULA — More than 11 million out-of-state travelers come to Montana every year, yet it is only one of five states in the country with no statewide sales tax. Proponents of a sales tax say it’s a giant missed opportunity to generate revenue from those tourists. Detractors say it would disproportionately hurt lower-income residents. A Read More…
There’s an EpiPen Tycoon computer game. In it, you are the CEO of Mylan, Heather Bresch, the daughter of a US senator who has been handed a drug that lays a golden egg — EpiPen, an emergency anaphylaxis treatment that stops people’s throats from closing in the event of an allergic reaction. It’s Read More…
When Lori Goler, Facebook’s Vice President of People, joined the company in 2008, she got to work making the company a “strengths-based” organization. It’s a term based on Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman’s 1999 bestselling management guide “First, Break All the Rules.” The coauthors were Gallup analysts at the time and drew insights from 25 years Read More…
Women are going nuts overLuLaRoe, a clothing brand that has catapulted from near obscurity to cult status in the past couple of years. The brand, which sells brightly-colored shirts, leggings, and dresses, isn’t available in stores or on a company website. Instead, tens of thousands of people across the US — many of whom are Read More…
Representatives of Wyoming firearms manufacturers were on hand Monday, as Gov. Matt Mead announced three new initiatives to promote shooting sports across the state as part of “Wyoming’s Day at the Range.” “We have a growing firearms industry in Wyoming,” Mead said at ceremony at the Otto Road Shooting Range west of Cheyenne. “Some Read More…
Not long after it became clear that the robust winds that blow down from the Rocky Mountains and across the sea of sagebrush here could produce plenty of profit in a world that wants more renewable energy, some of the more expansive minds in the Wyoming Legislature began entertaining a lofty question: Who owns all Read More…
The Treasure State will soon be able to eat one of the Peach State’s most beloved treasures, and it’s not a peach. Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A Inc. will open its first restaurant in Montana at 35 Treeline Road in Kalispell. The company said more details on our first location and the local owner will be available soon. It’s Chick-fil-A Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. – Residents of an eastern Montana city are being asked to limit their water use so one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the western U.S. can continue to safely operate. Colstrip Mayor John Williams asked the city’s 2,300 residents to minimize their use of water for sprinkling and irrigation through the Read More…
If there’s one thing many Montanans can agree on it’s a love for beer. And if Anaconda resident Luke Carlson gets his way, Anaconda could get its own brewery as early as late December. “If everything goes smoothly, we’re kind of pushing for Christmas time,” said Carlson, who recently applied for funding from the city’s Read More…
BONNER — When Steve Nelson and Mike Boehme bought the former Stimson lumber mill site in Bonner in 2011, they saw potential in the blighted, polluted industrial area. Recently, the duo gave a tour to showcase the business activity going on there. Today, 10 separate businesses employing roughly 250 people occupy the 170-acre site, including Read More…
After a decade-long partnership with Bozeman advertising agency MercuryCSC, Montana’s Office of Tourism and Business Development recently awarded the state’s $7 million annual marketing contract to a company based in Wisconsin. The department awarded the contract to Milwaukee agency Hoffman York at the beginning of August using a point system it says is objective to Read More…
THREE FORKS, MONT. — Wheat Montana recently reformulated its Healthyloaf line of bread using only non-G.M.O. ingredients. The company worked with vendors to assure that all ingredients are non-G.M.O., and plans to submit all items for non-GMO Project verification. The Healthyloaf line of better-for-you sliced bread has been a top-seller for Wheat Montana since its Read More…
Anyone who’s built a career knows there are plenty of challenges along the way. The Young Professional Summit in Great Falls over the weekend is helping young professionals get their foot in the door when it comes to establishing themselves, and their careers in Montana. This is the first year of the Summit, which featured a variety of events Read More…
HELENA – The Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development says the “Get Lost in Montana” campaign has run its course, and now a new company will take over marketing the Treasure State. The state began a competitive selection process in April of this year. Eleven bids were submitted from companies in places like Montana, Read More…
The City Council has signed off, and construction is set to begin at First Interstate Bank’s new branch office on South Haynes Avenue in Miles City. The 7,000-square-foot, single-story structure will replace the existing branch at 1115 Main St. that the bank has called home for the past 30 years. Branch President Jeff Rodenbaugh said Read More…
The Montana Land Board has approved trading two historic Helena buildings for a warehouse property near the Helena airport. The state will trade the Old Liquor Warehouse on Front Street and the Armory on Last Chance Gulch to the D & M Development, LLC for a warehouse on A Street. The Old Liquor Warehouse is currently Read More…
HOUSTON—Continental Resources Inc., North Dakota’s second-largest oil producer, posted a quarterly loss on Wednesday that missed Wall Street’s expectations because of the slump in crude prices. The loss is an example of the difficulty facing the oil industry as it seeks to offset the period of low prices. Many companies have slashed costs to survive. Read More…
At the AlphaGraphics Annual Conference in New Orleans, AlphaGraphics of Billings owners Jake Eaton and Dustin Frost were presented with the AlphaGraphics 2015 Top 10 Sales Award, recognizing the locally owned center’s annual sales volume as 10th highest among the nearly 300 AlphaGraphics business centers worldwide. AlphaGraphics of Billings, a full service print communications company, Read More…
By the end of September, Bozeman will have an entirely new projection for how the city’s economy will grow and change over the coming years. The city, led by Economic Development Director Brit Fontenot, is currently in the process of updating its economic development plan for the first time since 2009. Most of the legwork Read More…