NorthWestern Energy has announced agreements to supply significant amounts of electricity to two proposed data centers in Montana, with combined power demands set to exceed the capacity of the state’s newest gas-fired power plant. The development raises questions about Montana’s energy infrastructure and its ability to meet growing demand while maintaining reliable service. The larger Read More…
Montana’s unemployment rate remained at 3.2% in November, continuing an unprecedented stretch of low unemployment that has persisted for 41 consecutive months, with rates at or below 3.4%. The state’s historic run surpasses the previous record set in 2006-2007 when unemployment rates stayed at or below 3.4% for 15 months. In November alone, Montana added Read More…
Frontier Asset Management, an independent asset management firm, has officially launched its suite of actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). These ETFs are designed to enhance Frontier’s multi-asset Active ETF Strategies, with the goal of providing attractive risk-adjusted returns for investors. The Frontier ETF suite consists of six actively Read More…
(The Center Square) – Methane emissions from the largest oil- and natural gas-producing basins fell 44% between 2011 and 2013, according to newly published data from the Environmental Protection Agency. According to the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, methane emissions dropped in seven oil- and natural gas-producing basins by up to 87% from 2019-2023. The Read More…
Chicken-lovers are going to have to wing it through the Great Poultry Crisis of 2021. America’s biggest fast-food companies reported earnings this week, and executives from KFC to Wingstop stressed a dire situation — there’s simply not enough chicken to go around. A meat-processing slowdown caused by pandemic safety measures along with a surge in Read More…
Texas’ main power grid struggled to keep up with the demand for electricity Tuesday, prompting the operator to ask Texans to conserve power nearly two months after catastrophic power outages left millions without electricity for days. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said it does not expect customer power outages like those caused in February’s Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. – One small business owner is being awarded a $10,000 grant for going above and beyond to support her local community. Nici Holt Cline is the founder of Dig This Chick, an online marketplace and community that encourages people to get outside with their families, get dirt under their fingernails and can foods. She Read More…
Verizon Media Group, the media division within Verizon, has 3 million people that pay for subscriptions across its portfolio of Yahoo-related products, like Yahoo Fantasy, Yahoo Finance and others, executives tell Axios. Why it matters: Moving forward, the goal will be to rebrand most of its media franchises as Yahoo products, and to focus on selling Read More…
It wasn’t the first time a Montana coal mine had gone bankrupt, but Decker Coal’s reason for calling it quits had never been stated so plainly. There are no longer customers lined up at Decker’s door for Montana coal. Detroit-based energy company DTE no longer needed the 2.5 million tons of coal it Read More…
Since Bill Moseley started his software company, GL Solutions, in 1997 in Bend, Oregon, he’s watched the small city’s population grow rapidly while the housing inventory failed to grow with it. As masses of people flocked to the small mountain town, Moseley struggled to recruit employees because they couldn’t find a place to live. In Read More…
Montana Orthopedics in Butte has joined SCL Health’s primary and specialty care clinics throughout Montana. Montana Orthopedics, Advantage Physical Therapy and OrthoNow will all become part of the SCL Health Medical Group — a network of hundreds of primary and specialty care providers across the state. The new partnership gives SCL Health patients access to Read More…
LAS VEGAS—Inside a strip mall here, blackjack students practiced flipping cards onto tables empty of gamblers. Nearby, a few people leaned over a craps table, the thrill of the game replaced by quiet study as the dice rolled. At CEG Dealer School, an academy for would-be casino dealers, the pipeline of workers aiming to join Read More…
MISSOULA — The rumble of titanic machinery can be heard throughout the pressroom of the Missoulian each night as the press churns out thousands of copies of the newspaper along the conveyor belt. But on March 28, the Missoulian press will run for the final time and those sounds will be silenced, the newspaper reported. The Read More…
MONTANA – The Montana Department of Commerce today announced that the Prospera Business Network will join the Montana Small Business Development Center Network. The local business and community development nonprofit will continue to serve Gallatin and Park counties in its new capacity. The Montana Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, headquartered at the Montana Department Read More…
In 2020, the U.S. lost 4,400 farms and ranches totally 2,019,000 when compared to 2019. A year-over-year trend that has occurred for decades. Those figures come from the latest Farms and Land in Farms Highlights report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The losses were heaviest in the nation’s largest farming regions, namely California and Read More…
GREAT FALLS — Since the launch of the Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Company almost three years ago, business has been steadily on the rise. The company with a constant eye on efficiency decided now was as good a time as ever to expand. “We started realizing, hey, we’re not able to make enough beer for what orders are Read More…
Boeing CEO David Calhoun declined a salary and performance bonus for most of last year but still received stock benefits that pushed the estimated value of his compensation to more than $21 million, according to a regulatory filing Friday. The aerospace giant struggled last year with the continuing fallout from two deadly crashes involving its Read More…
Miles City, MT – Stockman Bank is pleased to announce Jim Drummond as the newest member of its Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2021. Jim brings more than 43 years of banking and agricultural and commercial lending expertise. He worked for Stockman Bank from 2003 to 2017, serving as the Stockman Bank Gallatin Read More…
A guitar manufacturer is planning a major expansion at its factory in Bozeman amid increasing demand for guitars during the COVID-19 pandemic. James “JC” Curleigh, president and CEO of Gibson Brands, Inc., said at a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday that last spring’s COVID-19 shutdown initially brought about “more questions than answers” for the company. Read More…
Camping World Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CWH) (“Camping World”), America’s Recreation Dealer, today announced expansion plans in Delaware, Nebraska and Montana. The company owns or is in the process of acquiring land in these three states to support the continued march towards a national recreational dealer platform. “We continue to fill in the missing pieces towards Read More…
Hertz‘s unsecured creditors are proposing a restructuring of the car-rental firm that clashes with the company’s plan to exit from bankruptcy via a sale to two investment funds, Bloomberg reported Thursday. As part of the planned shakeup, the lenders want to convert their holdings in the bankrupt firm into shares of the reorganized company which could be taken Read More…
BELGRADE, Mont. – Acela Truck Company went from building fire trucks, to mobile morgue units and now custom-built trailers to help in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the country. David Ronsen, president of Acela, said the truck manufacturer is a combination of two older truck companies in the Gallatin Valley but started under their Read More…
CHICAGO & LAS VEGAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Accel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: ACEL) (“Accel”), a leading distributed gaming operator in the U.S., today announced further expansion into new geographical markets by entering into an agreement to acquire Century Gaming, Inc. (“Century”), one of the leading distributed gaming operators in the Western United States, in a cash and stock transaction Read More…
LAS VEGAS, March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to sell its Las Vegas real property and operations, including The Venetian Resort Las Vegas and the Sands Expo and Convention Center (collectively, “The Venetian”) for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $6.25 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Read More…
Reeling from the effects of the pandemic, the oil industry is in no mood to fool around. When newly inaugurated President Joe Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline project, refiners on the Gulf Coast shuddered. How would they get the Canadian oil they needed? But when President Biden paused all oil and gas permitting on federal lands Read More…
The Billings RV and Boat Show was among the last events before the pandemic hit last year. The show is among the first to return to near normal conditions at the MetraPark Expo Center, during a six-day run that ended Sunday. Other events before this week had been canceled, so Bretz RV and Marine was Read More…
Moet Hennessy is acquiring a 50% stake in rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z’s Champagne brand in an effort to up its cool factor and expand distribution. Terms of the deal, which was announced Monday, weren’t released. Armand deBrignac, known familiarly as Ace of Spades because of its distinctive label, is produced in France’s Champagne region by a Read More…
GREAT FALLS — Many factors contribute to how successful a small business is, but according to a recent study, Montana is the best state to open a small business. The study done by The Blueprint found that Montana was ranked the number one best state to open a small business in 2021. The factors used to determine Read More…
They’re easy to miss, hunkered down behind laptops in home offices, but remote workers are quietly setting up shop around the Flathead Valley. The COVID-19 pandemic spurred companies nationwide to adopt more flexible, socially distanced operations, so for many of their employees, the home is now the workplace. And for some of these remote workers, Read More…
The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to the travel plans of many, and Billings Logan International Airport is seeking the effect. The number of passengers traveling through the airport was down nearly 48 percent in 2020 from the previous year, according to the airport’s annual report. The airport saw 248,597 passengers boarding planes in 2020, Read More…
Making money in your sleep sounds too good to be true, given many of us find it hard enough to earn a living while we’re awake. But many influencers are jumping on a new trend that’s rising in popularity: the “sleep stream.” Among the best-known sleep streamers is one who goes by the name Asian Read More…
Bitcoin’s price broke above $50,000 for the first time in history Tuesday, continuing its blistering rally as major companies appear to be warming to cryptocurrencies. The world’s largest digital currency by market value rose more than 3% to an all-time high of $50,487 at about 7:30 a.m. ET, according to data from Coin Metrics. It later Read More…
Thomas Donohue, the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, will reportedly be leaving his role. The chamber is expected to name Suzanne Clark as his successor, according to Axios, which cited people familiar with the matter. Donohue, a longtime confidant of Republican presidents who has been at the Chamber of Commerce since 1976, faced criticism Read More…
Tesla announced Monday it has bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it bought the bitcoin for “more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on our cash.” Tesla also said it will start accepting payments in bitcoin in exchange for its products “subject to applicable Read More…
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon is pushing to build up the state’s economic recovery through proposals and initiatives that he said would add value to the agriculture, tourism, and energy sectors. Taking an “all the above” approach, Gordon said he would seek to further bolster Wyoming’s energy and mining sectors. The governor supports bills allowing severance Read More…
A long-standing real estate company has changed ownership after 61 years. The announcement was made Wednesday afternoon that Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Floberg Real Estate has been sold. Charles and Beth Smith became the owners on Jan. 1, 2021. READ FULL STORY
Uber on Tuesday announced an agreement to buy Drizly, a Boston-based alcohol delivery startup, for $1.1 billion in cash and stock. Why it matters: This could represent a strategic departure for Uber, in that Drizly doesn’t hire delivery drivers itself. Instead, it provides the backend infrastructure for local liquor stores to provide their own delivery services. Read More…
GREAT FALLS, Mont.- A free online course is geared toward boosting success, and it’s open to every business in Montana. The courses will help business owners increase revenue, sales, traffic, and profitability. “Destination Creation” by Grow Great Falls is normally priced at $399, but that fee has been lifted in an effort to help business Read More…
Montana’s largest MLS contracts to make FOREWARN services available for its 3,000+ REALTOR® members to promote proactive agent safety BOCA RATON, Fla., Feb. 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FOREWARN, LLC, a red violet company (NASDAQ: RDVT) and the leading provider of real-time information solutions for real estate agents, today announced that the Montana Regional MLS (“MRMLS”) Read More…
A group of companies involved in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, is challenging President Biden’s executive order that would stop future land leases for those businesses. The Western Energy Alliance (WEA) filed a complaint against the Biden Administration in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, Wyoming on Wednesday. The suit names the President, Acting Read More…
Wind farms and massive arrays of solar panels are cropping up across public and private landscapes both in the United States and abroad as users increasingly turn to “green energy” as their preferred flavor of electricity. President Joe Biden, in fact, has directed the Interior Department to identify suitable places to host 20 gigawatts of Read More…
Facebook is readying an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, according to a report from The Information. Facebook has been preparing the case for months alongside external legal experts, sources told the outlet. The lawsuit specifically alleges that Apple abused its market power by forcing third-party developers, including Facebook, to follow a different set of rules that Apple’s Read More…
Retail brokerages restricted trading on Thursday in GameStop and other stocks caught in a frenzy that has captivated Wall Street and caused big losses for hedge funds. Free-stock trading pioneer Robinhood and Interactive Brokers said that in some cases, investors would be able to sell only their positions and not open new ones. Both brokerages raised margin Read More…
WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky and Boeing have pitched a tweaked version of the team’s coaxial technology demonstrator — the SB-1 Defiant — which it plans to submit for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault (FLRAA) competition, according to the companies. The modified, competition-ready aircraft design is being called Defiant X, taking the same surname as little Read More…