Montana Highlights

The Montana Department of Corrections is considering a 90-bed prerelease facility in Kalispell. The center would be located on East Oregon Street at the former Greenwood Village Inn & Suites hotel. Prerelease centers are designed to assist offenders with their transition from a secure facility back into the community and provide an alternative to incarceration. The state has 10 such facilities..

Seth Soley and the Hageness family have purchased Whitefish-based Rocky Mountain Transportation Company from Dale Duff. The company has grown from a taxi service  started in 1946 to offer additional services including a tow service, the only ambulance service in town, volunteer fire department trucks and interstate bus schedules. They also operate the shuttle up Big Mountain named the SNOW bus and private charters, shuttles around Glacier National Park and transfers from Glacier Park International, plus school bus contracts.

United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts  may hold the fate of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant in his hands. Lawyers for Talen Montana and NorthWestern Energy, the owners of the power plant, have asked the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court for temporary stay of two rules that owners of the plant say leave them with two terrible choices: Either invest $350 million in upgrades to the pollution controls, or shutter the plant, leaving power customers in Montana facing high energy rates or unreliable power. Colstrip’s owners warn that without a halt to the EPA’s rules, Colstrip will not have enough time to comply with the law; and, that even if Colstrip does agree to foot the $350 million in estimated upgrades, the company won’t have enough time to recoup the costs before the plant eventually ceases operation.

United Airlines has announced a new seasonal flight between Bozeman Yellowstone (BZN) and Washington-Dulles International Airport. Flights will kick off Dec. 21 and run through March 29, according to BZN. United already offers daily service to Bozeman from Chicago-O’Hare, Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco, and Denver. The Bozeman airport has  released its winter schedule with seven airlines serving 20 destinations. That includes JetBlue Airways adding its premium JetBlue Mint service during weekend ski season flights to Bozeman-Yellowstone from Boston Logan International Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

A victim of the 2022 Red Lodge flooding, Rocky Fork Inn, ha...

Montana’s Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) Commissioner Sarah Swanson issued an upbeat labor report on Labor Day. The report shows employment continues to grow, unemployment remains near record lows, and wage growth over the last year resulted in an increased standard of living for Montana workers.

A significant finding is that Montana ranks 2nd in the nation for fastest wage growth sin...

Montana Technological University has been awarded $6.5 million from Department of Defense using Defense Production Act (DPA) authorities to create seven online stackable certificates that will grow the workforce needed to boost domestic supply of critical minerals and rare earth elements.

Critical minerals and rare earth elements are necessary for advanced manufacturing of modern technology...

By Evelyn Pyburn

So, how dare a political candidate even mention the concept of privatization!

When people started asking me about Republican candidate Tim Sheehy’s comments about privatizing health care, etc. as though it was an outrageous thing to say, my answer has been, “I only wish I thought he intended to do it.”

More than anything, though, I was most amazed at people’s response...

The Billings Chamber of Commerce has announced that Taylor Brown is the recipient of the 2024 Legacy Award.

This outstanding community leader and business owner will be honored during the 2024 Billings Chamber Annual Meeting, October 22, at Pub Station, sponsored by NonStop Local and Marsh McLennan Agency.

Taylor Brown is well known in the Billings community, throughout Southeast Montana...

The Montana Department of Corrections is considering a 90-bed prerelease facility in Kalispell. The center would be located on East Oregon Street at the former Greenwood Village Inn & Suites hotel. Prerelease centers are designed to assist offenders with their transition from a secure facility back into the community and provide an alternative to incarceration. The state has 10 such facilities...

Mulvaney Joins Visit Billings

Polly Mulvaney joined Visit Billings, managed by the Billings Chamber of Commerce, as the new Group Sales Manager. In her new role, Mulvaney will manage meeting and convention recruitment as well as group tour sales for the destination.  She has spent her career in outdoor hospitality, t...