Dennis Design Works

  • Celebrate Safely at the office Christmas Party

    Celebrate Safely at the office Christmas Party   Keep celebrations safe this holiday season by watching out for two problem areas – drunk driving and harassment – advises NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center. Drunk Driving An increasing number of states require employers to exercise reasonable care to prevent injuries by intoxicated employees leaving holiday parties. To minimize the risk… Read More

  • Thieves Costs Millions of Dollars in Losses; Legislation Needs Changing

    Thieves Costs Millions of Dollars in Losses; Legislation Needs Changing   Brad Griffin, President of the Montana Retail Association, said he was astounded a couple of years ago when one of his members, the manager of one of the largest “box stores” in Billings, told him that they had just suffered, in one month, $800,000 in losses from what is… Read More

  • Montana Consumers Among Top Spenders in Nation

      Montana consumers spent money at a rate in 2017 that ranked it among states with the highest rate of increase in personal consumption expenditures (PCE), according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In general, across the country, all consumers spent more in 2017 than in 2016. On average state… Read More

  • Housing Market Holds Locally, But Slips Nationally

    Housing Market Holds Locally, But Slips Nationally   While nationally it is being reported that the housing market is struggling, it remains on a pretty even keel for Billings, according to a group of brokers with Coldwell Banker The Brokers, during a recent free-wheeling discussion about the real estate market. Read More

  • Ultra Graphics Wins 2018 Benny Award

    Ultra Graphics Wins 2018 Benny Award   Ultra Graphics, a print and marketing firm with locations in Billings and Bozeman, has received the 2018 Benny Award. This is the highest honor in the Printing Industries of America’s (PIA) Premier Print Awards Competition. Ultra Graphics won in the Industrial Printing category for their Rocky Mountain College Human… Read More
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Market Update

  • Suit Filed Challenging Spending of Public Dollars on Campaigns

      Montana Public Service Commissioner, Roger Koopman, has filed a lawsuit against the City of Bozeman for using public funds to advocate for a political issue. The suit, which he calls “powerful,” targets what has become a rampant abuse by government agencies, as many publically-funded agencies commonly lobby, campaign and… Read More

  • PSC Says Tax Savings Go Back to Ratepayers

    The Montana Public Service Commission voted to accept a stipulation between NorthWestern Energy, the Montana Consumer Counsel, and other parties that sends all the benefits NorthWestern accrues from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) back to Montana ratepayers for gas and electricity. Read More

  • Tax Study Says Business Taxes Need Reform

      Montana small businesses are taxed disproportionately to other taxpayers, a situation that imposes disadvantages on business in the state. The higher taxes place greater costs on Montana businesses which puts them at a disadvantage in competing with out-of-state businesses, and the higher taxes make it more difficult for the… Read More

  • SBA Seeking 2019 Nominations

      Nominations now open for the SBA 2019 Small Business Awards!  These small business awards recognize businesses and business owners across the state for their successes and contributions to their communities.    This year the Montana SBA will recognize honorees in the following categories at an award event next spring: Read More
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  • Businesses Asked to Help in Making Downtown Safer

    It was surely more than 200 and maybe 300 people who packed the ballroom of the Northern Hotel last week to hear what civic leaders in Billings had to say about the problem of homeless people, panhandlers, and vagrants on the city streets. Billings Mayor Bill Cole underscored that the… Read More

  • City of Billings Asked to Support USS Billings

    City of Billings Asked to Support USS Billings     It’s a big deal! It’s a REALLY big deal! To have a US Navy combat ship named after your city is a really big deal! Read More

  • Could Horseracing Return to Billings?

    Could Horseracing Return to Billings?   “Hold your horses!” The Long Range Planning Committee for Metra Park has been asked to delay any plans to replace the horse race track until after the 2019 State Legislative Session, in the hope of passing legislation that could resurrect horse racing in Billings and elsewhere in the state. Read More

  • Veterans Bring Unique Skills As Entrepreneurs

    Veterans Bring Unique Skills As Entrepreneurs Once you become “Goliath” don’t ever think you are too big to be taken down by “David.” Such was among the tidbits of advice offered by Troy Downing in addressing a group of veteran entrepreneurs – or a vetrepreneur – at a free workshop sponsored by Concerned Veterans for America Foundation and… Read More
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  • Are the French Deniers, too? by Evelyn Pyburn

    Are the French Deniers, too? by Evelyn Pyburn

     

    Whether the planet is warming or not, reality is starting to demonstrate that the issue of climate change cuts both ways. Whatever travesties are predicted to befall human beings or whatever the costs of a warming climate, actions taken to ostensibly save the planet and reduce carbon emissions have just as many increased costs and adverse impacts as are predicted by warmer temperatures. And, that cost includes a loss of individual political freedom.

    Read More

  • The Thing about TIFS

    The Thing about TIFS

     

    By Evelyn Pyburn

    It is commonly believed that the formation of a TIF (tax increment finance) district has no impact on tax levels to property taxpayers outside the TIF boundaries.

    If TIFs did not increase taxes, be assured they would not exist. But the increase is a hidden one so it is easy to impose without much push back.  The increase happens in a complicated way, while the potential benefits are publically promoted, front and center, so the consideration is always quite lopsided.

    Read More
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Montana Fair Grabs Awards

Monday, December 10, 2018
MontanaFair grabbed six first place awards and sixteen awards overall to be presented at the IAFE...

KLJ Takes Three Awards

Monday, December 10, 2018
KLJ is proud to announce that our team has been awarded three American Council of Engineering...

MSU Offers 1-Year Master’s for Teachers

Friday, December 07, 2018
A new one-year, online master’s degree program in teaching that Montana State University expects...

Derek Miller Promoted at Stockman Bank

Friday, December 07, 2018
Derek Miller has recently been promoted to Commercial Loan Officer for Stockman Bank Billings...

Public Hearing Launches 27th Street RR Crossing Study

Thursday, December 06, 2018
A public meeting, held last week, launched the beginning of a Montana Department of Transportation...

Night Shifts, Bad Lifestyle Contribute to Diabetes

Thursday, December 06, 2018
Working night shifts and having an unhealthy lifestyle appear to have an additive effect on the...

Low Oil Prices Will be Felt in Yellowstone County

Thursday, December 06, 2018
The price of oil and what’s happening in the oil patch in Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming has...

Commuters Looking for Alternatives

Thursday, December 06, 2018
Quick drives to work are very much taken for granted in most Montana communities, but such is not...

Montana Highlights December 1, 2018

Wednesday, December 05, 2018
In 1938, 23 lovers of forests and mountains, formed the business that became Recreational...