Month: February 2021
-
Abatements Incentivize Business
Since 1994, Yellowstone County and the City of Billings have been giving businesses a boost to start and to grow, through two different tax abatement programs. Originally, local businesses that received the benefit of those programs invested a grand total of $468,784,880 and in 2019 paid out $153,769,851 in salaries. The fact that refineries, Phillips…
-
40th Women’s Run Unveils T-shirt Design
Opens Registration Once again the Montana Women’s Run is planning a virtual event because of COVID constraints, but this year is special because Montana’s premier race is celebrating its 40th anniversary on race day, May 8. The opening of registration has been announced along with the unveiling of this year’s t-shirt design. Each year participants…
-
Floberg Real Estate Sells
In the realm of real estate few names are as founded with Billings as that of Floberg. The company, now known as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Floberg Realtors, has been purchased by Charles “Dan” and Beth Smith from founders Don and Marilyn Floberg and partners, Tom and Robin Hanel, and Linda Parker and Mike Oliver. The…
-
Gravel Mine to Supply Bypass Construction Material Gets Approval
A gravel mine that will help build a portion of the Billings Bypass got a green light for operations from Yellowstone County Commissioners on Tuesday. Located at the east end of Johnson Lane in Lockwood, JDW Industrial Park 2 applied for a zoning special review from Heavy Industrial to Open Cut Mining. The application which…
-
Horseracers Present Plan for Metra
A proposal for a multi-use grandstand facility that would also accommodate horseracing in the same location as the recently removed grandstand was presented to county commissioners on Tuesday by Beth Koch, President of the Billings Turf Club. Kock said that her organization was presenting the plan as an option for the Metra Park Master Plan…
-
COVID Innovation Improves RE Communications
A Bozeman –based company is growing the market demand for a new technology it developed in response to COVID restraints. Alosant is real estate technology that allows better communication between a company and its clients. The development of Alosant ResX Marketplace was partially funded through the COVID-19 Montana Innovation Grant, which the company received for…
-
Groups Sue BLM
A coalition of groups has challenged five Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sales encompassing 112 parcels and 58,297 acres of public lands in central and eastern Montana and North Dakota. The lawsuit, filed in Great Falls, says the agency failed to fully assess the potential harm oil and gas extraction would have…
-
Could Have Been Worse, 2021 Looks Promising
As bad as it was, the experience of other states shows that it could have been much worse for Montana. While the economic restraints that were imposed because of COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the economies of Montana and the nation, “the surprise is that Montana’s job setback, while severe, has been milder…
-
Family Fights on After 30 Years in Bureaucratic Purgatory
How long should an American have to wait for the wheels of justice to turn – 5 years? 20 years? 30 years? – for the federal government to definitively rule on a routine mining patent request that could make or break the success of a family-owned business? And what recourse does that business owner have if the…