Month: July 2024
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State’s Senior Health Care Tops List
Montana’s primary strength is its healthcare accessibility for older citizens, reports Senior Living. With a population of just over 1.1 million, Montana’s healthcare access score was second among all states – a number aided by the Montana Rural Physician Incentive Program that subsidizes and attracts medical professionals. Montana also had many Medicare hospitals per resident…
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SBA Offers Grants for Cybersecurity
Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced $3 million in new funding under the Cybersecurity for Small Businesses Pilot Program. Three grants will be awarded to state agencies to provide training, counseling, and other tailored cybersecurity services for startups and emerging entrepreneurs. “With small businesses accounting for 99.9 percent…
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Overtime Pay Threshold Increased
The Department of Labor has increased the minimum salary threshold which makes workers eligible for overtime pay. Employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act are entitled to at least one-and-a-half times their rate for hours worked beyond the 40-hour workweek, unless they are exempt. Previously, those exemptions included salaried employees primarily performing “executive, administrative, or…
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NFIB Asks for Faster Action on Two Issues
The most recent release of NFIB’s monthly Small Business Economic Trends report didn’t vary much from previous dismal ones, but it did reveal a more troubling finding that prompted the Montana state director for the association that publishes it to call on the state’s Congressional delegation to act faster on two issues that would help…
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Newly Licensed Businesses June 2024
BR House Cleaning, 2001 24th St W, Reiland, Brenda, Service, Billings E. Marie’s Cleaning Service, 27 S 12th St W #1, (406) 672-0230, Shea, Erin, Service, Billings Rianna Naillon, 3135 Sycamore Ln, (406) 740-0617, Naillon, Rianna, Real Estate Rental, Billings AFK Collectibles, 1630 Moose Hollow Ln, Mcmillen/Ray, Zack/Indiana – AFK Collectibles, Retail Sales, Billings Brockstar…
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Montanans Investing in Leading Industries
Governor Greg Gianforte continues his 56 county tour in Cascade, Chouteau, and Liberty counties to highlight Montanans investing in business, agriculture, and education. Visiting a manufacturing facility in Great Falls, the governor highlighted Such Group International’s investment in entrepreneurs and Montana’s business community. With over 30 years of combined experience, Such Group International supports growing…
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Montana Highlights July 15, 2024
Chef Andy Blanton has been selected to lead Flathead Valley Community College’s Culinary Institute. Blanton was the owner and executive chef at Cafe Kandahar on Big Mountain for many years. He left the restaurant business in June 2023. He will direct FVCC’s culinary program after the retirement of Chef Howard Karp. Karp assumed the executive…
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Lifeline of the Highline
The Montana Farm Bureau has submitted a letter to U.S. House of Representatives leadership urging them to take up the Fort Belknap Indian Community (FBIC) Water Settlement Act of 2024 (S.1987). “The Milk River Project in north central Montana is aptly referred to as the “Lifeline of the Highline” because it provides water to over…
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Knudsen Praises Ruling Blocking Loan Cancellations
By Chris Woodward, The Center Square Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is pleased that a federal judge in Kansas has agreed with his request to block President Joe Biden’s student loan relief effort. “This is great news that a court is blocking the President’s plan to buy votes from young, recent graduates and driving our…
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Judicial Activism or Judicial Restraint?
By Roger Koopman Some may consider it mere coincidence that over the past forty years, the Montana Supreme Court has struck down almost every conservative ballot measure (referenda and initiatives) that has come before it, while upholding every liberal one – including seven examples of such conduct in the past ten years alone. Likewise, maybe…