Montana State University TechLink  assures that federal programs for research  and development are not at risk of federal cost cutting. In a recent statement they stated, “we want to reassure our clients that the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are not only operational but continue to thrive.”

Federal agencies have active solicitations or are preparing to announce new opportunities, they reported. The Department of Defense remains a source of support for innovative ventures. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is actively engaging small businesses in cutting-edge research and development projects. Likewise, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) continues to fund health-related innovations.

Moreover, NASA’s Ignite SBIR initiative is gearing up to propel small businesses into new realms of aerospace technology and research. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) websites state plans to roll out solicitations this summer that promise to support sustainability and agricultural advancements.

For entrepreneurs and small businesses navigating these uncertain times, the message is clear: the SBIR and STTR programs are very much “open for business.” These programs represent ongoing opportunities to transform innovative ideas into reality, with substantial backing from federal agencies committed to fostering scientific and technological innovation.

By Brett Rowland

The Center Square

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration released its latest report on drug threats, highlighting progress in the fight against fentanyl, a powerful opioid responsible for most overdose deaths.

Even so, fentanyl remains at the top of the DEA threat assessment. 

“Mexican cartels’ production, trafficking, and distribution of powerful illicit synthetic drugs, chiefly fentanyl and methamphetamine, represent a dire threat to public health, the rule of law, and national security in the United States,” the report said. “The Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels (CJNG), together with their procurement, distribution, and financial support networks stretching across Latin America, China, and other key global nodes, remain the dominant threats for the trafficking of these and other drugs into the United States.”

The move away from plant-based drugs to synthetics has helped the cartels rake in even-more cash. Cartels maintain steady supply chains for precursor chemicals, primarily from China and India, needed to produce these synthetic drugs.

In the 12 months ending in October 2024, the United States recorded 52,385 overdose deaths from synthetic opioids – a 33% decline – while overall overdose deaths, from any drug, declined about 26%, according to the most recent available CDC provisional data. Provisional data from the CDC showed that 74,702 of the 107,543 total drug overdose deaths in 2023 involved synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl. That’s about 69% of all overdose deaths in the U.S.

The DEA seized about 29% less fentanyl in 2024 compared to the prior year. In 2024, DEA seized 21,936 pounds of fentanyl. The agency also seized 61.1 million fake pills in 2024, a 24% decrease from the previous year. Data from the El Paso Intelligence Center’s National Seizure System – which consolidates drug seizure data from federal, state, and local agencies throughout the United States – indicated a similar trend, with 23,256 total kilograms seized in 2024, down from the previous year.

Fentanyl purity also fell last year, according to DEA testing. In 2024, the average fentanyl pill contained 1.94 milligrams of fentanyl, ranging from a low of 1.58 mg to a high of 2.18 mg. Based on these analyses, DEA forensic laboratory results found that about 5 out of 10 fake pills contain 2mg or more of fentanyl. The average purity of fentanyl powder samples was 11.36%, ranging from exhibits that contained almost no fentanyl (0.07%) to 82% purity.

“Fentanyl purity declined throughout 2024, consistent with indicators that many Mexico-based fentanyl cooks are having difficulty obtaining some key precursor chemicals,” the report noted. “DEA reporting indicates that some China-based chemical suppliers are wary of supplying controlled precursors to its international customers, demonstrating an awareness on their part that the government of China is controlling more fentanyl precursors to comply with recent updates to the United Nations counter-narcotics treaty.”

That doesn’t mean fentanyl is any safer. 

“The downward trend in fentanyl purity does not mean that street-level fentanyl is less dangerous,” according to the report. “Drug dealers in the United States continue to adulterate fentanyl with various animal tranquilizers (such as xylazine), anesthetics (such as ketamine), and other synthetic opioids (such as nitazenes).”

DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy said the report shows progress.

“This year’s report indicates progress in the fight against fentanyl and also outlines the increasing challenges we face with the changing landscape of the synthetic drug crisis,” he said. “The adulterating of fentanyl with highly potent, dangerous chemicals reminds us that this fight is far from over.”

By Casey Harper

The Center Square

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is cracking down on states’ use of taxpayer dollars allotted to Medicaid to pay for unauthorized treatments for noncitizens.

The federal government allocates billions of dollars each year to states to help pay for Medicaid, healthcare for lower income Americans, one of the federal government’s largest expenditures. States are generally allowed to use Medicaid to cover emergency and lifesaving treatment for illegal immigrants, but CMS said it is cracking down on the practice of states using federal dollars to cover treatments not authorized under Medicaid for noncitizens.

CMS said that states are “pushing the boundaries” of what can be covered under Medicaid, at taxpayer expense.  

“Medicaid is not, and cannot be, a backdoor pathway to subsidize open borders,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “States have a duty to uphold the law and protect taxpayer funds. We are putting them on notice – CMS will not allow federal dollars to be diverted to cover those who are not lawfully eligible.”

Democrats have denied the allegation that some states, generally Democrat-led, use Medicaid dollars for illegal immigrants. Republicans insist they use loopholes or don’t check immigration status as a way to circumvent federal rules. They argue that free healthcare of this kind is what helps motivate the influx of illegal immigrants into the U.S. 

“Medicaid funds must serve American citizens in need and those legally entitled to benefits,” said CMS Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services Drew Snyder. “If states cannot or will not comply, CMS will step in.”

CMS sent a letter to the states this week warning them of the ratcheting up on controls and that the federal government could demand back any federal dollars improperly spent on noncitizens.

“To ensure that federal money is not used to pay for or subsidize healthcare for individuals with an unsatisfactory immigration status in a manner contrary to federal law, CMS is ramping up financial oversight activities of state claiming in this area, to the extent consistent with applicable law,” the letter said. “Activities are expected to include focused reviews of Medicaid expenditures reported by states on the quarterly CMS-64 and in-depth financial management reviews.”

By Bethany Blankley

The Center Square

In the first four months of 2025, illegal border crossing encounters and apprehensions reported nationwide totaled 168,390, an 83% drop from the number reported during the same time period last year.

Under the Biden administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 993,035 illegal border crosser encounters/apprehensions from January through April 2024.

More than 29,000 were reported in April and in March of this year, record lows by comparison to those months under the Biden administration, according to the latest CBP data.

In the first four months of 2023, 958,569 illegal border crosser encounters were reported; in 2022, 889,899 were.

April’s 29,238 encounters were 88% fewer than the 247,929 reported in April 2024; nearly 90% less than the 276,036 reported in April 2023 and the 274,992 reported in April 2022, according to the data.

The reason for the dramatic drop is due to the Trump administration enforcing federal immigration law, eliminating Biden administration programs, and “for the first time in years, more agents are back in the field – patrolling territories that CBP didn’t have the bandwidth or manpower to oversee just six months ago,” Acting CBP Commissioner Pete Flores said. “Thanks to this administration’s dramatic shift in security posture at our border, we are now seeing operational control becoming a reality – and it’s only just beginning.”

Fiscal year to date, from Oct. 1, 2024, through April 30, there were 560,618 illegal border crosser encounters reported nationwide, according to the data. The majority were reported under the Biden administration, stretching into most of January. The numbers began to drop off in February. In Trump’s first full three months in office, the numbers hovered between 28,624 and 29,238, according to the data.

After the Trump administration ended the Biden administration “catch and release” policy, the number of illegal border crossers released into the U.S. dropped to nearly zero.

“Only five illegal aliens were temporarily allowed into the U.S. in April for U.S. special interest court cases – a staggering drop from the roughly 68,000 released along the southwest border during the same month last year,” CBP said.

CBP is also categorizing apprehensions slightly differently, referring to apprehensions and encounters at ports of entry as “at entry” and those in the interior as “at large.”

Of April’s 29,238 encounters and apprehensions reported, 8,383 occurred at the southwest border, including 906 that remain at large. Southwest border apprehensions represent a 93% drop from the 128,895 apprehensions reported last April, according to the data.

Last April, there were an average 4,297 apprehensions a day; last month there was an average of 279, according to the data.

As under the Biden administration, the majority apprehended were single adults, followed by single adults claiming to be in a family unit, unaccompanied minors and accompanied minors.

In the last four years, the greatest number of single adults encountered and apprehended totaled more than one million in 2023. The greatest number of unaccompanied minor illegal border crossers reported nationwide totaled nearly 153,000 in 2022.

The number represents a reversal of more than 14 million illegal border crossers reported under the Biden administration, including two million who evaded capture, The Center Square reported.

With median home prices exceeding $1 million in many U.S. housing markets, some real estate professionals are drawing attention to a 28-year-old capital gains tax law, citing it as one factor contributing to the nationwide housing shortage.

Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty in Palo Alto, told The Epoch Times that some communities have experienced skyrocketing home price. In some cases they have jumped 667 percent on average since 1997.

“This outdated capital gains law has resulted in an artificially-created housing shortage,” DeLeon said. “A lot of older people who have lived in their homes for 30 years or more want to sell, but the value of those homes has tripled or quadrupled now. Some of these sellers could now be facing capital gains taxes of over $1 million.”

According to a HUD report, the median cost of a single-family home in 1997 was $143,000, compared with $414,000 in April 2025, as reported by the National Association of Realtors.

With the combined federal and state capital gains tax rate now at 37.1 percent in California, potential sellers seeking to avoid elevated tax exposure are choosing instead to remain in their current properties.

As a result, DeLeon said inventory levels have reached historic lows and sellers are stuck in a tax trap.

DeLeon contends that the economic ripple effects of the almost three-decade-old tax formula is causing not only fewer home sales, but less revenue from transfer taxes, reset property taxes, and local economic activity.

“We have older people who may have bought their home 30 years ago for less than $100,000 and now they’re worth $4 million,” she said. “They may want to downsize and move, but they can’t afford to pay all those capital gains taxes.”

The hefty tax makes it difficult to buy their next home for cash which they most likely want to do.

It’s a situation that is pushing our country further into a housing market where only large, wealthy corporations can purchase the increasingly rare single-family home.

A bipartisan effort to resolve the issue is already underway in Congress. Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), along with many others, in February reintroduced the More Homes on the Market Act to make housing more available and affordable for Americans.

The legislation would update the tax code by doubling the exclusion of capital gains from the sale of a principal residence. For single sellers, the exemption would move to $500,000 and for couples, to $1 million. The bill is designed to incentivize homeowners to sell their properties, thereby increasing the supply of housing and helping to alleviate affordability challenges across the country.

Erick Garcia Luna, Director, Regional Outreach

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

“…the industry’s reliance on imported materials, such as Canadian lumber, has some firms thinking twice before submitting request for proposals.”

“Following years of fast-rising prices and wages, pressures were less acute and becoming more manageable.”

“Forty-four percent of survey-takers experienced price hikes greater than 5 percent, compared with 68 and 54 percent in the spring of 2023 and 2024, respectively.”

“On the labor side, the share of firms that reported wage increases dropped 10 percent relative to last spring.”

It is common for construction projects in the region to slow down as temperatures drop in winter months. But this season, construction firms experienced slower activity than expected.

From late April through mid-May, we surveyed leaders at 252 construction firms from across the Fed’s Ninth District, (which includes Montana) who shared their recent experiences and outlook for the sector.

Overall, decision-makers at construction firms entered 2025 with optimism, but for many, expectations shifted as lingering pressures from the rising costs of recent years were compounded by rising uncertainty.

More than half of firms reported decreased activity in the six months ending in April 2025, twice the share of those who reported improvements.

Respondents said that some clients had kept projects on hold because they anticipated lower interest rates and prices to stabilize further in 2025. As a result, companies pulled already-scheduled projects forward—which was good for clients but reduced backlogs at a time of slowing activity.

Many companies hoped that flattening costs and lower interest rates would stimulate new construction activity and replenish backlogs. Instead, growing uncertainty from trade policy has contributed to further project delays and cancellations.

Trade policy has also complicated basic operations for construction firms. For example, the industry’s reliance on imported materials, such as Canadian lumber, has some firms thinking twice before submitting request for proposals. “Bidding is hard when we are unsure of what products will cost in 6 to 12 months because of tariffs,” stated a Minnesota company involved in commercial and residential projects.

Respondents reported some modest improvements. Following years of fast-rising prices and wages, pressures were less acute and becoming more manageable.

While input prices paid in recent months have continued to rise, increases were less steep. Forty-four percent of survey-takers experienced price hikes greater than 5 percent, compared with 68 and 54 percent in the spring of 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Still, notable exceptions and recently added pressures pushed up on costs and squeezed margins.

Some firms noted that steel and concrete prices have continued to rise at a faster pace. A Minnesota commercial builder said that recent price increases for most of their inputs ranged between 6 and 13 percent, adding that some vendors had also been including tariff surcharges on some products.

On the labor side, the share of firms that reported wage increases dropped 10 percent relative to last spring. Eighty percent of firms indicated rising wages for trade workers, while 75 percent reported wage increases for all other workers.

Nearly half of respondents anticipated conditions will worsen for the industry in the coming months. For the majority, expectations had taken a turn since the start of the year (Figure 2). “The end of the year and into February were quite strong, but has since changed significantly due to tariffs, higher interest rates and fears of more inflation,” shared a respondent from an architectural firm.

The top concern among those surveyed was the impact of government policies and regulations, including tariffs. “Economic uncertainty leads to less investment which leads to less development,” remarked a respondent from an engineering firm.

Respondents also observed reductions in both public and private projects available for bidding and expected competition to intensify as a result.

“Fewer projects means more competition,” shared a South Dakota commercial builder. “More competition puts downward pressure on fees so we’re left with making too little money with costs staying too high.”

While overall labor demand was lower than in the spring of 2024, the majority of firms were hiring—43 percent were looking for full-time workers. The industry has grappled with pervasive talent shortages across occupations, and the challenges to recruit skilled workers are even more acute.

Combined, these challenges and added ambiguity have led to a gloomier outlook than earlier in the year. “Reduced backlogs, less new project enquiries and lower revenues have drastically slashed my projections for 2025,” shared a leader from a south Minnesota firm.

The underlying hope of many was that more clarity would restore confidence and reverse the course of dimming activity. “We need certainty,” an industrial builder in South Dakota said, “We simply need to know what to expect.”

By Orphe Divounguy, The Center Square

Bottom Line: This week’s inflation data is expected to show a slight uptick in consumer prices. However, a moderation in consumer spending could limit the ability of businesses to pass tariff-induced cost increases to consumers.

This week brings the economic calendar’s main event: the May consumer price index (CPI) release on June 11 and producer price index (PPI) data on June 12. These reports will provide crucial insight into whether the recent moderation in price pressures can be sustained amid ongoing trade tensions.

April’s CPI data showed consumer prices rose 0.2% monthly, translating to a 2.3% annual rate – a reassuring deceleration from earlier in the year. Producer prices fell 0.5% in April but are expected to rise due to tariffs.

The key question is whether producers can successfully pass tariff-induced cost increases to consumers without derailing the broader disinflationary trend.

The personal savings rate jumped to 4.9% in April from 4.3% in March, reaching a one-year high. The savings rate was just 3.5% in December 2024. This isn’t just a statistical curiosity – it’s a powerful indicator that American households are pulling back on spending and preparing for potential income shocks.

When people choose to save rather than spend, it signals declining confidence in their future income prospects. This behavior directly reduces consumer demand, which in turn limits businesses’ ability to raise prices. The math is straightforward: less demand equals less pricing power.

The employment picture reinforces this demand-side story. In May’s jobs report, half of the sectors added jobs, while the other half saw payroll cuts – a sign of slowing economic momentum.

While headline unemployment remains low, beneath the surface, hiring has slowed significantly and long-term unemployment continues climbing. Many workers are dropping out of the labor force entirely, reflecting frustration with limited opportunities.

This labor market softening translates directly into reduced consumer spending. When people are out of work or uncertain about their job prospects, they naturally become more cautious with their wallets – exactly what we’re seeing in the rising savings rate.

One bright spot for inflation watchers is the continued slowdown in market rent growth. Since housing costs represent the largest component of most Americans’ budgets, and rent measures in the CPI track on-market rental costs with a lag, this moderation should continue dragging down overall consumer price inflation in the months ahead.

This housing deflation provides a crucial cushion against potential price pressures from other sources, including potential tariff pass-through effects.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) sentiment index declined to 95.8 in April, marking the second consecutive month below the 51-year average of 98. More concerning, this represents the fourth consecutive month that sales volume expectations have declined.

Perhaps most telling: only 18% of small businesses plan capital outlays in the next six months, the lowest reading since April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. When small businesses – the backbone of American employment – are reluctant to invest in their futures, it signals deep pessimism about economic prospects. Business pessimism will hold back hiring and wage growth.

As consumers hunker down and demand weakens, businesses face an uncomfortable reality: profit margin compression. Companies that try to maintain margins by raising prices risk losing market share to competitors willing to accept thinner margins. Those that don’t raise prices see their profitability squeezed by higher input costs.

This dynamic creates a natural brake on inflation, as market forces discipline pricing behavior.

Expect the tariffs’ impact on consumer prices to remain somewhat muted, reflecting these demand-side pressures. The Federal Reserve will be watching closely to see if this economic cooling provides the breathing room needed to keep inflation near its 2% target.

Cautious consumers, struggling small businesses, and a cooling labor market suggest the bigger risk may be economic slowdown rather than runaway inflation.

By Tom Joyce, The Center Square

Montana recently became the sixth state this year to pass a ban on foreign spending on ballot measures. Watchdog organizations, however, say the state’s new law is inadequate.

Montana’s new law bars non-U.S. citizens, foreign governments, foreign political parties and foreign-owned entities from contributing to campaigns surrounding ballot measures. The legislation passed mostly along party lines, with near-unanimous Republican support and limited Democratic backing.

The new law, however, carves out an exemption for U.S.-based companies with foreign ownership if they pay state taxes and use only domestically generated funds from citizens or permanent residents.

Additionally, the measure doesn’t stop American political advocacy groups that receive money from foreigners from taking sides in ballot questions, watchdogs say.

“The problem that Montana failed to address is that you can have these intermediary groups that act as essentially money launderers, like the Sixteen Thirty Fund, raising enormous sums from foreign nationals, while simultaneously spending money on ballot measures,” Honest Elections Project executive director Jason Snead told The Center Square in a Zoom interview. “That’s why some of the measures we’ve seen passed this year, like in Missouri, for instance, require groups that spend in support of or against ballot measures have to certify that they have not taken above a certain threshold of foreign money over a four-year period. And the reason for that is to avoid this money laundering type of activity. That’s what’s missing from the Montana law.”

The Sixteen Thirty Fund, an American progressive political advocacy organization, has received at least $280 million from Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss since 2016, according to the New York Post.

The organization, for example, has actively participated in Montana’s politics. It spent over $3 million supporting a ballot initiative in Montana last year that made abortion a constitutionally protected right, according to Ballotpedia.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent over $130 million on ballot questions in 25 U.S. states in the past decade, according to RealClearPolicy.

Since the Sixteen Thirty Fund is an American-based company that Wyss donates to – and doesn’t tell the organization how to spend its money – Montana’s new law won’t prevent it from spending on the state’s ballot questions.

Americans for Public Trust executive director Caitlin Sutherland said Montana should look to other states for model legislation.

“Yes, absolutely,” she told The Center Square in a Zoom interview. “Starting with Ohio last year, we have seen that foreign funding bans have really swept state houses across the country. They’re all slightly similar with the goal of banning foreign money – direct and indirect – on ballot issues. We saw that Wyoming passed a very strong ban, as did Kansas, Arkansas, Kentucky and Indiana all this year.”

Once Ohio’s ban on foreign funding of ballot initiatives took effect last year, the Sixteen Thirty Fund stopped spending on The Buckeye State’s ballot questions and turned its attention elsewhere, as RealClearPolitics reports.

Heritage Action for America Montana State Director Kristen Christensen said her group wanted Gov. Greg Gianforte to veto the measure 

“Montana HB 818 was intended to safeguard Montana elections but unfortunately stopped short in protecting the integrity of elections in the Treasure State,” Christensen said. “Heritage Action urged Governor Gianforte to veto this weak legislation. It leaves loopholes open for foreign actors to pour millions of dollars into Montana’s electoral process, and leaves Montanans’ voices vulnerable to being drowned out by illegitimate and foreign influence.”

Snead also worries that foreign adversaries, like Russia and China, may one day capitalize on this campaign finance loophole and fund American ballot initiatives.

“Any loopholes that exist in our current laws or that we create with new laws can and probably will be exploited by adversarial foreign powers, like China, like Russia, that clearly mean the U.S. ill,” he said. “That’s why we should never risk playing with fire by allowing foreign powers to meddle in our politics. We need to build the protections now and make sure that money’s out of our state politics forever.”