Author: Press Room

Restraining Environmental Regs

20 May 2025
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Governor Gianforte signed into law three bills passed by the Montana State Legislature, which address the state’s environmental laws, largely in response to the Held v. Montana ruling issued by the state Supreme Court last December. Gianforte said, the new law will “provide certainty to Montana businesses, large and small, that are trying to make a living here in our state.” SB 221 was introduced by Wylie Galt (R-Martinsdale). It designates six climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions that the state must inventory in environmental reviews of energy projects — but explicitly directs state agencies to not regulate them. Another bill – -House Bill 291, sponsored by Greg Oblander (R-Billings) – prohibits state agencies from adopting air quality standards stricter than those imposed by federal agencies.

Another bill the Governor signed earlier, HB 285 introduced by Brandon Ler (R-Savage),which repealed sections of an environmental law. The new law directs agencies to consider “the potential long-range character of environmental impacts in Montana and … lend appropriate support to initiatives, resolutions and programs designed to maximize cooperation in anticipating and preventing a decline in the quality of Montana’s environment.”

Rafa’s Brow Boutique and Beauty Salon

20 May 2025
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By Jose Bustos

An Influencer? A Super Influencer?  Possibly!  Who knows who may spearhead the look of beauty and elegance for women and men in Montana. 

Rafael Rivera instinctively knows that and he will with his business, The Brow Boutique located at 3201 13th Street West in Billings. 

Rafa, as Rivera is known, has a business on the forefront of contemporary looks, for both sexes.  For women, a permanent make-up for eye brows and lips, or PMU.  For men he offers haircuts, and for the receding hair line, a scalp micro pigmentation, or SMP.  SMP gives men the appearance of a natural extending hair line where natural balding may occur.

Rafa calculates the growth of his business on the appearance that women and men want for themselves in a new concept known as “Permanent Make-up,” i.e., facial styling.  A fairly new concept in subtle tattoo art for the lips, eye brows, eye liners and scalp artistry.  The creativity of eyebrow enhancement is currently enjoying a phenomenal growth through-out America and expanding into Europe.  Rafa brings this artistry to Billings at the Brow Boutique with the influence in training and experience he adds to his resume with time spent for PMU and SMP in Las Vegas, New York and San Diego.

Rafa and his brother previously owned the Billings Best Barber in downtown Billings, but sold that business to start The Brow Boutique.  The Brow Boutique is a two-fold business that offers vogue hair-cut styles for men and if a gentleman requests, scalp micro pigmentation, (SMP). 

For women, Rafa offers a permanent make-up, a permanent eye brow make over for women that want a “Jewel Standard” for elegant facial appearance.  I was given the unique opportunity to view the procedures for both the SMP and PMU live in Rafa’s Brow Boutique.  Rafa performs his virtuosic, polished techniques. PMU on a young lady’s eye brows, and a SMP on a middle-aged gentleman’s receding hairline.  Both of his clients experienced virtually no sensation other than the vibration of the equipment used for the application of the required permanent dyes.  Rafa uses a soothing and desensitizing ointment prior to the procedure for the comfort of his client.

The need for quality looks and appearance, the latest fashions, generally starts on the East and West coasts, before being absorbed into the interior of America.  Rafa pounced on that concept early.  He discerned the need.  Though states west of the Mississippi are primarily concerned with western American culture, he instinctively knew that today there is a market for a distinctive and contemporary characteristic that many of us search for, i.e., that “latest fashion flair,” thus his introduction.

The procedure of permanent make up is on the rise nationally.  Vanity of course for some, but the value for both women and men is a simple procedure for the covering of scars, burns, and even a correction for a natural lack of eye brow hair.  These procedures are on the forefront of Rafa’s business.

Rafa is well aware of and respects the “rustic look” so many of Montana’s businesses like to display in their particular shop or store, with buffalo and deer mounts, guns and antlers, and fish. They are features you won’t find in The Brow Boutique.  Rafa feels that by decorating his Boutique with the trendy elements of various color combinations, plush furniture, and contemporary art on the walls and floors, brings to his business a relaxing plus chic look to his business.  Upon entering the Brow Boutique, you’ll love the degree of change with a flair of pastels, architectural lighting, and abstract art.  Adding to and enhancing the artistic motif, is a splendor of natural light.  Simply put, the place is just gorgeous!

Rafa is available at 406-717-9187 and by appointment only.

A West Australian energy company is building a $17.5 billion liquified natural gas production and export terminal in Louisiana to expand the U.S. liquified natural gas export market. Perth, Australia-based Woodside Energy plans to develop a three-train, 16.5 million ton per annum liquefied natural gas production and export terminal in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, called Louisiana LNG.

Protecting Women

20 May 2025
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The Montana State Legislature took up the very controversial issues regarding gender autonomy and protection of women’s rights. Three bills were passed:

House Bill 121, which protects women’s and girls’ locker rooms, bathrooms, and private spaces from biological males 

House Bill 300, which safeguardes women’s collegiate sports from unfair competition 

Senate Bill 437, which defines “male,” “female,” and “biological sex” in state law to anchor the state legal system “in reality, not ideology.”

Montana Highlights May 15, 2025

20 May 2025
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Glacier Office Furniture has opened in Evergreen, MT. Glacier Office Furniture offers development solutions for office spaces with an emphasis on chair ergonomics.

Ben Dorrington will take over the position of executive director of the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce this summer when current director, Connie McCubbins, retires.  Dorrington has set goals of economic growth and creating community-driven spaces.

The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce has reported various signs about Canadian tourists no longer visiting the Flathead. Canadian tourists  have long been one of the most significant sources of visitors to northwest Montana. Across the state, hotel bookings by Canadians have dropped by 71%.

Midwest Pyschiatric has opened in Sidney. The home of Midwest Pyschiatric is Bismarch, ND.

On June 23rd-25th, Miles City will host Montana Range Days. During Montana Range Days, youth and adults of all ages will gather to celebrate and learn about the rangelands which cover more than 70% of the state. The main event will be held at the Custer County Event Center at the Eastern Montana Fairgrounds.

Edward Jones financial advisor Jerry Hughes of Sidney was named among the Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors in 2025. He ranked No. 24 in MT.

The Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana is promoting a new initiatives aimed at using an untapped resource – Big Sky Country at night. In Montana, there are already two designated dark sky sites in Glacier National Park and Medicine Rocks State Park, both certified by the International Dark Sky Association. There are more opportunities to explore the night sky in Montana than just its parks

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The Kempton family opened the hotel located on Terry’s Spring Street on or about June 15, 1902 with a total of eight rooms and a large café. Due to an increase people traffic to Terry because of the Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Railroads, hotel building underwent an addition to the east plus remodeling to accommodate with added amenities. The updates took place between 1906 and 1910.

April White and Robert Pope are the new owners of the Silver Dollar Bar in Fairfield. After an interior remodel they hope to open by Memorial Day weekend under a new name, Tumbleweed Bar and Grill.

The Bozeman restaurant Dave’s Sushi has settled its lawsuits with seven food poisoning victims. The settlement amounts to plaintiffs are confidential, though court documents show each claim exceeds $75,000. It has been reported that the total claims far exceed the restaurant’s insurance policy limit.

Tom McGree, chief development officer at Ascent Bank, has been named MoFi’s 2024 Montana Small Business Lender of the Year, recognizing his commitment to small-business owners across the state. In 2024, small businesses referred by McGree received nearly $1 million in financing from MoFi. The loans helped entrepreneurs who couldn’t access traditional financing.

A study this summer aims to track high temperatures across the City of Missoula and other nearby towns in search of data on heat waves and to identify area “hot spots” that can be mitigated by officials in the future. Missoula County, the City of Missoula and Climate Smart Missoula are coordinating with National Weather Service employees to conduct the study with citizen volunteers. The project will be the first of its kind in Montana.

2026 will be the 100 hundred year anniversary of the Mystic Lake Hydroelectric Project which supplies energy to south central Montana including Billings for Northwestern Energy

The owners of the Tap Club, a restaurant and taphouse in Missoula have announced that the business has been purchased by Town Pump, a Butte-based company that operates convenience stores, gas stations, casinos, truck stops and hotels. The Tap Club opened in the fall of 2023 in the old Perkins location. The final day of operation under the Tap Club name was Saturday, May 10.

The Home2 Suites by Hilton Kalispell, an extended stay hotel owned by The Hotel Group, has 107 rooms. It’s located at 454 Rivers Edge Loop, near the intersection of U.S. 93 and Rose Crossing. The hotel includes all-suite accommodations with full kitchens and flexible living areas. The hotel includes a heated indoor pool, outdoor fire pit and grilling patio, and fitness and laundry rooms. 

The Montana Department of Commerce has presented the 2025 “Tourism Destination of the Year” award to the Lewistown Area Chamber of Commerce’s Charlie Russell Chew-Choo dinner train. The Charlie Russell Chew-Choo has been a tourist attraction for visitors in Central Montana and a source of revenue for Lewistown as well. The line has been operating since September of 1914. The Charlie Russell Chew-Choo travels on a spur track, built between 1912-1913, connecting Lewistown and Great Falls through the upper Missouri River Breaks.

An asbestos screening clinic in Libby, Montana, has been shuttered by local authorities. The closing follows a court order to seize the clinic’s assets in order to pay off a judgment to BNSF. The railway prevailed in a 2023 lawsuit alleging the clinic  owed them $3 million because it fraudulently made some patients eligible for government benefits when it knew they were not sick. The railway challenged the validity of over 2,000 diagnoses by the clinic and 337 were ruled false.

March Payrolls Expanded

20 May 2025
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Private-sector payrolls expanded by an estimated 62,000 positions in April, down from a revised 147,000 in March, according to the ADP National Employment Report released on April 30.

Median pay for employees who stayed in their jobs rose by 4.5 percent from a year earlier, down slightly from 4.6 percent in March, while workers who switched employers saw a 6.9 percent increase, up from 6.7 percent, according to the report in Epoch Times.

“Unease is the word of the day,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. “Employers are trying to reconcile policy and consumer uncertainty with a run of mostly positive economic data. It can be difficult to make hiring decisions in such an environment.”

The report was released the same day that new Bureau of Economic Analysis data showed that the U.S. economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025, down from a 2.4 percent expansion in the previous quarter and the first downturn since 2022.

ADP’s report found that goods-producing industries added 26,000 jobs. Construction led with 16,000, followed by natural resources and mining with 6,000. Manufacturing payrolls edged up 4,000.

Service-providing companies added 34,000 positions. Leisure and hospitality grew by 27,000, and trade, transportation, and utilities increased by 21,000. Education and health services trimmed 23,000 jobs, information declined by 8,000, and professional and business services slipped by 2,000.

Regionally, the Midwest posted the largest gain, with 42,000 jobs. The Northeast added 10,000, the West 9,000, and the South 3,000, where losses in the West South Central states offset hiring elsewhere.

Mid-sized companies with 50–499 employees hired 40,000 workers. Large employers added 12,000, and small businesses expanded payrolls by 11,000. Among very small companies with fewer than 20 employees, payrolls rose by 20,000, while companies with 20–49 workers cut 9,000.

Pay growth stayed broadly steady. Financial activities workers who remained in their roles received the strongest median increase at 5.1 percent. Annual gains were 4.7 percent in construction, education and health services, and leisure and hospitality. Employees at the smallest businesses recorded the slowest growth, at 2.8 percent.

For comparison, annual wage growth for job stayers averaged about 3.2 percent in the five years leading up to 2020, indicating pay pressures remain higher than pre-pandemic norms even as they ease from peaks seen in 2022.

Economists view the ADP data as a directional indicator rather than a precise forecast of the government’s payroll tally, but April’s slowdown aligns with softer job-opening numbers and reduced hiring plans in recent manufacturing surveys. Private payroll growth, however, remains above the monthly average of roughly 50,000 recorded in the decade before the pandemic.

As of this report the Labor Department has yet to release the April employment data, which provides a broader look at both private- and public-sector hiring.

Lawmakers Propose Reform to Help Farmers Amid Mass Deportations

20 May 2025
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By Tim Clouser, The Center Square

As farmers grapple with the impact of mass deportations, federal lawmakers proposed a bill to reform the H-2A visa program for those seeking a legal agricultural workforce.

Congress established the visa program in 1952 to temporarily allow foreign farmworkers to work in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 42% of hired farmworkers had no authorization to work in the country from 2020 to 2022, down from 55% from 1999 to 2001. 

The U.S. Government Accountability Office asked federal agencies to improve oversight of the H-2A program last year. From 2018 to 2023, the number of approved jobs and visas increased by over 50%, as 84% of investigations into employers found violations affecting 66,819 workers.

“Reintroducing the Farm Workforce Modernization Act sends a clear message to farmers that we are working hard to find solutions that ease the burdens brought on by the current state of the H-2A program,” U.S. Rep Dan Newhouse, R, Wash., wrote in a news release.

Newhouse proposed the bill alongside U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., after she attempted to push it through in 2019, 2021 and 2023. The House of Representatives passed it twice, but the Senate never did. If approved this time, it could create a legal pathway to residency for farmworkers.

The bill allows undocumented individuals who have worked at least 180 days over the last two years to apply for a certified agricultural worker status. If approved, they could stay for about five years before renewing their status, with spouses and children eligible for dependent status.

If a worker has 10 years of agricultural experience before Congress passes the bill, they would qualify for a green card after four more years under a certified worker status. Those with less than 10 years of experience must complete another eight years before receiving a permanent status.

The bill also responds to the GAO’s concerns around the H-2A program, particularly the lack of an electronic processing system for applications. Employers currently have to mail all those documents.

Income for Montanans

20 May 2025
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In almost all categories, earnings in Montana is near the bottom in almost all categories. The following stats, presented by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, compare income distribution from 2005 to 2019 in Montana based on race.

Average white earnings in Montana is $31,000 as compared to the national average of all races $35,610. Montana’s average is below that of all neighboring states and in fact is the lowest in the nation.

Average Hispanic earnings in Montana is $24,110 or 78% of white earnings – also the lowest in the nation.

Average Black earnings in Montana is $24,800 or 80% of average white earnings.

Average Asian earnings is $20,780 in Montana, 96% of average white earnings. In 2019, nationally average Asian earnings was $49,520, which was 126% of average white earnings at $39,330 and higher than the overage average earnings in the US at $35,610.

Average American Indian or Alaska Native earnings in Montana is $20,790.

Average Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander earnings in Montana is $29,810.

Ford Continues Losses on EVs

20 May 2025
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In the first quarter of 2022, when the company announced it would spend some $50 billion on electric vehicles, Ford’s stock sold for more than $20. Today, Ford’s shares are trading for less than $11, according to Robert Bryce in substack.com.

The bad news for Ford Motor Company’s shareholders is that the company continues to lose big money on every EV it sells. The soupçon of good news is that those losses appear to be shrinking a bit.

Ford announced its first-quarter results, which include EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of $1 billion. Those results would have been far better had it not lost $849 million on its Model E segment. Ford sold 22,550 EVs in the first quarter. That means it lost about $37,650 for each EV sold. (h/t to JL.) In a press release, the company addressed the EV business, saying it “remains focused on improving gross margins and exercising a disciplined approach to investments in battery facilities and next-generation products.”

Ford has been hemorrhaging money on EVs for three years.

Expanding Medicaid

20 May 2025
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Under great pressure from hospitals in Montana, that depend heavily from government reimbursements, the Montana State Legislature approved a bill to continue Montana’s Medicaid expansion program. House Bill 245 will subsidize health care for low-income adults between 18 and 65 year olds.  It was supported by the Montana Chamber of Commerce, the Montana Hospital Association, the Montana Medical Association, and other industry associations, and tribal governments. Concerned about costs to the budget, most of the opposition came from Republicans, who worried about impacts on the state budget should the federal government reduce funding for the program. It is also considered by some representatives as a forerunner to socialized medicine. 

Other health care access was provided by other bills, such as House Bill 881, which allows families to buy into Medicaid to access benefits for children with disabilities. Senate Bill 72 grants broader eligibility for Medicaid. Senate Bill 319 funds reimbursements for emotional, physical, and educational support for new parents  through Medicaid, and House Bill 585 increases reimbursement rates for physical therapists and occupational therapists who see Medicaid patients. 

Election Tough on Levies

20 May 2025
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While across the state voters approved increased levy requests for four communities, voters were not so generous in Yellowstone County.

Voters approved levy increases for school districts in Missoula, Bozeman, Helena and Kalispell, while Belgrade voters rejected their request. In Yellowstone County School all four requested levies were defeated in Laurel —  for the elementary building reserve, 1,525 to 1,187; for the elementary general fund, 1,596 to 1,119; for the high school building reserve 1472 to 1,144 and for the high school general fund 1,534 to 1090. Mill levies were also defeated for Canyon Creek School District #4, 394 to 263; at Elder Grove School District #8, 914 to 468.

The levy requested by Elysian School District #23 passed 387 to 347.

The widely heralded STARS Act passed the state legislature which is expected to subsidize pay increases for teachers pay for districts throughout the state.