On November 5, 2021 a Montana woman became the first National Guard Soldier to graduate from the U.S. Army Sniper Course. The woman, a Montana native who has not been publicly identified, began the U.S. Army Sniper Course in September of this year 2021. This seven-week course trains individuals assigned to sniper positions in the skills necessary to deliver long-range precision fire and the collection of battlefield information.

Whitefish City Council denied a proposed hotel project by Rimrock company on U.S. 93 South. At the same meeting the Commission approved a 40- suite boutique hotel planned for 38 Central downtown. The Central Ave project will be developed by Averill Hospitality. The developer plans to donate $500,000 to the Whitefish Housing Authority for workforce housing.

The Idaho State Liquor Division last month announced new rules involving rare but highly sought after bourbons, whiskeys and other small-batch liquor offerings. Instances of hoarding, illegal reselling and bad behavior by customers have caused the state agency that sells alcohol in Idaho to change how it distributes rare spirits. The new rules mean the agency will allocate rare products across its retail outlets in a sporadic manner.

Great Falls city commissioners have voted to accept a $20,472,200 bid from Swank Enterprises, Inc. of Valier to build a new public recreation and aquatics center at Lion’s Park. With an anticipated completion date of sometime in 2023, the new aquatics center is set to include both a lap pool and a leisure pool with a slide.An indoor gym complete with an overhead running track, a multi-purpose room for gatherings and parties, men’s and women’s locker rooms, plus a child care center.

Credova Financial, a buy now, pay later company, from Nevada is a company that offers the ability for consumers to make a purchase and pay it off later, has moved its headquarters to Bozeman. Credova’s financing system is available across several online retailers, such as Hinterland Outfitters or Guns.com, as well as some brick-and-mortar stores. The program is not available at any Montana stores. Credova’s headquarters will be in the 68,000-square-foot Aspen Crossing building at 515 W. Aspen St.

A7 Cycles, from Whitefish, is named for Alpine Trail No. 7, a rugged 50-mile route across the ridgeline of the Swan Mountains. The new bike repair shop embodies the backcountry character of its founder’s, Travis Coleman, favorite trail. Travis, and his partner Lynn Foster work on bikes in a garage near Whitefish. A7 CYCLES offers the standard suite of bike tune-ups and maintenance for both private individuals and outfitter bike fleets.

Company officials told investors in its third-quarter earnings call that Continental’s $3.2 billion entry into the Permian Basin does not reflect a lack of horsepower in the Bakken. According to Continental’s President and Chief Operating Officer Jack Stark the Bakken continues to consistently deliver some of the company’s best wells. Those kinds of results are why Continental has chosen to build a dominant position in the Bakken, and expects to remain active there for years to come.

CEO, Chris Wright has been chosen the keynote speaker for the annual Williston Basin Petroleum Awards Banquet, set for November 19, 2021 at Williston State College. Those attending the awards banquet will get to hear a lot more about Wright’s vision of the oil and gas industry’s future. He believes the industry not only will, but, in fact, must, continue to play a vital role when it comes to the environment, social, and governance factors. As Wright sees it, there are really three big energy challenges today. They are energy poverty, affordable energy, and climate change.

Hatlen and Brian Jones, recently started Valley Wide Restaurant Supply in Kalispell. Valley Wide Restaurant Supply sells everything needed in a restaurant. Valley Wide Restaurant Supply is located at 2 Ninth Ave. W., Kalispell.

KLJ Engineering LLC has received the 2022 Engineering Excellence Award from the Montana Chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies for its work on the Kalispell Core and Rail Redevelopment project. This project converted a reclaimed gravel pit (brownfield) into the new Glacier Rail Park, a rail-served industrial park. The second phase of the project is replacement of the old tracks running through the city with a 1.6-mile linear park and trail along with a new north-south street.

Flathead County Fair Board Chairman Sam Nunnally has been hired as the new manager of the county fairgrounds. Current manager Mark Campbell retired as of November 29. Nunnally comes to the position with in-depth knowledge about the management and operations of the fairgrounds, as he has served on the Fair Board since 2011. The venue has 500 event days and 200,000 visitors annually.

Williston ND was invited to a Workhorse Aerospace demonstration on November 9, at the former Sloulin Field International Airport hangar, to witness demonstrations of package deliveries by Horsefly a product of Workhorse Aerospace, a division of Workhorse Technologies in Loveland, Ohio. Workhorse is being designed and working towards FAA type certification of HorseFly, a small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS). The primary mission for the HorseFly UAS is small package delivery, focusing on the market for 10 lbs. delivered up to 10-miles. The demonstration delivered various packages, dropping them at a nearby location and returning to the launch point.

Nick Bennett of Manhattan, recently won the 2021 National Auctioneers Association International Auctioneer Championship. Bennett is the CEO of Ascent Auction Services in Manhattan, selling agricultural and construction equipment, real estate and business assets across Montana. He has also served as President of the Western College of Auctioneering since 2013 and is a Board Member for the Montana Auctioneers Association.

The Montana Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) Committee presented a check for $5500 to the Montana Food Bank Network on November 9 in Billings. The luncheon was part of the 102nd MFBF Annual Convention being held November 8-11. The donation came from proceeds raised during the virtual YF&R Hoofin’ it for Hunger race October 9 and from donations by county Farm Bureaus from across the state.

North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven dropped in on the construction progress for WBI Energy’s North Bakken Expansion pipeline, which has been underway since July. The pipeline will transport up to 250 million cubic feet per day of natural gas from the Bakken. It’s a $260 million project that includes 63 miles of 24-inch pipeline and 30 miles of 12-inch, along with a compressor station and associated infrastructure.

North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports posted almost 75,000 airline passenger boardings during the month of September 2021. This is a 90% increase from September 2020 but is still 16% below September 2019’s pre-pandemic airline boarding counts. While enplanements are rising, known challenges exist such as an inability to add additional flights due to staff shortages and the sluggish business and government travel due to persisting COVID-19 concerns.

The North Dakota Development Fund has approved initial support for Cerilon Inc. to develop a major gas-to-liquids (GTL) complex in North Dakota, with the initial phase estimated at $2.8 billion. Cerilon GTL is building a gas to liquids plant in Trenton. The Development Fund Board approved $3 million in initial developmental capital to Cerilon GTL Inc., a subsidiary of Calgary, Albert-based Cerilon Inc., for the GTL complex, with further financial support anticipated.