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Essential Air Service Uncertain
Small communities in Montana dependent on Essential Air Service (EAS) may lose the $300 million those airports have depended upon to fund air service from services such a CapeAir. Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget issued a letter in May which included the loss of that federal subsidy as one of…
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Bull Mountains Mine Expansion Tucked into Budget Bill
By Amanda Eggert, Montana Free Press Congress has tucked an 800-acre expansion of an underground Montana coal mine into a budget reconciliation bill that cleared its first committee vote last week. A two-page provision of the Natural Resources Committee’s bill authorizes Signal Peak Energy to access federally owned coal beneath central Montana’s Bull Mountains in…
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Bill 1 Agressively Cuts Wind and Solar
The reconciliation package passed by the US House of Representatives, aggressively sunsetted wind and solar energy subsidies – more aggressively than an earlier version would have, according to Isasc Orr and Mitch Rolling on Substack.com. While the original version would have gradually phased out the “clean electricity production credit” and the “clean electricity investment credit”…
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Will Tax Bill bring Balance?
After extensive debate about various proposals in the waning hours of the Montana State Legislature, the body passed two tax bills: House Bill 231 and Senate Bill 542. More so than tax cuts, amid claims that the new law is complicated, legislators said the new law will “rebalance” the state’s property tax system. It shifts…
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Wendy Swenson to Head Visit Southeast Montana
Visit Southeast Montana, managed by the Billings Chamber of Commerce, announced the hiring of Wendy Swenson as its new Executive Director. With more than 15 years of tourism marketing experience, Swenson brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the organization, which promotes the region as a premier travel destination. Swenson returns to Montana after…
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Tourism Important To Billings Economy
The first week in May was recognized as National Travel and Tourism Week. Visit Billings, with the Billings Chamber of Commerce, took the opportunity to underscore the importance of tourism to the Billings economy with the following information: Billings welcomes 2.6 million visitors annually, generating $621 million in spending and accounting for 20.8% of Montana’s…
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The Nonsense of Nonpartisan
By Evelyn Pyburn To declare an election to be “nonpartisan” is a farce and everyone knows it. The declaration isn’t made to claim that the candidate has no opinions or political views – it is to declare that the voters have no right to know what they are. It is an orchestrated scheme to favor…
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Spain’s Blackout No Accident, Not the Last
Warnings have been greeted by derision and accusations as the mental derangement of conspiracy theorists, but then on April 28 it happened in Spain. Over half the nation – 50 million people – suffered a country-wide blackout. The biggest blackout in living memory. Official investigations are on-going, but there’s little doubt that the reason was…
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SBA Celebrates First 100 Days
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) celebrated the tremendous success of the Following the first 100 Days of the Trump Administration, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) highlighted some of his economic wins, including an 80% increase in SBA loan approvals which are driving historic rates of growth, hiring, and investment for America’s small businesses.…
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Restraining Environmental Regs
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…