Large holding company seeks to build nuclear power plant in Butte

U.S. Senate hopeful’s Montana company reported losses of more than $77 million in 2023 – SEC filing shows Tim Sheehy’s Bridger Aerospace is deeply in the red.

Come Home Montana

• Large holding company seeks to build nuclear power plant in Butte

  XGen has the backing of Westinghouse and is seeking to build a nuclear power plant that would scale up to 500 megawatts, using specialized eVinci microreactors.

• Missoula’s Wye planning envisions 15,000 homes, small city in 50 years

  The county has established several Targeted Economic Development Districts at the Wye over the last five years, enabling to capture tax increment to fund future infrastructure. The Wye study area now covers around 3,500 acres, which is 2.5 times larger than that Swxtpqyen area west of Reserve Street.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Montana’s Lewis & Clark County solicits input on growth policy

  Over the past two decades, Lewis & Clark County has experienced significant growth, with a population increase of 15,000 people and a rise in home values by 135%.

• Planned Amazon distribution center, future grocery store are signs of Belgrade, Montana’s rapid growth

  As growth continues throughout Gallatin County, a 200-acre development along Jackrabbit Lane between Cameron Bridge Road and Frank Road could be the next commercial corridor with Amazon planning to build a facility here and more retailers coming soon.

• Benefis Health System named to list of top 150 places to work in healthcare in U.S.

  Benefis was the only healthcare establishment in Montana to have made this year’s list, compiled and presented by Becker’s Hospital Review.

• It’s Not Just Houston That’s Broke. So Are Silicon Valley Cities. Is Yours? Missoula’s Wye planning envisions 15,000 homes, small city in 50 years

  The financial struggles of Houston and the cities of the Silicon Valley area—as well as tens of thousands of others across North America—have the same underlying cause. It comes to the aggressive outward expansion that cities began after World War II. They built more roads, more pipes, more infrastructure, and in the excitement of the moment, didn’t give a thought to how they would care for these investments. Let alone replace them when the time came. And the time is coming.

• ARPA Ag Infrastructure Grants

  The intent of the Agriculture Infrastructure Grant Program is to advance Montana’s agricultural industry through targeted investments in value-added agriculture projects across the state. Grants will assist with the development of innovative agricultural business improvements to keep pace with a transforming agricultural industry, create new jobs, and expand business opportunities.

Northwestern Energy

• NorthWestern to Host First Quarter 2024 Financial Results Webinar and Notice of Virtual Annual Stockholders Meeting – 4/26

  NorthWestern Energy Group, Inc. d/b/a NorthWestern Energy (Nasdaq: NWE) today announced that it will host an investor webinar on Friday, April 26, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern to review its financial results for the quarter ending March 31, 2024. The Company also plans to issue a news release detailing its financial results the evening of Thursday, April 25, 2024.

Montana Business

• U.S. Senate hopeful’s Montana company reported losses of more than $77 million in 2023 – SEC filing shows Tim Sheehy’s Bridger Aerospace is deeply in the red.

  The annual report the publicly traded company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also shows that Bridger is deeply in debt, hemorrhaging cash and at risk of failing to meet its financial obligations in the coming year.

• Professional Climbers, Including Montana’s Conrad Anker, Outdoor Athletes File Briefs Supporting Youth Plaintiffs in Climate Lawsuit

  “As an ice climber the threat of climate change is very real. We can look at the statistics of a shortened winter, but it really strikes home when you go to your favorite area and a climb that you’re familiar with, that shapes up every year, is absent,” Anker wrote in an amicus brief filed in support of 16 youth plaintiffs who won a landmark victory in the climate lawsuit Held v. Montana last summer.

• 7 tips to lock down the right startup investors for the long haul – The Reverse Term Sheet

  Increase your chances of a successful capital raise with these strategies from the founder who built and scaled Appfire.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• New internet ‘nutrition label’ aims to help de-mystify bills – Are you getting your daily minimum amount of “fiber”?

  A new Federal Communications Commission rule goes into effect on April 10 that mandates ISPs to provide an easy-to-read breakdown of internet fees. And the new graphic has a familiar look: a nutrition label.

• TDS Telecom launches fiber internet service in Missoula with first customer

  The company has been busy building its physical network across Missoula, and they have a goal of wiring about 1,700 customers here in the first year.

Housing

• Can Technology Help Build Better Housing?

  Cities need more “missing middle” housing. A new startup aims to help real estate developers build it.

• First Cities: Planning Lessons for the 21st Century

  A new book about urban planning in the deep human past explores principles, strategies, and lessons relevant for today.

• Affirming Truths about Homelessness

  This learning brief examines public perceptions of people experiencing homelessness and dispels inaccurate assumptions and stereotypes embedded within them.

• Blackstone to take Apartment Income REIT private in $10 bln deal

  A top real estate investor, Blackstone has been sharpening its focus on rental housing, betting on its revival as the supply of apartments in the U.S. is expected to decline due to a slowdown in construction.
  This was likely to lift rental growth, which has over the past few months remained flat or declined modestly due to fresh supply in many U.S. markets.

Incubators and R&D

• University of Montana Research Discovers New Way to Generate Human Cartilage

  Grimes said there is a critical unmet need for new methods to regenerate human cartilage for the 230,000 children born annually in the U.S. with craniofacial defects. Growing cartilage in the laboratory also could lead to effective treatments to repair craniofacial cartilage damage due to injuries.

Regional Business News

• Welcome to the Age of Technofeudalism

  In Yanis Varoufakis’ latest book, the former Greek finance minister argues that companies like Apple and Meta have treated their users like modern-day serfs.

Government News & Events

• What Does Your State Offer? – Minnesota To Offer Rebates For Up To 75% Of The Cost Of Qualifying E-Bikes

  This summer, Minnesota residents can apply to get e-bike rebates that are worth up to 75% of the cost of an e-bike and certain accessories, which could go a long way toward getting more people in the saddle. The state has allocated $2 million for 2024 and $2 million for 2025 to fund the e-bike rebate program.

• In this Legislature’s Civility Caucus, Republicans and Democrats actually like talking to each other – Does your state have one?

  “I sat on the House floor and listened to grandstanding and pontificating and people speaking to the camera and thought: ‘This is not effective government. We could do so much better,’” Ward said. “There’s just so much time wasted.”

• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear Vetoes Self-Driving Vehicles Bill. What is your state doing about the inevitable end of human driven vehicles?

  Several other states have legalized fully autonomous vehicles, with Florida and California being early adopters.

• Bipartisan lawmakers unveiled a sweeping data privacy bill: Here’s how it could change social media

  If passed, the proposal – called the American Privacy Rights Act – would set standards for how companies like Meta, TikTok, Google and others can gather, use and sell user data, requiring them to collect only the amount necessary to provide products and services.

American Prairie

• Buffalo Commons authors look back at evolution of their Great Plains bison concept – Montana’s American Prairie

  “The Buffalo Commons suggests a way for the region to avoid the excesses of its past boom-and-bust cycles — in particular, its repeated pattern of successive oversettlement, overuse, economic and ecological collapse, and eventual population decline,” the Poppers explained in a 2006 article.

City Club Missoula

• Last call for the remaining spots (25): State of the Community 2024: Taking on Challenges, Finding Opportunities – 4/15

  Please join us for City Club Missoula’s State of the Community on April 15, 2024. Mayor Andrea Davis, County Commissioner Dave Strohmaier, and UM President Seth Bodnar will discuss the challenges and opportunities in Missoula and comment on the state of our shared community. This forum will be in an extended format from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Utah Business and Economic Development

• Utah Coal Plants Will Continue Hazing Up The State’s Crown Jewels, & Those Of Other States

  If there’s one thing we’re learning in late 2023 and 2024 so far, it’s that the climb out of pollution and climate change isn’t an easy slope that always goes up. Sometimes, there are setbacks and things that don’t move as fast as we’d like. Such a setback recently happened in Utah, as the state cut way back on its goal to get rid of coal-burning power plants.

Transportation

• Fixing a Dangerous Intersection Needs To Be Like Fixing a Leaky Pipe

  If a pipe under your kitchen sink is leaky, you don’t need to conduct a months-long study. You don’t need to create a plan to replace your kitchen plumbing. You don’t need to get a loan to spend thousands of dollars on the project. All you have to do is likely buy a fitting or two and some plumber’s tape, and do it yourself. And if you’re thinking, “if only my local dangerous intersection was so simple,” consider: maybe it is.

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