MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Lack of affordable childcare a major hurdle for getting Montanans into the workforce

  A bill from Rep. Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula, that would have made child care workers eligible for the Best Beginnings Child Care Scholarship for their own kids was vetoed by Gianforte earlier this summer, who argued the bill was costly and not as effective as other tools.

• Delivery Drones Could Be Flying Wyoming’s Windy Skies Sooner Than You Think

  A company named Zipline has a remote testing site in Wyoming where the tech company is working out how drones can fly in the state’s harsh winters and windy skies. That could bring Walmart drone deliveries to the state sooner than you might think.

• A new $250 fee for visitors to the U.S. will deal a multibillion-dollar blow to the already-reeling U.S. tourism industry, industry experts say.

  In addition, the lost revenue will lead to losing 15,000 U.S. travel jobs, according to U.S. tourism industry estimates.

Montana Business

• USDA signs historic agreement to reduce wildfire risk in Montana

  The Forest Service and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) will jointly identify and execute large-scale forest management projects, initially focusing on approximately 200,000 acres in northwest Montana. The Memorandum of Understanding leverages federal tools — including Good Neighbor Authority — to streamline implementation and reduce delays.

• Montana Career Opportunities – Senior Android Engineer, Senior Geospatial Analyst, Director of Vertical Marketing and more… – onX

  We’ve built a high-performance team and are continuing to grow. See our roles across Engineering, Product, Marketing, Geospatial, and more.   At onX, we believe that diversity makes us better. Bringing together a diverse set of backgrounds, ideas, and opinions helps us to achieve our mission to awaken the adventurer in everyone. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. onX is committed to equal opportunity not only in our hiring practices but also in our employment practices, including but not limited to development, compensation, and promotion. We strive to build an inclusive work community where everyone can be…

Housing

• New on the Montana property tax front

   Our legislators are making it harder and harder for non-computer literate people to obtain reasonable real property taxes.  Here’s a brief run down of what the legislature’s last changes are.

Visit Montana

• Hundreds may have been exposed to rabies after bat colony found inside Grand Teton lodge

  The bat colony was found over the past few months in cabins at the Jackson Lake Lodge, a popular eco-hotel and historic landmark located in Grand Teton National Park, according to the National Park Service. The agency has issued a notice for people who were guests at the lodge between May 5 and July 27.

City Club Missoula

• City Club Missoula Presents: The Energy Industry in Montana: The Price of Power – 9/8

  City Club Missoula will examine the changing dynamics of power utilities in Missoula and throughout the state. Panelists to be determined.

YOUR CAREER

• Happy birthday, Social Security. Unless Congress acts, full benefits end in 7 years.

  ‘One big, beautiful’ law speeds up fund depletion

• Wildfire fighters, unmasked in toxic smoke, are getting sick and dying

  Year after year, the Forest Service sends crews into smoke with nothing to prevent them from inhaling its poisons. The agency has fought against equipping firefighters with masks. It issues safety handbooks that make no mention of the long-term hazards of smoke exposure. And its workers are not allowed to wear masks on the front line, even if they want to.

Energy and Transportation

• US Energy Secretary Calls For An End To All Subsidies For Solar & Wind

  US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who made his fortune by drilling holes in the Earth to access methane gas and then leaving taxpayers to clean up the mess his company made, visited the Ames National Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, to deliver a message.

• Fed Up With Loud Crotch Rockets And Cars, Cheyenne City Council To Crack Down

  Fed up with loud crotch rockets and cars racing around Cheyenne, members of the City Council are trying to crack down on vehicles that blatantly violate the city’s noise regulations. They’re proposing to use sound camera technology to catch offenders.

• CBS Sunday Morning – Capturing the rapid melting of glaciers, with data and art

  For more than 40 years, glaciologist Mauri Pelto has been measuring the shrinking glaciers in the rugged North Cascade Mountains of Washington State. He’s been joined by his daughter, artist-scientist Jill Pelto, whose watercolors provide another view of the drastically-changing landscape, as the effects of human-caused climate change on glaciers becomes even more starkly apparent.

21st Century Education Initiative – “You Should Care…”

• ‘Feels like home’: New president Brock Tessman goes in-depth on his passion and vision for Montana State University

  I am so thankful to President Cruzado but I’m also here as the 13th president of Montana State University, and I’m really excited about how this is going to be a different era for MSU. We’ll build on positive momentum. But this is a different time. It’s a different era. It’s a different chapter we’re writing.

2025 Legislature and Politics

• Trump Says He’ll ‘Lead a Movement’ to Eliminate Mail-In Ballots and Voting Machines

  Saying he will “lead a movement” to get rid of mail-in ballots and voting machines, Trump added in all-caps: “I, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, WILL FIGHT LIKE HELL TO BRING HONESTY AND INTEGRITY BACK TO OUR ELECTIONS.”

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