How does Montana support local entrepreneurs? Is your organization listed? Please add as a comment if it’s not.

Come Home Montana

• How does Montana support local entrepreneurs? Is your organization listed? Please add as a comment if it’s not.

  Montana has established various initiatives and programs to support local entrepreneurs and foster economic growth within the state. These efforts aim to provide resources, funding, and mentorship opportunities to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. By nurturing a supportive ecosystem, Montana encourages innovation, job creation, and the development of a vibrant entrepreneurial community.

• Cities Need Infill Community, Not Just Infill Housing

  Almost a century into the Suburban Experiment, evidence abounds that the patterns of city- and neighborhood-building we’ve embraced has led not only to insufficient housing, but to serious social consequences: increasing loneliness, non-existent social ties, and growing polarization, to name a few. Not just that, but the social expectation of self-sufficiency resigns us to spending growing portions of our time to money-making so we can all buy our own tool sets, lawn mowers, and KitchenAids.

• German manufacturing company plans to build US headquarters in Lewistown, Montana

  German manufacturing company VACOM, founded by a physicist as a family business in 1992, is based in central Germany but has branches in Belgium, Naples, Fla., and Reno, Nev.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• A ‘soft landing’ or a recession? How the economy is performing in Billings and Montana

  The solid hiring revealed in Friday’s jobs report for November, along with a raft of other recent economic data, is boosting hopes that the U.S. economy will achieve a “soft landing” next year rather than a widely feared recession.

• Future development in Stevensville, Montana hindered by limited water access

  Attorney Ross Miller, a water rights specialist hired by the city, said the town never considered the need for expansion when it staked its water rights decades ago.

• City Club Missoula’s August forum dove deep into Montana’s Taxation System – Must Watch Video

  The forum featured current and former members of local and state government. The expert panel provided an overview of Montana’s multifaceted system, including tax codes and rates, collections, rebates, and burdens.

• Montana homeowners see higher property taxes as some big businesses pay less
  The median residential properties in Montana saw a 21% higher tax bill following this year’s reappraisal cycle, according to a Montana Free Press analysis, with many homeowners paying hundreds of dollars a year more.

Big Sky Economic Development

• Billings Welcomes Two Additional Daily Flights by United Airlines with Service to Denver, Colorado

  Expanded service will be in full effect on May 23rd, respectively, with the fourth flight being added as early as March 31st of 2024.

City of Bozeman Economic Development

• Bozeman drafts equity and inclusion plan

  The city is also looking to deepen community engagement by hiring Community Liaisons to build relationships between the community and Bozeman Police Dept.

Great Falls Development Alliance

• GFDA Top Ten for 12-10-23

  TDS officially launched its services in Great Falls. TDS revealed Falls Family Fun as their inaugural customer, marking the beginning of their service in the area. TDS plans to construct its network and connect nearly 30,000 homes and businesses with high-speed fiber internet. TDS Telecom offers TV, phone, and internet service.

Montana Business

• Large wind farm slated for Columbus, Montana

  Beaver Creek will be Montana’s second largest wind farm, on scale with the Pryor Mountain Wind Project built by PacifiCorp near Bridger in 2021. Over 25 years, Beaver Creek should contribute $150 million in taxes to Stillwater County, which has emerged as a Montana renewable energy hub.

Senator Jon Tester

• Tester Secures $15 Million to Improve Montana Amtrak Service, Upgrade Empire Builder Infrastructure around Malta

  “As someone who’s spent his entire life in north central Montana, I can tell you firsthand just how critical the Empire Builder is to keeping communities connected and helping Montana small businesses thrive,” said Tester.

The Creative and Cultural Economy

• All night queue for opening of Krispy Kreme US doughnut shop in Paris. – This must truly mean the end of civilization is nigh…

  When the store finally opened at 08:00 on Wednesday (December 6), 300 people were waiting outside, many of whom had been there for hours, with some camping on the street all night.

Regional Business News

• Video – Amazon Introduces New Grocery Subscription Service for Prime Members, Offering Unlimited Free Delivery

  The company aims to solidify its position as a grocery destination. It launched Fresh supermarkets after acquiring Whole Foods in 2017 and is unifying its online and physical grocery operations.

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

• Dr. Erwin Garcia says a strong public school district will have a major impact on changing crime in Billings, Montana.

  Garcia says the fastest way to see change, is investment in our classrooms. He has identified four priorities with a long-term goal of changing the tone in Billings.

Montana Education/Business Partnerships

• Code Girls United Unveils Vehicle App in Collaboration with Kalispell Police Department

  Police Chief Jordan Venezio was impressed by the students’ work, plans to roll out the app for official use next year

Transportation

• Flights from Missoula to Portland, Oakland and Orange County returning

  Missoula Montana Airport this week said Alaska Airlines will bring daily service from Missoula to Portland back in March. The airline will also introduce mainline aircraft to Seattle starting in April on its midday flight.

• HeRo delivery robot is braving the cold winter streets of Helsinki – Is your community planning for these. They’re coming…

  This holiday season, shoppers in Helsinki are getting a little help to ease their gift-buying burden. When they place an online order from a select retailer, a wheeled HeRo robot will deliver their purchase to their home within an hour.

• Stellantis charges into battery swaps for EVs with Ample partnership

  Instead of pulling into a charging station, plugging in and then waiting a while for an electric car’s battery pack to charge up before continuing a journey, electric vehicles rolling with a special battery pack can be driven into a service hub where an automated system removes the low-charge unit and replaces it with a fresh one.

VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things

• Google’s new Gemini AI beats GPT and human experts across 57 subjects

  With a score of 90.0% on the MMLU (massive multitask language understanding) test, it’s the first model to outperform human experts (89.8%), as well as GPT-4 (86.4%) in a range of knowledge and problem solving tasks across a range of 57 subjects including math, physics, history, law, medicine and ethics. That’s experts, not the average human.

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