This school will use artificial intelligence to teach students in 2-hour models

2025 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Even as Montana Childcare Providers Expand, High Costs and Workforce Recruitment Remain Problematic

  Industry leaders are working to expand access to childcare and brainstorm ways to accommodate the workforce in Flathead County, where currently about 30% of its childcare demand is met

Come Home Montana

• Reynolds Market closure in Miles City, Montana impacts community and employees

  The news of the closure has saddened many locals who have shopped and worked at the store for generations. One shopper expressed their feelings, saying, “That is the saddest news ever, that just honestly broke my heart.”

• 14 Montana towns selected to participate in Montana State University Extension rural community program

  “Some small towns that are facing challenges don’t have the capacity or resources to navigate these issues, and because of that, negativity and despair set in,” Anderson said. “This program helps communities flip the narrative, see the good, strengthen relationships and inspire resiliency.”

• The Missoula, Montana International Choral Festival Needs Housing for Visiting Choral Participants July 17/20

  Our international choir visitors stay with welcoming hosts throughout the Festival, sharing friendship, food, stories, and song. There are no better ambassadors than musicians sharing their love of music and the culture of their countries With the help of hundreds of volunteers, our choirs will give Missoula and the surrounding region, a world of music from July 17-20, 2025.

• Welcome Back to Our Monthly Newsletter – Accelerate Montana!

  As we step into January, we’re wrapping up the Rapid Training program, a three-year journey of innovation, hard work, and impactful results. This month, we’re shining a spotlight on the outstanding achievements of our Rapid Training team. Their dedication has provided individuals across Montana with the skills to succeed in today’s fast-paced economy.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Banks hesitate to lend in Indian Country. New loan aims to help Native entrepreneurs

  The Mountain | Plains Regional Native CDFI Coalition — a group of nine Native CDFIs from Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota — was recently awarded funds to do this work at scale. Part of a federal Build Back Better Regional Challenge, the coalition received $21 million meant for loans.

• Zero to Five launches grant program to boost childcare access in Montana

  Caitlin Jensen, Executive Director of Zero to Five, explained the details of the program. “It’s, grants that will range from $10,000 to $100,000, depending on the size and the scope of the project plan that an employer submits,” Jensen said. “And it’s a way for us to really, have a better understanding around what are the needs of employers and how we can help to increase private public partnerships.”

• Installing heat pump water heaters. Electrify Missoula

  Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, you can take advantage of a 30% tax credit when you purchase a (qualified model) heat pump water heater. Plus, check out Missoula City & County’s joint rebate program ($575!) and if you are replacing an electric water heater with a HPWH you can get $3000 from NorthWestern Energy!   REBATE ins and outs .

• Montana tribes receive $240K grant for Indigenous entrepreneurship

  The Tribal Business Development Grant (TBDG) is a competitive program designed to connect Montana tribes with resources needed to advance projects with measurable economic impact.

• Montana Department of Commerce Weekly Roundup – Volume 2, Issue 5

  The Weekly Roundup is designed to be simple, easy to digest and informative – just the information you need. We know you’re busy, so we’re giving you access to more information without adding more emails to your inbox.

Great Falls Development Alliance

• GFDA Top Ten for 2-2-25

  The cost of living in the Great Falls MSA (Cascade County) was 90.0% of the national average for the year 2024, according to data released by C2ER, the Council for Community & Economic Research.

Montana Bioscience Cluster Initiative

• Welcome to the January Edition of Biowire – Montana Bioscience Alliance

  The Montana Bioscience Alliance serves as a hub for Montana’s biotechnology companies, entrepreneurs, laboratories, hospitals, clinics and universities to commercialize, grow and sustain globally competitive bioscience companies — ultimately to create high-quality jobs and economic opportunity in Montana.

Prospera Business Network

• Prospera Navigator – Networking Events – Training Opportunities

  View our Training & Events Calendar

Montana Business

• State Farm & Other Insurance Companies Are Major Investors In Fossil Fuels

  While it seems entirely logical for insurance companies to shy away from scenarios that carry higher than normal risks, what is not so logical is that the same companies are also propping up the very fossil fuel companies that are the primary cause of the global overheating.

• Is that a Skyfish in the sky?!

  The future of precise drone data collection and analysis. The autonomous drone platform designed to inspect, measure, map, and model critical infrastructure.

Housing

• Climate change could erase $1.4 trillion in real estate value

  Insurance costs are increasing faster than mortgage payments. That’s squeezing homeowners and eventually leading to climate change-driven migration away from high-risk areas in the Sun Belt and the West.

Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana

• International Careers Week – The Montana World Affairs Council – 20 Inspiring Speakers in 4 Days – 2/3-6 – Bozeman

  All Montanans are welcome to participate. Please feel free to share with teachers, students and community members who may be interested.

•  2025 Global Gauntlet Trivia Challenge Fundraiser – 2/7 – Bozeman

  The evening includes a no-host bar, gourmet sit-down dinner, silent and live auctions, and six rounds of very spirited team trivia.

Incubators and R&D

• 1-minute video game distinguishes autistic from neurotypical kids

  A low-cost tool accurately distinguishes neurotypical children from children with autism just by watching them copy the dance moves of an on-screen avatar for a minute. It can even tell autism from ADHD, conditions that commonly overlap.

Come Home Wyoming

• Nuclear Power Tech Poised To Explode As Wyoming’s Next Six-Figure “It” Job

  The wages for nuclear power techs are expected to range into the six figures, and it’s a good thing because Wyoming will soon need hundreds of these techs. Western Wyoming Community College is training people for this emerging career.

• Wyoming Blockchain Billionaire Has Big Political Plans, To Launch PAC

  “You need an open procurement process, which is built to prevent large actors from coming in and co-opting the state and robbing the taxpayers in the state of Wyoming and taking their money and putting it in California or New York,” he said.

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

• This school will use artificial intelligence to teach students in 2-hour models

  Unbound Academy features a “two-hour learning model” and the rest of the school day teaches other life skills.

• 2 Free Artificial Intelligence Courses from Harvard plus some for fee classes.

  Learn to use machine learning in Python in this introductory course on artificial intelligence.

• University of Montana Lands $500,000 Grant for Democracy Studies

  “This grant will amplify the work of our faculty in the humanities, providing transformative opportunities for students to deepen their understanding of civic engagement, actively contribute to strengthening democracy, and make a lasting impact as future leaders.”

University Business Plan Competitions

• UM Western hosts ‘Shark Tank’ style business pitch competition

  Looking ahead, the group hopes this is just the beginning. They envision expanding the event to include local businesses and sponsors, creating even greater opportunities for students to develop practical skills and network with industry professionals.

Rural Communities

• Red Ants Pants Foundation community grant cycle opens

  Executive Director for the Red Ants Pants Foundation, and the producer of the music festival, Sarah Calhoun says, “The focus is really to help enrich and support our rural communities, because we don’t feel like the the resources always trickle down that far to our smaller towns across Montana.”

City Club Missoula

• City Club Missoula Presents: Insurance in the State of Montana: An Overview of the Current Landscape with David Sanders Day: Monday, February 10th 2025

  Insurance costs are increasing faster than mortgage payments. That’s squeezing homeowners and eventually leading to climate change-driven migration away from high-risk areas in the Sun Belt and the West.

Careers

• Virtual reality meditation can ease depression and anxiety

  “This is important knowledge for mental health professionals, clinicians, and caregivers,” Kim says. “Meditation using immersive virtual reality has the potential to greatly benefit those in the United States who will experience depression at some point.”

• Red Ants Pants Foundation community grant cycle opens

  The Red Ants Pants Foundation is currently accepting letters of intent for their 2025 community grant cycle to nonprofits, businesses, or individuals to use the funds to enrich and promote rural communities.

Transportation

• Record-breaking year for Amtrak Cascades ridership between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland

  Despite the initial pandemic impacts, ridership has not only quickly recovered, but it reached a new all-time record in 2024, continuing the pre-pandemic ridership growth trend.

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

• DeepSeek’s Safety Guardrails Failed Every Test Researchers Threw at Its AI Chatbot

  Today, security researchers from Cisco and the University of Pennsylvania are publishing findings showing that, when tested with 50 malicious prompts designed to elicit toxic content, DeepSeek’s model did not detect or block a single one. In other words, the researchers say they were shocked to achieve a “100 percent attack success rate.”

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