“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” 

George Santayana 

Berkeley is legalizing a type of housing that could add thousands of units to the market

Montana’s Headwaters Tech Hub

• The 50th Annual Economic Outlook Seminar (Montana’s AI Future) Coming to 9 Cities January – March 2025

  Rethinking How to Staff and Run Your Business

Montana Media Coalition

• The Power of Service: How Volunteering Transforms People and Organizations – Where are you going to volunteer at in 2025?

  Volunteering and acts of service strengthen teams and organizations by fostering empathy in a divided world.

• TV show “Dallas” sees modern parallels with “Yellowstone” and how both impacted local economies

  Did you know? The iconic show “Dallas” started on a Frisco, Texas ranch in the late ’70s. It transformed perceptions of Dallas, much like “Yellowstone” did for Montana today. Discover how local economies thrive from these productions.

Come Home Montana

• What’s behind the rising cost of downhill skiing in Montana?

  More people than ever are going to ski areas in Montana. But even as the business grows, the price of getting on the slopes has steadily risen. Full access season passes since the pandemic have increased by at least 100 dollars on some hills and upwards of $1,300 a year at Big Sky.

• Send us your January hot jobs! Great Falls Development Alliance

  If you have a qualifying job, please fill out the form below for your job to be potentially included in our Hot Jobs in Great Falls blog post.

• Montana Nonprofit Career Opportunities

  Civil Rights Staff Attorney ACLU of Montana   Finance Specialist Missoula Housing Authority Communications Coordinator Northern Plains Resource Council   and more….

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• The future of coal country: Landscape on the brink of change

  Montana’s energy economy pits traditional industry against renewable opportunities with billions of tax dollars at stake.

• Climate change’s hidden cost: Mental health crisis among Montana’s farmers and ranchers

  “To maximize public health preparedness efforts, interventions are warranted to provide climate adaptation education and therapeutic outreach specific to agricultural workers experiencing economic struggle in the context of climate change.”

• Baby boomer homeowners fear losing their properties as they spend down their savings

  “I’ve gotten over the anguish, the humiliation of having to go to the Missoula food bank,” she said. “I actually like going there now, and I tell them how great they’re doing.”

• CBS 60 Minutes – Meet Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the man behind the company powering today’s artificial intelligence

  At Nvidia’s annual developers conference this past March, the mood wasn’t just upbeat … it was downright giddy. More than 11,000 enthusiasts — software developers, tech moguls, and happy shareholders — filed into San Jose’s pro hockey arena to kick off a four-day AI extravaganza. They came to see this man: Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia.

• Here’s A Hint So Your Company Can Get Climate Federal Funding: Call It “Defense Tech”

  Defense tech? Yup. The climate crisis is being framed as a destabilizing force that is a significant risk to national and global security. Governments are redirecting funds to defense tech as a means to mitigate climate-related policy issues.

• Generation Beta Is Here–and They Could Transform the Workplace

  According to one new survey, the youngest generation will drive a truncated workweek, heightened flexibility, and more when they enter the workforce.

• Montana West Economic Development Business Bulletin

  Last year we brought in more than $72 million into the Northwest Montana economy through new loan funds, government contracting, forestry assistance, brownfields assessments and food and ag development center grants.

• Montana Department of Commerce Weekly Roundup – Volume 2, Issue 1

  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.

• America’s First Virtual Fence Conservation Fund Accepting applicants for innovative conservation projects

  This groundbreaking quarter-million dollar initiative aims to enhance wildlife conservation by empowering ranchers and conservationists to adopt virtual fencing technology on public and private lands.

Great Falls Development Alliance

• GFDA Top Ten for 1-5-25

  We are hosting a housing forum on Tuesday, January 14th at 10:00 AM at Great Falls College in Room B101 and on Zoom. Our speaker, Nathan Bilyeu, will explain some of the tools other Montana communities have used to create the critical infrastructure needed to support new housing development.

• Great Falls Development Alliance Upcoming Events and Training

  Whether you’re just getting started, looking for new customers wanting to grow sales through e-commerce, or focusing on workforce. We’re here to help.

Montana Business

• GM’s EV Sales Skyrocket And Soon We’ll All Be Driving Mushroom Cars

  “Electric vehicle sales jumped 50% for the year and 125% for the quarter, roughly doubling our market share over the course of the year,” GM reported on January 3.

Next Generation Broadband in Montana

• The Death of Net Neutrality Is a Bad Omen

  While Americans might not mourn the loss of net neutrality, an appeals court’s ruling sets a troubling precedent for consumer protections in every industry.

Montana Businesses Seeking Investment or For Sale

• Angel Capital Association – Data Insights Monthly: A Quick Patent Due Diligence Checklist: Beware Provisional Patents

  It is heartbreaking to see bad behavior by ‘inventors’ and their startup companies, but it occurs over and over again. Let this lesson be an example of the things you need to check anytime you are doing due diligence on an early-stage company.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte

• Welcome to the era of ‘friendly’ lawsuits against the federal government

  In plain language, Gianforte, the Republican governor of red-state Montana isn’t suing the outgoing Biden Democrat administration, he’s suing the incoming Trump administration with the very viable expectation that they will look favorably on his concerns, dump the new plan, reduce the “carrying capacity” back down to 3,000 bison, and accede to each and every one of his demands, including that park bison be vaccinated against brucellosis.

Housing

• The nation’s homeless population is skyrocketing. What can other cities learn from S.F.’s approach?

  San Francisco is spending $846 million this year to address its homelessness crisis, more than some cities’ entire annual budgets.

• Berkeley is legalizing a type of housing that could add thousands of units to the market

  During a four-year pilot program that started Wednesday and extends through 2028, Berkeley homeowners can approach city planners about getting unpermitted accessory units inspected for safety, and legalized, while being assured that the process will be confidential and no penalties will be assessed on the previously undocumented apartment.

Montana Manufacturing Extension Center

• Montana’s manufacturing wages rose $8K in past year

  The 2024 Montana Manufacturing Report provides a wide variety of data about manufacturing in the state. It includes the results of surveys given to manufacturers and highlights of how MMEC’s services helped the industry.

Incubators and R&D

• The 10 Coolest Things We’ve Seen So Far at CES 2025

  Tech’s big show isn’t fully underway yet, but the odd and wonderful gadgets are already here. These are the coolest things we saw at the event preview.

The Creative and Cultural Economy

• UM Museum Features Faculty Gallery Talks – The Montana Museum of Art and Culture will host a series of faculty gallery talks January through March at the University of Montana.

  Titled “Reflections,” the series will focus on conversations with members of the UM faculty reflecting on aspects of the museum’s Permanent Collection. Viewpoints will be shared from their respective disciplines.

Wyoming Business

• Wyoming Voters Will Decide On Slashing Property Taxes By 50%

  A petition for a ballot initiative to slash Wyoming property taxes by 50% was certified Friday by the secretary of state’s office. That means Wyoming voters will decide the issue in 2026.

• Lawyer Shortage Means Some Wyoming Defendants May Not Get Public Defenders

  Unless a lawyer shortage eases, the Wyoming Public Defender’s Office will stop representing defendants charged with misdemeanors in northeast Wyoming. In a Thursday letter, three local judges urge private attorneys to take those cases.

• Bad actors and abuse spur Wyoming lawmakers to consider tighter business regulations

  Special working group drafts four committee bills aimed at preventing fraudulent corporate filings.

• New child care grants aim to boost startup facilities, grow capacity

  The program will give awards of up to $10,000 to child care providers for startup or expansion costs, prioritizing those serving communities with limited or no child care options and home-based providers.

2025 Montana Legislature and Politics

• Montana’s ag tax slashes bills for thousands of million-dollar homes

  Properties classified ‘agricultural’ get a tax break despite bona fide operations. Can lawmakers new proposals tighten qualifications?

• Montana legislative leaders discuss expectations for 2025 session

  Regier says he believes it’s not a matter of whether lawmakers will approve tax relief this session, but of how much relief they’ll approve and how it will be done.

Government News & Events

• Fossil Fuel Interests Ramp Up Their “Solar Makes Electricity More Expensive” Falsehood

  In the run-up to Trump 2.0, the fossil fuel industry is trotting out its biggest guns to attack renewable energy and electric cars, which should come as no surprise. They paid to get him elected and now they want to make sure they get the maximum return on their investment.

Hellgate Venture Network

• Hellgate Venture Netowrk January Meet-up – 1/16 – Missoula

  Join us for some networking and good conversations with entrepreneurs in our community.

Transportation

• Waymo Robotaxis Safer Than Any Human-Driven Cars — MUCH Safer

  “Our research shows how insurance data can help evaluate autonomous vehicle safety and provide the framework needed to support widespread adoption,” said Ali Shahkarami, Global Head P&C Solutions at Swiss Re. “By analyzing a larger dataset across multiple cities, we deepened our understanding of how this technology performs in real-world conditions. These promising results help underscore the potential of this technology to create a safer future for our roads.”

• Beijing unveils plans to boost driverless vehicle use in capital

  The city supports the use of autonomous vehicles for private cars, urban buses, trams and taxis, it said, adding that it wants to encourage the construction of intelligent road infrastructure to support such transport.

Energy and Climate Change

• The water mystery unfolding in the western U.S.

  There’s a rural area in Arizona with massive groundwater basins underneath the earth. Water should be plentiful there, but wells are running dry. Today on the show, what’s behind the water issues in rural Arizona?

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