TOMORROW – July 15: Congressman Pat Williams Celebration of Life in Missoula & Live Stream

“People have come to believe their elected officials and their candidates are not the real McCoy. They’re not authentic, they’re scripted, talking according to the polls, voting according to next November … It’s cancerous to our system.”

Pat Williams

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Federal cuts could remove 90% of Montana tribal college budget

  According to Peregoy, the act states that the Crow Tribe could exchange its land for bolstering education for the Crow people.

• PUBLIC HEARING: Community Development Block Grant Program Housing Rehabilitation and Development Application Guidelines – 7/17 – Online

  The CDBG Program is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development pass-through grant program that provides funding to communities for planning, public and community facilities and the preservation of affordable homes for Montanans. Updates to the application guidelines are intended to streamline the process for communities to apply for CDBG funds to support affordable housing efforts.

Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority

• Registration is Now Open for the 2025 Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority Annual Conference! – 9-8/10 – Livingston, Montana

  This year’s theme, “Turning Our Stories into Action,” reflects our shared commitment to advancing the Big Sky North Coast Corridor, a bold effort to bring high-performance passenger rail back to the Greater Northwest.

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

• Dorsey – Labor and Employment 2025 Symposium Thursday, August 21, 2025 In-Person or Webinar

  Dorsey’s Labor & Employment Group will conduct its 15th annual Symposium, focusing its sessions on the challenges facing in-house employment counsel and human resource professionals, with particular emphasis on recent legislative and regulatory developments.

Missoula Chamber of Commerce

• Montana Ag Network: Family and flowers flourish at Missoula farm

  After a five-year journey of quietly growing, Millay and Meadowlark Flower Farm is now offering on-farm events for the summer including you-picks where customers tour the farm and pick out their favorite flowers to keep.

• Big Dipper celebrates 30 scooping years on the Hip Strip

  “It’s always a good energy getting ice cream here,” Beaton said. “We’re selling an experience, and I think that’s what people get when they come here, they see friends, they meet people. There’s a lot of people traveling through Montana in the summertime,” Beaton said.

Great Falls Development Alliance

• Montana Career Opportunities – Business Development Officer — Downtown Great Falls, Accounting Assistant – GFDA

  Are you someone who enjoys meeting new people? Do you enjoy figuring things out – digging into a question until find what you need? Is your communication style direct and concise? Are you reading several books at once? We are looking for someone who enjoys running multiple projects simultaneously paying attention to details.

• GFDA Top Ten for 7-13-25

  Do you know of a commercial property that could spark bold, community-wide transformation? We’re on the lookout for high-impact sites—ideal for a conference hotel, sports complex, or market-rate housing—that could serve as powerful catalysts for redevelopment in Great Falls and surrounding rural areas.

Montana Business

• Philipsburg, Montana Sweet Palace candy shop creates sweet memories for visitors from around the world

  Among the Sweet Palace’s more than 1,000 candy selections, huckleberry taffy stands out as the Montana specialty and customer favorite.

Housing

• Montana state auditor issues moratorium on wildfire-related insurance cancellations

  “I have the authority as the commissioner of insurance to remind insurance companies that they cannot just cancel policies based on perceived wildfire risk alone or to target particular areas. It has to be justified,” Brown said.

Funding and Building your Business

• You can learn why Bayesian modeling is so important.

  Designed for engineers, analysts, and scientists, this course emphasizes practical use over academic formality, helping you unlock the power of Bayesian methods in your work.

Regional Economic Development

• Year-round strawberries in Wyoming? Welcome to Pinedale’s indoor farm.

  Silver Stream Farm sits on a windy rim at nearly 8,000 feet. By tapping into advanced indoor technology, it grows climate-controlled crops of berries, tomatoes and vegetables.

YOUR CAREER

• ‘Panicking’: Why recent college grads are struggling to find jobs

  In addition to job cuts by federal government, tech companies and consulting firms are also scaling back after a period of rapid growth. And employers overall have been cautious about hiring in the face of uncertain trade and tax policies.

• How a father’s persistence unlocked his son’s brilliance. Every person with Special Needs is Special. CBS Evening News

  Viraj Dhanda, a nonspeaking Massachusetts teen with autism, spent the first 14 years of his life trying to learn the basics, until his father suddenly unlocked his brilliance with the help of Viraj’s right thumb. Now, he’s headed to MIT, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Steve Hartman has his extraordinary story.

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

• A Simple Way to Boost Math Progress in Elementary School

  Researchers from Penn’s Behavior Change for Good Initiative and their collaborators conducted a megastudy to investigate whether low-cost nudges — informed by behavioral science — could help teachers accelerate student progress in math.

• Missoula schools stand to lose $2.2 million in federal funds that were approved and should have been send to us July 1.

  We all have a role to play in supporting our children’s growth and success. Join the effort to voice your concerns and push back against these harmful cuts—let’s work together to protect the future of education in our community!

• How Gimkit engages my students

  Gimkit can boost engagement, reinforce learning through interactive gameplay, and foster collaboration–all while offering valuable insights into student progress in real time

Nonprofit News

• These branding wizards revolutionized nonprofit design—and now they’re starting their own agency
  “We cannot sit idly by while others try to shape our world into something that we don’t believe in,” Marinos says. “There’s so much negativity at the moment. We really feel like we can channel our expertise, our optimism, our excitement for this sector as a whole, to help uplift the messages and tell those stories that are often either being ignored or buried or going completely untold.”

2025 Legislature and Politics

• Feds pull $24M East Missoula highway grant

  “I’m thrilled we delivered the largest tax cut in American history and tax certainty for families and small businesses, as well as funding for the border and for our great military, and I cannot wait to see the president sign this bill into law,” Senator Steve Daines

Government News & Events

• Idaho preps to roll out artificial intelligence in state government

  By August, Gonzalez said Idaho state government agencies can start using publicly available tools like ChatGPT or Gemini in public facing chatbots, which have been largely blocked.

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