Mentally I’m still 32, humor wise I’m still 12 but I’m pretty sure I fought in the Civil War.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• The 2025 Flathead Valley of Montana Tourism Issue

  Canadian travel drops as domestic tourism remains flat; Flathead Valley property owners are adding tourism to their crop rotation; plus, Market Metrics and Financial Corner

• Manufacturing company VACOM holds grand opening for first facility in Lewistown, Montana

  Eventually, VACOM is planning a much larger campus, with manufacturing facilities of their own, near the Lewistown airport. Flaemmich said because they’re currently dealing with uncertainty in the market – including from tariffs – they don’t yet have a definite timeline for when they’ll build those facilities.

Northwestern Energy

• Montana Career Opportunities – Multiple – Northwestern Energy

  Current Job Listings Working together to deliver safe, reliable and innovative energy solutions that create value for customers, communities, employees and investors. NorthWestern Energy is committed to providing excellent service for our customers. In order to attract the best employees, we offer an attractive salary based on qualifications, a performance-based incentive program, and competitive benefits.

Great Falls Development Alliance

• GFDA Top Ten for 7-27-25

  Jobs are being created, businesses are expanding, and Great Falls is growing. GFDA’s work, powered by our investors and public partners, is helping turn vision into opportunity across our region. Learn about our investors and why they support us by viewing this short video. Recent investments include: Community Division—Great Falls College; New Dea Property Managers. Interested in getting involved? Reach out to Jenn Gallmeier at 1-406-781-9499 or [email protected].

Montana Business

• Farmers are facing a fork on Trump’s immigration highway. So what’s next?

  “There’s a lot of farms that didn’t pick because they didn’t have enough labor,” she said.

Housing

• Home sales are down. So why are prices at an all-time high?

  “Today’s housing market is really haves and have-nots,” says Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.

• Trump just floated a tax idea that would hugely benefit homeowners

  …eliminating the capital gains tax on the sale of a primary home.

• What Happens When Housing Prices Go Down (because they are)?

  It’s already happening in places like Phoenix, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, and more. And the response hasn’t been to declare victory. It’s been panic. Builders are walking away. Lenders are tightening. Policymakers are rushing to backstop the system.

Regional Economic Development

• Republican excitement for Wyoming rare earth mining contradicts the party’s disdain for renewables

  “The excitement over rare earths is sort of at odds with the destruction of demand for clean energy,” Feldgus said. “The magnets that a lot of these minerals go into, I mean, those are critically important for electric motors, for turbines, for anything that is built off the clean energy economy.”

Energy and Transportation

• NYC Pedestrian-Focused Traffic Signals Reduce Injury Crashes by 33%

  Intersections equipped with signals that give pedestrians a seven-second head start saw a marked increase in safety.

• When Cars Go Electric: Understanding The Tipping Points Transforming Transportation

  Understanding tipping points in technology adoption requires clarity on how and why technologies spread. To analyze the ongoing shift from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs), it’s valuable to combine three complementary theories: Diffusion of innovations, logistic growth or the s-curve, and complex adaptive systems.

• Will Automated Delivery Robots Solve Last-Mile Delivery Issues? Coco Delivers Cookies

  Zach Rash, Co-Founder & CEO of COCO, shared how his company’s offerings specifically utilize simple but advanced motor and battery technologies, AI, and data to enhance urban mobility using Coco, its red-orange electric delivery robot.

• Tesla tried to reinvent the gas station—it’s totally wrong about the future of charging

  Interesting but the author is failing to acknowledge the inevitable impact that autonomous subscription based vehicles will have on us leading to most people not owning vehicles, especially when that fact that vehicles spend 90% of their time parked.

• From cracks to solutions: MSU’s 3D truck tackles decades-old pavement problems

  Wang’s latest project features a state-of-the-art 3D truck equipped with lasers and high-resolution cameras. This vehicle can capture detailed images of pavement while traveling at highway speeds. Artificial intelligence processes these images, allowing researchers to more efficiently and effectively identify issues such as cracking.

• 60 Italian Mayors Want to Be the Unlikely Solution to Self-Driving Cars in Europe

  A network of local officials in Italy want to turn their cities into laboratories for the vehicles of tomorrow in the hope of catching up with the US and China.

• Want To Pass Statewide Parking Reform? Try Reframing the Conversation

  The law doesn’t stop developers or businesses from providing parking. It simply prevents cities from requiring more than a project actually needs.

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