When asked what you “do” answer with what makes your life feel alive. You are not your work.  You are alive.

Business and Economy

• 6 ChatGPT Prompts To Write Winning Proposals, Faster

  Between 35% and 50% of sales are won by the vendor who responds first. Speed stuns. Growing your business involves making a process for winning proposals and never delaying with sending one over.

• Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?

  Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it’s still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

• How Mercury Scored a $3.5 Billion Valuation in Eight Years

  “Every time I raise money, it’s not been from someone I’ve just met that week.”

• Placekeeping: Setting a New Precedent for City Planners

  How a preservation-based approach to redevelopment and urban design can prevent displacement and honor legacy communities.

• Montana Career Opportunity – ChatBot Designer – TOMIS

  We are in search of a ChatBot Designer to drive  our industry-leading AI bot program for tour operators. Our ideal candidate is an organized self-starter with SaaS experience, strong Dialogflow experience, and creative problem solving skills. Familiarity with the tours and activities sector or travel industry as a whole is a plus. This position will work closely with our product team and will be instrumental in helping the company continue to scale. The role will offer invaluable professional business exposure and experience with tremendous potential for growth.

• GFDA Top Ten for 3-29-25

  Great Falls College-MSU’s faculty, moderators, and business advisors team for the Montana Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses at their recent kick-off training orientation in Great Falls.

• Effort to bring increased passenger rail to Montana could get boost under new bill

  House Bill 848 would create a “Big Sky Rail Account” within the state special revenue fund.

• Missoula’s North Riverside Parks & Trails Plan – What do you think?

  The vision for these parks came from Missoulians and resulted from more than a year of public outreach, stakeholder meetings, surveys, and design work. The plan strives to update and enhance the parks with multi-use spaces and year-round activities, create better trail connections and gateways, update materials and landscaping, and ensure enhancements to the riverfront respect natural processes while providing better access for everyone.

• McDonald’s expansion in France: a restaurant ‘within 20 minutes’ of all homes

  Fast-food chain primes itself to enter rural markets

• This self-service wine vending machine has been approved for French roadsides

  Innovative machines offer convenient wine access while adhering to alcohol laws

• World Trade & Investment Day 2025 – 5/7 – Billings, Montana

  We want to keep you informed about the latest tariff developments and how they may impact Montana industries such as agriculture, energy, manufacturing, construction, and many others. These changes are likely to mean significant effects on costs, supply chains, and market access for businesses across the state.

• The Quantum Apocalypse Is Coming. Be Very Afraid

  What happens when quantum computers can finally crack encryption and break into the world’s best-kept secrets? It’s called Q-Day—the worst holiday maybe ever.

• How to Avoid US-Based Digital Services—and Why You Might Want To

  Amid growing concerns over Big Tech firms aligning with Trump administration policies, people are starting to move their digital lives to services based overseas. Here’s what you need to know.

• How to Delete Your Data From 23andMe

  DNA-testing company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy, which means the future of the company’s vast trove of customer data is unknown. Here’s what that means for your genetic data.

• Drug turns human blood into poison for mosquitoes

  Researchers have discovered that when patients take the drug nitisinone, their blood becomes deadly to mosquitoes.

• USDA Reminder: Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) Deadline 3/31

  The program (Farm Bill funding) provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. Agricultural producers may also apply for new energy efficient equipment and new system loans for agricultural production and processing.

  Projects must be located in rural areas with populations of 50,000 residents or less

Energy and Transportation

• Paris Votes to Make 500 More Streets Car-Free – Parisians are saying clearly that they want “more pedestrian streets, fewer cars, more nature in the city.”

  The plan, which will also remove 10% of Paris’ current parking spots, will expand on a green push by Mayor Anne Hidalgo that has already seen 300 streets planted and cleared of cars since 2020.

• New plastic dissolves in the ocean overnight, leaving no microplastics

  Plastics are durable and strong, which is great while they’re being used but frustrating when they end up in the environment. Scientists at RIKEN in Japan have developed a new type of plastic that’s just as stable in everyday use but dissolves quickly in saltwater, leaving behind safe compounds.

Education

• University of California’s most competitive major has a 1% acceptance rate, and it’s not computer science

  Just 1% of the nearly 6,000 yearly applicants to this undergraduate program at UCLA and UC Irvine, are permitted to walk through the door.

• “19 Under 39” artists going above and beyond for art at The Montana Museum of Art and Culture at the University of Montana in Missoula

  “This one has been, like, really on my bucket list because of the fact that it’s this collection of Montana history, and now I get to be a part of that,” working artist April Werle said.

• Making friends at the Missoula Butterfly House and Insectarium

  They are the smallest animals.

• Introducing Clark Fork Prep: A New High School Experience in Missoula

  Missoula’s only independent high school

• Registration for INL STEM summer camps opens April 1

  Registration for the STEM Scholars and CyberCore summer camps opens Tuesday, April 1, at 9 a.m. and will remain open for 48 hours. In a change from previous years, registration will be based on a lottery system rather than on a first-come, first-served basis.

• “Mules at University of Montana to Promote Summer Programming” – 4/1 – Noon

  The free meet-the-mules event will run for an hour, and members of the media and public are welcome to attend. Based at the Ninemile Ranger Station near Missoula, the mules are part of education events, help with community service and work for the Forest Service in Montana, Idaho and North Dakota. The pack string will circle the Oval and stop for a packing demonstration on the Oval. This will be a hands-on experience where attendees will have the opportunity to try their hand at packing.

The Future

• Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’

  But “with AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace — great medical advice, great tutoring,” Gates said.

• If Anthropic Succeeds, a Nation of Benevolent AI Geniuses Could Be Born. Hi, Claude! What happens with powerful AI if things go right?

  In two or so years Claude and its peers will surpass people in every cognitive task.

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