MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Montana’s Billings Clinic is Training Future Rural Providers 

  In a national shortage of rural doctors, Billings Clinic is training–and retaining–physicians where they’re needed most.

• “A New Angle” – Spencer Williams’ West Paw is in the business of happy dogs as Montana’s first B Corp

  This week’s guest is Spencer Williams, founder and CEO of West Paw, a company that makes dog toys and treats. West Paw has built an entirely U.S.-based supply chain and does all of its manufacturing right here in Montana. West Paw is also the first B Corporation in Montana and is a great example of business as a force for good.

• Fort Benton, Montana celebrates new Industrial Park to pave the way for growth

  Civic leaders estimate the project will directly create jobs and generate roughly $12 million in private investment, with even larger ripple effects expected over time.

• Groups push back on Montana’s ‘data center boom’ in petition before utility

  Here’s what we know about the data centers in question, how Montana law intersects with the debate and what the petitioners are asking the PSC to do in response.

• Montana First in Nation to Receive Final BEAD Proposal Approval

  Over 68,000 unserved and underserved areas in Montana to receive broadband coverage

Montana Manufacturing Extension Center

• Montana Manufacturing: November highlights

  Where can you find an ideal location to create and manufacture high grade, theatrical pyrotechnics? If you ask the team at Stage FX, the answer would be Columbus, Montana, population less than 2000. It turns out this high desert town offers not only plenty of space, but also the perfect low humidity climate for working with moisture-sensitive chemicals. It’s here that Stage FX founded its business in 2001 and started creating high quality, reliable – and spectacular – pyrotechnics for the indoor entertainment industry (think professional sporting events and rock concerts).

Montana Business

• Farmers gather in Missoula to discuss tariffs and hemp industry

  The convention is taking place at the Hilton Garden Inn of Missoula and will continue through the end of the week.

• University of Montana, Providence announce new rural health care collaborative RESOLVE

  “When you’ve got a solo practitioner at Wolf Point, Plentywood, how do we keep them from feeling isolated?” UM Health and Medicine Director Reed Humphrey offered.

• Gemini 3 Is Here—and Google Says It Will Make Search Smarter

  Gemini 3 is skilled at reasoning, generating video, and writing code. Amid talk of an AI bubble, Google notes the new model could help increase search revenue too.

• Utilities struggling to deal with data center power demand, report says

  Black & Veatch found that more than half of utility leaders said having available power is the biggest challenge to getting data centers online, and that more proactivity is needed in the planning process.

• Visit Southwest Montana to host free tourism trainings for its partners

  The events will be offered in Dillon, Helena and Anaconda throughout the week.

Housing

• New Montana program looks to assist with homebuying costs

  The program serves households earning between 6% and 140% of the area median income. Qualified buyers could receive a contribution of up to 30% of the home’s purchase price.

Funding and Building your Business

• A Growth Tip for Founders: Maybe Don’t Accept Funds from Family – Harvard Business School

  Entrepreneurs might be tempted to use money from parents or friends to support a new venture, but doing so might prevent the kind of risk-taking that leads to success, says research by Brian Baik.

Regional Economic Development

• Wyoming Lawmakers Advance Five Bills To Rein In Slot-Machine-Like Gaming

  Wyoming lawmakers advanced five bills Tuesday to tighten control over slot-machine-like gaming, citing its explosive growth. Industry leaders defended the machines as vital to funding live horse racing and rural economic activity.

• How One System Stores Carbon While Producing Lithium And Clean Water

  Our Wyoming project is the proving ground for our zero waste closed loop system – where each cycle – from natural brine extraction to permanent carbon storage, seamlessly powers the next.

Rural Communities

• Does your community have “Sit here if you’d like to have a conversation” benches?

  One of the worst epidemics in our society is loneliness.   These benches are a very simple early stage way to address this and help people feel like they’re not alone.

American Prairie

• American Prairie Takes Legal Action Against Montana DNRC

  “I have repeatedly seen the good folks at American Prairie look for ways to collaborate and help their fellow neighbors, not to mention the ways the organization has created opportunities for agriculture, recreation, tourism, and local jobs,” said Randy Gray, a longtime Great Falls attorney and former mayor. “The constant attacks against them are counterproductive and not in keeping with Montana’s long tradition of working together to resolve problems.”

YOUR CAREER

• Montana schools gain free access to Level All educational platform

  Level All is an educational platform designed to help students explore careers, research higher education options and access financial literacy resources.

Energy and Transportation

• University of Montana promised a campuswide bikeshare. Nine years later, students still wait

  The goal was simple: make it easier to get around campus without a car. The plan described how a “true bikeshare system” would let students check out a bike from one location and return it at another, connecting far-flung parking lots, transit stops and classrooms. It was intended to help relieve parking congestion, reduce vehicle trips and promote healthy, sustainable mobility.

• Batteries are helping Chattanooga keep the lights on — and bills low

  In Tennessee, municipal utility EPB is scaling up its battery fleet in order to improve grid resilience and also shave costs for its customers.

• Robotaxi Rivalry Revs Up

  Amazon’s Zoox began offering robotaxi rides to the public in San Francisco yesterday, challenging Alphabet-owned Waymo’s Bay Area dominance and marking the first time two rivals are operating in the same city.

• Are we learning from Finland’s Data Centers?

  Data centers, once criticized for heavy energy use, are now becoming powerhouses of clean, renewable heat.

• Valar Atomics Says It’s the First Nuclear Startup to Achieve Criticality

  A Trump administration pilot program aims for three nuclear startups to reach a key milestone by July 4, 2026. Valar Atomics says it’s the first to do so—but it had some help.

• Data-center power forecasts climb to unreachable heights

  Utilities expect electricity growth to reach levels that are hard to fathom — and they’re using those estimates to justify costly new investments in fossil gas.

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

• MCAT 3 Day Winter Film Making Camp for media makers aged 8 to 14 – 12/29-31 – Missoula

  MCAT has a holiday fun-filled activity during winter break for media makers aged 8 to 14. Winter Daze Media Camp runs from 10am to 4pm in the MCAT studios at The Missoula Public Library.

University of Montana & Montana State University Tech Transfer

• Defense Department taps Montana State University for innovation

  Building this partnership has the potential to bring in millions in federal dollars to Montana.

2025 Legislature and Politics

• Supreme Court Rules for Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts in Legal Challenge Against Attorney General

  The court struck down Austin Knudsen’s rewrite on a ballot initiative mandating nonpartisan judicial elections, but sided with him on a second ballot issue

Government News & Events

• California lawmakers say the new law is about protecting kids. Companies hate it.

  Passed during the 2023-2024 session with bipartisan support, the law blocks companies from giving children the sort of social media feeds we’ve come to expect online — hyperpersonalized, laden with recommended content based on our past social media usage — unless those minors’ parents give specific consent. The law’s text dubbed our current algorithmically mediated feeds “addictive,” and tied social media usage to young people’s mental health struggles.

• New wolf pack found in California as numbers continue to rise

  California wildlife officials confirmed the existence of a new wolf pack in southern Plumas County this week, bringing the total number of packs in the state back up to 10 after authorities killed a different pack last month.

• Gianforte elected chair of Republican Governors Association

  The organization, which represents the 27 states, and territory of Puerto Rico, which have Republican governors, is holding its annual conference in Texas this week.

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