It takes two to tango and at least one to take the blame.

MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Butte-Silver Bow declares SNAP emergency

  Butte poised to tap reserve funds as Montana continues to grapple with fallout of federal shutdown

• Maritsa Georgiou-Hamilton and what you can do to help your local Food Bank

  Maritsa here! I woke up wanting to do something to help people facing increased needs as the government shutdown drags on, but wanted some direction on best ways to help— so I called my friend who volunteers at my local food bank. We went to Costco and loaded up on some items the food bank is always low on. Hope this helps!

Northwestern Energy

• Power drain: A guide to proposed data centers so far in Montana

  NorthWestern has signed Letters of Intent with three different data center companies to supply as much as 1,400 megawatts of power, combined, by the year 2030. Another data center company has announced plans to need another 600 megawatts more to that load.

Montana Technology Innovation Partnership

• Impact needed now; Evidence Beat Assertion; MTIP Office Hours at UM; MSU Core Facilities and Partner Highlights – the MTIP November 2025 newsletter

  As we enter into the holiday season amidst the ongoing government shutdown, our program is still focused on guiding Montana innovators to prepare for future seed funding.

Montana Business

• Why are there so many ‘casinos’ in Montana?

  Everywhere you look in Montana, there are places to gamble. Odds are good you’ve seen machines in bars, liquor stores and of course, gas stations. How did Montana end up with so many “casinos,” and what does it have to do with bingo? The only sure bet is that The Big Why team has the answers.

• November Montana West Economic Development Business Bulletin

  Annual Membership Meeting
  Thursday, December 4, 4PM
  Northwest Montana History Museum, 124 2nd Ave. E in Kalispell

Housing

• CBS Saturday Morning – Renco – Is a “Lego-like building” a potential answer to home building costs

  A CBS News analysis found that the cost of home construction supplies has increased by 47% since 2016. One company says it can rebuild homes in a matter of weeks, for lower costs.

• ‘It’s sad’: Inventory is up, but Idaho remains one of the most unaffordable housing markets for middle income buyers nationwide

  Just 5% of Idaho Homes Affordable to Middle-Income Households Idaho is in the top six least affordable states for the middle income bracket.

Funding and Building your Business

• Wyoming Cows Go High-Tech With Electronic Collars And ‘Virtual Fencing’
  Cows across Wyoming might soon be corralled by electronic collars that vibrate to tell them where to go, or shock them when they stray. It’s called “virtual fencing.”

Regional Economic Development

• The AI Data Center Boom Is Warping the US Economy

  Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon are investing tens of billions in data centers. AI infrastructure is now a key driver of US economic growth.

Energy and Transportation

• Does your city have a “digital twin” to optimize traffic management and enhance transportation safety?

  The digital twin uses traffic data collected by the city’s cameras installed at certain intersections, and AI technology from NVIDIA identifies and tracks the movement of vehicles, bikes, pedestrians and micromobility devices like scooters, he explained. Raleigh is also leveraging Esri ArcGIS and Microsoft Azure platforms to visualize and map the near real-time data on traffic flow and events.

• We mapped five years of Montana highway crashes. Here’s what jumped out at us.

  In wide-open Montana, long drives on the highway are a way of life and, often, a source of danger. The state is ranked fifth for the number of fatal accidents per resident, with 90% of those fatalities happening on roads outside of city limits.

• Oregon utility tries out a faster, cheaper way to power data centers

  A first-of-a-kind project underway outside Portland, Oregon, could provide a model for data centers to connect to the grid without driving up utility bills and carbon emissions.

• This roof paint blocks 97% of sunlight and pulls water from the air

  Researchers at the University of Sydney and commercial start-up Dewpoint Innovations have created a nano-engineered polymer coating that not only reflects up to 97% of the sun’s rays, but also passively collects water. In tests, it was able to keep indoors up to 6 °C (~11 °F) cooler than the air outside.

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

• Governor tours Livingston, Montana non-profit meat processor Producer Partnership.

  The tour occurred amid the second month of the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history causing SNAP distribution delays and unprecedented food bank need. Approximately 85% of Producer Partnership processed meat is donated to Montana food banks, per Pierson.

• Aimed at improving student reading skills, free preschool in Billings shows promise

  The Montana Legislature approved the program in 2023 when more than half of the state’s third-graders were reading below grade level.

• In Denmark, kids aged 6 to 16 sit down every week for a simple class about how we treat one another. It’s called “klassens tid” – class time.

  If you could add one hour to your child’s week, would it be this one?

VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of Things

• Scam Ads Are Flooding Social Media. These Former Meta Staffers Have a Plan

  Rob Leathern and Rob Goldman, who both worked at Meta, are launching a new nonprofit that aims to bring transparency to an increasingly opaque, scam-filled social media ecosystem.

Social Media, Connectivity & Communications

• Santa Rosa cyclist on cross-country adventure rescues kitten, rides him hundreds of miles to safety — and a new home

  In a time of increasing strife and when conflict seems the norm, the kitten gave people permission to speak to each other, to help each other, to coo over something small and helpless, and to bond over a man’s extraordinary effort to bring a fellow creature home safely.

  “People take you for harmless when you are riding around with a baby cat.”

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