In January recreational marijuana sales totaled than $12.8 million for its first month of it being legal in Montana on track to meet projections of $130 million this year. With $9.7 million in medical sales added in the Montana Department of Revenue’s Cannabis Control Division took in $2.9 in tax revenue. Recreational market’s open...
Montana Financial Planner Not Concerned About Current Market Trends
Inflation worries strong company earnings and drops in manufacturing activity in January has resulted in a volatile price index that has some investors worried about the months ahead. Michael Vondra a certified financial planner out of Billings has some reassurance concerning the long-term outlook of the stock market.
Montana Joins Lawsuit Challenging Immigrants Seeking Asylum
Eight states including Montana have sued the federal government over the Central American Minors Program which allows children and certain family members from parts of Central America to join parents living legally or seeking asylum in the U.S. The states are asking the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to find the CAM pro...
New Water Quality Standards May Not Address Suburban Impact
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is considering new rules for a law passed in 2021 that changed water-quality standards, which opponents say could roll back those standards across the state. Former Helena public works director John Lundquist says wastewater from Montana’s growing suburban development is a major source of nutrien...
Governor Announces Partnership Promoting Human Trafficking Awareness
On the last day of Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month Monday, Governor Greg Gianforte announced a partnership with Town Pump, the LifeGuard Group and the state of Montana to display a human trafficking hotline in Town Pump locations statewide and donate to local resources to raise public awareness. Gianforte had met last month with...
New Grant Announced To Replace Old School Buses
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality has awarded six school districts with clean school bus replacement grants to help them replace older diesel school buses with newer diesel propane and gasoline models to help reduce air pollution. The grants go to the Columbia Falls, East Helena, Frenchtown, Harlem, Kalispell and the Twin Bridges...
COVID-19 Death Toll Reaches 3,000 In Montana
Over 3,000 Montanans have died from the coronavirus and there are nearly 20,000 active cases across the state. Billings Clinic epidemiologist Dr. Neil Ku says 7 million Americans are immunocompromised but we aren’t necessarily able to identify them just by looking at them because COVID-19 is not like heart disease where it only hurts one perso...
New Bison Management Plan For Yellowstone National Park Announced
Federal officials have officially kicked off the drafting of a new management plan for the bison that live in Yellowstone National Park. The idea is to update guidance for managing Yellowstone’s roughly 5,400 bison which are now managed under a 22-year-old document called the Interagency Bison Management Plan. They hope it will result in the r...
Governor Appoints New Department of Agriculture Director
Christy Clark has been appointed as the Director of the Montana Department of Agriculture after serving as acting director when Mike Foster left to serve as the state’s ARPA Program Director. Clark recently highlighted the department’s initiatives.
Montana Economist Points Current Challenges To Rapid Growth
There are always problems with the economy but according to Dr. Patrick Barkey the ones we have now are mostly growth problems. That’s the message the Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research brings to Billings today during the annual Economic Outlook Seminar at the Big Horn Resort.