Most recent blog entries
Great Falls Municipal Power Provider Fined by PSC
News Blog By newseditor on 11/30/2009 4:42 PM
Electric City Power, the electric utility arm of the City of Great Falls, has been fined roughly $23,000 by the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC). This, after the PSC ruled that Electric City Power failed to meet the State of Montana’s renewable portfolio standard.
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MORE MONTANA COUNTIES LISTED AS DISASTER AREAS
Ag Blog By ageditor on 11/30/2009 10:31 AM
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Garfield, Lake, Sanders, Toole and Valley Counties in Montana as a primary natural disaster area due to losses caused by drought and other disasters that occurred in 2009.
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Great Falls leaders rethinking city ban on smoking within 20 feet of buildings, due to impact on tavern owners
News Blog By newseditor on 11/30/2009 8:24 AM
Leaders in Great Falls are rethinking the city's ban on smoking within 20 feet of buildings, because of the impact on tavern owners, already reeling from an Oct. 1st statewide ban on smoking. Some bars in Great Falls have added outside smoking rooms, to accomodate customers who smoke.
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WIC changing food package, offering more healthy foods for clients, for first time in 35 years, using vouchers
News Blog By newseditor on 11/30/2009 8:22 AM
For the first time in about 35 years, the women, infants and children program food package is changing. Starting today, WIC, the government funded supplemental nutrition program for low income mothers, and their young children, is offering more healthy foods for clients, letting them use vouchers. The change was made because more people are on the program, and the cost of food has gone up.
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2007 legislative goal for state motor pool fuel efficiency of 30mpg esceeded already, hitting 31mpg
News Blog By newseditor on 11/30/2009 8:19 AM
A state legislative goal, set in 2007, challenging the state motor pool to achieve a fleetwide fuel efficiency average of 30 miles per gallon by 2010, has been exceeded, hitting 31 miles per gallon, and Gov. Schweitzer's 20 by 10 initiative aims to reduce energy consumption by state government 20% by the end of 2010.
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Federal Transportation bill on month to month extension, leaving state and local transportation in limbo
News Blog By newseditor on 11/27/2009 8:28 AM
The Federal Transportation bill expired in September, extended by congress through the middle of December, thus leaving state and local transportation authorities in limbo, not knowing if, or when, money for already planned projects will arrive, bringing many Montana transportation projects to a crawl, and it isn't clear whether extensions will come one month at a time, or when the matter will become a priority in Washington, D.C., currently taking up the health reform bill, then the scheduled Christmas recess.
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16th Federal Superfund Site to be Anaconda Mining Co. Smelter in Black Eagle if EPA ok's Gov. Schweitzer's request
News Blog By newseditor on 11/27/2009 8:22 AM
If a request by Governor Schweitzer is approved, the 16th federal superfund site is Montana will be the former Anaconda Mining Co. smelter and refinery in Black Eagle, near Great Falls, but the Environmental Protection Agency superfund coordinator, in Denver, Gwen Christiansen, says the heavy metals from decades of copper smelting, that ended in the 1980s, does not seen to be severe enough to mandate an emergency cleanup, so a possible final decision won't be made until next fall.
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Lumber industry trade group says prices have risen because production has fallen, but more board feet next year
News Blog By newseditor on 11/27/2009 8:19 AM
Random Lengths, a lumber industry trade group, says prices in the depressed lumber industry have risen recently, as production has fallen to meet demand, and dealers have begun restocking inventories, but the Western Wood Products Association predicts lumber demand will rise 11% to 34.5 billion board feet next year.
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MT FARM BUREAU LETTER TO BOARD OF LIVESTOCK
Ag Blog By ageditor on 11/26/2009 12:23 PM
In response to the Montana Board of Livestock’s proposed Designated Surveillance Area for continued brucellosis surveillance, the Montana Farm Bureau Federation has written board chairman Jan French expressing its disappointment with the board’s action.
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MISSOURI RIVER BREAKS GRAZING LAWSUIT
Ag Blog By ageditor on 11/25/2009 9:52 AM
The Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project is asking the BLM to end cattle grazing along a 150-mile stretch of the Missouri River in Central Montana.
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