Author: Reilly Lowery

Decrying the lack of accessibility to high-speed internet in rural areas and calling for a more diversified economy, lawmakers and a long list of heavy hitters in the technology industry gathered at the University of Montana on Sunday and Monday for the Montana High Tech Jobs Summit. The event was co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and a host of other businesses and government organizations. The focus, as the name implies, was on how to attract tech companies to this state, how to remove barriers to business and job creation, and how to improve broadband access in rural Montana,

Microsoft President Brad Smith’s thoughts on the value of high speed internet is as bold as it is brief: “Broadband has become a necessity of life.” Giants from the tech sector converged on Missoula this weekend to talk about getting rural Montana online, the future of agriculture, and job creation. Edward O’Brien brings us the highlights from the second biennial Montana High Tech Job Summit. Smith was the keynote speaker at the second and final day of the Montana High Tech Job Summit in Missoula. This is the second biennial summit hosted by Senator Steve Daines, which brings national tech

Like you, I’m grateful I get to call Montana home. I’ve always said one of the best decisions I ever made was picking my great-great grandmother, who homesteaded east of Conrad and got our family to Montana. Montana offers an unmatched quality of life — we offer a work force that is unmatched with a strong work ethic that is passed on from generation to generation in Montana. And now with technology, we can grow more good-paying jobs that allow Montanans to stay in the state we love. That’s because technology has removed geography as a constraint. We can build

In the wake of one of the worst fire seasons in Montana history, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have called for more logging and thinning in forests as a way to “fireproof” the state and create more jobs at lumber mills. But several wildfire experts contend that fires will keep burning and sending smoke into valleys, especially during unusually hot and dry periods like this summer. While there isn’t a clear scientific consensus on the best approach to manage such fires, a common theme among experts who spoke to the Missoulian is that more forest management alone isn’t the answer. “Often

The gadget that transformed a Las Vegas terrorist’s semiautomatic rifles into machine gun-style weapons is under criticism, but Montana’s congressional delegation isn’t ready to ban the device — at least not yet. The aftermarket devices known as “bump stocks” are in the sights of some congressional leaders who say the products should be restricted, if not banned. The National Rifle Association indicated Thursday that it, too, thought bump stocks should be subject to additional regulation. Montana Sens. Jon Tester, a Democrat, and Steve Daines, a Republican, said hearings on bump stocks were in order. They stopped short of saying they

Montana’s senators are trying to reverse a controversial federal court case out of Bozeman they say is partly to blame for the state’s devastating wildfires. But some environmentalists say it’s actually an assault on the Endangered Species Act. At a congressional hearing last week, Republican Senator Steve Daines said there’s a saying in Montana: “Either we’re going to manage the forests, or the forests are going to manage us.” And he says a recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling known as the Cottonwood decision means the forests are managing Montana. Daines testified alongside Democratic Senator Jon Tester in