Bozeman, MT
City of Bozeman Demands Passwords from Job Applicants
Raising privacy and civil liberties issues, job applicants to the city of Bozeman are not only required to list all their social media accounts, but their passwords as well.
"Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.," the City form states. The application shows a space for passwords.
Oh, Those Pesky Economists
This Isn’t the First Recession, Nor the Worst… So Far
This painful economic cycle may end a 30-year stretch of moderate ups and downs, but it's about average compared to the worst 10 recessions since World War II.
That's one lesson immediately apparent after checking out the graphs and statistics on a new Web page on the site of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank.
"Our main reason wasn't to push any line," explained senior economist Terry Fitzgerald. "But it's important to look at the data and keep things in perspective."
Housing Market News
Montana Realty Board: Number of Agents Is Falling Fast
It seems not many people want to be real estate agents anymore, and established agents are getting out of the business like never before.
About 40 percent fewer new real estate agents received a license from the Montana Board of Realty Regulation in 2008, and about 15 percent of old members didn't renew last year, said Grace Berger, head of the state's regulatory agency.
Here are the numbers: Last year about 500 new applicants passed the requirements to become a real estate agent in Montana, down from about 800 in 2007. That year capped about a decade of growth in the number of licensed agents in Montana.
Hard Times in the Trades
Downturn Has Builders in Bankruptcy, or Just Getting Out
Small construction companies are seeking bankruptcy protection in Montana like never before, say Montana bankruptcy lawyers.
"They're just getting out. Selling everything and going," said James Screnar of Screnar Law Firm in Bozeman whose clients include North American Pipe and Welding of Three Forks.
Many of the contractors have filed for Chapter 7s -- which amount to a liquidation -- because they don't see a future, Screnar said.
He described scenarios in which developers commissioned work but didn't pay, while contractors and subs ordered materials -- wood or drywall or pipe -- on credit. When the developed couldn't sell the homes, the contractors didn't get paid, either. Many are stuck with the debts to suppliers.
The Montana Supreme Court Thursday handed a victory to those seeking to protect Montana's waterways and dealt a setback to the proposed Rock Creek Mine near Noxon.
"Absolutely. This is a victory," said Clark Fork Coalition director Karen Knudsen, about the ruling that voided the Revett Minerals' permit to discharge up to 3.3 million gallons of polluted water per day into the Clark Fork River.
A collection of conservation groups had challenged the water quality permit, issued in 2001. The mine has been on the drawing board for more than 30 years. The ruling overturned a previous ruling from district court, which OK'd the Montana Department of Environmental Quality decision to deem the discharge "nonsignificant," thus allowing the mine to avoid a more rigorous "non-degradation analysis."
Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who was just voted head of the National Governors Association, wants the administration of Barack Obama to help Montana to build an electrical transmission line to deliver electricity produced in the state to markets across the country.
"Montana is dead center in the middle of the most important energy corridor on the planet," Schweitzer said. "We're ready, willing and able to lead the country and world in developing energy."
But Schweitzer doesn't want the Obama administration to tell him how or where the energy should be developed. Schweitzer and other governors also asked for major investments for roads and bridges and other infrastructure.
