Business and the New Economy News | New West Network

Photos from Super Tuesday in Bozeman

The Mixers Club in Bozeman – typically a site for college dance parties – took on a much different atmosphere on Super Tuesday as Republicans from around the county came to participate in the first presidential Montana caucus in some 20 years.

In an effort to elevate Montana's voice in national politics, the Montana GOP recently moved their June primary to a February caucus. Though Ron Paul supporters seemed to be the most numerous and definitely the most vocal, Mitt Romney came out on top with 47 percent of the vote. Ron Paul took 28 percent; John McCain received 14 percent; Mike Huckabee finished fourth with 11 percent.

Though many attendees expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the country, the overall attitude seemed to be hopeful. "Anybody but Hillary" was the theme, and conservative hallmarks such as "Don't touch my guns" and "If they're not legal, send 'em home" bubbled up amid soundbites from CNN and Fox News. Republican Larry Wix seemed to sum up the uneasy feeling many Republicans have about the 2008 candidates: "You can't vote for who you want. You're voting for who can win. It makes me sick."

Click on the image or here to see a photo gallery and quotes from the big night.  [more]

Documentary Looks at Wolf Reintroduction

No wildlife species is as iconic and controversial as the wolf. Canis Lupus is a symbol of wildness and healthy ecosystems to some, but to others it is a callous killer and an economic threat.

Loathed and loved, the American Gray Wolf has gone through a tumultuous history in the West. They were hunted as vermin to virtual extinction by the early 20th Century, reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, and now are around 1,500-strong across the Northern Rockies. Biologists say wolves are officially recovered in the West and should be removed from the Endangered Species List, but – true to form – disagreements over wolf management between pro-wolf and anti-wolf groups has delisting at a standstill.

In 1999, journalist William Campbell began a documentary film to tell the story of what wolf reintroduction meant for people living in wolf territory. The result, “Wolves in Paradise,” sheds invaluable light on this story, giving a face and a voice to the many people trying to live with this species.  [more]

Introducing...

Driving past most any Western city these days is a little like watching those time-lapse films back in grade school. Empty fields become bulldozed lots become framed houses become finished homes with trucks in the driveway and new grass in the yard.

It’s a time of dramatic change in the Mountain West. And I’m excited to say that we at NewWest.Net are now launching a quarterly print magazine to help us tell the big story of growth and change in the region.

The best way to check out our magazine is to subscribe. We want to know who’s interested in The New West, so we have made the magazine available free to qualified subscribers who answer a short questionnaire.

• Click here for the questionnaire for a free subscription.
• You can also subscribe for $9.95 a year by clicking here.

We’d love to hear your input and feedback on our new venture. Comments? Criticism? Story ideas? I’d love to hear them. You can email me at . And click “more” below for the full announcement. 

Counting Blessings

For over seven years, Rev. Paul Thomas has tirelessly provided Bozeman’s homeless and down-and-out with a meal, a cup of coffee, clothing, company and any other kind of help he can through his mobile soup kitchen named HIS Soup. Thomas’ white Econoline van and those who flock to it are fixtures on the east and north parts of a town that has never had an official homeless shelter or mission. This month Thomas received a permit to create a historic rescue mission in the very same place he serves his complimentary home-cooked Thanksgiving meals.

Not so long ago, Bozeman police used to “float” homeless residents and transients by buying them a ticket on the next Greyhound out of town. City officials say they haven’t floated anyone for many years, but when a homeless man froze to death in a U-haul truck here last winter, the homeless issue became hard to ignore and elicited a strong community response.

Bozeman, “the most livable place,” is the only major city in Montana to not have a homeless shelter or rescue mission, but thanks to Thomas and his supporters, this is about to change.  [more]

Monday Business Roundup

When it came down to face-the-music time, former Boulder banker Edward Mattar III took the traditional desperate-financier's way out: a long walk off a short ledge. Newspapers around the country reviewed Mattar's life and times after he plunged 27 stories to his death in downtown Denver just hours before he was to be sentenced for his role in the failure of BestBank. And it was not a pretty story.

At 67, Mattar faced spending the rest of his life in prison after being convicted in February of conspiracy, bank fraud, filing false bank reports and wire fraud. His personal fortune was decimated: he faced fines of $14 million.

In other business news: Anschutz Entertainment Group plans a New Orleans-style music fest for Denver; Newmont Mining's fortunes turn; and Xcel Energy makes plans to shut down some power plants.  [more]

Maybe the vegetarians are on to something

I only eat chicken if it is hidden or disguised. I know, it’s kind of juvenile to be a finicky eater, but I just can’t stomach looking at meat, especially if I have to eat it.

I like General Tso chicken because it is hidden beneath gobs of fry and sauce. I like chicken burritos because they, too, cloak the meat. This is also why I love flaky, creamy, covered chicken pot pies.

But there is bad news in the chicken pot pie arena today. Eight Salmonella infections reported in southern Idaho might be related to frozen store-bought pot pies containing poultry meat.

Banquet pot pies or the generic store-brand name with a code number “P-9” on the side of the box are the specific pies in question. Consumers shouldn’t eat them.
  [more]

Philanthropy and Community Building

Park County Community Foundation (PCCF) board members and a diverse array of interested parties met for two days this week at the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch in Paradise Valley to discuss the future of the young philanthropic organization.

Over 80 attendees attended Monday and about 60 on Tuesday for strategic community building sessions with Bliss Browne of Imagine Chicago. The groups focused on growth, demographic and economic trends in the West to identify the best ways to involve all citizens in community development, especially in the areas of education, youth empowerment and poverty reduction. With Park County growing and more and more wealthy people buying second and third homes in the area, the group hoped to effectively reach out to potential donors to help address the county’s needs, such as reducing an 11.4 percent poverty rate.

David Eaton, vice president of the PCCF board of directors, emphasized the group’s role in engaging and serving the community’s needs: “This is just a first step…Our intent is to keep you guys really involved and continually getting knowledge for your community.”  [more]

Monday Business Roundup

Good news for the bank-robber groupies in the audience: you don't have to content yourselves with a lachrymose Brad Pitt movie anymore, thanks to a former Denver resident turned Wyoming child-care entrepreneur and lone bandit.

Using modern tools of deception rather than a six-shooter and a mask, Anthony L. Ciocchetti spent the last year-and-a-half pilfering the vaults of several Gillette, Wyoming banks, according to a federal grand jury in Cheyenne. Ciocchetti, who moved from Denver to Gillette in January 2006 promoting a day-care center called the "Kiddy Country Club and Montessori School," was charged last week with bank fraud, mail fraud and money laundering charges that could land him in jail for the next few decades.

Ciocchetti apparently had little trouble getting lenders to hand him money, the indictment alleges; his only mistake was the classic lazy bank robbers' folly: robbing too many establishments in the same town.

In other business news: organic farmers come together to persuade Congress to support sustainable agriculture; resort towns seek creative ways to provide affordable housing for non-plutocrats; and the last drive-in theaters continue to disappear.
  [more]