technology

A small business owner from Missoula met with the state's congressional delegation and other federal officials last week, expressing concern that restricting the use of data and artificial intelligence could make it hard for operations like his to compete.

The system is expected to advance health care and environmental research breakthroughs, officials say.

Reilly Neill writes, "If more data centers come to Montana, they need to pay the full cost of the infrastructure they require."

Trump administration proposed deep cuts. But funding passed by Congress supports a pillar of the state’s economy.

Roger Koopman writes, "Freedom and responsibility are inseparable. They can only exist when bonded together. When the bond breaks, freedom turns to rubble."

Karin Kirk writes, "NorthWestern will get to build new, expensive (and likely polluting) power plants to serve those data centers, and it all sounds like a great deal for NorthWestern’s shareholders."

The high mark from the previous year was $143.8 million.

Despite Trump efforts to override state laws, legislators press ahead.

The order creates a task force to monitor state laws on AI and to challenge them in court, and directs the Commerce secretary to complete a review of state laws within three months.

Jim Morton writes, "NorthWestern just raised rates --- again. We can’t afford more rate increases on behalf of data centers."