Montana
Western Montana Nonprofits Awarded $190,000 Through Federal and Local Bank Partnership – Flathead Beacon
The Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) of Des Moines in a partnership with local banks have awarded $190,000 to 17 nonprofits in western Montana, nine of which are in Flathead County, according to a press release.
As part of the FHLB Des Moines Member Impact Fund grant program, $10,000 have been awarded to organizations including the Bigfork Food Bank, the Boys & Girls Club, Kalispell Education Foundation, ImagineIF Library Foundation, Bigfork Rotary Foundation, Whitefish Community Foundation, the Samaritan House and the Northwest Montana Community Land Trust (NWMTCLT).
“Glacier Bank is thrilled by the impact of our partnership with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines on our communities,” Glacier Bank Market President Mike Smith said in the release.
Additionally, more than $2 million will be distributed to 100 statewide nonprofits through affiliated Montana Divisions of Glacier Bank, which will be used to support affordable housing and community development organizations.
Glacier Bank and Park Side Credit Union were part of the partnership that awarded funds to the community land trust, which received six grants from local lenders that will be matched three-to-one by the FHLB Des Moines for a total of $90,000. The funding will go toward six affordable homes in Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish.
Additional lenders involved include Wells Fargo, Whitefish Credit Union, First Interstate Bank and Three Rivers Bank.
“It was perfect timing as NWMTCLT is fundraising to purchase four homes in Whitefish’s Trailview neighborhood this spring,” NWMTCLT Executive Director Kim Morisaki said in a separate news release.
Of that funding, $60,000 will be used as part of a larger financing structure to purchase the land underneath the homes to be sold below market rate to low- and moderate-income households working in Whitefish. The other $30,000 will go toward the construction of three new homes in Kalispell and Columbia Falls, which will be sold to eligible buyers below market rate.
Community land trusts have operated in the United States for more than 50 years by subtracting the cost of the land from the purchase price of the home. New homeowners can purchase the home below market rate and, when they sell, they are able to make a profit restricted to just 25% of the increase in the market value of the home during the period of ownership. This allows the next homebuyer to also purchase the home below market rate. The land that the house sits on is leased to the homebuyer for $25 per month.
The matching grant program was introduced in 2023 and provides nearly $20 million to eligible organizations and FHLB Des Moines grew its Member Impact Fund by $10 million this year. The fund provides $3 for every $1 of an eligible member’s grant donation to strengthen nonprofits and government entities to serve the affordable housing or community development needs in their communities. The Member Impact Fund awards are given in partnership with member financial institutions to communities in their district to become more vibrant places to live and work.
“The Member Impact Fund is just one way FHLB Des Moines enables our members to connect directly with local organizations who matter to them, creating value and a lasting impact in their own communities,” said Kris Williams, president and CEO of FHLB Des Moines, in a news release. “The commitment of members like Park Side Credit Union and their connections to organizations like Northwest Montana Community Land Trust help advance the positive work being done in its community.”
Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) is facing yet another lawsuit over allegations of unlicensed sampling — only this time, it’s centered on a video clip of the rapper’s infamous 2013 fight with paparazzi.
In a case filed Wednesday (July 15) in Los Angeles federal court, the celebrity news agency Bauer-Griffin claims that Ye, French Montana (Karim Kharbouch) and others used audio from the headline-grabbing incident in “Where They At,” released in 2024 off French’s Mac & Cheese 5.
The May 2013 video, which also features a pregnant Kim Kardashian, shows West charging at a photographer outside a Los Angeles restaurant and shouting “don’t take no photos” and a string of profanities: “All of you m*therf*ckers stop it, man!”
The clip appears prominently in the intro to Montana’s song — a use that the lawsuit calls “blatant and willful” copyright infringement.
“Given Mr. Ye’s history of numerous confrontations with paparazzi, the video was highly newsworthy,” the agency’s lawyers write in legal documents obtained and first reported by Billboard. “Listeners immediately recognized the audio sample that begins the infringing record as being copied from the video.”
Ye has been sued over a dozen times for allegedly using unlicensed samples and interpolations in his music, including a high-profile battle with Donna Summer. In May, he lost a jury trial over using an uncleared sample in an early version of the Grammy-winning “Hurricane” from Donda. He had testified at trial that he’s “very generous” about giving credit and compensation when it’s due, but that “a lot of people try to take advantage of me.”
In Wednesday’s complaint, Bauer-Griffin says the creators of “Where They At” showed no such respect to its rights in the video of the paparazzi incident, using it despite being well aware that sound recordings must be licensed when any amount is directly sampled into a song.
“In the music industry, copyrights are prevalent and well understood,” lawyers for the agency write. “Every defendant knew that they needed to have but did not have permission to use the audio sample.”
Reps for both stars did not immediately return requests for comment. The lawsuit also names as defendants producers Dem Jointz (Dwayne Abernathy Jr.) and BoogzDaBeast (Jahmal Gwin), as well Gamma, the label that released the song, and its distribution unit Vydia.
The confrontation at issue in Wednesday’s lawsuit was one of two high-profile scuffles with paparazzi that year for the rapper, who was then still known as Kanye West. Two months later, he clashed with photographer Daniel Ramos outside of LAX, resulting in a civil assault lawsuit that the star eventually settled two years later on the eve of trial.
As many celebrities have learned over the years, simply appearing in a photo or video does not give someone any legal rights to it. Ownership of such material is always retained by the creator — an inconvenient fact that has sparked lawsuits against Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa.
It’s unclear who filmed the May 2013 incident, which happened outside a Beverly Hills restaurant minutes after the star had also been filmed accidentally banging his head into a signpost while trying to avoid other photographers. But the rights to the footage have been owned by Bauer-Griffin from the beginning: When TMZ first posted it at the time, it came with a watermark crediting the agency.
“The infringing record has been widely distributed on various streaming platforms, in flagrant violation of plaintiff’s exclusive rights under copyright laws,” Bauer-Griffin’s attorneys write. “Plaintiff brings these claims to vindicate those rights.”
Governor’s Office
HELENA, Mont. – Governor Greg Gianforte today announced Montana ranks in the top ten states with the highest year-over-year job growth rates.
“Montana continues to rank as one of the best states to start or grow a business, earn a competitive wage, and secure a good-paying job,” Gov. Gianforte said. “As we continue to reform our regulatory environment to support job creators and cut taxes to give money back to the hardworking Montanans who earned it, we see the results of conservative policies at work as the Treasure State ranks in the top ten states with the strongest job growth.”
According to a report by Stat Ranker, which compared all 50 states based on year-over-year growth in total nonfarm payroll employment between February 2025 and February 2026, Montana ranked ninth in the nation for both jobs added and overall job growth adding more than 2,100 jobs over the year, representing a 0.4 percent job growth rate.
Last week, the governor attended the groundbreaking for Janicki Industries in Great Falls to celebrate the aerospace manufacturers’ investment expected to create more than 2,000 jobs over the next ten years and the ribbon cutting for Amazon’s sixth delivery station in Montana that brings the company’s total employment in the state to over 800.
Last month, the governor announced Montana was ranked in the top five states with the fastest-growing economies since 2021. The report from Visual Capitalist found that between 2021 and 2025, Montana’s GDP grew 16.1 percent while the national average in the same time period was 10.8 percent. When it comes to wage growth, Montana ranks third in the nation for fastest wage growth and is only one of two states in the nation where wage growth has outpaced inflation since 2020. The average wage earned by Montana workers reached $60,037 in 2024.
Earlier this year, Gov. Gianforte also announced Montana’s fiscal health surged into the top ten states nationally under his leadership, rising from 22nd in 2021 to 8th in 2025. Since taking office, the governor has paid off the state’s general obligation debt, making Montana debt-free in 2023 and saving Montanans $40 million over a period of two years.
Montana also consistently ranks in the top fifteen states with the lowest unemployment rates. Last month, the governor announced Montana’s unemployment rate ticked down to 3.4 percent in May, lower than the national unemployment rate which remained at 4.3 percent.
The full Stat Ranker report can be read here.
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