economy

According to the Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, global debt now exceeds $100 trillion.

The University of Montana released its 2014 spring enrollment numbers today, February 27, and are reporting total enrollment of 13,544 students, a decrease of 971 students from last fall.

Nationwide gasoline prices have been climbing for 20 straight days now, and although Montana enjoys the cheapest prices in the country, it is one of the few states experiencing higher prices than last year.

All of this February snow is causing the city of Missoula to spend a lot more money than expected on deicing and snow removal. Missoula Street Superintendent Brian Hensel says he tacked on another 60,000 dollars of extra expenses just today (February 25).

Many Plum Creek workers in western Montana were notified this week that they would be losing a fourth of their working hours.

The eleventh annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is in full swing in Missoula. Festival director Nick Davis says his crew waded through over 1,000 film submissions before picking the final set.

The fight over whom to blame over late tax payments and other issues in Ravalli County government has intensified over the first week in February.

Montana's gas prices dropped a bit over the last week in January and the state is still boasts the lowest statewide gas price in the U.S.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed it's version of the Farm Bill yesterday, January 29, on a vote of 251 to 166. Pundits on the right and left have decried the bill, either for spending too much in subsidies, or for directing too much money from the poor to the rich, but Montana farmer representatives seem to be happy with the final product.

Montana finished out 2013 with an unemployment rate stuck at 5.2 percent in December.