Good morning; on the Beacon today, a retail renaissance in layaway is happening around the valley as the holiday shopping season approaches. Whitefish City Attorney John Phelps has announced his retirement, to become effective in July of 2010. We’ve got more on Semitool’s acquisition by Applied Materials. And business columnist Mark Riffey explains how every day is Election Day when it comes to growing your business.
Montanans give President Barack Obama poor marks on job performance, don’t approve of the federal stimulus spending and think that health care will get worse under the federal health care bill, according to poll results released Tuesday. University of Montana President George Dennison’s new budget calls for cutting $1.4 million in personnel costs and $1.9 million in operations in an effort to plug a hole caused by the disappearance of one-time federal stimulus dollars. Construction of new homes unexpectedly plunged last month, as builders waited to see whether lawmakers would extend a tax credit for homebuyers. The state has notified about 2,000 jobless Montanans whose unemployment benefits have expired that they are now eligible for extended payments under a recently passed federal law. Montana businesses will be paying higher unemployment insurance premiums next year because of the increased amounts of benefits paid out due to the economic recession. Salish Kootenai College will name a new president early next year, and the names of the four finalists have been announced. And Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock is trying to raise awareness of prescription drug abuse in the state.