Perhaps the biggest benefit of borrowing money in the form of a home equity loan is its flexibility. Typically used to cover large, long-term expenses, the cash this loan provides you borrowed against the equity value of your home can be significant depending on your financial health and how much equity you have built up.

The Basics
Before you consider how you can use this loan, you should have a firm grasp on the facts of the actual loan and process itself. Although there is a considerable amount of flexibility there will still be qualifications you need to meet and steps you need to take. Factors like your credit score, debt-to-income ratio, and a documented ability to pay back your loan are three great examples of qualifying pieces of the process. You can review a guide that includes everything you need to know about taking out a home equity loan so you can use what you have built up in the most efficient and beneficial way. You should expect about a 30–45-day period between when you close on this loan and when you receive the funds so factor that timeline into your plans when you are determining what you will use it for, and when you will begin the application process.

Debt Management
For people whose biggest goal is debt management, a home equity loan can be a favorable solution. This lump sum loan can allow for you to either pay off a singular large debt or consolidate several debts into a more manageable monthly format. If the interest rates are more favorable on your home equity loan than they are with your existing debts that using one to pay off the other will save you more money in the long run by allowing you to apply more of your payment towards principle and less towards interest.

Home Renovations
It is extremely common for homeowners to tap into their homes value to add even more value via a renovation or remodel. Depending on the size of your intended project your personal savings might not be the most economical way to fund it, and credit cards typically carry high interest rates making them a less desirable choice as well. Take some time to learn about smart ways to use your home equity for remodeling so that you have a frame of reference when you set your project budget, as well as when you discuss your intentions during the application process.

College Expenses
Tapping into your home’s equity is a great way to help cover the expenses of college, namely tuition payments. Since it is uncommon that the college student themselves will be the homeowner with the available equity to receive the loan, this scenario is a partnership typically between parents who wish to assist in the financial burden of college and their children. It is essential that every hopeful student develop a plan for college that includes paying for it. A home equity loan provides the borrower with a lump sum of cash so you will also need to plan for how that cash will be allocated and managed through the student’s overall college lifespan.

The ELM Opens This September

Musicians and music lovers alike are eager for the return of live music. For Bozeman, Montana,  it’s coming back in the form of an exciting new music venue!

The ELM will be located on the corner of South 7th Avenue and Short Street in Bozeman’s up-and-coming Midtown District. The ELM aims to be the best venue of its size in the Western US, with best-in-class sound and production, excellent sightlines, and efficient customer circulation throughout the building.

The two-story, 1,100 capacity concert venue will open its doors on Sept. 3, 2021, with a performance from eight-time Grammy nominee Death Cab for Cutie. 

Tickets for the grand opening and initial lineup of events will go on sale this Friday, June 18, and will be available online only at logjampresents.com starting at 10 AM MT.
 

“Bozeman, we can’t wait to play a show to break in The Elm for the beautiful venue's grand opening this September!  Get your tickets and we’ll see you there!”

- Death Cab for Cutie

The City of Bozeman has placed third overall in the “Best of the Best” Water Taste Test through the American Water Works Association (AWWA). This is the second time Bozeman has placed third in this nationwide recognition of commitment to quality and flavor characteristics.
 
Water Treatment Plan Superintendent Jill Miller says, “The Water Treatment Plant, along with the Water & Sewer Department, take great pride in producing excellent quality water and maintaining that quality throughout the distribution system until delivery to our customers’ taps.”
 
Superintendent Miller adds, “This achievement means a lot. Being recognized as one of the best tasting waters in the country is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of personnel in both departments.”
 
The full press release from AWWA can be found at: https://www.awwa.org/AWWA-Articles/massachusetts-water-resources-authority-wins-best-of-the-best-water-taste-test

After postponing a tour stop last year in Bozeman due to the pandemic, country music star Kenny Chesney announced today that he will now play Bobcat Stadium on Saturday, July 9, 2022.

Montana State University is one of 19 stops on the performer’s Here and Now 2022 Stadium Tour, which begins April 23 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and ends Aug. 26-27 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Accompanying acts will be announced at a later date.

“When we hit pause on our 2020 tour, I never thought we would go much past the fall, let alone into 2021,” Chesney said in the tour announcement. He added that changing COVID-19 protocols and concerns over fans not being able to attend sold-out shows prompted the decision to delay the original 2020 tour.

“After a lot of work on a lot of people’s parts, a lot of cooperation from the folks at the stadiums, the places we’re coming and the teams we share those venues with, we’re ready to announce the Here and Now 2022 Stadium Tour,” he said.

Tickets purchased for the original date of Chesney’s tour stop at Bobcat Stadium will be honored for the rescheduled 2022 concert, which starts that evening at 6 p.m.

Customers who are unable to make the new date will be able to request a refund until July 16, 2021. Customers can email bto@montana.edu or call 406-994-2287.

Chesney has released 19 studio albums since his debut album in 1994, 15 of which have been certified gold or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and has had 30 No. 1 singles on the U.S. country charts, including “She’s Got It All,” “When the Sun Goes Down,” “The Boys of Fall” and “Get Along.”

He is one of the most popular touring acts in country music and has played nearly 200 stadium shows, which are regularly sold out. Chesney is an eight-time Entertainer of the Year award winner – four times awarded by the Country Music Association and four by the Academy of Country Music. 

“Confirming the new date for Kenny Chesney to play Bobcat Stadium in 2022 is a huge step as we emerge from the pandemic,” said Duane Morris, senior director of MSU Auxiliary Services. “An epic night like this at Bobcat Stadium with a performer of this magnitude will remind us how much we value live music and entertainment in our lives.”

“Like it does for everyone, the idea of music, live music, fills me up,” Chesney said. “Nothing is so in the moment, so completely alive. I want to start 2022 with the awesome rush that embodies everything playing for No Shoes Nation is. We’re calling the tour Here and Now 2022 because when we get together, there is only the present — and it’s so electric and good, I know I don’t want it to end. I just want to be 100% there with all of you.”

Thanks to an innovative piece of technology, researchers at Montana State University are now able to conduct scientific exploration at a whole new level — a very, very small one.

Last month, MSU powered up the second ultra-high resolution cryogenic transfer electron microscope, or cryo-TEM, in the northern Rocky Mountain region. The microscope, which was built in the Czech Republic before being partially disassembled and shipped to Bozeman, has the capability to create high-resolution and three-dimensional images on a cellular level with more clarity than any other tool.

It is the only TEM at any university in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming or the Dakotas. The only other such microscope in the region is at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton.

“This microscope is capable of really high-resolution imaging, down to a tenth of a nanometer, which we call an angstrom,” said Martin Lawrence, a professor in Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in MSU’s College of Letters and Science and the facility director of MSU’s Cryo-Electron Microscopy Laboratory, also called the Cryo-EM Lab. An angstrom is a unit of measurement so small it is chiefly used for wavelengths of light.

“This addition to our array of research infrastructure offers new and exciting opportunities into a variety of fields here at MSU,” said Jason Carter, vice president for research, economic development and graduate education. “It will serve as a resource for scientists both across the MSU community and in the wider world of academia.”

The microscope is so sensitive, said Lawrence, that its lenses are suspended on air cushions to avoid even the tiniest vibrations, which can distort the resulting images.

“At those kinds of resolutions, if you have even a little bit of shaking it’s going to blur the image, just like if you’re trying to hold a camera steady,” Lawrence said. “If you have changes in temperature, you’ll have very minor contractions or expansions that will shift things. Acoustic waves and even foot traffic can cause vibrations that can be a problem.”

That’s why MSU undertook a full remodel of the Cryo-EM Lab to accommodate the new microscope, which included an expansion of the space to fit the 8-foot cube-shaped chamber that houses it, which contains a shaft that reaches from floor to ceiling. The project totaled $3.8 million including the cost of the microscope, paid for with funding from the National Science Foundation, Murdock Charitable Trust and MSU’s Office of Research, Economic Development and Graduate Education.

From the time the microscope arrived in January, it took nearly eight weeks reassemble it. Along with the microscope, the Cryo-EM lab now has an entire room dedicated to the computers that take the images captured by the TEM — as many as 100,000, up to 50 per second — and stitch them into a 3-D model of something normally invisible to the naked eye.

Its uses are incredibly broad, according to Lawrence. It lets scientists see with unprecedented clarity individual proteins within cells and examine structures previously illustrated by grainy, black and white images. The TEM is particularly useful in virology, allowing researchers to get a clear enough view to identify exactly how viruses infect their hosts.

One recent project used TEM technology to explore viruses that inhabit Yellowstone National Park’s hot springs. For years, researchers had known such viruses existed and that they infected the single-celled organisms that live in thermal features. But because scientists didn’t have a clear image of what the viruses looked like, it couldn’t be said for certain exactly how they latched onto their hosts.

Thanks to the TEMs at other institutions, researchers now know the Yellowstone viruses’ cellular structures looks relatively similar to the now-recognizable SARS-CoV-2 virus, with tiny spikes that allow it to attach to its host organism. By taking thousands of images, each at a slightly different angle, and averaging them, TEM technology allows scientists to unlock new insights about some of the world’s smallest organisms.

Now, all that exploration can be done in-house at MSU, Lawrence said. Plus, when combined with the subzero technology MSU’s Cryo-EM Lab is known for, the microscope will allow materials scientists, biologists, virologists and other researchers to examine organic materials in a more natural state.

That’s because electron microscopes like TEM produce images by shooting a beam of electrons directly at a sample. This can quickly destroy organic matter like plants, making it much more difficult to see their natural makeup on a molecular level.

But the Cryo-EM Lab has a tool called a plunge freezer that uses liquid propane or ethane to freeze samples so quickly that their molecules don’t have time to reorganize into the crystal structures generally associated with freezing. Instead, their molecules trapped exactly as they were when they plunged into the freezer in a glassy form called vitreous ice.

In addition to facilitating projects across nearly a dozen departments and centers at MSU, Lawrence said the TEM will serve as a resource to scientists across the region. Researchers from other universities have already begun sending samples to put the technology to use.

“It will hugely benefit this campus and I’m glad we’ll be able to make it available to other people,” he said.

On June 13, 2021, officers of the Bozeman Police Department were asked to check the welfare of a male whom the caller had recently been unable to contact. Officers went to an address in the 100 block of N 9th Street in Bozeman to check on the welfare of the 79-year-old male. After not receiving a response, they entered the residence and ultimately found a male, later identified Steven Jay Kilwein, deceased on the floor.

The initial investigation indicated the death may have been the result of a construction accident. However, the continued investigation and an autopsy, conducted on June 15, indicated the death was the result of a criminal act.

At this time, it appears the suspect was known to the victim and that this was not a random act. It does not appear there is a general public safety concern.

Although no arrests have been made at this time, detectives are actively investigating the incident and have developed a possible suspect. Anyone with additional information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Detective Ben King at 406-582-2035, Crimestoppers at 406-586-1131 or email crimetips@bozeman.net. Information leading to an arrest in this case may be eligible for a Crime Stopper’s reward.

Known as Trout U for its proximity to premier angling and its leadership in fisheries research and education, Montana State University has now teamed up with fly fishing industry leader Simms to offer a new line of apparel.

Under a licensing agreement for the Trout U brand, which MSU trademarked in 2007 to represent the multifaceted ways the native fish is integrated into university life, Bozeman-based Simms will begin making Trout U hats and shirts, including products made of the company's performance Bugstopper and Solarflex fabrics.

"Students come from all around the country to fish our Blue Ribbon rivers and conduct hands-on fisheries research," said Julie Kipfer, MSU's director of marketing. "This partnership with Simms is one more way that MSU students and their families can connect with that experience while showing their Montana State pride."

In recent years, MSU students with majors ranging from ecology to engineering have worked with faculty to study fish behavior, map streambeds and design fish-passage structures, all with an aim of improving native fish habitat on iconic rivers such as the Big Hole and Yellowstone. MSU has a history of working with agencies such as Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on fisheries issues such as whirling disease management. And the MSU Library is home to the Trout and Salmonid Collection, part of an MSU effort to create the world’s largest and most comprehensive research center for trout-related information.

Simms, which relocated to the Bozeman area in 1993, developed a reputation for high-quality, innovative products after developing the first-ever breathable waders, which it still makes at its Bozeman facility. The company designs and manufactures a variety of fly fishing products and has more than 180 employees.

"Simms is very excited about our partnership with MSU on Trout U. This partnership gives us an opportunity to deepen our roots with MSU community members who are passionate about angling and our home waters," said Trevor Walz, sales manager at Simms. "Our local waters are vital, not only to our business and the local economy but also to the health and well-being of thousands upon thousands who utilize the incredible resources we are so fortunate to have in our own backyard."

The Simms Trout U products will be sold at the MSU Bookstore. Like other MSU-branded merchandise, sales of these products generate royalties for MSU. According to Kipfer, MSU hopes to expand distribution to other retail outlets in the future.

“We're always looking for ways to strategically partner with local manufacturers to bring in products whose sales can help lower the cost of course materials for MSU students," said Chad Schreier, MSU Bookstore CEO. "This is a core component of our mission, and we are excited to expand the already popular line of Simms products to include the new Trout U line for all members of the MSU community."

For more information about Trout U, visit: https://www.montana.edu/bobcatspirit/troutu/,

When Montana State University volcanologist Madison Myers considered her application for the National Science Foundation’s CAREER grant, she didn’t want to deviate from her research into the Yellowstone volcanic system and the unsolved mysteries of the most recent supereruption.

“I like the idea of a grant supporting what you’re actually doing,” said Myers, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Letters and Science at MSU. “If this is something important to me, I’m just going to do it and hope the funding works out eventually.”

It did. This month, the National Science Foundation awarded Myers a five-year, $638,000 CAREER grant, considered one of the most prestigious early career grants for researchers.

"Dr. Myers is a remarkable scientist and so worthy of this prestigious award," said Michael Babcock, head of the Earth Sciences department. "The project will not only advance our understanding of the Yellowstone volcanic system but also emphasizes her strong commitment to student inclusivity and accessibility. Providing opportunities for students to engage in field research and work with an outstanding scientist like Dr. Myers embodies the values of our land-grant mission.”

The grant will fund research into the magma storage and eruption that created the Lava Creek Tuff formation and the Yellowstone Caldera, research which, she notes, will open field opportunities to dozens of students each year.

“All of these people get to have these cool field experiences,” Myers said. “Hopefully that engages them and helps them figure out whether they want to continue in geology or Earth sciences in general.”

Incorporating real-life training for students into the grant was important for Myers, especially with eyes toward inclusivity and accessibility. Over the five-year lifetime of the grant, she will integrate Native American perspectives into a volcanology course she teaches on campus and lead a volunteer program with shorter learning experiences in Yellowstone for those who may not be willing or able to sign on for a full semester.

“There are different ways to be a geologist,” Myers said.

As evidenced by its geysers and other formations, Yellowstone is a stable but active volcanic system. To study the history of that system, researchers like Myers look at formations of tuff, a type of rock created when expelled ash from volcanic activity is heated or compressed.

Most of the research into the Yellowstone volcano is based on tuff from the Huckleberry Ridge eruption, the oldest of just two supereruptions in the area’s history. For an eruption to be a supereruption, as defined by the volcanic explosivity index, the volcano must emit more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of material.

According to the National Park Service, the Huckleberry Ridge eruption 2.1 million years ago “coated 5,790 square miles with ash, as far away as Missouri. The total volcanic material ejected is estimated to have been 6,000 times the volume of material ejected during the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens.”

Unlike Mt. St. Helens, which exploded from a single large magma chamber, the Huckleberry Ridge tuff seems to have originated from small pockets under the Earth’s crust, each with a different depth and its own chemistry.

“Huckleberry was interesting because there was evidence of a slow start with weeks to months of pulses of material coming out from separate chambers rather than big ones,” said Myers, who studied the eruption as part of her doctoral research at the University of Oregon. “The whole eruption was kind of like this. There were these time breaks where it paused and you have these discrete magma sources. It seems like it came out chaotically.”

Studies of the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff in Yellowstone provided one of the first examples of this type of magma storage in a volcanic system. Now Myers wants to know if the most recent supereruption 640,000 years ago, the Lava Creek, occurred in a similar fashion and if the separate, smaller chambers of magma may contribute to the stability of the active volcanic system.

“Is this just the way Yellowstone does it?” asked Myers, who facilitated MSU’s membership to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory in 2020. “And how might that inform the way magma accumulates today? Are there still these pods that are very isolated from each other underneath?”

Much of what is known of the Lava Creek tuff is based on mapping done by the U.S. Geological Survey in the 1960s and 1970s. The maps outline where remnants of the eruption ended up and where they likely came from. Further study is centered on a handful of outcrops around the edge of the caldera where lobes of hot gassy ash solidified.

“The tuff is a massive thing that covers most of the park and part of Idaho,” Myers said. “Those four or five outcrops are telling you a small piece of a large puzzle. It could take a lifetime to learn the whole puzzle.”

At the beginning of June, Myers and her team headed to an outcrop that is supposed to be part of the most recent supereruption of the Yellowstone volcanic system, but that classification didn’t sit well with Myers.

“It had a different kind of texture. It had different materials in it,” she said. “There’s either more variation in this than we understand, or this actually part of the oldest eruption which is mis-mapped.”

Her team will use argon dating to test the minerals in the outcrop to determine if the area is instead part of the first supereruption. Myers and her team will couple field observations and chemical analysis of each exposed area of the Lava Creek Tuff to establish likely boundaries and a timeline for the eruption.

“I’m hoping in five years we know a good deal, but we’re not going to know everything. There’s no way,” Myers said. “But can we lay a foundation to then ask another set of questions that allows us to learn even more?”

According to Myers, a deeper understanding of the system, how it works and how it is triggered will ultimately help recognize signs of unrest in Yellowstone and similar volcanoes.

The City of Bozeman and One Valley Community Foundation announced today the award of a $53,745 grant from AMB West Philanthropies, which comprises the nonprofit interests of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation in the Western United States, to fund a high level, organization wide training program for the City of Bozeman with the National League of Cities’ Race, Equity and Leadership (REAL) program. The REAL program offers tools and resources designed to help local elected leaders build safe places where people from all racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds thrive. From action guides to trainings and case studies, the program offers resources to strengthen local leaders’ knowledge and capacity to eliminate racial disparities, heal racial divisions and build more equitable communities.

Bozeman City Manager Jeff Mihelich says, “Providing this training to our leadership team, elected officials and staff is a key component of the City of Bozeman’s Inclusive City report. Not only will this grant allow us to create a comprehensive education program with REAL for staff and elected officials, it provides the capacity for us to create shared language around diversity, equity and inclusion and share that out to partner organizations in the community.”

Tawnya Rupe Mraz of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation reports, “This is one of the first grants that we have awarded in the racial equity and diversity focus area in Montana. The grant application was reviewed by our internal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and they were impressed by the City of Bozeman’s concrete steps to provide a welcoming community for an increasingly diverse population.”

The One Valley Community Foundation will be administering the grant and serving as the fiscal sponsor. One Valley Executive Director Bridget Wilkinson says, “We are proud to support AMB West and the City of Bozeman in their efforts to ensure Bozeman is a just and inclusive home to all. The funds provided will be used to provide anti-discrimination, implicit bias & systemic racism training for city leaders & employees.”

Bozeman Deputy Mayor Terry Cunningham, who worked on the grant request for several months, reports, “We are so grateful to the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation for their support of our efforts to ensure that all Bozeman residents and visitors are treated with dignity and respect, and have the opportunity to thrive in our community. The REAL program training is already paying dividends for Bozeman and we’re delighted to be able to expand our engagement as we seek to build a truly equitable community.”

The Bozeman Symphony’s 2021/22 concert season is unlike any before, with an incredibly diverse range of programs featuring two world premieres and timeless classical favorites. Music Director Norman Huynh is proud to announce the expansion of the Symphony’s concert offerings with three packages, including the Classical Series (6 concerts), a new series titled Bozeman Symphony Presents (2 concerts), and an All-Access Package (all 8 concerts). Through this expanded season, the Symphony strives to present a wide range of programming that is accessible to music lovers of all genres in the Bozeman community and beyond. 

 
“The music featured this season are works that I have carried close to my heart since the beginning of my career. Some of these works carried me through much of last year. Through this music, I found solace and joy, and I can’t wait to share that with our community,” said Huynh. 
 
Never before in the Symphony’s 54-year history has the organization provided this amount of programming for the community. Each concert will feature incredibly talented guest artists, more than any previous season, many of whom are making their Montana debut, including Karen Gomyo, violin, Demondrae Thurman, euphonium, Sidney Outlaw, baritone, and many more. 

 
"Each concert will be an interesting experience through the soundscapes of different composers. There is a unique pairing of standard repertoire complemented by music from our time that will keep our audience at the edge of their seat," said Huynh. 
 
The Bozeman Symphony’s Classical Series (6 concerts) features a range of iconic historic composers to new music by living composers: 
• Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, a vivid story of a tumultuous love affair; 
• Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, with internationally renowned violinist Karen Gomyo; 
• Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, one of the most triumphant masterworks in the history of music; 
• World Premiere piece inspired by the unique spirit and energy of Bozeman written for the Symphony by Composer-in-Residence Scott Lee; 
• Contemporary works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Augusta Read Thomas, and Anthony Barfield. 
 
In addition to the Classical Series, Music Director Huynh will conduct two concerts as part of the new Bozeman Symphony Presents Series, including: 
• Holiday Spectacular, ring in the season with the perfect holiday concert featuring the Bozeman Symphonic Choir and Montana-based vocal superstar Jeni Fleming; 
• John Williams: 90th Birthday Bonanza, an entire concert celebrating works by one of the world’s most beloved composers, John Williams.  
 
The Bozeman Symphony’s 2021/22 concert season subscription packages for the Classical Series (6 concerts), Bozeman Symphony Presents Series (2 concerts), and All-Access package (8 concerts), are now available to purchase. Please find more information and the order form on the Bozeman Symphony website bozemansymphony.org or by contacting the Symphony office at 406-585-9774. Individual concert tickets will be available to purchase starting September 1st, 2021. 

 
For more information about the 2021/22 Concert Season, please visit bozemansymphony.org or contact the Bozeman Symphony office at 406-585-9774 or info@bozemansymphony.org.  
 
Norman Huynh, Music Director - American conductor Norman Huynh continues to establish his reputation as one of classical music’s most adventurous ambassadors. Hailed for the exuberance with which he leads orchestras across Europe, Asia, and North America, Huynh has received equal renowned for his ability to attract new audiences to the orchestra. The 2020 season inaugurated his tenure as Music Director of the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra, joining an existing appointment as Associate Conductor for the Oregon Symphony.

Huynh has attained international prominence in the first years of his career, most recently through an invitation to the Bruno Walter Young Conductor Preview, a selective showcase hosted by the League of American Orchestras and competing in the 2021 Malko Competition for young conductors in Copenhagen, Denmark in June 2021.