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The cost of Thanksgiving Dinner is going to cost more this year – 13 percent more, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The average cost of a traditional dinner for 10 is averaged at $49.20 — $5.73 more than last year. Impacting the cost the most is the cost of the turkey itself – up 25 cents a pound over a year ago. A 16-pound turkey—is $21.57 this year, or about $1.35 per pound.

Even with the increase, the meal "remains a bargain, at just under $5 per person," said the AFBF President Bob Stallman, a rice and cattle producer from Texas. "The quality and variety of food produced for our dinner tables on America's diverse farms and ranches sets us apart from our contemporaries around the world. It is an honor for our farm and ranch families to produce the food from our nation's land for family Thanksgiving celebrations."

The AFBF survey shopping list includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray, coffee and milk,sufficient to serve a family of 10.

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Billings Chamber of Commerce/Convention and Visitors Bureau staff members are discussing the latest findings released from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The data shows small businesses' outlook for the United States economy declined in the third quarter and fewer expect to hire additional employees, with many executives citing government taxes and regulations as significant hurdles, according to a poll conducted online for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce by Harris Interactive between September 29 and October 6, 2011.

"The voices of Main Street businesses are telling us plain and simple: To start hiring, we need faster economic growth and a change of course in Washington," said U.S. Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue.

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Café International, LLC, an Idaho-based company, announced that it has acquired coffee franchise Mountain Mudd Espresso. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Café International, LLC, is owned by its CFO Betty Hawkins of Boise, Idaho and industry veteran John Adams, CEO. Adams is also the co-owner of regional premium coffee roaster White Cloud Coffee. The pair acquired Mountain Mudd from CHS, Inc., a Minnesota-based company that had owned the franchise for five years.

Adams stated, "Acquiring the Mountain Mudd franchising rights and brand represented a great opportunity for our company. We intend to grow the franchise aggressively over the next several years, both domestically and internationally, and we're excited about keeping the headquarters for these operations in Billings."

Café International is maintaining the Mountain Mudd headquarters in Billings to capitalize on the strength of the existing staff and the operation already in place. Café International has contracts to fulfill at least 117 previously executed franchise agreements in the coming years, with a significant number of those franchises expected to open in the Midwest and Northeast.

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The year 2009 was the safest year in history for mining in the US, according to “Montana Mining 2011.” It marks a century-long effort to improve mine safety and a steady decline in accident-related deaths in the industry.

There were 15 fatalities in metal and non-metal mines and 18 in coal mines –a dramatic difference than the beginning of the century when over 2500 miners being killed per year was considered normal. The turning point happened in1907 after the “deadliest month” in American mining history with over 700 fatalities across the nation. But “there is more work that can and should be done,” said the publication.