Smurfit-Stone Closing Stuns Missoula

Montana has been mostly insulated from the national recession. Local economists say the state is typically the last to enter a recession, and the last to emerge from it. In Missoula, the largest industrial plant (Smurfit-Stone) shut its doors last month — sending 417 people to unemployment lines.

Many of us close to the graphic arts industry have gotten used to closings and consolidations. But for many Montanans, this comes as their first close look at a recession that seemed to be happening far away. NPR coveres the story in their Morning Edition.