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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Jan 13, 2017 |
The greatest public health crisis isn’t cancer or heart disease. It’s isolation and social disconnection. The U.S. Surgeon General https://www.youtube.com ... Ub1to
Big Sky Economic Development
Kalispell Chamber of Commerce
- SF Chronicle: Montana faces bleak labor forecast as aging workers retire
Big Sky Economic Development Authority Executive Director Steve Arveschoug said he considers workforce development to be Montana's biggest economic development issue and that one of the possible solutions is using technology to boost worker productivity.
Montana Department of Commerce
- Kalispell Business Agenda To Be Announced, 1/17, Kalispell, Montana
The Kalispell Chamber will briefly review the numerous successes from 2016 which have helped tee up what will be a busy, growth driven 2017 and active legislative session.
Montana Politics & Legislature
- Department of Commerce Welcomes New Film Commissioner Allison Whitmer
For the past 20 years, Allison has been involved in filmmaking, beginning with "The Horse Whisperer," a Robert Redford classic, as well as the adaptation of the Native American breakthrough novel, "Winter in the Blood," penned by the acclaimed author James Welch.
- Governor Bullock Announces Funding to Grow Businesses, Train Montanans for 84 New Jobs across Montana
The funds are being awarded through the Primary Sector Workforce Training Grant (WTG) program.
Northwestern Energy
- Legislative subcommittees begin cutting millions to education and corrections
Republicans are ruling out tax increases and looking to increase the $73.8 million in budget cuts recommend by Bullock to a total of $120.2 million in reductions in general funds and state special funds over the next two years.
- Bill would give landowners free elk tag for every 4 public hunters allowed on property
The bill is an attempt to provide hunter access to elk while also giving landowners an incentive to provide access, said Rep. Zach Brown, D- Bozeman, who sponsored the bill.
- Montana Superintendent Arntzen Commends Education Committee Action on K-12 Inflationary Increase as a Win for Schools
The inflationary increase to the K-12 base funding is statutorily mandated, but getting it passed through committee this early in the session was a top priority of Superintendent Arntzen because it provides stability as schools begin developing their budgets for the next school year.
Spika Design and Manufacturing
- NorthWestern Seeks Energy Generation Proposals for Montana Customers
The Request for Proposals seeks to procure "dispatchable" electrical capacity and energy that can be delivered to its Montana customers.
- NorthWestern Energy and The Missouri-Madison River Fund Trust announce funding for 2017 public recreation improvement projects
"NorthWestern Energy and its employees are proud to continue to lead this collaborative private-public effort to improve recreation facilities and opportunities on these great rivers for all Montanans."
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
- Spika Design and Manufacturing - The Ultimate Cheat Sheet On OSHA-Compliant Fall Protection
Here is a quick reference cheat sheet on OSHA-compliant fall protection for workers staying safe during maintenance and manufacturing in general industry.
Great Falls Development Authority
- Dorsey & Whitney - Intellectual Property Webinar Series, 1/18
Join us for a discussion of recent trends in patent subject matter eligibility, including the impact of Alice v. CLS Bank, Ariosa v. Sequenom, and related cases spanning the biotech and software industries.
The MDT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program
- Here's the GFDA Top 14 for the past three weeks, celebrating great things happening to move Great Falls Forward. Nice to kick off the new year with some great announcements!
2) Closed a $2.1 million loan package for the new Marriott Springhill Suites and the...
- Ignite Great Falls 2017 Kick-Off Event, 1/27, Great Falls, Montana
Ignite Great Falls will feature 5-7 minute presentations from half a dozen businesses and developments that have announced major projects for the year, along with brief remarks from Lt. Governor Mike Cooney and Mayor Bob Kelly, and a surprise presentation from BNSF regarding the AgriTech Park!
Early Edge Montana
- A Personal Invitation to the Upcoming Free Montana Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Conference on Feb. 7 in Helena
It will be a great opportunity to network and promote your business.
Visit Montana - Montana Dept. of Tourism
- A Canadian Podcast Tells a Deeply Personal Story About the Power of Early Education
"A kid doesn't realize that they're in dysfunction,"
Energy and Climate Change
- 9 Hikes In Montana For Mere Mortals That Lead To Mystifying Destinations
Main Rattlesnake Trail, Missoula
Come Home Montana
- Obama Makes His Final Case for Clean Energy as President: Decarbonization Is 'Irreversible'
With just over a week left as president, Obama is making his final case for the importance of the low-carbon energy transition.
- Large Corporations Are Driving America's Renewable Energy Boom. And They're Just Getting Started
Progressive companies will be instrumental in helping pioneer state policies to help meet their clean energy procurement targets, and set the stage for other companies to follow suit.
- Bill would penalize utilities for wind and solar generated electricity for Wyoming customers
If Senate File 71 were law, there would be six permissible resources for generating electricity for Wyomingites, including natural gas and coal. Wind and solar are not on the list, except for individual use.
- New technique stores summer heat until it's needed in winter
Though still in the prototype stage, EMPA is currently looking for commercial partners to assist in creating a compact version of the system for household domestic use.
- Can Google and Amazon Create a Greener Internet?
A Greenpeace report finds that many of the world's largest Internet companies have made major progress powering their online operations with renewable energy.
- Tenn. lab discovers method to remove carbon from air
The discovery is being billed as a new option to capture and store carbon and help combat global warming.
- European cities transition their built environments towards a post-carbon future.
The energy-efficient architecture is designed to produce more energy than its users need
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- World-renowned Grammy nominated Montana musician Phil Aaberg's home, studio and Great Northern Bed & Breakfast are for sale
This is your opportunity to live, work & play in majestic Montana.
- Montana is as Montana was
The description of the then-largest city, Butte, came with a backhanded compliment: "Though it is by no means a gross and lurid place, as commonly reported, Butte, in good times, is a prodigal, gay-living, rough-and-ready town. Saturday, when the miners are paid, offers an especially gay spectacle."
Montana Business
- Two MSU Blackstone LaunchPad ventures place in competitions, win prize money
406 Labs is a program of the Blackstone LaunchPad at MSU that provides focused resources designed to help high-growth potential LaunchPad ventures establish product-market fit.
- You're Invited To The Secret Sauce That Turned Israel Into "The Start-Up Nation,", 1/26, Missoula
Help us launch Accelerate Montana by hearing Israeli Consul General Dr. Andy David share the secret sauce that turned Israel into "The Start-Up Nation."
Montana Economic Development
- Montana Manufacturing Extension Center Newsletter - Solving Problems for Montana Manufacturers
f you would like to find out more about how MMEC can work with you on business success, please visit our website and find a business advisor in your area or contact the home office directly!
- The Food Network highlights Missoula's growing culinary excellence: the Empanada Joint, Notorious P.I.G., the Mo Club, Burns Street Bistro and the Lolo Creek Steakhouse.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these owners to get national publicity for their business."
TEDx Events in Montana
- Missoula Economic Partnership plans studies on workforce, entry-level housing
MEP also plans to fill a position recently vacated by a top employee, and it intends to fill several openings on its board of directors
- Live Rich Quick™ - Missoula Economic Partnership Business Attraction Program
It adds up to a life so rich that calling Missoula merely "livable" is almost laughable.
Careers
- Speakers named for TEDx Bozeman 2017, Saturday, April 8
TEDx Bozeman organizers have named speakers for the 2017 installment of their annual lecture event, to be held at noon Saturday, April 8, at the Commons at Baxter and Love. The speakers are:
Business Plan Forums
- Pay gap between college grads and everyone else at a record
College graduates, on average, earned 56 percent more than high school grads in 2015, according to data compiled by the Economic Policy Institute.
- 5 State IT Leaders Detail Their Path to the CIO's Office
When filling their top technology positions, governors are increasingly interested in turning to executives such as Hale who come from other sectors and can bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to public-sector organizations from their experience in Fortune 500 companies, higher education and health care.
Come Home North Dakota
- Wisconsin student entries welcome by Jan. 31 for 2017 Governor's Business Plan Contest
Since its inception in 2004, more than 3,350 entries have been received and about $2.2 million in cash and services (such as legal, accounting, office space and marketing) have been awarded. Contest categories are Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, Information Technology and Life Sciences.
Government
- North Dakota Career Opportunity - GIS Coordinator - McKenzie County
Outstanding opportunity for a full time position as the GIS Coordinator with McKenzie County
Regional Business
- Senator Jon Tester to Congress: Repealing Health Care Progress Will Have Devastating Impact in Montana
"Here is what that will look like in Montana," Tester said. "152,000 Montanans with pre-existing conditions will be at risk of losing their health insurance, 61,000 Montanans enrolled in Medicaid will lose coverage, Montana seniors will lose help paying for their prescription drugs, and women will lose important protections that prevent them from being charged more for coverage than men."
- Full ACA repeal could be death knell for rural hospitals
"All these rural hospitals are operating on thin margins. The removal of any income source or coverage, or expansion of bad debt, is going to create significant financial hardship," said Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association.
- Leading the change: Missoula's female-majority city council forges new paths
"Women see things differently. Well, I'm not a man, so I don't know if I see things differently from men, but I feel like my perspective is much more geared toward families. I'm a young mother, so that's what my perspective is." Councilwoman Emily Bentley
- Podcast - Can Government Be Run Like a Business?
I think if you attempt to run government precisely like a business, then you're going to find yourself relatively frustrated.
Regional Economic Development
- Is Blockchain the Next Great Hope -- or Hype?
Many industries are exploring its benefits and testing its limitations, with financial services leading the way as firms eye potential windfalls in the blockchain's ability to improve efficiency in such things as the trading and settlement of securities.
- Federal judge rules Swift Transportation improperly treated some of its drivers as contractors rather than employees
...could open up Swift to similar claims from thousands of truckers who drove for the Phoenix-based company over the last decade.
Utah Business
- Program offers affordable loans for mobile home repairs
Mobile home owners have a significantly harder time finding financing for home repairs, which can lead to uncomfortable and unhealthy living conditions.
Washington State Business
- Op-ed: Time for Outdoor Retailers to leave Utah and its anti-recreation politics (Move the show to Montana?)
Gov. Gary Herbert and Utah's D.C. delegation are leading a national all-out assault on the sanctity of Utah and the country's public lands.
Workforce Development
- Washington state proposal seeks expansion of wine refill law
Now, a new measure would allow refills at grocery stores, wine boutiques and other places licensed to sell wine in the state.
- Startup funding ends 2016 on a high note in Washington state - VC funding leaped
Companies raised $290 million in 38 deals during the fourth quarter of the year, according to the quarterly Dow Jones VentureSource report being released Thursday. That's a 25 percent jump from the same period last year.
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- Veterans Invited to Participate in Entrepreneurship Training Program at UM
The free entrepreneurship training program was designed to give veterans, active-duty service members and their families an overview of business ownership as a career, an outline and knowledge of business plan components, a practical exercise in opportunity recognition and an introduction to available public and private sector resources.
- Faced with worker shortages, Gallatin Valley manufacturers turn to high schools
“It’s industry knowledge that the skilled labor shortage is a red flag,” Dixon-Foley said. “We’re finding that we’re having a difficult time finding skilled labor in our area.”
American Prairie Reserve
- Kids With Autism Find Path to Success at STEM-Focused School
This first-of-its-kind school spins special education on its head, focusing on students' strengths instead of their weaknesses.
Missoula Children's Theatre
- An Ode to the Prairie
I thank the prairie for teaching that lesson to a degree that no professor or book could ever instill in me.
Montana Education Excellence
- MCT asks: "What is Urinetown?"
Whatever it is... it runs 1/19-29 in Missoula
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Rapier Family Foundation's Gift Supports Culinary Arts at Missoula College
"The Rapier Family Foundation's gift will help our award-winning program grow even stronger, allowing our students to learn the full range of culinary arts skills to prepare them for jobs in the industry," said Shannon O'Brien, dean of Missoula College.
- Reach Higher Montana Provides Access Grants To Help Address STEM Scholarship Shortfall
Based in Helena, Reach Higher Montana is the public benefit partnership between Student Assistance Foundation (SAF) and the Montana Higher Education Student Assistance Corporation (MHESAC).
- MSU offers class on Montana's changing climate via distance learning
The course will be particularly relevant for landowners and agricultural producers; natural resource managers; educators; local and state government officials; and employees of organizations such as the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and other state and federal agencies.
- UM Invites Community To Mid-Year State Of The University Presentation, 1/19
"In my brief time here at the University, I've learned much about where we are, where we want to be, and the importance of our shared governance in working together toward that goal," Stearns said.
- University of Montana's Gilkey Building aims to provide "premiere learning venue"
Since the building officially opened, McGoldrick has been working on establishing the educational programs that will give life to the campus hub UM envisions at the Gilkey Building.
- Dean's Winter Newsletter - University of Montana School of Business
In my short time here at UM, I've seen firsthand the hardworking students, incredibly devoted faculty and staff, and fiercely proud alumni that make up this school and community.
Community
- 4th Annual Bozeman Ping Pong Tournament Benefiting The Bozeman Schools Foundation, 1/14
The annual Bozeman Ping Pong Tournament raises money for Bozeman Schools Foundation (http://www.bozemanschoolsfoundation.org/), which provides grants and scholarships for teachers and students in the Gallatin Valley.
Funding and Building your Business
- Five Low Cost Ideas to Make Your City Wealthier
What do you do when you realize your city is never going to be able to subsidize enough businesses to create the jobs you need?
Connectivity & Communications
- Venture Capitalist Says 2017 Looks Bright for Tech Startup Market
Venture capitalist Scott Kupor is not alone in his excitement for the progress of start ups in tech this coming year.
- Founders: Answer These Important Questions Before Fundraising
Here are 50 guiding questions that prompt founders to think critically and creatively before taking their first fundraising call
- How timekeeping software helps companies nickel and dime their workers
There are a lot of ways employers can manipulate your time using timekeeping software, some of which are legal and others highly questionable.
- The Science of Good Salesmanship - Podcast
Selling strategy is based on disciplines such as social psychology, neuroscience and behavioral economics to understand what makes customers buy.
Government Technology
- 40,944 Members of Montana's Tribal Population Have No Access to Fixed Broadband
T ribal areas and communities continue to lag behind other areas and segments of American society w ith respect to broadband and telecommunications services .
- 'Borrowing' the Internet: Library Program Lets Patrons Take Access Home
After some initial success in big cities, researchers are testing the program in rural settings.
- Elusive high-speed internet sprouts in rural Tennessee
"At the end of the day, our mission is to serve our membership. That's what we were founded on. That's the principles we believe in today. It's risky and it's a challenge. To the main point, small rural communities that don't have good communication connections to the outside world are at the risk of failing altogether."
Non-Profit News
- Ohio Launches Highly Anticipated 18F-Style RFP
Ohio launched a new kind of RFP Jan. 5 aimed at improving participation on the part of smaller cloud-based analytics companies.
- Artificial Intelligence Will Help Create a More Responsive Government
The implementation of these artificially intelligent "assistants" should be more than an internal experiment; it should be targeted and complemented with deep contextual knowledge.
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- The Event at Rebecca Farm's economic impact surges to $5.5 million in 2016
The study also found a 6 percent increase in out-of-state visitors (46 percent compared to 40 percent in 2015). Attendees came from 25 of the United States, as well as Canada, according to the study.
Transportation
- We all need a laugh - The Quotes of Steven Wright
33 - Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film.
- Diagonals Give a Modern Missoula, Montana Home an Artistic Edge
The "Wren" house in Missoula is a live-in sculpture.
- Robert Burns Supper - A Celebration Of The Birth Of The Poet, 1/27, Missoula, Montana
On this night... everyone is Scots.
Events
- Video: The University of Montana Transitions to Clean, Quiet Transit with Proterra
By launching two all-electric Proterra vehicles, with this deployment, UM becomes the first campus in the nation to operate zero-emission vehicles in its transit fleet.
- Montana Transportation by the Numbers: Meeting the State's Need for Safe, Smooth and Efficient Mobility
An efficient, safe and well -maintained transportation system provides economic and social benefits by affording individuals access to em ployment, housing, healthcare, education, goods and services, recreation, entertainment, family, and social activities.
- Podcast - Transportation and the Cost of Convenience
Transportation is undergoing major shifts -- with new technologies and upgraded methods.
- Governor Bullock finds $10 million to free federal highway funding for Montana road projects
Transportation Director Mike Tooley said this move will allow the state Transportation Department to put out for bid the 30 projects that the agency had put on hold in December because of a funding shortfall.
- Poor roads cost Montana drivers $794 million a year
"We've been talking about our failing infrastructure and lack of funding for a long time now and have very little to show for all that hand-wringing," said Darryl James, executive director of the Montana Infrastructure Coalition. "It's time for a little less talk and a lot more action."
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