|
|
|
| MATR Newsletter - Tue Jun 28, 2005 |
MATR
Web hosting provided by: Add an event... Upcoming Events
|
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Steve Jobs
I highly recommend reading : 'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says at Stanford Commencement http://www.matr.net/article-15138.html
Education
Montana Business
- Teachers paid an average salary of $46,752, national survey finds
"Teachers should never have to choose between doing what they love and supporting their families," the group's president, Reg Weaver, said Thursday. "We can't continue to ask them to fulfill such an important mission without providing the support they deserve."
Montana Economic Development
- Scobey, MT business reinvents itself - Air Design Inc.
Air Design is a bellwether for small towns trying to create jobs and bring out-of-state dollars home. However, many people, Harmon said, cannot clear the hurdle of inertia. "Lots of people have great ideas, but they need to do something with them, to pursue them," he said.
- State insurance for kids in Montana going to employees you might not expect - More kids to be added to insurance rolls, but state worries about cost
"We think when large companies have employees who are in these programs, this is, in effect, a hidden taxpayer subsidy to these companies," says Phil Mattera, research director of Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C., watchdog group that examines economic and labor issues.
- There's no business like ranch business, dude - Averill's Flathead Lake Lodge
During the ranch s summer season, $10,000 will buy a family of four a week in a log cottage; daily access to activities such as horseback riding, fishing, sailing, swimming, hiking, biking and tennis; cowboy cuisine created from recipes coveted by gourmet magazines; and assorted barn dances, boat cruises, steer-roping demonstrations and bonfire sing-a-longs.
- RightNow Granted Break-Through Patent for Dynamic Phone Interface
This invention integrates a dynamic knowledge base of responses with menu selection on an automated phone systems or other response system to present the most frequently used items earlier in the option list. Prioritization of options provides consumers with more enjoyable, efficient experience for callers without increasing administrative overhead.
Funding and Building your Business
- Montana Workforce Training Survey from the Montana Chamber of Commerce
Responses to the survey will be used to help guide the future direction of Montana's secondary education programs in workforce development. Please take a moment to answer the questions, your input is important and very valuable.
- Montana Governor Schweitzer considering visit to Canada
"Maybe now it's time to set up a meeting between the governor and the premier," said Mike Volesky. "We've been talking about that, and it's something I think we'd like to see happen."
- Thailand trade delegation to get healthy dose of Montana
"We aren't only going to showcase Great Falls, but all Montana businesses that have an opportunity for trade with Thailand," said Owen, who is also the president of the Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce.
- Employers say high-tech help surprisingly hard to find in Missoula - Computer jobs lose luster as young techies aspire to other careers
In fact, executives in a number of specialized technical industries have privately expressed frustrations to Cates and others about the lack of prospective employees who "are ready to sit in the chair and do a job," she said.
- Made in Montana campaign gets boost
"I think we can do a number of things that we haven't been able to do in the past," said Tony Preite, director of Montana Department of Commerce.
Regional Business
- Refine recruiting to find good employees
Companies that have quality staffs know that recruiting is part of their "secret sauce."
- Taking Care of More Than Just Business - With workplaces like these, why bother going home?
The list of 50 top small and medium companies to work for nationwide was compiled for the Society for Human Resource Management, a trade association, by the Great Place to Work Institute, a San Francisco-based research company that also produces Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For."
Utah Economic Development
- Qwest to pay $50 million to settle suit alleging it failed to issue dividends
Qwest also is in settlement discussions related to a massive class-action securities fraud case.
- Wyoming Ethanol plans $14M expansion
Last year, Wyoming Ethanol produced 5.3 million gallons of the sweet-smelling stuff. A $14-million expansion of the plant that begins this month will double the plant's production capacity, said Dan Schwartzkopf, senior vice president of parent company Renova Energy.
Idaho Business
- Utah Gov. Huntsman picks 6 'clusters' - state will nurture economic growth in focus areas
Around these clusters, Frey said, the state's strategy is to synergize research universities, technology commercialization catalysts like the Centers of Excellence program, capital (via the "fund of funds") and industry with the state's efforts to foster and recruit top talent and implement smart government reforms — tax simplification among them.
- Utah Gov. Huntsman to visit Fox in economic-intensive trek to Mexico in July
During the trip, set for July 11-15, Huntsman said he is also scheduled to meet with several other Mexican officials, including the secretary of the economy and the minister of travel and tourism, as well as the U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
- Utah economic development deal is fraught with conflict
Six years ago, a private company supported by Utah's top business leaders tried to gain more control over the competitive, lucrative and often secret realm of luring new businesses to Utah. And when Huntsman took office, he named the company's former director, Chris Roybal, as his chief economic adviser.
Other Economies
- Idaho tourism continues steady growth - Industry now third largest in the state
"It looks like we'll have a record summer for travel," he said. "Visitation is up, and tourism in Idaho is really coming of age."
Incubators and R&D
- Iowa forms partnership with New Zealand
The agreement is a result of discussions and trips between Iowa and New Zealand officials that began two years ago. Vilsack said New Zealand is a good partner for Iowa because of shared "core competencies," particularly in agriculture.
University TechTransfer
- Campground water pumping strives to become more user friendly through R&D from Forest Service's Missoula Technology and Development Center
Anyone who's drawn water from a cantilevered pump at a farm or campground knows it takes more than a little strength. Now, there's an easier way.
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- Say Yes to Tech Transfer - Michigan University Entrepreneurs Honored for Making High-Tech Research Saleable
"Our world-class university researchers are critical to planting the seeds of the latest technologies here and growing Michigan's economy," Granholm said. "Successful commercialization of cutting-edge research will turn the ideas of tomorrow into the jobs we need today."
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Bridging the gaps between business and education
One of the major challenges facing regions today involves bridging the communications gap between educators and business managers.
Careers
- Buried Treasure in Montana - With the help of new fossil discoveries and new technologies, scientists are learning how dinosaurs lived—and died
When he first laid eyes on it, in a small museum in north-central Montana, the famous dinosaur researcher Robert Bakker whipped off his hat and fell to his knees, and tears welled up in his eyes. "It was," he says, "like seeing the Pieta."
- The Stillwater Mining Co. donates $1.25 million to Billings zoo for bear exhibit
Officials said the donation was suggested by members of the state's congressional delegation after Norilsk Nickel acquired 55 percent interest in Stillwater Mining Co. in June 2003.
- John E. and Darleene P. Thompson of Seattle donate what may be the world's largest Tonka toy collection to the Winifred, Montana Museum
Arthur said no one is sure – including the Tonka Toy Co. - whether there is a larger Tonka toy collection, but this one is impressive. He said it fills 2,200 linear feet of shelving.
- Skateboarders flocking to Anaconda's ‘Snake Pit' - Missoula skate park is a canvas for the kinetically inclined
There's also a contingency of diehard skate boarders - most in their 30s — who say they drove here from Missoula, Bozeman and other places to enjoy what they consider to be one of the premiere skate parks in Montana.
Non-Profit News
- The sad lesson learned from unpaid internships
The whole concept of corporate social responsibility and sustainability seems geared to better equipping young people to inherit our social system, our work and our earth. That's why I'm so confused and upset about an insidious practice which seems to be proliferating — unpaid internships for college seniors and graduates. Any company that expects a young student to do real work just for the "opportunity," and not for remuneration, deserves to be embarrassed and castigated.
- 'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says at Stanford Commencement
The first story is about connecting the dots.
Energy
- Metcalf Foundation awards announced in Montana
The foundation supports Montanans and Montana organizations in visual, performing and literary arts; historical research and preservation; environmental research and conservation; and education and community health.
Connectivity & Communications
- Plug-in hybrid car would run on venture capital
Whether or not he pulls it off, the hum of regional experimentation is a good sign. Silicon Valley can no longer be considered a slacker in clean tech.
Lewis and Clark Bicentennial
- RSS delivery system wins over Microsoft - "Next big thing"?
Only about 6 million Americans — 5 percent of the country's online population — subscribe to RSS feeds
- The Newspaper of the Future
"We believe that journalism has been a monologue for so long and now is the perfect time for it to become a dialogue with our readers,"
- Most identity theft is low-tech
While 205,568 -- or 53 percent -- of 388,603 fraud complaints filed in 2004 were Internet-related, the remaining 183,035 were not, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
- The Supremes Sing Out - Cable Companies Don't Need to Share Lines
More than 19 million homes have cable broadband service. At issue is whether cable Internet access is a "telecommunications service" under federal law that makes it subject to strict FCC rules requiring companies to provide access to independent providers.
Community
- Undaunted optimism yields few riches - There's no "Big Rock Candy Mountain" along the Lewis and Clark Trail.
If it's any consolation, none of the 10 other states along the Lewis and Clark Trail have cashed in, either. The bicentennial is many things, but a T-shirt sales opportunity it's not.
- Empowering Citizens In Community Planning
Choosing Our Community’s Future is the rare resource designed specifically for regular citizens who want to make a positive contribution to shaping the growth and development of their neighborhoods, towns and regions.
- Living In Wildfire-Prone Areas - Report Focuses on Mitigating Wildfire Damage
The American Planning Association publishes a report that offers advice for developing high-risk areas.
- Missoula's sister city representative John Wall of Palmerston North, New Zealand extends hand of friendship....and a golf-croquet mallet.
"People are really key to this relationship," the retired secondary school headmaster said Friday. "What has continued it is the visits. The sister-city program is one of those balls being thrown up, ready to be hit for a home run."
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page