The State with the Best Education Wins!
	MATR Newsletter - Fri Jan 22, 2016

This MATR newsletter sponsored by: Add an event... Upcoming Events SharePoint 2013 Site Collection and Site Administration, 01/25, Msla,Hln, Kal,Boz,GFalls Single Malt Scotch Tasting At The Rhino, 1/27, Missoula, Montana Montana's Next Generation Conference, 1/29-30, Shelby, Montana MATR supporter: New Events 20533 Implementing MS Azure Infrastructure Solutions, 02/01, Msla, Hln, Kal,Boz,GFalls ACA Reporting: Tackling Complex Form 1095-C Situations And Preparing For Form 1094-C, 2/5, Webinar 2016 National Interagency Community Reinvestment Conference, 2/7-10, Los Angeles, CA Business Strategies 2016, 2/10, Billings, Montana 2016 Intermountain GIS Conference, 4/4-7, Great Falls, Montana MATR supporter: To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page

Be the reason someone smiles today... or the reason they drink. Whatever works

Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana to Release Inaugural Montana Economic Report at Outlook Seminars http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- BRING YOUR DAUGHTERS TO SEE THE FUN - CodeGirl Movie & 2016 Technovation Challenge, 1/31, Missoula, Montana http://www.matr.net/ev ... =5763

Big Sky Economic Development

• Business Strategies 2016 - Small Business Training and Workshops , 2/10, Billings, Montana
  Featured Speaker - Amy Kellogg

Kalispell Chamber of Commerce

• Kalispell Chamber Announces Pro-Growth Plans for 2016
  The Chamber plans to put its greatest efforts behind just a handful of key initiatives that can make the most difference.

Montana Department of Commerce

• Montana Is One of Only Five States Selected to Pilot New Placemaking Workshop
  The two-day workshop, titled "Cultivating Place in Main Street Communities," will bring national downtown and Placemaking experts to Montana this spring.


• Montana Entrepreneurs Encouraged to Enter "Shark Tank" Style Competition at Small Business Conference
  The competition will be held at the Montana SBDC Invest in Success small business conference on March 15-16 in Havre.

Montana Politics & Legislature

• Montana Democrats react to Gianforte run for governor
  It also claimed Gianforte opposes a woman's right to choose and "mocked seniors for receiving Social Security, saying that people have an 'obligation to work' and 'the concept of retirement is not biblical.'"


• Governor Bullock: I will continue to fight for fair, transparent, and accessible elections
  Governor Bullock has been called "the biggest threat to Citizens United."

Northwestern Energy

• PSC approves $31M rate hike for NW Energy electric customers By Mike Dennison - MTN News
  The company has estimated that the average household electric customer will pay an additional $4 a month - an increase of 4.7 percent of their total bill.


• NorthWestern Energy announces money for conservation projects
  That money will be matched by another $1.4 million in state and federal grants, making $2.6 million in all.

Montana Office of Tourism & Economic Development

• Montana Governor's Conference on Tourism and Recration - April 10-12 in Kalispell - New for 2016: Breakout Session Tracks
  For the first time, we're offering breakout session tracks to help you more easily identify the sessions most relevant to your general industry sector, specific business or organization, or individual position.

Energy and Climate Change

• Today's TED Talk How we can make crops survive without water
  Molecular biologist Jill Farrant studies a rare phenomenon that may help: "resurrection plants" -- super-resilient plants that seemingly come back from the dead. Could they hold promise for growing food in our coming hotter, drier world?


• Skepticalscience.com - Explaining climate change science & rebutting global warming misinformation
  This website gets skeptical about global warming skepticism. Do their arguments have any scientific basis? What does the peer reviewed scientific literature say?


• Target stores in Missoula, Bozeman will end glass recycling program
  Missoulians looking to recycle glass will need to look for a new location.


• NASA, NOAA Analyses Reveal Record-Shattering Global Warm Temperatures in 2015
  "Today's announcement not only underscores how critical NASA's Earth observation program is, it is a key data point that should make policy makers stand up and take notice - now is the time to act on climate." NASA Administrator Charles Bolden


• The Solar Loophole Utilities Can Use to Game Energy Credits
  By selling the RECs instead of keeping them for yourself, you could just be helping the utility meet a goal it was already mandated to meet.


• Montana renewable energy initiative supporters can gather signatures
  It also calls for taxing electrical production to make up for lost Coal Tax Trust Fund deposits and would create a temporary tax to fund pensions and allow displaced fossil fuel workers to train for new work.


• The Alliance for Green Heat
  The Alliance works to advance cleaner and more efficient residential heating technology, particularly for low and middle-income families.

Come Home Montana

• Montana faces worker shortage - 6,500 new jobs per year for the next 10 years
  "We estimate that we will be adding 6,500 jobs per year for the next 10 years," said Barbara Wagner, chief economist for the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. "We are also the sixth fastest state in terms of wage growth."


• Montana Career Opportunities - Montana Women's Business Center Program Director and Membership & Fundraising Director - Prospera
  Prospera plays a leading role in economic development serving a region that is one of the fastest growing economic areas in the northern Rocky Mountains.


• Montana Career Opportunities - Graphic Designer, National Accounts Specialist, Product Developer - Sportswear, Custom Branding Program [CBP] Production Operator - Simms Fishing Products
  To be a great fit at Simms, you must embrace the fishing culture and follow our practice to work like we fish - with purpose, passion & curiosity. Be prepared to share your latest fishing adventures.

Montana Business

• Senator Jon Tester touts Butte, Montana's UDAP Bear Spray to encourage development
  The Senator popped into UDAP Bear Spray Industries http://www.udap.com/ which distributes powerful pepper spray to fend off bear attacks, or for personal defense.


• Billings residents accuse USAA Casualty Insurance Company of denying medical claims in class action case
  The class action case could affect an estimated 100 to 700 other Montanans, court records said.


• Former Vann's CFO Paul Nisbet pleads not guilty to federal conspiracy charge
  Prosecutors in the federal case allege former CEO George Manlove and Nisbet used their positions in the company to defraud Vann's.


• Missoula Kickstarter Campaign - GoSnug Blanket - The Power of Merino Wool.
  A first-of-its-kind blanket that balances the rugged durability of technical fabrics with the soft feeling and quality of merino wool.


• GEOworks - What if your Geographic Permit System Could Think?
  What if your system could reduce traffic congestion, accidents and save you costs of duplicated road repairs


• Wiegand Alpine Coasters - the "go to" for a ski resort that is trying to generate year-round revenue.
  "It was my idea to move to Montana because my grandpa always talked about Montana and said it's the last best place. We fell in love with the Bitterroot Valley, especially Stevensville, and decided to buy land for private and company use."


• Gazette opinion: Montana can't stake its future on coal
  The promise of Montana coal export markets is evaporating with the drop in global demand.


• Simms Fishing Products expanding office in Bozeman, Montana
  The company, which employs 145 people at its Bozeman facility, is on track to receive a $200,000 state grant for its creation of up to 27 local jobs.


• Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana to Release Inaugural Montana Economic Report at Outlook Seminars
  "We wanted to expand our coverage and analysis of Montana's economy to include areas of importance to Montanans, and we believe this inaugural edition of the 'Montana Economic Report 2016' is a great start," BBER Director Patrick Barkey said.


• B&B Pallet Art and Design - Clocking in with Montana State University Entrepreneur Brandon Keim
  "I came up with the idea and just kind of rolled with it, and so far it's paid off."

Montana Economic Development

• Israel/Montana Business Partnerships - Israeli Consul-General Returns to Talk Business in Missoula
  I had the pleasure of attending the luncheon and was very excited to hear of the many opportunities there were to engage Israel based businesses and R&D as well as significant funding programs. If you'd like to contact anyone in the delegation, please let me know. [email protected] 406-531-8119


• Prospera named official state economic development group for Gallatin and Park Counties which includes Bozeman, Montana
  "It's a really valuable designation for us," said Paul Reichert, Prospera's executive director. "It's a little bit of grant funding from the state that helps us provide services to businesses. We're really happy that we got it."

Regional Business

• 'Uber of banking' banks on no fees, no branches
  "Banking is the most antiquated industry that exists in the United States today," Sidhu says.

Workforce Development

• Collaborate On A Large Grant To Bring Much Needed Training To Western Montana, 1/21, Missoula
  


• Missoula Job Service: Nearly 300 less people seeking work per day than 5 years ago
  Montana Department of Labor and Industry says Missoula unemployment rate is now around 3.4 percent, making it difficult for local businesses to find qualified employees.


• Student loan repayment bill seeks to attract professionals to Wisconsin's rural areas
  With bipartisan support, bill seeks to expand industries, build Wisconsin labor force

Education

• Rethinking College Admissions
  A new report suggests that we're on the cusp of important, necessary changes in the way colleges evaluate applicants.


• Thousands Apply to U.S. to Forgive Their Student Loans, Saying Schools Defrauded Them
  The law forgives debt for borrowers who prove their schools used illegal tactics to recruit them, such as by lying about their graduates’ earnings.


• Why the New Education Law Is a Game-Changer
  No Child Left Behind's replacement focuses as never before on investing in what works.

Missoula Children's Theatre

• Chase away the January gray at MCT! The Drowsy Chaperone
  You know what they say about laughter, and it just so happens that...

Montana Education Excellence

• Montana Board of Regents approve University of Montana, Montana State University executive raises as "normal" during challenging financial time
  "It actually surprises me that this is going through as 'normal' because this isn't a normal time," Regent Martha Sheehy of Billings said.

Community

• Welcome to the Human Resource Council
  Participating in Community Action Partnerships in Mineral, Missoula, and Ravalli Counties Since 1965


• 2016 National Interagency Community Reinvestment Conference, 2/7-10, Los Angeles, CA
  Economic opportunity does not happen in a vacuum: it takes a coordinated approach to housing, education, public safety, healthcare, transportation, and jobs.


• Planners hone in on costs, benefits of three Billings growth scenarios
  In the coming months, the Billings City Council will use scenarios developed by city planners to determine where and how the city will grow.


• A New Metric for Community Resilience
  Resilience is generally recognized as the ability of a complex system to adapt to change.

Funding and Building your Business

• Why recruiting should be a family affair
  "Usually, founders don't focus on family. You'll stand out if you do."


• Making art pay: Montana Arts Council's Artrepreneurship Program returns
  "If anyone even has an inkling that they want to do something more with their art, this program will give them the base they need," Savory said. "Now I'm doing what I really want to do. That's a great place to be."


• How Job Descriptions Undermine The Hiring Process
  What Qualifications Don't Capture


• How to Succeed with Your Big Presentation to the Executives
  Executives love data-driven discussions and recommendations.


• 7 Reasons Why Tesla Insists on Selling its Own Cars
  When Apple built its stores, Steve Jobs used similar reasoning about wanting to educate customers about his company's unusual gadgets.


• How Small Businesses Can Use New Periscope Streaming on Twitter
  Integration of Periscope streaming into Twitter's flagship service effectively makes the app even more enticing for savvy business owners.

Connectivity & Communications

• Inside Facebook's Ambitious Plan to Connect the Whole World
  Zuckerberg believes peer-to-peer communications will be responsible for redistributing global power, making it possible for any individual to access and share information.


• Montana's Darby School District signs contract with the Zayo Group to significantly improve Internet speeds
  "Next year we'll have the infrastructure for one gig of bandwidth - it will give us 20 times the service."

Government Technology

• Knight Announces Finalists for Cities Challenge
  The foundation says it received more than 4,500 submissions from designers, urban planners, nonprofits, individuals and municipalities in its 26 target communities (all places where the Knight family has run newspapers) with visions for how to help their cities succeed.


• Financial Transparency Platform Works to Demystify City Budgets
  ClearGov was conceived around a very simple question: "How are my property taxes being put to use?"


• What a Brown Delivery Truck Could Teach Government... data
  The technology that UPS uses to optimize its routes and achieve big savings shows how powerful data analytics could be across the public sector.

Cool Stuff That's Coming

• Holograms are getting real!
  Don't get wet...


• Stephen Hawking: Mad scientists could kill us all - that's why we need space colonies
  He said further progress in science and technology will bring "new ways things can go wrong."


• The tiny chip that could power big changes in how you shop
  It could help retailers do a better job with two relatively new offerings they're desperate to get right as shopping moves online.


• Implant to 'Plug' Brain into Supercomputers
  The essential problem that DARPA is trying to solve concerns data transfer.

Transportation

• Study: Millennials spurning driver's licenses
  Quite simply, cars are becoming less important or less accessible to Millennials.


• Our Old Planning Rules of Thumb Are "All Thumbs"
  OLD RULE OF THUMB #3: WE SHOULD REQUIRE "ENOUGH" OFF-STREET PARKING FOR EVERY USE


• Buckle Up: The Car as You Know It Will Soon Go Extinct
  Despite recovery from the Great Recession, the number of miles traveled by people 16 and over is 6 percent less than its peak in 2005 (when adjusted for population growth).


• Missoula's first effort to land nonstop Texas connection fails
  "What we don't realize when we read the headlines is that it took four years for American to get (to Bozeman)." James Grunke, director of the Missoula Economic Partnership


• Maven, GM's Car-Sharing Scheme, Is Really About a Driverless Future
  GM isn't really competing with ZipCar. It's placing a bet on the future.


• Hyperloop Race Picks Up Speed
  "We can build the hyperloop today," said Brogan BamBrogan, co-founder and chief technology officer of Hyperloop Technologies Inc. "It would just be extremely expensive."


• California Approves Ride-Sharing Driver Insurance - Montana man attempts to drive for Uber, uncovers fatal flaw in law
  "Commissioner Jones has encouraged insurers to develop auto insurance products for TNC drivers and we are pleased to see one of the state's largest insurers offer a product that protects drivers, passengers and pedestrians."

---

To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page