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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Oct 31, 2017 |
"Action is the Antidote" Amy Batchelor
A standard continued by which we should all support Montana's nonprofits: Literacy Bitterroot receives $200,000 grant from the Rob and Terry Ryan Foundation to help ease budget shortfall http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Montana Politics & Legislature
Montana's Outdoor Recreation Economy
- Montana lawmakers battling as budget office projects $227 million shortfall
Gov. Steve Bullock has said he'd like to call a special session but needs assurances from Republican lawmakers that they would work with him to reach a solution.
Great Falls Development Authority
- First a fee increase, is privatization of the parks next?
President Donald Trump wants to cut 13 percent from the National Park Service's budget in the next fiscal year. His Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is a fan of privatizing park services, including campground operations.
American Prairie Reserve
- GFDA Quarterly Investor Letter
Latest government data shows that in 2016 we grew the Great Falls MSA (Cascade County) GDP faster than any other metro area in Montana; another indication that we are making progress.
- Here is our Top 21 for this week, celebrating work and successes to grow and strengthen our Great Falls regional economy.
GFDA Job Opening - Loan Servicing & Data Processing Associate
Montana Ambassadors
- NEW Wild Sky jerky from the American Prairie Reserve in Montana
Visit the American Prairie Reserve website to learn more about the ways wildlife-friendly ranching helps to soften the borders around the Reserve
VR/AR, Blockchain, Bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence and The Internet of ThingsEnergy and Climate Change
- Today's TED Talk - We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads
What we need to understand is how the powerful might use AI to control us -- and what we can do in response.
- The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions
Mistaken extrapolations, limited imagination, and other common mistakes that distract us from thinking more productively about the future.
- What's Behind the Hype About Artificial Intelligence?
The other big area that has generated tremendous interest involves Generative Adversarial Networks or GANs in short.
- 15 Firms Leading the Way on Energy Blockchain
More companies will probably have launched by the time you read this.
Come Home Montana
- Flaw in ocean temperature models suggests climate change could be worse than predicted
This discovery claims that oceans may have been much cooler over the past 100 million years than records suggest, meaning that the recent spike in ocean temperatures might be more significant and alarming than we thought.
- Hybrid nanomaterial extracts hydrogen fuel from seawater
Researchers have created a hybrid extractor that eliminates the burden of heightened electricity costs.
- 'We will be toasted, roasted and grilled': IMF chief sounds climate change warning - unprecedented surge in carbon dioxide levels
Christine Lagarde warns of 'dark future' if the world fails to take steps to address global warming
Montana Business
- Incoming University of Montana president announces launch of provost search
"This individual will be a vital member of our leadership team, and though I will not officially be joining the team until January, I'm pleased to announce that we are launching a national search for the provost now," Bodnar wrote.
- Montana Career Opportunity - Loan Servicing & Data Processing Associate - Great Falls Development Authority
Exceptional professional sought for new position to support the growth of economic development efforts.
Montana Economic Development
- Collaboration, support keying growth for Bozeman area women-owned businesses
As of last count, Montana was home to more than 37,000 women-owned businesses, which combined contribute roughly $4.7 billion in sales to the state's economy, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. A new women-owned venture opens in the Big Sky state every day.
- First Security Bank, Glacier Bancorp announce merger
After the merger, the two banks will control about 35 percent of the banking market in the county
- Montana Renewable Energy Companies Explore Canadian Markets
"Over the next year, nearly a quarter of all renewable energy exports from the U.S. may be going to Canada," said Commerce Director Pam Haxby-Cote. "This means a big opportunity for Montana, and for our state to be so well represented in this trade mission is a testament to the quality of products being designed and manufactured here."
- Puerto Rico's governor wants to end power contract with small Montana company Whitefish Energy Holdings
The small company with a short track record is based in the hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke -- Whitefish, Mont. -- fueling questions about how the lucrative deal was clinched.
- Town Pump is matching funds for Montana Food Pantries
The Town Pump's goal is to raise more than $3 million for food banks across Montana.
Careers
- Economic Excitement Rises in Columbia Falls, Montana Thanks to Mick and Wendy Ruis
Following the lead of investor Mick Ruis, local businesses help fuel revitalization across town
Idaho Business
- Survey Roundup: IT Increasingly Seeking Soft Skills Over Tech Expertise
Seventy-two percent said the need for soft skills has increased in the past two years, with 21% saying soft skills are more important than technical skills when hiring staff.
- Solve These Tough Data Problems and Watch Job Offers Roll In
Veteran Kagglers say the opportunities that flow from a good ranking are generally more bankable than the prizes.
- 7 jobs where salaries are skyrocketing
It can pay to take a long view on salary expectations in your field.
Other Economies
- FBI breaks ground on new data center in Pocatello, Idaho
The FBI office in Pocatello is expanding. The FBI recently broke ground on a $100 million data center.
Regional Economic Development
- Illinois Office of Tourism to expand to Mexico and China
The government agency will expand into Mexico City on Nov. 1 and Beijing on Dec. 1, with three additional support offices in Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou.
Workforce Development
- Forget Amazon. Seattle is ripe for poaching many smaller businesses
The more nimble and adept economic development entities are already combing through lists of small and mid-sized companies in Seattle and making discrete pitches to businesses about relocating.
- Should state have ownership in private companies?
"you miss all the shots you don't take."
Education
- Fast-growing businesses don't need tax relief to hire. They need trained workers.
Employers not only want workers who say they are skilled - they want some objective measure to ensure that workers are skilled.
MAPS : Media Arts in the Public Schools
- Which Colleges Give You the Most for Your Money? Depends on How You Measure It
There have never been so many tools to figure out "Best Choice"
Community
- MAPS (Media Arts in the Public Schools) receives $80K Greater Montana Foundation grant
“The Greater Montana Foundation is proud to continue our investment in MAPS Media Institute as it commits to build its programs for the benefit of our state’s youth, especially in rural and tribal communities,” Sidney Armstrong, executive director of GMF said. “We are especially gratified that its excellence is being recognized on a local, regional and national levels.”
Funding and Building your Business
- Livability Standards Have Arrived in the Pacific Northwest
The city of Bellevue, Washington has adopted new zoning and land use standards as part of an ongoing Downtown Livability Initiative.
- 20 UNDER 40: Recognizing outstanding young Butte community members
Here are 20 outstanding community members under the age of 40 brought to you by The Montana Standard.
- Optimistic? Stagnant? Great Falls on who we are
We developed a survey to get a sense of what people in Great Falls want for the city and what they worry about. A thousand Great Falls residents age 15 to 86 weighed in.
Non-Profit News
- 6 Business and Financial Terms Every New Entrepreneur Needs to Know
If you want to make money, you'll need to understand some basic concepts and metrics regarding money, customers, and even personal performance and health.
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Literacy Bitterroot receives $200,000 grant from the Rob and Terry Ryan Foundation to help ease budget shortfall
"We appreciate the generation gift from the Rob and Terry Foundation to replace our state and federal money that we lost, through no fault of our own, for three years," Stark said. "Our budget varies between $125,000 to $135,000 a year, and our grant of $65,000 from state and federal funding was half of our budget."
Miscellaneous Ramblings
- Vlogbrothers Hank and John Green trade YouTube for live audience
"We've never actually played Missoula before, in all the years that Hank's lived here and all the years that we've been making stuff," John said to a crowd of 420 in the Urey Underground Lecture Hall.
Transportation
- Not one, but two super eruptions formed the colossal Yellowstone caldera
The super eruptions were powerful enough to affect the global climate as the planet was recovering from an ice age.
Events
- LA County Metro Investigates Micro-Transit Possibilities
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has launched a pilot to study cheap, on-demand, door-to-door transit service.
- New tech pushes the electric vehicle revolution into overdrive
A science-led revolution is in the making in transportation.
- Automakers Build War Chests to Finance a Self-Driving Future
Mary T. Barra, G.M.'s chief executive, told analysts that the company was also looking at potential markets for self-driving vehicles outside the United States. "Absolutely, we are going to be looking globally," she said.
- Planning in the Face of Transportation Revolutions
Properly channeled, the three transportation revolutions can make our communities stronger. But it will take the steadfast support of strategic planners, using our best available tools, to achieve our best-case transportation future.
- Prepping Self-Driving Cars for the World's Most Chaotic Cities
"Many of the things that we're doing in self-driving at the moment probably wouldn't work if we were trying to do it in a third-world country,"
- We visit Google's private testing facility for self-driving cars
For the past five years, engineers and test drivers have been running dozens of cars through their paces in order to better prepare them for real-world scenarios of rude drivers and clumsy movers.
- How to Design Streets for Humans--and Self-Driving Cars
Autonomous vehicles don't have to destroy the American city--they're a shiny opportunity to rebuild it for the better. Cities just need to get to work. Right now.
- Soft Landing Missoula Presents Lecture: Timeless Iraq - 11/7 - Missoula, MT
- Hellgate Venture Network - Aaron Brock, Executive Director Of The Missoula Food Bank - 11/9
- Banff Film Festival To Return To UM - 11/12 - Missoula, Montana
- Montana Manufacturing Extension Center SME Lean Bronze Spring 2018 - 3/20 - Missoula
- "How To Build A Startup In Montana" Paul Gladen - 11/3 - Butte, Montana
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