|
|
|
| MATR Newsletter - Tue Feb 27, 2007 |
“You get better, you get worse, you never stay the same.” Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz
"Please support Senate Bill 494 - "To reduce the capital gains on employee owned stock" at hearing on March 6 in Helena." http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Boomtown Institute
Come Home Montana
- The Agurban from Boomtown Institute. Just How Much of America is Developed?
If the nation was divided into four- person households and each household had an acre, everyone would fit in an area half the size of Texas.
Developing a more Entrepreneurial Montana
- Montana Career Opportunity in Beautiful Hamilton, Montana - Web Programmer
The position primarily involves programming to develop innovative, web-based software applications to support ongoing ecological restoration and telemedicine projects.
- Montana Career Opportunity - City Manager - Polson, MT
Come work in beautiful Northwest Montana!
Developing Tech Jobs in Rural Communities
- Entrepreneurial Education Laws in the States
One tool states have used is enacting legislation addressing entrepreneurship, and this document examines such legislation in 18 states.
Montana Education Excellence
- Montana grapples with lack of qualified workers
"The catch is we need people with aptitude to do sophisticated assembly work, and sometimes we don't know if they'll work out until we try them."
- How to grow small communities yet retain quality of life? Here's one idea
Affinity marketing programs are being done in many regions around the country. The concept is pretty straightforward: If you recruit people to bring their businesses to the community who already share a passion for the community's values, they will be more likely to share that sense of community.
Education
- Class helps kids put ideas in motion
This winter, students in the class are learning about 3-D modeling software, and one of the assignments is the design of small, wooden, carbon-dioxide-powered race cars.
- Teachers collaborate with electronic mentoring
The Electronic Mentoring for Student Success program is helping teachers network with fellow educators and exchange lesson ideas while establishing a strong support system for those in the profession
- Montana State University professor, Sarah Codd, wins prestigious National Science Foundation award
Sarah Codd's work assists research on fuel cells, medical catheters and the cleanup of contaminated soil and water.
- Hundreds of robot-loving students to compete at MSU this week
"Working through the engineering process in these competitions brings the reality of science and technology to students on a hands-on level while at the same time instilling cooperation and teamwork,"
2007 Montana Legislature
- U.S. schools weigh extending their hours
While Massachusetts is leading in putting in place the longer-day model, lawmakers in Minnesota, New Mexico, New York and Washington, D.C., also have debated whether to lengthen the school day or year.
- Montana Teachers struggle to find good jobs
Last week, Fines attended a career fair in Washington, D.C., where recruiters were scrambling for new hires. But most of those places were too far for him to be comfortable relocating. “They're starting at $40,000 to $45,000 for some of those school districts,” Fines said. “They're just desperate for teachers.” If he stays in Montana, he's looking at a starting salary between $19,000 and $30,000. Many jobs on the lower end of that scale offer no or limited health insurance. Virtually none of them are in communities with more than 1,000 people.
- A closer look at higher education. Should the US be rethinking the college and university system?
Should the US be rethinking the college and university system? Two academics offer their perspectives.
- Education is responsibility of all
The state of Montana already concedes to parents the right to home-school their children, rather than entrust education to the government. That is as it should be. But to deny that children have a right to education, to leave education at the sole discretion of those parents who may not have the best interests of their children at heart, is foolish and reprehensible.
Montana Business
- Please support Senate Bill 494 - "To reduce the capital gains on employee owned stock" at hearing on March 6 in Helena.
Currently people who leave the state before selling appreciated stock owe no Montana tax; Essentially 2% of something is going to be much more that 5+% of nothing, so it should actually increase state revenues.
Montana Economic Development
- Top Plum Creek official to leave Maine for Montana to become the company's first national director of community affairs
In his new position, he will spearhead the company's efforts to improve relations with communities affected by the Plum Creek's growing focus on real estate development.
- Zoot Enterprises of Bozeman, Montana, posts record performance year for 2006
Zoot has worked with the largest financial institutions in the country for more than 16 years, developing innovations that move the market forward. Zoot innovations include the first prescreen-of-one, the first online home equity application and the first enterprise cross-sell solution.
- Remote health care thriving in Montana as technology improves
In Montana, the medical community has managed to stay ahead of the curve and become a national leader in telemedicine.
Developing Funding Opportunities in Montana
- Sun West Ranch and Madison Valley Hospital Close In On $1M Goal
“We’re delighted to be involved in an initiative of such importance to everyone,” said Ted Gildred, creator of Sun West Ranch. “What could be more important than providing quality healthcare to a growing community like Ennis and the greater Madison Valley?
- Company Plans to Expand Montana Wind Farm near Cutbank
Gov. Brian Schweitzer called the announcement "big," and said it shows that increasingly larger wind farms will be coming to Montana, a potential boon to the state.
Funding and Building your Business
- Eight States, including Montana, included in new Venture Capital Group - Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association.
The new group will have offices in Denver and comprise venture capitalists from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada.
Regional Economic Development
- High-tech entrepreneurs grapple with build-or-sell dilemma
As Facebook.com's mastermind, Mark Zuckerberg is sitting on a potential gold mine that could make him the next Silicon Valley whiz kid to strike it rich.
- MBA programs chart a different course for successful professionals
Dec is an example of the kind of students business schools are trying to attract to remain competitive: Relatively older, successful professionals who want more education but have neither the time nor desire to pursue a traditional 18-month, full-time MBA. Business schools are reaching these "new" students through flexible scheduling, distance-learning options, expanded course offerings and the opportunity to study in other countries.
- Corporate owners hide assets, identities. States in "race to the bottom"
USA TODAY's findings buttressed the money laundering report's warning that a "race to the bottom" among states vying to set minimal corporate information requirements has enabled companies to hide the identities of their owners, thereby making it harder for law enforcement agencies to track suspected tax evasion, money laundering and other crimes.
- Google can hear him, and they're listening
From there it has been a whirlwind for Stanton, a University of Idaho student. He landed meetings with company officials and is apparently in Google's early development pipeline. (Which means he cannot reveal his great idea.)
- Don't Forget to Remember
The little things that resulted in the big thing of market leadership start to get lost as the success of a business continues.
- The Power of the Noncompete Clause
The power of the noncompete clause has led to a unique Harvard Business School paper with implications for day-to-day behavior, careers, business, and policy.
- 5 Ways To Make Internet echnology. Green
With the kickoff of The Green Grid, a new consortium of IT vendors promoting energy conservation in an age of power shortages, we offer five ideas you should consider in making your organization environmentally friendly.
Utah Economic Development
- Montana Gov. Schweitzer, Former Rep. Pat Williams to testify about West's transformation from resource based industries.
"There is no question but that the economic transformation in the West is historic," Williams said. "The West has now moved from an extractive economy to a conservation, restoration and service economy. And service does not mean hamburger flippers. It means health care workers and architects."
- Making a Million. Women are breaking the proverbial glass ceiling by running their own businesses
“The trend toward women reaching higher economic heights is growing,” says Marsha Firestone, founder and president of Women Presidents’ Organization, an international group of women who gross more than $1 million in annual revenue.
- Regional transportation concept gaining ground. North Idaho part of hot spot for Inland Pacific Hub
Proponents of what's called the Inland Pacific Hub see North Idaho/eastern Washington as a hot spot that only needs to recognize its potential to make it one of the top shipping regions in the country.
- States step up push to lure innovators and investors. Increasingly, local prosperity depends on staying at the forefront of new industries and ideas.
Georgia's effort symbolizes an emerging focus by state governments on the economics of innovation. From Indiana to Arizona, a similar notion is taking root: in a competitive and fast-changing world, local prosperity depends on having strategies in place to stay at the forefront of new industries and ideas.
- National Geographic to create mega-map of region. What makes this place so special?
The goal is to promote "geotourism," defined as travel that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place, including the environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and residents' quality of life.
- Delta will add routes to Oregon, Washington
"The reason we do Salem and Yakima is that while they are small, they do have a lot of connecting traffic, not only to the Rocky Mountains, but also to the Southeast and Southwest and the Northeast," Esposito said in a telephone interview with The Salt Lake Tribune.
- Feds can pay fair share to schools in rural communities
An Oregon senator tried to filibuster the U.S. Senate to force colleagues to address a looming crisis for rural schools, planning to read from phone books if necessary after his prepared speeches ran out. That worked for Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” but it didn't work for Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. Senate leaders managed to shut him up not long after he started.
Government Technology
- Utah Lawmakers treat education to tune of $460M
Combined with new funding for higher education, the Legislature would add nearly half a billion dollars to education coffers, they said.
Washington State Business
- Toward a Wireless World
The 2006 surveys polled more than 300 local governments about everything from organizational arrangements to infrastructure to services.
- Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill
As the 21st Century progresses it is becoming clear that now and in the future a significant portion of the business of Congress will be done online. It is with this in mind that we present the 2006 Gold Mouse Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill.
Other Economies
- Washington State's hot 5 job spots
"There was a time back in the late 1990s and early 2000s when some people in Seattle may have been looking for less growth, while a place like Spokane was doing a lot of soul-searching and asking 'What can we do better?' " he said. "Now, I think those places are seeing the fruits of their labor to reinvent themselves."
- Washington Vintage: A wine for all seasons
The numbers alone tell Washington’s story – more than 450 bonded wineries (compared with fewer than 20 in the early 1980s); 350 grape growers; nine major American Viticultural Areas (AVAs); 20-plus different varietals planted and an economic impact of $3 billion.
Small Diameter Timber Utilization
- Chicago's Business Leaders Collaborate to Create, Invest and Manage the $10 Million Illinois Innovation Accelerator (i2A) Fund
"The i2A Fund in and of itself is an entrepreneurial initiative. It was created and funded by several of Illinois' most successful entrepreneurs to invest in the future of our local economies and the next generation of pioneering entrepreneurs,"
Careers
- Santa Fe Exploring Possibility of Heating City Buildings with Biomass
"We have do something in order to meet that challenge, and the biomass project could be one of those somethings. What we have to do is reduce our greenhouse gas emissions."
Non-Profit News
- For many people, a midlife career change can be energizing
"You are never too old," Bruner said of making the career switch. "I love it here, and I finally know what I want to do when I grow up."
- It pays to think like a student at any age
"When you're a student, you can ask anybody anything, and as long as you follow it up by saying you're a student, it's totally acceptable."
Energy
- How can charity be effective? Money to the people, economist says
"People need opportunities, not someone telling them what to do."
Connectivity & Communications
- The Governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington target global warming; others seek clean energy
Fed up with federal inaction and convinced of the dangers from global warming, five governors from Western states agreed Monday to work together to reduce greenhouse gases.
- Western Renewable Power Development Summit, 5-7/9, San Francisco, CA
Giving you the inside track on the rapidly growing renewables market in the West
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Paper, silicon meet on your computer. Microsoft, Hearst unite to deliver newspapers online
Microsoft Corp. and Hearst Corp. unveiled a software service Thursday that allows newspaper readers to download stories and read them even when not connected to the Internet.
- City of Napa Going Wireless
The city of Napa, Calif., this week approved an agreement with AT&T for an approximately 12-square-mile deployment of AT&T Metro Wi-FiSM, the company's wireless broadband Internet access network solution.
- Netscape's founder, Marc Andreessen betting name on new Ning. Free social networking service already has attracted beta fans with customizable Web sites
He says Ning's approach, which allows people to customize the look and feel of their own Web sites with photos, music, discussions, forums, blogs and other features, will rise above the rest as online socializing continues its astounding growth.
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the free weekly MATR newsletter, please visit our list info page
